As she and Drake watched, the woman trudged forward, slipping and sliding on the leaves and pebbles.

Drake straightened and moved out from behind the boulder.

“Hello,” he said quietly.

The woman froze. Stark panic etched her features. She looked back over her shoulder and then, evidently deciding she could not retreat that way, took stock of the sheer granite drop into the sea. Seeing no escape via that route, she bolted for the thick woods.

“No, damn it,” Drake shouted. “Stop. We won’t hurt you.”

Alice emerged from behind the boulder. “It’s okay. Please, come back.”

But the fleeing woman did not stop. She disappeared into the heavy undergrowth. Her high-pitched screams echoed in the woods for a moment and then abruptly ceased.

“Son of a ghost,” Drake said. “She would have to go through the fence.”

“We can’t leave her there,” Alice said. “We have to find her. She’ll never survive the night inside this part of the Preserve.”

“I know.” Drake looked grimly resigned to the inevitable. “Okay, let’s go. Stick close.”

“Don’t worry, I will.”

The invisible energy of the paranormal fence line made its presence felt within a few steps. The force field was unpleasant and unnerving at first, lifting the hair on the nape of Alice’s neck. She gritted her teeth against the effects and followed Drake deeper into the psi-barrier.

The hallucinations—auditory and visual—struck hard. Strange figures materialized out of the shadows, beckoning her to her doom. Specters warned her to go back before it was too late. And always, always, there were the bloodcurdling chills that wracked all of her senses. She jacked up her talent to counter some of the effects. She knew that Drake had done the same thing.

He reached back and held out his hand. She grabbed it. The shock waves of the fence diminished somewhat. Just like last night, she thought. Physical contact helped to ward off the worst of the psychic disturbances.

Houdini dashed along at their heels, unaffected by the forces.

And then, between one step and the next, they were through the fence and inside the Preserve. The hallucinations ceased only to be replaced by the strange atmosphere of the Preserve.

Energy stirred all around Alice—some of it from the botanical world, some from the animal and insect kingdoms. All of it felt overheated. Here and there flashes of psi-light sparked in the shadows. Patches of vegetation glowed. Mushrooms fluoresced. The thick tree canopy overhead blocked out what little daylight there was. An ominous wind stirred the leaves of the trees, causing them to shiver and glitter with malevolent light. The whole place was infused with the dark energy of a building storm front.

Drake came to a halt. Alice stopped beside him. There was no sign of the woman, but Houdini made urgent little noises and fluttered through a small forest of giant iridescent ferns.

Alice and Drake followed.

The screams started again.

Chapter 13

THE HEAVY ENERGY OF THE PRESERVE DISTORTED SOUND. Alice could not be sure of the direction of the screams. But she could tell that Drake and Houdini were able to track the desperate cries.

“This way,” Drake said. “Whatever you do, don’t get lost on me.”

“I won’t,” Alice vowed. “I’ve been lost in here before, remember?”

They pushed their way through a maze of massive, phosphorescing palm fronds, Houdini in the lead. Brushing up against the hot greenery sent little sparks of energy across Alice’s senses. The sensation was not painful, but the strangeness of it all made her deeply wary.

The crying was louder now. The sobbing woman was not far away, but the energy inside the Preserve was so disorienting she might as well have been a hundred miles off.

Houdini, however, had no problem navigating the strange forest. He scampered through a veil of weird blue orchids and promptly vanished.

“Wait,” Alice called.

Houdini reappeared, bounced up and down a few times, and made more excited noises. When they caught up with him, he scampered forward again, heading toward a forest of giant glowing mushrooms.

It was not just the ferns and the mushrooms that seemed outsized, Alice realized. Much of the vegetation appeared unnaturally large. A waterfall of flowers—each bloom as large as a dinner plate—tumbled from a creeping vine.

It had been a year since she had last been inside the Preserve, and at that time she had been on a different part of the island. She had seen many strange and unnerving sights on that occasion, but she did not recall anything quite like the huge ferns and the towering mushrooms. A year ago the forbidden territory had been an eerie wonderland, disturbing in some ways but also enthrallingly beautiful. Today she felt as though she was walking through a demon’s garden lit by garish paranormal energy.

The screams stopped. That was probably not a good sign, Alice thought. Drake was moving faster through the heavy foliage, and Alice hurried to keep up with him.

They broke out into a small clearing and saw the woman. She was no longer running. She had come to a halt between two large trees. She was still trying to scream but her cries were hoarse and breathless now. She flailed wildly but her movements were severely restricted and becoming more subdued by the second.

“Son of a ghost,” Drake muttered, raising the fire-starter.

Alice finally saw what had brought the fleeing woman to a halt. She was trapped in the glistening strands of a giant spiderweb.

Houdini stopped, hissing. Dread chilled the back of Alice’s neck. She looked up and saw a large, dark, bloated shape. Faceted eyes glittered like ice-cold jewels. There was something both terrifying and compelling about the unblinking gaze. Eight long limbs shifted in the shadows.

“Spider,” Alice whispered, horrified.

“Here we go again,” Drake said.

The spider started toward its prey. The woman was no longer shrieking. She was shivering violently and was so deeply entangled in the sticky strands of glistening silk she could not move her arms and legs.

Houdini growled. He was not treating this encounter like a game. But Alice knew there was nothing he could do. If he tried to attack the spider, he would become enmeshed in the web.

“Houdini, no,” Alice said quietly.

“Keep him out of the way,” Drake ordered.

Alice scooped up Houdini and tucked him under her arm.

The spider was closing in on the almost motionless woman.

Drake rezzed the ignition button on the fire-starter. The narrow flame flashed, striking the spider. It jerked spasmodically and then its eight legs collapsed like matchsticks. The thing plummeted to the ground and didn’t move.

“You’re okay now,” Drake told the woman. “I’ll have you free in a few minutes.”

He used the fire-starter like a small cutting torch and sliced through the web. Alice worried that the silk would burst into flames, but instead it shriveled and melted. The remnants flapped like the spectral cloak of a faded ghost.

The woman tumbled to the ground. She was covered with strands of spider silk but she was breathing.

Houdini was still growling, signaling that the danger was not over.

“We need to get her out of here,” Drake said. “The commotion and the smell of the dead spider will probably attract other things that I’d rather we did not have to deal with. I’ll keep watch while you get her free of the web.”

Alice went to her knees beside the woman and started scraping off the sticky strands.

“Can you move?” she said to the blonde.

“Yes, I-I think so,” the woman gasped.

She struggled to her knees, swiping at the strands of silk that clung to her face. She stared at Drake.