“We have to. If no’ we’ll close the shades and stay on the tarmac until you can get my stone tae me.”

“All right. Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out and get you back here in time. Are you going to tell me what happened?”

“No’ now. I’m no’ alone and I’ll be bringing a guest.”

“We’ll be waiting for you.”

He hung up the phone.

“I’m going to go check.” Kat bolted out of the car and headed for the entrance to Walmart. She checked one and the note was still there untouched. Then she checked the other and saw beneath her writing:

Where in Portales? We’ll be there with bells on. I’m Isabella and I’m not a ghost either.

Kat responded with the exact address and wrote:

If neither of us is a ghost, then what is going on here?

As she watched, the note floated into the air and opened up. It flattened up against one of the giant claw machines and a slow, beautiful script began to fill the page.

I have no idea. Maybe we will figure it out in Portales. Why are we going there?

Kat wrote:

I have new friends there. Friends who might help us find a solution.

The response came only moments later. Bella wrote:

All right, we’ll meet you there!

At the last minute she was struck with a moment of brilliance. She grabbed the arm of a man walking into the store.

“Excuse me, sir, do you see someone standing there?” She pointed to the place where the note still lay flat on the machine.

“Is this a joke?” he asked. “Young lady it’s too cold to be—”

“Please. Just tell me what you see.”

He sighed. “I see a lovely little brunette, curling black hair … purplish eyes. Cute figure. And her male companion who is glaring at me for ogling what is no doubt his wife.”

“Oh. Can you speak to her?”

“Yes, and so can you,” he snapped. Then he jerked free of her and went on into the store.

Kat brought the note to Ahnvil and showed it to him. Once again Ahnvil said all he could see was her responses. She told him how the letter had seemed to float of its own volition and telling him that the man had been able to see Bella but once again she had not.

“I thought about telling her how you’re a Nightwalker. I mean, what could it hurt, right? She’s not even in the same dimension as we are. At least I don’t think she is. But then, that man saw her. I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“ ’Tis best that you dinna tell her about Nightwalkers. No’ until we learn more abou’ this. Now, let’s be on our way.”

She nodded vigorously in agreement. Nighttime was burning and she knew time was growing short for him. He seemed to grow exponentially more agitated as they drove. By the time they had entered the airport he had broken into a sweat. When she ventured to touch his chest, his shirt was damp with it.

She had never been on a private jet before. As they stood at the hangar and watched the plane land several hours later, she had grown just as anxious as he was.

“What if the sun …” she said hoarsely, unable to comprehend what would happen.

“We draw the shades tight and we wait until dark.”

“You don’t have that long.” She turned a hard look on him. “Do you?”

“I doona know,” he said tightly.

“You said you wouldn’t lie to me.”

“I doona know if I’ll even make the flight,” he bit out on a growl, looming over her for a frightening second. The sound he made in his throat was shocking, as were the hands he wrapped around her upper arms as he stared hard in her eyes, the amber of his hot with fever. “If I doona make it, I doona want you tae fret. My friends will have a care for you. They will figure out how tae get the Amulet—”

“I don’t give a flying fig about the Amulet!” she cried, wishing she were strong enough to give him a good shake. “Now, shut up and get on the plane. You’re going to make it.”

“I feel the madness creeping over me. ’Tis all I can do tae keep focused.” And even as he said the words the hands that held on to her arms rippled into solid stone.

“No!” she cried, gripping at his shirt, pounding her fists against his chest. “You will not let it win! You are going to make this flight! Do you understand me? I-I can’t do this alone.”

“You can.”

“I can’t. I can’t so I need you to stay with me. All right? You have to stay with me.” She knew it wasn’t so much about her fear as it was about giving him a reason to stay with her. Maybe if she did that it could help him fight off the inevitability of this thing. It was going to be hours before they made it to New Mexico and she could only pray he could hold on that long. Pray they beat the sun. Pray for everything.

The Gargoyle had escaped him somehow, had managed to leave the area, Panahasi realized. And every moment he was out of reach was a moment closer to his own destruction. If Odjit found out about the Amulet, he was done for. If she found out that the Gargoyle now knew the location of their secret enclave, all hell would break loose and he would not be the only one who would forfeit his life. Her rages were becoming more and more violent the further her pregnancy advanced. They were afraid of what she might do and even if she had logical reasons for doing it. A vicious madwoman was one thing, a pregnant one was quite another.

So there was only one thing left for him to do and that was to send sentries to the Bodywalker enclave in Portales, New Mexico. Maybe there … maybe there he could recapture the Gargoyle and keep him from getting back to Kamenwati.… the one man on earth who would truly know what Adoma’s Amulet might be capable of.

He quickly went about putting his plan in action.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

They boarded the plane and Kat stopped short, stunned by what she saw. But then she ignored the opulence of the jet and moved quickly into the cabin in order to allow Ahnvil the room to bring Karma on board. A short time later they were buckled in and taking off. She watched Ahnvil closely the entire time they were ascending, frustrated that they were seated apart from each other. She could see him hunching over into himself, running his hands through his dark hair repeatedly, sweat shining on his exposed skin. It was when he seemed to start talking to himself under his breath that she reached an all-new level of fear and concern. The minute the ding sounded that allowed her to take off her seat belt and go to him, she did, kneeling between his feet and rubbing his legs along his thighs.