She crossed the old braided rug and went into a vintage kitchen. Opening the elderly refrigerator, she took out the bowl that contained the cucumber, tomato, olive, and basil salad she had brought with her. She poured the dressing that she had made earlier over the salad and tossed everything together. When she was ready she picked up the bowl of salad and the loaf of zucchini bread she had brought and went back outside. The sun was sinking fast. The evening was growing cooler. By the time she left she would need the sweater, she thought.

“Devin Reed stopped in to see me today,” she said. She set the salad and the bread on the picnic table. “I assume that was your doing?”

“I may have given him a push in that direction. I figured out he was the most likely suspect.” Slade eased the fish onto a platter. “Devin just turned thirteen. He is obviously coming into a talent of some kind. He’s attracted to the energy in the shop. But I’m sure he didn’t steal anything.”

“I gave him one of the antiques.”

“Yeah?”

“An old Damian Cavalon compass.”

“An original?”

“Yes.”

Slade whistled. “Nice gift. Was he thrilled?”

“He seemed pleased. I did a little tuning work on the compass. It suits him now.”

“The way that pocketknife you gave me suits me?”

She shrugged. “It’s what I do. Speaking of young Devin, I’ve noticed that he hangs around you every chance he gets. Looks like he even managed to find a pair of sunglasses that looks exactly like yours.”

“I talked to him today about what’s happening to him.”

“The development of his talent?”

“Right.” Slade sat down on the opposite side of the table. “He doesn’t have any idea of what’s going on and he’s afraid to talk to his grandmother for fear she’ll think he’s got mental health issues.”

“It’s a reasonable concern. He wouldn’t be the first kid to get sent to a shrink after coming into a nonstandard, non-amber-related talent. What kind of ability do you think he has?”

“Not sure,” Slade said. “It’s still unfocused.”

“He lost his mother a few months ago. That kind of trauma can delay or even totally screw up developing senses.”

“He’s a good kid but he’s caught some bad breaks.”

“I understand that there’s no father in the picture.”

“No,” Slade said. “The kid’s got his grandmother but that’s it.”

“Myrna isn’t going to have an easy time of it. It’s hard enough to raise a teenage boy alone. Trying to deal with one who is showing some serious talent will be even more complicated.”

“Especially if the person doing the raising isn’t comfortable with the concept of nonstandard talent, herself,” Slade said.

“Who is, unless you happen to be Arcane? And even within the Society, very strong talents tend to make other sensitives nervous.”

“That’s the thing about power of any kind,” Slade said. “It can be scary. I told Devin that what was happening to him was normal but that most people wouldn’t think so. I advised him to keep quiet about his new senses until he’s older and until he’s figured out how to control them.”

“Good advice. Meanwhile, he needs guidance. No matter how you label it, what he did last night certainly fits the definition of illegal entry.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“A kid like Devin could go either way,” Charlotte said.

“I know.”

“Sounds like you speak from personal experience.”

“I do.”

HE WALKED HER HOME SHORTLY BEFORE ELEVEN o’clock, using a flashlight to illuminate the unlit road that wound through the trees along the bluff. The flashlight was for Charlotte’s sake. In spite of the damage to his talent, his night vision was still good, especially when he was a little jacked, as he was now. He had tried to keep his senses tightly shuttered all evening but just being around Charlotte was enough to give him a slight buzz, enough to illuminate the world with a faint ultralight radiance. Enough to keep the sweet ache of semi-arousal going deep inside him.

But Charlotte would have been walking blind without the artificial light. Darkness on the island was absolute once you were away from the town’s small business district and marina. There were no streetlights. The cottages and cabins scattered along the cliffs and bluffs were set far apart and veiled by thick woods. The branches of the trees that crowded close to the edges of the pavement blocked out what light came from the stars and crescent moon.

Charlotte glanced at Rex who rode on Slade’s shoulder. “You two are lucky. You can both see in the dark. Must come in handy.”

“Night vision has its uses.” He wondered how much longer he would have the paranormal eyesight that allowed him to see in total darkness. He wouldn’t need it to know if Charlotte were nearby, though, he thought. No matter how psiblind he became, something in him would always respond to her presence.

“When did Rex attach himself to you?” Charlotte asked.

“Shortly after I got out of—” He stopped abruptly. “After I finished my last job for the Office. I was living in an apartment in Crystal City. Heard a sound out on the balcony one night. I opened the slider and there was Rex. He just sat there for a while staring at me. He looked like he was waiting for something.”

“Food?”

“That’s what I figured. I gave him some leftover chicken. He ate it and then he left. The next morning he was back on the balcony with a nice little rock.”

“A rock?”

“A very green rock, psi green. I knew it had come from the underground rain forest.”

There was no mistaking the unique, acid-green glow that was the hallmark of so much of what the long-vanished aliens had constructed. Aboveground the ancient ruins of their dead cities glowed with green energy after dark. Down below, the endless labyrinth of catacombs they had built were lit with the strange green light day and night. The vast reaches of the bioengineered jungle buried deep in the Underworld were illuminated with an artificial green sun.

No one knew what had happened to the aliens who had first colonized Harmony. But human anthropologists and researchers had concluded that something in the environment of the planet had proved poisonous to them. The psi infused into the walls and buildings of their elegant, graceful cities and into the engineering marvel that was the Underworld had clearly been intended to be the antidote.

But in the end the forces of nature on Harmony had evidently proved too much for the aliens. No one knew if they had simply died out as a species or if they had called it quits and abandoned the planet. Whatever the case, they had vanished thousands of years before the human colonists from Earth had arrived on Harmony. The experts could not establish a firm date for the era of the alien colonists because the green quartz that they had used to construct virtually everything they had built or manufactured was indestructible. It showed no signs of weathering or erosion.

“So Rex brought you a rock from the rain forest to cement your relationship,” Charlotte said, amused. “What a clever, charming gift.”

“He’s been hanging around ever since,” Slade said. “Sometimes he takes off on his own for a while, usually at night. He started doing that here on Rainshadow on the night we arrived. I’ve gone with him a couple of times.”

She laughed. “Isn’t trespassing still illegal?”

“As illegal as it was fifteen years ago when you and I went in. But things have changed.”

“Like what?”

“For one thing, I’m the chief of police now. I can go anywhere I want on the island without having to worry about getting arrested for trespassing.”

“Oh, right. I forgot. You carry a badge. Must come in handy.”

“It does.” He paused, wondering how much to tell her. “But that’s not the only thing that has changed here.”