Page 84 of It takes a Psychic

“I suppose so,” Leona muttered.

“No question. No one in their right mind would take a chance like that.” Oliver stepped back from the machine and surveyed the glowing chamber. He shook his head in disbelief. “And to do it down here where the para-rad is already intense and unpredictable. Talk about insane.”

Leona tried not to dwell on that observation. She and Molly were not insane. They were not monsters, either.We’re not Vance knockoffs,damn it.

Once again she forced herself to focus. She considered the pulsing pyramid crystal in her hand. “I think this stone is more than just a locator device designed to guide someone to the machine.”

There was a flash of movement in the doorway. Belatedly she realized that Roxy was growling. She whirled around.

“You’ve got that right,” Hester Harp announced from the entrance of the chamber. She had a flamer in one hand, and her eyes glittered with a disturbing energy. “It’s much more than a GPS. According to Vincent Lee Vance, it’s the key to Vortex. The key to the future. You are the bride, and you will unlock the enhancement machine.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Harp was not alone. EdithFenwick was at her side, a flamer in her hand as well. Clustered behind them, Leona could see a small gaggle of people gathered in the hallway. She recognized several of them, including Burt, the man who had made a show of displaying his mag-rez in the diner. Luckily, his pistol would not function in the Underworld, but now he had a flamer. The bartender, the waitress, and the guys on the barstools were in the group, as well. Several were armed.

She was surprised to see Baxter Richey and Darla Price in the group. The paranormal investigators were wide-eyed and excited. Probably figured they were living the dream, about to get the story of the century.

Baxter had an old-fashioned amber-based video camera braced on his shoulder. The little red light indicated it was filming. Darla Price had a notebook in one hand, a pen in the other. She was no doubt scripting the next episode of their show, Leona thought.Vincent Lee Vance Returns:Exclusive film and interviews. She wondered what would happen when Vance failed to make his big comeback.

Notably, two individuals were absent—the collector, Norton Thacker, and the Guild man, Dwight Starkey. Leona couldn’t decide if that was interesting or ominous. Given the current situation, she was leaning toward ominous.

Roxy’s low growl shattered the crystal-sharp tension. Leona looked down and saw her crouched beneath the Vortex machine. She was sleeked out and ready for combat—a pint-sized warrior with a fascinator.

The growl got Hester’s attention. “It’s that fucking dust bunny.”

She raised the flamer and aimed it at Roxy.

“No,” Leona said, suddenly frantic. “Don’t shoot her. She’s harmless. Roxy, please. Stop growling. Stay where you are, okay?”

Roxy stayed put but she did not fluff up. She kept all four eyes wide open.

“I wouldn’t fire a flamer in that direction if I were you, Ms. Harp,” Oliver said. He removed his glasses and began to polish them with a handkerchief. In the process, he slipped effortlessly into his Museum Guy persona. “Even if you’ve got very good aim, you’ll hit Vortex as well as the dust bunny. There’s no telling how that sort of energy would affect the machine. After all, it’s Old World tech that has been sitting down here in a sea of para-radiation for a very long time. It’s no doubt highly unstable.”

The lecture worked. Harp swung the barrel of the flamer away from Roxy. Leona’s relief was short-lived, however, because the weapon was now aimed at Oliver.

He carefully repositioned his glasses on his nose. “You all went to a lot of trouble to lure Dr. Griffin and me to your quaint little town.”

“We don’t need you,” Edith Fenwick declared. “You’re a damned nuisance.”

“I got that impression last night when someone tried to murder me with an artifact,” Oliver said.

“You’re a problem, Rancourt,” Burt warned.

“Because I was chasing Vortex,” Oliver said. “The juggler knew that sooner or later I’d find my way to Lost Creek, so they decided to issue an invitation in the form of an Old World document I couldn’t resist, the Bluestone Project file.”

“Juggler?” Burt snorted. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You know the juggler as the Voice,” Oliver said.

“The Voice wanted you out of the picture,” Burt shot back. “It said the artifact would take care of you last night, but the next thing we knew, the two of you had disappeared.”

“How did you find us here in the Underworld?” Leona asked.

Harp chuckled. “The pyramid crystal, of course. The Voice told us there’s a tracking code on it.”

“The Voice has known where you were every step of the way,” Edith Fenwick said. “When we realized you were heading down into the tunnels last night, the Voice told us to wait. For hours there was nothing. Figured you were asleep. But this morning the Voice said you had found the enhancement machine.”

“Interesting,” Oliver said. “Vortex has been down here all along but you couldn’t find it, could you?”

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