Iris Johansen - Quicksand

"You didn't do it," Montalvo said.

"Of course I did. I saw what happened to her with Bobby Joe and I went right on. I was willing to put her through that hell. Oh, granted, I didn't know that she wouldn't just be facing one death but all those others." She said unevenly, "But, God help me, I might still have done it. So what kind of ruthless bitch am I?"

"Driven, obsessed, desperate," Montalvo said gently. "And, yes, ruthless. It goes with the territory. But you're also very giving and have moments of being damn wonderful."

"Bullshit."

He smiled. "Go on and start your vigil with Megan. This isn't the time for me to talk to you. But my moment will have to come, Eve."

"No, it doesn't. I don't want to-" She broke off as she looked at him. He was still dirty and bruised and it reminded her of all he had gone through tonight for her and Laura Ann… and Bonnie. She nodded slowly as she moved down the hall toward Megan's hospital room. "We'll find a time to talk."

MEGAN'S FACE HAD NO COLORand she looked very fragile in the white hospital bed. She was hooked up to an IV.

Phillip Blair was sitting in an upright visitor's chair beside her bed.

"How is she?" Eve asked.

Phillip shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think those doctors know either. We're all just waiting. Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Though I'm surprised you'd ask. You obviously have no kind feelings toward me." She grimaced. "And who could blame you? Certainly not me."

"No, it will take a long time for me to feel anything but resentment toward you. Megan is my family. We've been together since her mother died when she was fifteen." He gave her a cool glance. "I'm very protective of my family."

"And I respect you for it. But you don't have to protect Megan from me right now. All I want to do is stay with her until she wakes."

"Why?"

"Because I like her more than any woman I've met in a long time. Because I hurt her. Because I'm worried sick about her. Is that enough reason?"

He didn't speak for a moment. "Maybe." He nodded at the other visitor's chair. "Sit down."

She dropped down in the chair. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I have an ulterior motive. Megan's going to want reassurance when and if she comes out of this. I have to have answers."

"Answers," Eve repeated. "What are you talking about?"

"She was probably very upset before she collapsed?"

"Of course. It was horrible for her."

"And did she touch any of you?"

Eve tried to remember. "I reached out and held her hand at one point. Just for a minute, and then she pulled it away."

Phillip muttered an oath. "Dammit, I knew it would happen. Anything else?"

She shook her head. "Joe held her on the way back from the island. She was unconscious and in shock."

He frowned. "I think that's probably all right. No emotional contact."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

He glared at her. "You wouldn't have had to know anything if you hadn't persuaded Megan to go into that swamp."

"Look, she did go, and that's past history. There's nothing I can do about it. Now, why are you on edge about my touching Megan?"

He didn't answer.

"Phillip, I'm exhausted, I'm worried, my nerves are shot, and I've no intention of letting you say something like that and ignoring it. This weird phobia Megan has about touching people has been popping up since I met her. I've hurt her enough tonight. I'm going to know if I somehow managed to accidentally hurt her again."

He looked back at Megan. "She's the only one who has the right to talk about it."

"Tell me, dammit."

He wearily leaned back in his chair. "She wouldn't be the one hurt. It wouldn't matter so much to her if she was the one to take the hit. When she's under extreme emotional tension, it's sometimes dangerous for her to touch anyone."

"How?"

"Megan is not only a Listener. In the last few months she's discovered she has another psychic gift." He smiled sardonically. "Though she thinks of it more as a curse. She found out that she's a Pandora."

"Pandora?"

"Another term would be a facilitator. She can release the dormant psychic talents of those around her. She doesn't know exactly how it works, but she thinks it's triggered by extreme emotion and she has to touch them. That's why she isn't practicing medicine right now. She can't take the risk."

"Risk?"

"Some people can't accept the release. They can't handle it." He paused. "There have been… deaths."

She shook her head incredulously. "This is totally bizarre. I've never even heard of anything like that."

"Neither did Megan. Imagine how she feels."

"I have to imagine," she said flatly. "Because I can't believe it."

Phillip shrugged. "That's your privilege. You asked, I answered. But is it any more unbelievable than the fact that she's a Listener? You seem to have accepted that premise."

"That's… different."

"Because you've been a witness and gone through the experience with her. She was hoping you wouldn't even have to know she was a Pandora. But you touched her and that means we have to be on watch."

"You're saying I might die?"

"I'm saying that in two cases the subject went mad and that resulted in death. In another case there was no ill effect and he seems to be handling the gift." He made a face. "Though he'd rather go back to the way he was before."

"And that came just from touching one of these Pandoras?"

"She thinks that's the trigger. She can't be certain. As I said, this is new to Megan. She doesn't know any of the nuances. The releasing of the talent occurred after she touched the subjects during a moment of intense emotionalism. At first she wouldn't even accept that she was the one responsible."

"I wouldn't either."

The corner of Phillip's lips lifted in a half smile. "Because you may be very much alike. Megan has always been practical and levelheaded. Then her life was turned upside down and she's been trying to get it back on track. She loved being a doctor. It's killing her to not go back to medicine. It's the measure of how much she believes that she could hurt her patients that she refuses to take the chance."

"There has to be another explanation."

"And I hope we all find it. Until that happens, I'd just as soon you stay close so that I can keep an eye on you."

"To see that I don't go off my rocker?" she asked dryly. "And what great psychic gift am I supposed to develop?"

He shrugged. "Whatever talent is latent in you. Telepathy, mind reading, healing. I understand some psychics are supposed to be able to predict the future, communicate with the departed, and find lost objects."

"And you believe these things are possible?"

"I know some of them are possible. I've experienced the benefits of one of them."

"Which one?"

He shook his head. "I promised I wouldn't talk about it."

"How convenient." She gazed back at Megan's face. Dear God, she wished she'd regain consciousness. "And how long am I supposed to be under this surveillance?"

"I don't know. I understand sometimes the subject shows signs of the release of talent at once and then in others there's a delay. We don't know how long that delay might be. We just don't know enough about it. Megan has been planning on investigating any other possible Pandoras she can find to try to find out answers. You didn't give her the opportunity before you pulled her into that swamp."

"Pandora…" Eve thought about the name. "The mythological woman who opened the box and let out all troubles into the world?"

"It depends on what myth you read. Pandora kept hope in the box, why not other virtues?"

The lady with the box.

What had Bonnie said about the lady with the box?

Don't let her hurt you, Mama. Don't let her hurt me …