The Vanishing Stair (Truly Devious #2)(56)

Catalina suppressed a groan. “I doubt if I will have any more luck than you would.” She looked around the cavern. “I got past the phobia about entering this place, but it still creeps me out. Are we finished here?”

“One more thing. Do you think you could find the cavern where you and Olivia hid from the killer that night?”

“Why? Is it important?”

“Something about your memories of the place makes me think it might be very important.”

“The mirrors and the chandeliers?”

“Yes,” Slater said.

“I’m sure they were just the products of our hallucinations. Like you thinking you were locked in an attic.”

“Maybe. But I’d like to take a look.”

“All right.”

Flashlight in hand, she led the way across the cavern to the entrance to the tunnel where she and Olivia had hidden on the night of the murder. Slater picked up the camp lantern he’d brought and followed her.

The hot energy flowing down the tunnel quickly became a stream, and then a river.

“You’re right,” Slater said. “There is a strong current in here.”

“It gets heavier the deeper you go,” she said. She turned a corner and paused in a small cavern. “This is where the killer gave up the chase. Even after all this time I can sense panic in his prints. He’s frustrated and angry but mostly he’s afraid of getting lost.”

“But you and Olivia kept going.”

“If he had managed to follow us I don’t think he would have found us.”

“Why not?”

She followed the powerful river around a few more twists and turns and stopped. “That’s why not.”

The storm of paranormal energy that had been the stuff of her nightmares still barred the entrance to the Devil’s Ballroom. The currents were so fierce and so powerful that in places they crossed over into the normal spectrum. Here and there currents of cobalt blue and fiery red could be seen with just her normal vision.

The atmosphere in the tunnel sparked and flashed, lifting her hair, exciting all her senses. When she looked at Slater she saw that he was studying the storm with intense fascination. His eyes were hot.

“This is … amazing,” he said. “It looks like a miniature category five hurricane. How the hell did you and Olivia get through it?”

“The raw power of flat-out panic, I think. We just held hands and aimed for the eye of the storm. Woke up on the other side.”

“You woke up?”

“The storm knocked us out for a while. Not long.”

“Did you get out the same way?”

“I remember now that we had no problem getting back out. It was going in that was tough. Like running through a storm of nightmares and hallucinations.”

“Think you’re up for another try?”

“If you’re sure it’s important. I’m older now and I’ve got much better control over my senses. It may not be as bad.”

“We’ll do it the way you and I got into the outer cavern. Together.”

He threaded his fingers through hers.

“On the count of three,” he said.

She braced herself and heightened her talent. “Right.”

“One—”

He plunged forward, hauling her with him. They slammed into the eye of the storm. For an instant she was back in the kaleidoscope. Chaos reigned. The world shattered into a million glittering pieces …

And then they were on the other side. Her senses were skittering wildly, but at least she was awake. She hadn’t passed out this time. She realized that Slater’s hand was still locked around hers.

“What happened to two and three?” she asked.

“I was in a hurry,” Slater said.

He studied the reverse side of the paranormal storm for a moment and then he turned on his heel, taking in the broken stalactites; the jagged shards of grimy mirrors that lined the walls, floor and ceiling; and the jumble of fractured crystals that littered the floor.

“Incredible,” he said softly.

“Welcome to the Devil’s Ballroom,” Catalina said.

“Good name for it,” he said.

He began to prowl the chamber but he kept his grip on her hand. The physical contact made it easier to combine forces to suppress the hallucinations.

“Do you have any idea what this place was?” she asked.

“Yes.” Slater stopped to examine a large chunk of yellow-green crystal. “I think we are standing inside what’s left of a machine that was designed to generate paranormal energy—a lot of it.”

“I didn’t know there were machines that could do that.”

“Designing and constructing such a device was one of the goals of the Bluestone Project. Looks like the Fogg Lake lab got as far as building this chamber.”

“Why the mirrors on the walls and floor and ceiling?”

“Mirrors and glass in general have some unusual and rather complicated physics that make them essential to paranormal research. The same is true of crystals.”

“It looks like the researchers got this generator up and running,” Catalina said. “But something went wrong.”

“There was an explosion,” Slater said quietly. “I think we know what the fallout was.”