FORTY-TWO
Something has gone wrong,” Alcina said. “I can sense it.”
“Nonsense.” Welch examined his pocket watch. “I have calculated very carefully. Miss Dean is dying at this very moment. Her energy is being infused into the mirrors. You can sense the power because there is so much of it, but that is a good sign. It means that my Great Engine has begun to ignite. I have achieved what the ancients failed to accomplish, an astonishingly powerful alchemical furnace that will deliver up the secrets of the paranormal.”
They were standing together in the library of the mansion, awaiting the conclusion of the experiment that was taking place on the floor above. Welch was beside himself with excitement. He had waited so long for this moment, he thought, overcome so many obstacles. Now, at last, success was within his grasp. By dawn he would be the master of alchemical power beyond description. The arrogant Joneses of Arcane would be forced to bow to his superior talents. Royalty would be dazzled.
But the true prize was beyond measure. He was certain that the energy trapped in the mirrors could do more than bring him great wealth and power. It would do what Sylvester Jones’s formula had failed to achieve. It would enhance his paranormal senses, and if the ancients were correct, that enhancement would add decades to his normal life span.
A small, muffled explosion rumbled through the ceiling of the library. Alcina looked up, horrified.
“My artifacts,” she shrieked. “Your engine is destroying them.”
“Perhaps one or two of the relics will not survive the storm of energy in that room, but that is no great matter,” Welch said.
“No, I cannot allow that to happen. They are too precious. They enhance my talent.”
Alcina grabbed fistfuls of her skirts and ran out of the library. He heard her footsteps on the staircase.
“Alcina, wait,” he called. “Come back.”
He started after her, but the window behind him exploded inward with violent force. Glass rained down. Stunned, he whirled around.
A dark figure swept in out of the night. Welch felt a terrible force strike at him, nearly stopping his heart. Terror unlike anything he had ever known paralyzed him.
“Where is she?” Owen Sweetwater asked.
Welch’s brain seemed to be fragmenting.
“Too late,” Welch wheezed. “Experiment has started.”
“Where is she?”
“You can’t stop it.”
Another wave of terror struck Welch.
“Upstairs,” Welch managed. “She will still be alive. It will take some time to infuse her energy into the walls.”
Owen said nothing. He took a step forward and put a hand on Welch’s throat.
A shocking jolt of energy swept through Welch. There was a cold, crushing weight on his senses. He was vaguely aware that his heart was beating far too fast.
And then he was aware of nothing at all.
FORTY-THREE
Can you open the door?” Mrs. Crofton asked.
“I don’t know,” Virginia said. She tried to concentrate, but it was difficult because she was using so much energy to keep an invisible shield around herself and Mrs. Crofton. “This lock is much more complicated.”
Across the room the interior of the glass coffin started to glow with an eerie green radiance.
Virginia sighed and straightened away from the door. “We’re trapped in here, Mrs. Crofton. I do not have the necessary skill required to open this lock.”
“We are dead, then.”
“Maybe not. This is glasslight. Powerful glasslight, to be sure, but I know how to work it.”
She took Mrs. Crofton’s hand again and focused on the fire in a nearby mirrored wall panel. She opened her senses to the fullest extent. The flames inside the looking glass leaped higher. Without warning, they flashed free of the glass and lanced through the chamber. More artifacts exploded.
Mrs. Crofton gasped. “What is happening?”
“There is an incredible amount of energy trapped in these mirrors,” Virginia said. “I am setting some of it free. If I can channel it, I might be able to use it to destroy the door.”
“Won’t it destroy us as well?”
“I think I can protect you as long as you hold on to me, Mrs. Crofton.”
“Trust me, I won’t be letting go anytime soon.”
Another wall panel ignited, sending out flames of hot energy in response to Virginia’s summons. She seized control of the currents and channeled them toward the door.
More artifacts were heating now, as the objects inside them responded to the wild energy in the atmosphere.
The door of the chamber began to shudder. When there was a great quantity of paranormal energy in the atmosphere, it affected the normal energy in the space.
The door started to char. In another moment it would surely burst into flames, Virginia thought. She would have to maintain very careful control of the energy she had unleashed.
The door slammed open. Alcina stood on the threshold, the rage on her face as hot as the storm in the chamber.
“What are you doing?” she shrieked. “You are destroying my artifacts, my chamber.” She brought the gun up. “I will not allow you to do this to me.”
Virginia released Mrs. Crofton’s wrist and moved away from her. Alcina swiveled to follow Virginia. She no longer seemed to be aware of Mrs. Crofton.
“Run, Mrs. Crofton,” Virginia whispered. “I will deal with this.”
Mrs. Crofton hesitated and then hiked up her skirts and fled through the doorway. She disappeared into a dark hall.
Virginia channeled some of the energy at the gun in Alcina’s hand. The weapon glowed red. Alcina screamed and flung it aside. She ran to the nearest glass case, opened it and took out the obsidian dagger. She aimed the tip of the blade at Virginia.
Black flares flashed from the dagger. Virginia felt the blood in her veins turn cold. She could not move.
“You cannot do this to me,” Alcina shrieked at Virginia. “I will not let you destroy me.”
More energy arced from the tip of the dagger. But this time Virginia was ready for it. Her psychical resources were fading rapidly now. She was close to exhaustion. But she managed a dampening current of power.
The dagger heated with paranormal fire. Alcina screamed. Her body jerked violently. She tried to drop the dagger, but her hands seemed frozen around the hilt.
The chamber erupted into flames, the normal kind as well as the paranormal variety. Mirrors cracked, splintered, fractured and exploded. Virginia realized vaguely that the wood walls behind the looking glasses were burning. Smoke boiled into the atmosphere.
She tried to stagger toward the door, but it was a million miles away in another dimension. She knew she would not make it.
She fell to her knees, sliding into the darkest night she had ever known. Her vision wavered. When she saw Owen coming toward her through the storm of energy, she knew she was hallucinating.
“Virginia,” he said.
