Page 67 of Into Darkness (Night Prowler 6)
Nola waved impatiently to the camera. “We siphon it from the grid, but we have a few generators for emergencies, too.”
“Siphon it from the grid? And the IF doesn’t notice that?”
Nola looked at him over her shoulder, her expression amused. “If they did, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, now would we?”
Full of surprises, indeed, he thought admiringly. Lumina stiffened. He glanced at her, but she wasn’t looking at him, focusing instead on the door, which had opened.
In the doorway stood an ancient man, the oldest living person Magnus had seen in many years. He had to be close to one hundred, if not beyond. His hair was long and white, braided in two plaits that fell below his shoulders. He was olive-skinned, like Nola and James, but his was papery as parchment, and deeply lined. Also like Nola and James, he had dark, almond-shaped eyes, pronounced cheekbones, and a proud stoicism that hinted at Indian ancestry.
Though elderly, his posture was straight and sure, his gaze clear. And his voice, when he spoke, was strong and commanding.
“Ulihelsidi. Osadatsu?”
Nola squeezed the old man’s arm. “All good, Grandfather. Ositsu. No problems.”
He nodded, eyeing each of the group in turn, then moved aside to let them in. Like James, he paid particular attention to Lumina, and Magnus had to swallow the growl rising in his throat.
The old man looked at him, his eyes sharp and assessing. Then his face creased into a smile. He said something to Nola in that language of theirs, and she laughed.
“What?” snapped Magnus.
“Grandfather says your lion roars so loud the moon can even hear it.”
Well, thought Magnus, relaxing, at least he got the genus right. “I’ll
take that as a compliment.”
“Oh, believe me, it is. If he didn’t like you, he would have called you a dung beetle. Or worse.”
“Grandfather can tell everything about a person as soon as he meets him,” explained James to Lumina as they proceeded down a short corridor, then a flight of stairs. “He has the Spirit Eye.”
“Spirit Eye?” Lumina repeated, looking with interest at James.
Following behind the two of them, Magnus had to resist the violent urge to trip James and send him sprawling to the floor, and scolded himself for being so petty and ridiculous. He noticed Nola’s grandfather was looking more and more pleased.
“It’s a Native American—”
The old man interrupted James with a sharp correction in his language.
“Sorry, Grandfather. It’s a First Nation belief. The Spirit Eye lets you see into a person’s soul.”
“Sounds like an amazing Gift,” murmured Lu. The old man replied, and as Nola led the group through another door into a small antechamber that opened to a large, tri-level living area, she translated.
“He says it’s almost as good as Dreamwalking.”
Magnus sucked in his breath. Lu stopped dead in her tracks. Nola and James proceeded forward, James to a bank of monitors and computer equipment glowing blue and green along one wall, Nola toward a kitchen on the opposite side of the floor. The old man moved past them, smiling like the Sphinx.
Lu kept her gaze fixed on the old man as he joined Nola in the kitchen and lowered himself into a chair around a square wooden table. He picked up a book—real paper, real pages, a cracked, gilt-lettered spine—and began to read, ignoring everyone.
Lu glanced at Magnus, her expression fraught, but neither one of them spoke.
“You must be hungry,” called Nola from the kitchen. “The bedrooms are on the second floor; yours is last on the left. When you’ve settled in, come get something to eat, and then we’ll talk.”
She began to bustle around the kitchen, making preparations for a meal, while Magnus stood looking at her in dawning horror, realizing he’d never asked Jack about sleeping arrangements.
Dear God . . . were he and Lumina going to be sleeping in the same room?
Lumina moved past him, walking stiffly toward the stairs, and he knew they were about to find out.
