Jayne Castle: Ghost Hunter

Cooper did not move. "What was wrong between us?"

"You're serious, aren't you? You really don't know how I've made excuses for you every time you were late for a date because of Guild business. You want to talk denial? I even went so far as to let Mom convince me that the fact that you've never shown any interest in doing anything more than kiss me good night very politely at the door was just your quaint way of demonstrating respect for my clan and the old courtship traditions. But that's not true, is it?"

"What are you implying?" Cooper asked without inflection.

"I'm not implying anything. I'm saying that your reasons for wanting to marry me are the same as Palmer Frazier's. You think I would make an excellent Mrs. Guild Boss. And, by golly, you're right. Not only can I bring you top-of-the-line family connections within the Guild, but I've got one foot in the mainstream world as well because of my academic career."

"Elly," John snapped. "That's enough."

"You liked the fact that I was involved in the world outside the Guild, didn't you, Cooper?" she said. "Because the status of the Guilds has been slipping for years, and that's a real problem."

"Elly," John repeated, sounding a little desperate this time.

"More and more people are coming to the conclusion that the Guilds are relics of another era," she continued tightly. "That they no longer serve any real purpose aside from supplying guys who can fry ghosts. Folks are asking themselves if that rather limited job description really warrants the kind of power and influence that the Guilds have acquired through the years. It's safe to say that if the organizations don't find a way to become a part of mainstream society soon, they are going to become anachronisms."

"The city-states will never forget that it was the ghost hunters who saved the colonies during the Era of Discord," John declared in ringing accents.

"Old news, Dad. Sure, there's still some macho glamour left, but let's face it, most educated, well-informed people view hunters as so much hired muscle. More and more young hunters are leaving the Guilds early. They join up just long enough to make some good money, and then they move on to more respectable professions in mainstream society. If the Guilds don't remake themselves and learn to operate like modern business corporations instead of closed, secretive societies, they're going to get left in the dust of history."

She broke off, exasperated.

Neither Cooper nor Elly's father said a word. They just looked at her as if she was one of the long-gone aliens who had returned unexpectedly to demand the return of the Guild boss's big quartz desk.

"Believe it or not, I didn't come here to debate the future of the Guilds," she said quietly.

"You wanted answers to your questions about the duel," Cooper said. "You got them. Now what?"

She started tugging on the spectacular amber and gold ring that she wore on her left hand. "Now that I know the real reason you fought that duel, I have no choice but to end our engagement."

"Elly," John was clearly stunned. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Giving Cooper back his ring."

She walked across the vast chamber and put the ring down on the quartz desk. It made a small, final-sounding little clink as it settled on the hard stone.

Cooper watched her, saying nothing.

"Keep your Guild secrets and your Guild traditions." She went toward the door. "And keep the ring until you find the right woman to be your wife."

"We'll talk later when you've had a chance to calm down," Cooper said.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible," she said. "I'm going to be very busy for the next couple of days, cleaning out my office and packing up my things."

John bristled. "The Academic Council has asked you to leave already? You said the rumors had just begun to circulate around the campus. There hasn't been time for anyone to call a meeting. They have to give you a chance to defend yourself."

"Relax, I haven't been fired, Dad. I'm going to turn in my resignation to the head of the Department of Botany as soon as I get back to the campus. After that I will be making plans to leave town. I'm moving on with my life."

"This is crazy." John rounded on Cooper. "You're the Guild boss, damn it, do something."

Cooper did not do anything. He looked at the ring on his desk and then he looked at Elly as though he was suddenly seeing her in a strange, new light.

"There is nothing Cooper or anyone else can do, Dad," Elly said from the door.

"I'll have your mother talk to you," John vowed, falling back on the threat of last resort.

"Mom will understand." Elly put her hand on the massive doorknob.

"I have one question," Cooper said softly.

She chilled. It took every ounce of will she possessed not to yank open the door and flee the room. Instead she made herself look back over her shoulder.

"What is it?" she asked.

"What did you mean a moment ago when you said that now that you knew the real reason behind the duel, you had no choice but to end the engagement? I got the impression that I gave the wrong answer."

"You did."

"I'm a student of history. I like to learn from it when I can. Was there a right answer?"

"To be honest, no." She tightened her grip on the knob. "Settling matters with a duel is a particularly appalling example of the worst and most benighted traditions of the Guild. But I grew up in a Guild family. I understand how tenacious tradition can be. I would not have ended our engagement solely because you engaged in a duel."

"Why are you ending our engagement, then?"

"Because of the reason you fought it."

"I don't understand."

"I know," she said.

She opened the door and walked out of the historic chamber. She would not collapse in a puddle of tears, she vowed. Not yet, at any rate.

She had a new life to plan. One thing was clear; she had to put some distance between herself and Cooper Boone. This town wasn't big enough for both of them.

Six Months Later in the Catacombs Beneath Cadence City…

SHE KNEW AN ILLEGAL DRUG LAB SETUP WHEN SHE SAW one.

Bertha Newell brought the aging utility sled to a halt near the vaulted entrance of the underground chamber. She was an old ruin rat who had been excavating the alien catacombs most of her life. She figured she had spent more time underground than all of the members of the faculty of para-archaeology up at the university combined. This wasn't the first time she had come across evidence of illegal activity in the ancient tunnels.

Ever since the founding of the colonies, the maze of glowing green quartz tunnels had offered a refuge, albeit a dangerous one, to an endless assortment of thieves, murderers, escaped prisoners, drug dealers, cult leaders, and others who did not want their activities exposed to the light of day.

Down here in the endless network of mostly uncharted passageways there was always someplace to hide, provided you were willing to take the risks. One bad mistake in the catacombs could easily result in a death sentence or worse.

She hesitated, trying to decide how to handle the situation. Ruin rats, by and large, were a live-and-let-live bunch. They tended to be obsessive about their privacy and secretive by nature. Most were ephemeral-energy para-resonators, otherwise known as tanglers, who, for various reasons, had never been accepted into the elite Society of Para-Archaeologists.

Tanglers were the only para-resonators who could de-rez the dangerous illusion traps that guarded many of the chambers inside the catacombs. They were as necessary to exploration and excavation teams as ghost hunters. But unlike the hunters, who had organized in tough, secretive guilds, tanglers had early on developed a strong academic tradition.