Rose had come to a halt directly in front of the solid quartz wall. She was standing on her hind legs facing the barrier.
Incredibly, a small hole materialized in the quartz at dust bunny height. Rose zipped through it and promptly disappeared.
The hole closed behind her, leaving Elly and Doreen gazing at the solid, glowing quartz.
Elly looked at Doreen and saw the despair on her face.
'He's closing in on us,' Doreen said. 'We're trapped.'
Chapter 38
COOPER WATCHED THE FREQUENCY NUMBERS WAVER AND abruptly vanish from the screen of his personal amber-rez locator. Doreen's amber had just been fried, most likely by ghost fire. Not a good sign.
Elly's coordinates still registered strongly, though. That gave him hope. He tromped hard on the throttle, trying to coax a little more speed out of Bertha Newell's rickety old sled. There wasn't much to be had. He was already moving dangerously fast as it was. At this rate he could easily slam into an illusion trap or a ghost before he had time to steer clear.
But he had no choice. When he had arrived at Newell's private tunnel gate and discovered that Doreen and Elly hadn't made it out, he had known in his gut that things had gone wrong. That led to the chilling conclusion that Frazier was more than likely involved.
He whipped the sled around another corner and shot down a long green hallway, all of his senses open to the currents of psi power that flowed through the catacombs.
*****
DOREEN GAZED, BAFFLED, AT THE SOLID QUARTZ WALL. 'It may be some form of illusion trap energy, but it's not like any I've ever worked with. I'm not sensing anything. If I hadn't seen Rose disappear through that wall just now, I'd swear it was solid quartz.' She put her hand on the stone. 'It even feels solid to the touch. If this were true illusion trap energy, my hand would have passed right through it, and I would have triggered the trap.'
'But I can feel the energy patterns.' Elly studied the wall, wonder and amazement unfurling inside her. 'They're similar to the patterns I pick up from those green flowers that Rose brings me.'
Doreen looked at her. 'You pick up psi energy from plants?'
'It's okay, I'm not really crazy. At least, I don't think I am. The thing is, if I concentrate a little, the wavelengths in that wall become crystal clear. I can almost see them in a way I can't explain.'
A small section of the wall shimmered. Another hole opened up. Rose poked her head through and chattered loudly. She disappeared again. The wall sealed itself.
'She wants us to follow her,' Elly said. 'Maybe I can do this. Everyone in my family can de-rez psi energy waves of one kind or another. I know, theoretically, how it works.'
'Go for it,' Doreen urged. 'Not like we've got a lot of other options here. The de-rezzing techniques are the same for ghost or illusion energy. The variables are the type of energy and the location on the spectrum. I don't know what you're working with here, but if you can sense wavelengths, the idea is to dampen them by focusing your own psi energy through your amber. I can't explain it any more clearly than that. You have to
Elly did not respond. She was too busy feeling her way into the pattern. It was easier than she had anticipated, probably because she had been attuned to plant psi energy for years, she thought.
She closed her eyes to help concentrate. She found the resonating patterns in the wall and cautiously pulsed power through her amber, sending out her own unique brand of psychic energy in a counterpoint rhythm.
She sensed instantly when the wavelengths melded and canceled each other out.
Humid warmth and a vast energy wind flowed over her, stirring all of her senses. She was enveloped in an intoxicating aura of plant psi more powerful than she had ever experienced in her entire life.
'Elly, look,' Doreen whispered.
Elly opened her eyes. A large section of the wall had disappeared, revealing an impossible landscape of heavily massed foliage.
A canopy of leaves formed by trees that were at once startlingly familiar and strangely different cast a heavy veil of shadow over a world of magnificent ferns, flowers, and vines. The lush scents of a vast greenhouse filled the air.
'Jordan's Jungle,' Elly said softly.
Rose appeared in the opening, still sleeked out and in full predatory mode. She rumbled a warning.
'We're coming,' Elly said.
'Oh, shit,' Doreen said tensely. 'Maybe Frazier does have your frequency.'
Elly looked back and saw the small, whirling vortex. It was coming toward them like a well-aimed spear moving in relatively slow motion.
There was no time to use the earrings to close the opening in the wall. She tugged both pieces of jewelry out of her ears and hurled them straight at the vortex.
The energy spear swerved toward the fresh bait.
'Let's go,' Elly said.
Together with Doreen and Rose, she plunged into Jordan's Jungle.
Chapter 39
THE FREQUENCY OF ELLY'S AMBER DISAPPEARED FROM Cooper's personal amber-rez locator. He went cold to the bone. He did not want to think about what that might mean.
All he had now were the coordinates of Elly's last position in the catacombs. If she and Doreen moved very far from those, he would never find them.
But he was close. And Rose was with the women, he reminded himself. According to Emmett London, dust bunnies seemed to be able to navigate underground. Rose would never abandon Elly. Not if she was still alive.
He refused to contemplate the alternative.
He sent the sled skimming across a six-way intersection and shot down another glowing hallway, heading for Elly's last known location.
*****
ELLY CROUCHED JUST INSIDE THE SMALL CAVE. PEERING through the screen of ferns. Doreen knelt beside her. Rose sat on a nearby rock, fully fluffed, looking unconcerned once more. She fussed with her fur and fastidiously adjusted her necklace.
Jordan's Jungle was a surprisingly noisy place. They hadn't seen any wildlife except for a few small, very green lizards skittering over the nearby rocks, but the shrieks of unseen birds echoed through the high tree canopy.
Down below the cavern where she and Doreen hid, a large waterfall cascaded over stones, splashing into a dark pool that was covered with broad-leaved plants.
Layer upon layer of lush, thick greenery surrounded the grotto. From her vantage point, Elly could see the opening in the wall that she had created and a small section of the outside corridor.
'What's he doing?' Doreen whispered. 'Can you see?'
A figure moved hesitantly through the opening and stopped almost immediately. Palmer looked around in obvious confusion and disbelief.
'He's inside,' Elly said. 'But he looks very nervous.'
'I don't blame him.' Doreen shuddered. 'Who knows what's in this place? I'll bet there are all kinds of poisonous snakes and insects.'
