Jayne Castle - After Glow

She was vaguely aware that the shouts and cries at the entrance of the chamber had ceased. A great hush had fallen. She sensed the intensity of the observers. No doubt Master Herb was there somewhere among the watchers.

"A couple of them have guns," Emmett said quietly. "I think the idea is to wait until you de-rez this thing, then they'll take down my ghost and try to kill us both before you can reset the big trap."

"Sounds like a plan." If the Greenies managed to murder them both before she could reset the giant snare, they would achieve their goal of getting into the secret chamber.

"Lydia, listen to me, once the trap comes down, take Fuzz and run, as fast as you can. Don't stop, no matter what happens, understand?"

She knew then that he intended to use the mag-rez gun to buy her some time. Once the bullets started ricocheting off the walls of the antechamber and wild, chaotic ghost energy started flying around, a lot of people, including Emmett, were going to get hurt, burned, or killed.

"The trap's not coming down, Emmett. Get ready to follow me."

He flashed her a quick, questioning look but he said nothing.

She chose the section of the energy wall that was directly in front of her and then set about coring through the dark rush of power.

She caught the pulse of the resonating energy pattern in one small spot and gently dampened it. Not the simplest work she had ever done, she thought, but in an odd sort of way, it wasn't the most complicated, either. The trick was to not think about the great mass of nightmarish energy that could be so easily triggered with one misstep.

A section of night opened, slowly at first and then widening more quickly. She caught a glimpse of familiar green light coming from the mysterious chamber on the other side of the barrier.

She worked carefully until she had a tunnel wide enough to accommodate the three of them. Then she cleared the section of flooring so that they could walk through the churning passage.

"Let's go," she said.

Emmett, who had been watching the crowd at the entrance, turned. "It's still there—" he started to say and then broke off, grinning with appreciation, when he saw the opening. "Well, damn, lady, that is one really good trick. I never knew an illusion trap could be handled that way."

"There's never been any reason to try such a technique until this monster came along. Ready?"

"Go," Emmett ordered.

She moved into the tunnel and was immediately enveloped in a strange, rushing silence. Dark energy crashed and rolled overhead and on every side except for the strip she had cleared along the floor. It was as if she were caught inside the hollow curl of a tremendous ocean wave. A great sense of exhilaration swept through her, making her almost giddy.

She glanced back and saw that Emmett had followed her into the passage. He was moving quickly but she could not hear his boots ring on the floor. His mouth opened and she knew that he was speaking to her but even though she was only a yard from him she could not hear a word. When he realized that the psi energy was cloaking all sound, he grimaced, shook his head, and closed his mouth.

Fuzz crouched on Emmett's shoulder, his fur standing out all over his body in a halo of gray fluff. All she could see were his four gleaming eyes. The giddy sensation grew stronger. She started to laugh at the little furball and then she noticed the wild red-gold snakes dancing and writhing in front of her face. Her own hair was also responding to the enormous amount of ambient psi energy in the air. So was Emmett's. All three of them looked like they'd just touched a live wire carrying enough power to light up a small town.

The wall of energy was unusually thick. The tunnel she had created was at least twenty feet long.

Emmett paused midway and turned to look back over his shoulder. Lydia followed his gaze. Through the opening in the other end she glimpsed figures dashing around in the antechamber. The Greenies had managed to de-rez Emmett's ghost. Any second now one of them would brave her runnel to give pursuit.

"I'll close it," Lydia shouted and then realized Emmett couldn't hear a word she was saying.

She sent a psi probe back to de-rez the entrance of the tunnel. It closed quickly. Swirling night sealed the opening and cut off the green glow from that end.

She did not doubt that soon Herb or one of his strong ephemeral-energy para-resonators would take the risk of trying to repeat her success. But even knowing now that it could be done, they would use extreme caution around this extraordinarily powerful trap. She and Emmett and Fuzz had a little time, she thought.

She was about to congratulate herself when she noticed that the tunnel seemed to be narrowing slightly. Only then did she realize that she was tiring. The effort to hold the passage open against the pressing weight of an untold amount of psi energy was drawing down her reserves.

She beckoned quickly.

"Run!" she screamed although she knew Emmett could not hear her.

Nevertheless, he seemed to understand what was happening. With one hand around Fuzz to secure him to his shoulder, Emmett broke into a run.

Lydia whirled and raced toward the far end of the energy tunnel.

The tunnel continued to narrow. It seemed to her that she could feel the pressure of the energy bearing down on her, no longer exhilarating, but oppressively heavy. She fought back with a burst of psi power. The whirling waves drew back slightly but not for long.

The opening at the far end was closer. Just a few more paces.

Almost there.

Lydia plunged out of the collapsing tunnel with Emmett right on her heels. Her foot caught on an object on the floor. She tripped and went down hard. Emmett stumbled over the same obstacle but managed to stay on his feet. He reached down, grabbed Lydia by the collar of her shirt, and hauled her away from the entrance of the collapsing tunnel.

There was no need to reset the trap, she thought. The passage she had opened was rapidly closing itself, just as it had the last time . Emmett stopped a safe distance away from the cascade of endless nightmares. Together they watched in amazement as restless, seething energy refilled the void Lydia had created.

A wall of illusion shadow once again separated the two chambers.

"You okay?" Emmett shoved the mag-rez gun into his belt.

"Yes, I think so." She started to get to her feet, struggling to recover her breath. "Sorry about that. My memory seems to be coming back in bits and pieces. I remember now that the wall resealed itself when I escaped. I didn't have to try to reset it."

In fact, she had barely made it through.

Fuzz scurried over to her. She picked him up and examined him closely. He appeared to be fine.

"Looks like you aren't the only person to have come this way." Emmett motioned toward the object that she had tripped over on the way out of the tunnel.

She followed his gaze and saw a grinning skull and a bundle of pale bones. The skeleton was still partially covered in the tattered remains of a red-and-gold uniform that she recognized from pictures in history books and the scenes painted on the walls of Restoration Hall. The burnished glow of the famous amber-and-gold signet that had once been pinned to the chest of the jacket was undimmed after a hundred years.

Nearby lay a second skeleton garbed in a similar style. An amber pendant necklace had fallen through the rib cage.

"I remember them," Lydia said softly. The chill that went through her was disturbingly familiar. "They were here last time. Meet the remains of Vincent Lee Vance and Helen Chandler."

"So this is where they came to die after the Last Battle of Cadence." Emmett studied the skeletons. "According to the old legends they had made a suicide pact and vowed to carry it out if they were defeated. But I've got a hunch that they were a little more practical than that. Probably intended to hide from the Guild hunters until the heat died down."