Sapphire Nights (Crystal Magic Book 1)(29)

Sam almost laughed. “That’s not happening. What do you mean about Val turning banshee?”

“She’s way above the Menendez land wailing like a wounded catamount. Her usual tribe is refusing to climb past the skeleton site and demanding that I fetch you. You are the only rational person any of us know, apparently.”

“Charmed, I’m sure.” Sam watched the cultivated landscape of the resort pass by. Once they drove through the lodge’s parking lot, Walker turned up a gravel road that deteriorated to ruts.

“Old timber road. The Menendez family may own land up here, but they’ve never built any other entry. They’ve apparently claimed some right of way that the Kennedys have paved over. Rather than argue, both families share access. It’s not as if any of them comes up here more than twice a year.”

“So, applying my psychic guessing powers, the Menendez family probably does own the right of way or the Kennedys would have put up gates and locks. I wonder if I’m really this cynical or if not knowing who I am has changed me?”

Walker shot her an admiring glance that tingled her spine and heated her cheeks. Sam glanced out the window so he couldn’t see.

“If you’re smart now, you were smart before. And I don’t think you learned about people in a couple of days at a café. You may be feeling comfortable mouthing off here where no one knows you, but that’s the best I can offer.”

“Stripped of my fa?ade, I’ve become my real self?” she asked with a laugh, until Walker stopped the car and bent to look out the windshield.

She did the same. Up on a rock formation taller than the vehicle was a familiar scarecrow draped in black rags. Someone needed to buy Val some new clothes. Might be hard to replace the long black veil though.

Her mournful operatic cry had silenced even the crows.

“I trust I’m not supposed to translate wailing?” Sam asked dubiously.

“When the Lucys told me she was up here, I tried talking with her. She rattled on about crows and gravestones and the past returning to haunt us.” Walker looked more concerned than angry at Val’s descent into madness. They both knew she could speak normally when she chose.

“I doubt I can translate symbolism either. Why don’t you go back down and pick up whichever Lucys are most lucid? If they don’t want to make that climb up to Val, I can. I’ll see what I can get, then come back down and maybe they can translate.”

“Tried that,” Walker said gloomily. “They refuse to walk on evil. You want to start with translating that?”

“Not touching it,” Sam said fervently. “I haven’t defined evil yet either. So okay, that’s why Mariah isn’t up here. The Lucys find something about this area evil and are fearful of polluting their so-called powers with it. I can almost understand that.”

“That’s more than I can do. Want me to help you up there?”

“I have no idea. Unless I led a really secluded life, though, I’m guessing I spent a good amount of time scrambling around rocks. What else is there to do in Utah?” Sam got out without waiting for Walker to open the door. “I don’t like snakes,” she added, watching for slithery creatures in the rocks. Apparently primal fears were more memorable than whether she took cream in her coffee.

As she located footholds in the craggy boulders, Walker got out to keep an eye on her. She hoped his radio signal worked so he could call an ambulance if needed. She was wearing well-padded athletic shoes, but they weren’t boots by any means.

She didn’t feel comfortable on this side of the valley, as she had over by the cemetery. The morning fog still lingered, making it damp and cool. And the earth. . . just didn’t feel as welcoming. There was a sharp—oily?—quality that made her think of clammy caves and old bones. Was that weird? Maybe not, if the Lucys sensed it.

Val’s keening lessened as Sam climbed. She could almost talk over the racket once she got close.

“Are you in pain?” Sam asked, taking a seat on a flat rock near Val’s feet.

“The universe cries in pain at the injustice,” Val keened in a wail that at least contained words.

“That’s not news. What injustice brought you up here today?” The rock was cold, and Uneasiness quivered in her middle. She didn’t much like this setting. At this early hour, chilly wind blew in from the coast, lifting the hair off the back of her neck.

“They kill, they kill without punishment! They litter the mountain with bodies, and the gods cry out for justice. Look at the crows—five! First there were four, now there are five! The mountain weeps.”

“So, the new crow means someone died out here last night?” Sam asked, using her wildly imaginative psychic power of guessing.

“Evil seeks evil,” Val said mournfully.

“Is the evil nearby?” So much for psychic guessing. She was starting to feel as if she were the insane person, sitting here tempting snakes while talking to a banshee.

Sam glanced down at Walker. He leaned against the hood of the car, arms crossed, keeping a sharp eye on them. She hoped he wasn’t expecting Val to attack her.

Val pointed a long bony finger. “There. They dumped him there. The animals have already found him.”

Sam’s blood curdled. She followed the direction of Val’s finger, but she saw nothing but rocks and scrub trees. No animals, no body, not even crows. Another skeleton?