Keri Arthur: Circle Of Fire

Jayne's silence was answer enough. Maddie closed her eyes. She'd taken to visiting Jayne and Evan when Steve wasn't home. He'd never bothered to mask his opinion of her, and lately that opinion had been openly hostile.

"Maddie, please…"

She sighed. "I'll be there in an hour."

"Thank you," Jayne whispered, and hung up.

Maddie gulped down the remains of her coffee, then turned and ran towards her bedroom. Grabbing an old canvas carryall out from under a pile of sweaters, she threw in everything she thought she might need for the next week. Maybe Jayne was right. Maybe her hated abilities were the only way to find Evan quickly. Even so, she couldn't do it alone.

Once she'd seen Jayne, she was going on down to Taurin Bay to find the man who wasn't a ghost.

Maddie climbed out of the truck and studied Jayne's large, two-story home. It was barely eight-thirty in the morning, but the winter light was so bad it might as well have been early evening. Though the house was lit up like a Christmas tree, the silence that draped it was so heavy she could almost touch it. Maddie counted the windows along the top floor until she found Evan's room. From the outside at least, it showed no sign of forced entry.

She shoved her hands into her pockets and walked up the newly shovelled driveway, trying to ignore the insidious whisper in her mind telling her she should have stayed home—should have stayed safe.

Jayne opened the front door. Her eyes were puffy and red, her face suddenly old without its usual coating of makeup. Maddie stepped up onto the porch then stopped, unsure of what to do next. Jayne was usually the one in control, the one who believed any sign of emotion should be kept out of the public's curious gaze. Even as children, it had been always been Maddie who had lost her temper, Maddie who had cried, never Jayne.

"We should have taken your dream seriously," Jayne said, her gaze not quite meeting Maddie's. "But we didn't listen. Oh God, we just didn't believe…"

Maddie hesitated, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her sister. Jayne stiffened for just a moment, then collapsed against her, sobbing softly.

"I'll find him," Maddie promised. "Somehow, I'll find him."

Jayne sniffed and pulled away. "He hasn't left a note or anything. He's simply vanished."

Vanished. Just as Jon had warned. Maddie shivered. Something told her that if she was to have any hope of finding Evan, she first had to find Jon.

"I need to see the room, Jayne." If Evan had somehow drawn Jon to her, maybe there was something in the teenager's room that would link her back to Evan.

"Okay…" Jayne hesitated then stepped away from the door. "But hurry. Steve will be back at any moment."

He'd be furious to find her in the house—and would take his anger out on Jayne. Not physically, but emotionally. From what Maddie had observed, it was, in some ways, tougher to handle.

How had the two of them managed to marry men so like their father?

She clomped up the stairs, stripping off her coat as she approached Evan's room. The house was unusually warm—odd, given Steve's belief that it made better sense to put on a sweater than turn up the heat.

Nothing had changed in her nephew's room from the last time she'd seen it, three weeks before. Posters of rock bands and scantily clad woman still vied for space on the walls. His clothes were strewn all over the floor, and the football she'd given him for his last birthday still held pride of place on his overcrowded bookshelves.

And yet there was one difference—the smell. Maddie frowned as she tried to place it. It was burnt ash, mud, and a soft hint of citrus, all rolled into one. An odd and unpleasant scent that made her stomach roll.

She blinked back the sudden sting of tears. She had to find Evan. He couldn't die. He was all that stood between her and the utter loneliness of her life.

Biting her lip, she walked across to the windows. White dust covered much of the frame, highlighting the fingerprints. But as Jon had warned, there was no sign at all that the windows had been forced. Both were still key-locked.

She turned away. The odd smell grew stronger, became a cloud that encased her in sweetness and decay and darkness. She groped blindly for the nearby dresser. Oh God, she thought, it's happening again.

Her fingers brushed against something cool and metallic—the gold chain Evan had bought with the cash he'd received for his birthday. Maybe, just maybe, she could use it to try to control the direction of the dream. As the room spun around her, she squeezed the chain into her palm and hung on tight.

For several heartbeats, darkness encased her mind. Then pinpoints of light danced through the gloom, slivers that gradually lifted the darkness. Around her, she saw the rough wooden walls of a small cabin.

Two small forms lay huddled on the dusty floor, wrapped in blankets that hid their faces from sight. One of them was Evan—she could just see the gleam of his red-gold hair.

The vision swirled slightly, and the shadows moved. A slender figure walked across the room, features hidden by a large coat and hood. It bent and lovingly touched the form lying beside Evan. A chill ran through Maddie. It was a woman's hand, and yet it had the claws of a panther.

"By the light of the new moon," the woman said, her sultry tones oddly tremulous. "Your youth will become my youth."

A hand touched Maddie's shoulder. With a small squeak of fright, she spun around. Jayne stared at her, glassy eyes widening in surprise.

"I didn't mean to scare you," she said softly.

Maddie licked her lips. "Sorry. Just a bit jumpy." She hesitated, noting the slightly pinched look around her sister's mouth. "What's wrong?"

"Steve just called. He's on his way home, and he wants to talk to you."

Maddie swore under her breath. Trust her sister to mention she was here. "I can't, Jayne. He'll want to know how I knew Evan was in danger, and he won't believe me when I tell him."

Jayne nodded, though Maddie could see the uncertainty in her sister's eyes. Despite her earlier statements, Jayne still wasn't entirely sure whether to believe her or not, either.

"Okay, then. It usually takes him five minutes or so to get here from the station. If you hurry, you might avoid him."

She squeezed her sister's hands tightly. "I'll find Evan, Jayne. I'll bring him back." Somehow.

Jayne gave her a wan smile. Maddie stepped back, then stopped, her gaze caught by the brief flash of gold on the dresser. Evan's chain. She must have dropped it when Jayne touched her shoulder. Had holding it helped the vision's direction? Maddie suspected it had, if only because it was the first time she'd ever actually seen something she'd wanted to. Usually the dreams took their own course. Maybe if she took the chain with her, she might be able to use it to help find Evan.

Not giving herself time to doubt, she brushed the chain into her hand then followed her sister down the stairs.

The old truck rattled to life at the second turn of the key, which was something of a miracle. She reversed out of the driveway then turned north. It was time to go find herself a real live ghost.

Maddie put her foot on the brakes, then winced at the squeal of metal grating against metal. The brake pads had needed replacing for some time now, but it was a task she'd hoped to put off until she'd sold the next lot of roses.

But hours of driving—the last one up and down steep mountainsides—had quickly rearranged her priorities. If she made it down this road in one piece, she was going to get them fixed as soon as possible.

At least the bright lights of Taurin Bay were finally visible below. Though now that she was nearly there, she wasn't entirely sure what she should do next. For a start, she had to find the Sherbrook Inn, but she also had to find Jon—and quickly. Heavy snowfalls were predicted within the next twenty-four hours.