Kyle sighed. “That's good. Delta. You did fine."

It jumped into the air again. "I told her I could! I told her I could!"

Kyle turned to Seeks-the-Moon. "I'm going to see about the Trumans," he said. "Guard my body and the boy's while I'm gone."

The spirit nodded. "Of course."

Kyle sat down in one of the room's chairs and relaxed. He turned his astral senses inward and examined his own body and spirit. His form was tired, running on hyperkaf and adrenaline, but soon that would not be enough. His spirit, however, was alight with energy. He willed himself to be solely spirit, to loosen the connection to his physical body and float free, and he did.

Kyle's spirit separated, and he stepped clear of his body and into astral space. The room, filled with plants, was bright with life. Both Seeks-the-Moon and Doctor Douglas also glowed warm, strong, and healthy. Mitchell Truman was the only living source not radiating brightly. He was dim, a meat shell barely holding life.

Seeks-the-Moon, who could sense simultaneously in both the physical and astral realms, regarded Kyle in his astral form. As an expression of Kyle's idealized self-image, his astral shape sparked energy off its lean, muscular form. For a moment he was unmasked and his aura showed all his potential as a mage initiated into the higher mysteries of the world. A single throbbing silver cord connected his astral body with his physical one. He knew he could see that connection clearly now, but as he moved away from his body, the cord would dim into insubstantiality.

“I’ll be back quickly," he told Seeks-the-Moon, and the spirit nodded.

Kyle turned toward the window, which, along with its frame, was dull and lifeless in astral space. His astral form would be able to pass through it easily. The plants in the room, however, being now or once alive, he'd have to fly over.

And fly he did with the speed of thought.

Kyle flew out beyond the medical facility and high into the still-dark morning air. The city was alive beneath him, stretching away in a glowing haze to the north, west, and south. To the east it abutted the vivid glow of Lake Michigan, which hummed with life almost as brightly as the city.

Kyle also saw many patches of dark, places in the city where the creations of man were strong enough to dominate the living auras that inhabited them. The Shattergraves of old downtown Chicago was a dark blight, a scar across what had once been the heart of the city. That, however, was not Kyle's destination, but Truman Tower, still south of him.

He soared that way, high above the city, which passed as a prismatic blur beneath him. The Tower soon loomed before him, cold and dim in astral space, but recognizable by its shape and location. Dim patches of life could be seen emanating from within it, but the non-living obviously dominated.

Kyle shot toward the penthouse and entered through the lakeside windows that opened into what the Trumans used as their family room. Seated on the central couches were Melissa and her sister Madeleine, whom Kyle had met only in passing at the hospital. She was older by nearly a decade than either Melissa or Mitchell, and was lighter of complexion as well as build.

Entering the room, he hovered there as Charlotte also entered from the floor below. She braked to a quick stop in front of him.

"Master," came the reverberations of her voice through astral space. "The watcher found you!"

"What happened?" Kyle asked her.

"The area you told me to guard was entered by another spirit," the elemental told him. "I sensed it and moved to strike at it, but it sensed me also and fled before I could reach it. I did not pursue, as you did not instruct me to."

"No, you did well. Did you see what it was?"

"I could not," Charlotte replied. "Its coloration was dark."

"Dark?" asked Kyle. "It was weak?"

"No, it was powerful, but its colors were dark."

That puzzled Kyle. He'd never heard of any spirit with dark coloration. Then again, there were many things about this that he-

Something was wrong. The two women had stood up and were backing away across the room, frightened by something in his vicinity. He turned and looked behind, but saw only the dark opacity of the plasteel windows. He and Charlotte were the only beings present in the room beside Melissa and Madeleine.

Of course. He was unmasked and radiating power, which meant he was probably leaking some of that energy into the physical world, and Charlotte's presence was probably compounding the problem. The result was undoubtedly an area of haze or distortion hanging in the room. Between the two of them they might even be dumping off enough energy into the physical world to make the area glow slightly.

"We need to manifest," he told Charlotte.

"Very well," the spirit said grudgingly.

Kyle willed his astral form into synchrony with the physical world, and then allowed himself to appear there, ghostly and insubstantial. It was the best he could manage while he was a spirit without body.

The women were startled, and began to race toward the nearest doorway. Kyle held out his hand. "Melissa, Madeleine!" he called. "It's all right. It's Kyle Teller!"

They paused a moment as the more familiar form, at least for Melissa, of Charlotte appeared next to him. Slowly, recognition dawned on Melissa's face, though Madeleine still seemed frightened.

"Jesus fraggin' Christ!" Melissa said. "You scared the drek out of us!"

Kyle smiled and shrugged. "Sorry. I didn't realize you'd be able to see signs of Charlotte and me. Manifesting seemed to be the only thing to do once you noticed us."

Melissa turned toward her sister. "Maddy, you remember Mr. Teller from the hospital."

Madeleine Truman nodded. "Yes. Yes, I do. Of course, he looked slightly different then."

Melissa laughed. "Yes, I suppose he did."

Kyle started when he realized what was going on. His astral form, glowing and sparking with energy, was quite nude and quite idealized. He reached out and grabbed Charlotte and pulled the spirit down in front of his waist.

"Sorry," he said.

"Please," said Madeleine, "don't be modest on our account."

"Yes," said Melissa, "we had no idea." She smiled. "I mean there are all sorts of stories about orks and trolls, and even dwarfs, but I'd never heard of magicians being so, um, gifted."

"Unfortunately, it's not quite like that." Kyle was about to explain, then realized he didn't really want to. Let them think what they pleased. "There's no change in your brother's condition, but I wanted to check on you and the rest of the family."

"We're fine," said Melissa. "My mother and father are packing some clothes so they can stay at the hospital with Mitchell until you and the doctors can figure out what's wrong with him."

"Have you had any luck?" Madeleine asked.

"No, not really. Some theories, but nothing more than that."

Melissa broke in suddenly. "Oh! There was a message waiting here when we got back. The staff said some woman had called looking for Mitch. She sounded upset."

"Did she leave her name?"

Melissa shook her head. "No. She hung up when the maid said he was in the hospital."

"Damn," said Kyle. Now whoever it was, probably Linda Hayward, knew Mitchell was in the hands of his family. "Does Facile know about the phone call?"

"Yes, Hanna told him right away."

"Good. Tell Hanna to instruct the staff not to give out any more information."

"She's already done that."

"Good. I'm going back to the hospital. I'll let you know if anything changes."

"Thanks," said Melissa.

"Hope to see you again," added Madeleine.

Kyle smiled. "I suspect you will." He returned to astral space. "Charlotte, resume your duties. But make sure Lieutenant Facile of Knight Errant knows that another spirit was here."