“Eventually she found me,” Alice said. “But I had no idea that my family history was connected to Rainshadow. All I knew was that I had a talent for disappearing.”
“Tucker had to figure out a way to get you on board without letting you discover your heritage and your claim to half of anything found on Rainshadow,” Drake said. “She was afraid that if you learned the truth you would go straight to the Sebastian family to demand your share. She didn’t dare let that happen.”
“She had another problem as well,” Alice said. “She was going to need a lot of money to conduct an illicit excavation here on Rainshadow.”
Fletcher raised a brow. “That’s where Aldwin Hampstead came in, I suppose.”
“Yes,” Drake said. “He had a direct pipeline into the Whitcomb family fortune. He also knew enough about the family dynamics to realize that Fulton Whitcomb would jump at the chance to prove to his mom and everyone else that he was not a loser.”
“Tucker and Hampstead decided to bring him in on the project,” Alice said. “Whitcomb was thrilled when they approached him with the idea of going after the crystals and the ruins. They told him all he had to do was convince me to enter into a full Covenant Marriage in order to be able to claim half of whatever they found on the island.”
Rachel gave Alice a wicked smile. “I’m sure they were all stunned when you turned down Whitcomb’s offer of a CM in favor of a trial marriage.”
“Yeah, well, there was this small voice whispering that it was all just a little too good to be true,” Alice said.
“After Egan Quinton murdered Fulton Whitcomb, Tucker came to Rainshadow with the diary, the secret of the catacomb entrance, and the three crystals,” Drake said. “Sure enough, she was able to use the stones to locate the pyramid. Thanks to Hampstead, she was able to tap into the museum endowment fund to finance a small-scale excavation.”
“Thanks to her work in the antiquities black market, she had already found her pet ghost hunter, Egan,” Alice said. “He was a professional killer with a talent for disguise. His job was to keep the tunnels cleared of UDEMs and serve as her spy in Shadow Bay. He rounded up a couple of his pals to handle security and bring in supplies by way of Deception Cove.”
Jasper frowned. “You say Tucker had all three crystals but only two of them were found inside the pyramid. How did the third one end up in the aquarium?”
Slade sat forward. “I can answer that. I talked to Tucker again this morning. She said she didn’t want to take any chances with the pyramid until she knew more about the power of the crystals. She took them to the aquarium to run some experiments. But she made the mistake of putting one of the stones into the rainstone vault at the aquarium.”
Rachel looked surprised. “She was able to work the rainstone to open the vault?”
“No,” Slade said. “The vault was open when she arrived at the aquarium. She took one of the crystals inside to see if it would resonate with any of the antiquities. Her action triggered the vault’s closing mechanism. When she realized that she was about to get locked inside, she panicked and ran for the exit, leaving the crystal behind. She barely made it.”
“Once the vault closed there was no way to open it again,” Harry said. He gave Rachel a knowing look. “Not unless you happen to have a talent for working rainstone.”
“In the end, Tucker was left with only two crystals,” Drake said. “She had no interest in the aquarium facility, so she went back to the pyramid chamber and planted the remaining two crystals inside. They eventually set up the unstable resonance frequencies that overheated the Chamber and ignited the fog.”
Slade looked at him. “You are going to take all of those people who are currently sitting in my jail away from Shadow Bay, right? I want them out of town as soon as possible.”
“Harry will handle that end of things,” Drake said.
“Don’t worry,” Harry said. “I’ve already talked to headquarters. A Foundation Security team—the real Foundation Security people this time—will be here in the morning. We’ll transport your guests back to the mainland and hand them over to the FBPI.”
“I’ll bet Zara Tucker lands in a locked para-psych ward,” Rachel said. “Something really twisted in that pretty little blonde head.”
“Tell me about it,” Drake said. “I still can’t believe I dated that crazy woman.”
Alice made a face. “I can’t believe I agreed to an MC with Fulton Whitcomb.”
Rachel smiled. “Everyone makes mistakes when it comes to that kind of thing. What you both need to remember is that in the end you listened to your intuition and cut your losses before you wound up in a Covenant Marriage.”
Alice shuddered. “Imagine being stuck in a marriage with someone like Fulton Whitcomb for the rest of your life.”
Sunlight flashed on Drake’s glasses. “Whitcomb and the others never intended a long-term marriage to be a problem for you.”
“There is that,” Alice said.
She shook off the creepy sensation that swept across her senses. She was safe now. It was over. And so was her Rainshadow honeymoon. At that thought, the creepy feeling gave way to an inexplicable sense of loss.
“What’s next on our to-do list?” Harry asked.
Drake straightened away from the wall. Energy sparked in the atmosphere around him. “Next up is a closer look inside the pyramid.”
“Right,” Harry said. “We need to find out how dangerous that Chamber really is.”
“And if it is dangerous?” Slade asked.
“Then we have to find a way to destroy it,” Drake said. “Preferably without taking out the whole island.”
Chapter 45
DRAKE STOOD IN THE CENTER OF THE PYRAMID AND opened his other vision. The translucent stones that formed the walls and the floor of the Chamber still seethed with energy, but the currents were stable now that the Old World crystals were gone. The wall of midnight that had blocked the entrance had disappeared.
“Feels much calmer in here now,” Alice said. “Not nearly so dark, either. I can see some of the energy locked in the walls, but it’s all sort of muted to my vision, as if this room is drenched in paranormal shadows.”
“That’s the way the daylight world appears to me when I view it through my glasses,” Drake said.
“I understand,” Alice said. “What do you see in here?”
She stood beside him, surveying the Chamber. Houdini was perched on her shoulder. He did not show any particular interest in the pyramid. Harry and Rachel stood just inside the entrance. Darwina was perched on Rachel’s shoulder, an Amberella doll in one paw.
Drake turned slowly, examining the Chamber. “Each of the big blocks of crystal are made up of hundreds, maybe thousands, of smaller crystals. Each of the small crystals is illuminated in a different shade of dark light. I’ve never seen most of these colors before. But I think I can channel some of this energy.”
“Channel it to what purpose?” Harry asked, sounding wary.
“I’m not sure yet,” Drake said. “But I don’t think there’s any risk in running a couple of experiments. The energy in this place is stable.”
“Go for it,” Harry said.
Drake scanned the myriad building blocks of the pyramid, searching for one that felt
He walked closer to the crystal and got a fix. It was as if he had flipped a switch inside the stone. An image appeared the way images do in dreamscapes. In this case, it was a very familiar image.
