“How do you know all this, Egan?” Alice asked gently.

“The dreams,” Egan whispered. He stared at the psi-fog. “I see it all in my dreams. Soon you will know the truth, too.”

“Where are the other people in this town?” Karen asked.

Egan frowned, briefly confused by the change of topic. “Those who did not flee are making preparations for the night. With darkness comes the fog, you see.” He pointed down the street to the door of one of the shops. “Some of the unenlightened are gathered there. They said that soon others would arrive to join them. You must be the ones they’re waiting for. They feared that you wouldn’t be able to get to the island in time because of the fog.”

Alice realized that he was pointing to a shop illuminated with the light of an amber lantern. The sign over the door read: SHADOW BAY BOOKS.

“Where will you sleep tonight, Egan?” she asked.

“In the marina warehouse,” Egan said. “I have a lantern to protect me.”

The door of Shadow Bay Books opened. A big, bearded bear of a man came out onto the sidewalk.

“Thought I heard someone out here,” he said. He looked at Drake. “I’m Jasper Gilbert. You must be Drake Sebastian. About time you got here. Don’t mind telling you that we were starting to get a little worried.”

“I’m Drake,” Drake said. “This is my wife, Alice. And this is someone we picked up along the way, Karen Rosser.”

It was, Alice realized, the second time that day that Drake had introduced her as his wife, first to Karen and now to a stranger. For some reason she found it unsettling. She was almost overcome with the urge to explain. I’m not his real wife. It’s just an MC and not even a real MC, at that. Except that it was a real MC.

“Pleased to meet you, ladies,” Jasper said. “Good thing you got in ahead of the fog.” He glanced back through the doorway. “They’re here, Fletch.”

An elegant, silver-haired man appeared on the doorstep. The wedding ring he wore matched the ring that Jasper had on his hand.

“Name’s Fletcher Kane. I can’t tell you how relieved we are to see you.” He turned his head to call back into the shop. “Drake Sebastian is here. He’s got a couple of friends with him.”

“A new friend and my wife,” Drake corrected.

Alice glanced at him, wondering why he was putting so much emphasis on her legal status. He gave a small, almost imperceptible shake of his head, making it clear he wanted her to keep quiet about the MC.

A handful of other people rushed out onto the sidewalk. Introductions went quickly.

“Charlotte Attridge now.” An attractive, dark-haired woman with fashionable glasses smiled. “My husband is the chief of police here in Shadow Bay.”

A red-haired woman stepped forward. “I’m Rachel Blake. I own this bookstore.” She gave Drake an apologetic look. “I’m Harry’s fiancée, Drake. Sorry we had to meet like this.”

“A pleasure,” Drake said.

Rachel gave Alice a quizzical look. “We didn’t know that Drake was married. Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Alice said, “but it’s a little complicated—”

She broke off because Drake was giving her another hard look. She couldn’t see his eyes, but it didn’t take any psychic talent to know that he wanted her to shut up.

She closed her mouth on what would have been a convoluted explanation of the MC.

“Oh, you have a dust bunny pal, too,” Rachel said, delighted.

“This is Houdini,” Alice said.

She reached up to take Houdini from her shoulder. But he surprised her by chortling excitedly. Avoiding her hands, he bounded gleefully down to the ground and fluttered through the front door of the shop. Alice heard a responding chortle from inside.

She glanced at Rachel. “You’ve got another dust bunny here?”

“Darwina. She’ll be ecstatic to have a new playmate. But it doesn’t take much to make a dust bunny ecstatic.”

There was more wild chortling from inside the bookstore and then a sudden silence. “Darwina must have given him one of her last chocolate zingers,” Rachel said. “He and Darwina will both be bouncing off the walls in a few minutes.”

Charlotte waved everyone indoors. “Come on inside and have some tea. You didn’t arrive by boat here in the marina, so I’m guessing you have a story to tell.”

“Where is Harry?” Drake asked.

Rachel paused in the doorway to look at him.

“You didn’t know?” Rachel asked. “No, I guess you wouldn’t have heard. Harry said the last time he talked to you was several days ago. The phones and computers have been down since Monday.”

Alice was aware that the others had gone very quiet.

“What’s wrong?” Drake asked.

It was Fletcher Kane who answered.

“Harry and Chief Attridge left about forty-eight hours ago. They had to go into the Preserve to track a bunch of those Glorious Dawn twits who decided to go through the fence to get enlightened. They got lost, of course. Harry and Slade went in to pull them out.”

“They haven’t returned yet,” Jasper said. “We’re getting concerned, to tell you the truth.”

“They’re okay,” Rachel insisted. “I’d know if something had happened to Harry.”

“And I’d know if anything had happened to Slade,” Charlotte declared.

Both went into the shop.

Jasper looked at Drake and lowered his voice. “Like I said, we’re worried about Harry and Slade.”

Chapter 17

“YOU GOT CAUGHT OUT IN THE OPEN WHEN THAT FOG rolled in last night?” Rachel Blake asked. She poured tea into the three cups she had placed on the table. “That must have been an absolutely horrible experience.”

Alice indicated the amber lantern sitting in the center of one of the tables. “Not nearly as bad as it would have been if Drake hadn’t realized that the boat’s emergency lantern and a nice big fire muted the effects of the fog’s energy. But I have to tell you, it was the mutant insects that made for a long night.”

Everyone at the table, with the exception of Drake, stared at her.

“Damn,” Charlotte said. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

“No,” Alice said. “It wasn’t a joking matter, believe me.”

They were gathered in the café at the back of Shadow Bay Books. It was a motley crew that had come together to figure out how to stop whatever was going on inside the Preserve, Alice thought. The weird thing was that, although she told herself she was part of the group only because she needed the job and because Drake had promised to find Fulton’s killer, she felt oddly comfortable with the others. Maybe it was because she had some genuine family history on Rainshadow. In a way, she had a right to be here; make that a responsibility to be here.

It wasn’t much in the way of family history, of course. She had not even known that Nicholas North existed until a year ago, let alone her connection to him. In addition, he had evidently been a failure at just about everything except the pirate business. She was pretty sure the only reason he had been successful in that line was because of his partner, Harry Sebastian the first, who had no doubt been the brains of the outfit. Still, North had been involved in burying the crystals that were now causing so much trouble, and Alice was his direct descendant. That linked her to the island and the situation—for better or worse. Either way, she belonged here with these people, at least for now, she thought.

Besides, she liked her new friends. They had welcomed her even though she’d had a hand in creating the problem they now faced. She wanted to help them and undo the damage she had unwittingly caused.

Rachel had prepared a special tisane for the weary travelers. Alice was amazed at how much better she felt after a few sips of the herbal brew. She could see that the tisane was also having a soothing effect on Karen Rosser, who now appeared more composed.