Page 69 of Sweetwater and the Witch

WARNING

MIRAGE LAKE AND NIGHTMARE CAVE AHEAD

YOU ARE ENTERING A HOT ZONE

DO NOT STOP FOR NEXT THIRTY MILES

“Oh, wow,” Ravenna said. She munched some chips and held the bag out to Ethan. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing Mirage Lake. I read about it online when I realized I would be driving this road to Silver Lake.”

“Don’t get too excited.” Ethan fished out a couple of chips. “I drove out here to take a look shortly after I moved to Illusion Town. There’s not much to see during the day. Like the sign says, it’s just a mirage. But there’s a lot of hot energy in that area. It really heats up at night.”

She looked at him, her brows lifting. “You went through the hot zone at night?”

“I was curious.”

Ravenna cleared her throat. “The signs clearly say no one should drive through here at night. They also say no one should stop in this zone for the next thirty miles.”

“I know,” Ethan said. “I can read.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Well? What was it like?”

“Interesting. I think both the mirage and the cave are being fed by some Underworld source of intense paranormal energy. A vein of some unknown quartz, maybe.”

“Or an Underworld volcano?”

“That’s a possibility,” he agreed. “Don’t eat all the chips.”

“Help yourself.” She held the bag out to him again. “Did you actually go inside Nightmare Cave?”

“I ducked in and had a look around. There’s a lot of energy in there. It’s manageable if you’ve got enough talent to handle it, but it’s not fun.”

“How bad was it?”

“Let’s just say I didn’t stay long.”

She started to ask another question, but what looked like a sapphire-blue lake began to coalesce in the distance.

“That’s amazing,” she said. “It looks so real.”

The closer they got to the shimmering mirage, the more difficult it was to focus on it. The vision of incredibly blue water was constantly shifting. Every time she thought she could make out the surface of a real lake, it faded back into raw desert.

“The energy in the area is somehow producing the mirage,” Ethan said. “At night it generates thunderstorms and serious winds.”

She glanced at him. “How long did you stay in this zone after dark?”

“The whole night. Not by choice, though. Turns out the sign is right. You can’t drive this section of the highway after dark.”

“You mean it’s illegal to drive it after dark.”

“No, I mean it can’t be done, at least not with current technology. The energy in the storms rendered the Slider’s engine inoperable. I spent the night in the car. The next morning I had to retune the ignition amber and the fuel bars. Luckily I always carry an emergency starter kit.”

“But you were okay inside the car?”

Ethan patted the dashboard with affectionate pride. “This is a very good car. Needed a new paint job, though.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Late that afternoon Ravenna got the first of what proved to be a deluge of unsubtle hints that her grand plan for finessing the social situation at the anniversary celebration was on shaky ground. She was lounging against the railing of the hotel veranda, drinking tea and doing her best to deflect probing questions from several inquisitive cousins, when she spotted Ethan and her grandmother returning from a tour of the gardens.

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