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  Darci narrowed her eyes at Devlin. “Or maybe I’ll put you in a string cage with a rock inside it.”

  At that, Devlin almost disappeared. All they could see of him was a shape in the paneling and two eyes—eyes that were full of fear. “If you put all the objects into the vessel, you will be able to see what can be changed, and what will happen if the world is changed.”

  “You mean I’ll be able to see that if I go back in history and say, stop Pearl Harbor from being bombed, I’ll see the repercussions to today?” Darci asked.

  “Yes,” Devlin said simply.

  “Can she see what would happen if Lavender lived?” Jack asked.

  “Yes.”

  “What else does it do?” Jack asked.

  Devlin stuck his head and shoulders out of the wall. Now he was wearing a soldier’s uniform of about 1870, and he had a big metal horn to his ear, as though he were deaf. “What? I can hear no more. I have been given my orders and I can tell no more. You must find the missing piece on your own.” He looked at Jack.

  “You know what and where it is.”

  “I do not—” Jack began.

  “How can I find the spirit of someone from the past who is living today?” Darci asked quickly.

  “You can do that now,” Devlin answered, then grinned. “My other master calls. He, too, has a bottle.” With that, he disappeared.

  “I can’t say that I really like that…whatever he is,” Jack said as he looked at Darci, who was thinking hard.

  “Can you find spirits now?”

  “Maybe. I never tried to find one.”

  “What have you done with your abilities all your life?”

  Darci sighed. “Truthfully? I’ve spent most of my time trying to keep people from finding out what I can do.”

  “Interesting.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You use your powers as little as possible, then your husband is taken from you and you’re thrown into situations that require that you learn a lot about your powers. And you find a whole lot more power. That’s interesting.”

  “I just wish I could find out who’s guiding all this. I think it’s Henry, but it could be someone I’ve never met.”

  “What you want to know is, who’s turning power over to you.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  Jack smiled. “That Devlin. You told me that you had no power over him, but now you seem to be able to command him—to an extent.”

  “Except when his ‘other master’ calls and he has to go.”

  “Exactly,” Jack answered. “Are you hungry? No, sorry I asked. How about some lunch?”

  “Great. And you can tell me what and where the missing object is that we need to put into that base.”

  “Haven’t a clue,” Jack said, holding the door open for her. Ten minutes later they were in the kitchen with a plate full of sandwiches and steaming cups full of homemade soup. “Who would have thought my aunt was such a great cook?” Jack asked, mouth full.

  “Chrissy,” Darci said. “She made all this.”

  “That so? Maybe she’s found her calling.”

  “No, she’ll end up old, alone, and unhappy.”

  “I thought you couldn’t tell people’s futures,” Jack said.

  “I can’t. Except for sometimes. Sometimes I have visions about people and—”

  Jack used his napkin to wipe his hands, then held out his palm to Darci. “Tell me what you see.”

  “My goodness!” she said. “Your hand has turned purple.”

  It was a second before Jack got the joke and in that second he turned pale. His expression showed how much he’d come to trust Darci in the last days. “For that one, you’re dead meat,” he said, then lunged for her neck.

  Laughing, Darci tried to paralyze him, but she couldn’t concentrate, so she managed to only paralyze three fingers on his right hand—which made Jack laugh too.

  And that’s how Greg Ryerson found them. Darci had been so involved with the objects they’d found and laughing with Jack that Greg had been able to enter the house without her feeling it.

  When Jack and Darci looked up and saw Greg, they were both startled into speechlessness.

  “Jack, may I see you alone?” Greg asked stiffly, his body language revealing what he thought of the two of them laughing together.

  “I’m sorry,” Darci whispered to Jack, meaning that she was sorry for having neglected what she’d been sent there to do, and sorry that Jack had been caught playing on the job.

  Jack winked at her, then followed Greg into the library.

  Greg waited until the doors were firmly closed. “You want to tell me what the hell is going on here?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I did tell you,” Jack said.

  “Try me.”

  Jack opened his mouth to tell Greg that he’d been time traveling, but he changed his mind. “Did you come here because you were worried about me?” He was flexing his hand, getting the blood to flow after Darci’s paralyzing of his fingers.

  “I came here because we received a ransom note.”

  “For Dad?” Jack asked, taking a seat in one of his father’s leather chairs.

  Greg stared at his friend. “What’s happened to you? You’ve never called him ‘Dad.’ It’s always been ‘the old man.’ So why this title now?”

  “Who knows? Maybe I’m getting mellow as I get older.”

  Greg narrowed his eyes at Jack, willing him to talk—and confide, but Jack was silent.

  “Tell me what you’ve heard.”

  “I’m being told as little on this case as possible so I don’t know what’s up. I was told that a ransom note had been sent.”

  “To whom?”

  “That’s just it,” Greg said. “I don’t know who got it. The president of the United States, for all I know. All I was told is that fifty million is to be delivered somewhere tomorrow at six P.M.”

  “Why so low?”

  “I was told that it’s the cash on hand your father has.”

  At that, Jack and Greg looked at each other and laughed. And with their laughter their coolness toward each other vanished.

  Greg took a seat across from Jack. “You want to tell me about…” He nodded toward the kitchen. “Two days ago you two hated each other and now you’re playing footsie. You two spend the night together?”

  “Yeah, but not like you mean. She eliminated someone for me.”

  “Killed them? Look, I don’t think the bureau’s going to—”

  “It wasn’t like that. Could we drop this? There’s nothing between Darci and me—at least not like you think. If I’d had a sister she would have been it.”

  “Your sister? I thought you thought she was a freak.”

  Jack turned angry eyes on Greg. “Don’t ever let me hear you say that again. She can do certain things, but she’s not a freak.”

  “Jack, you’ve got to keep this in perspective. I like the woman, personally like her, but she can kill people with her mind. She can paralyze people. She can—”

  In an instant, Jack grabbed Greg’s collar and lifted him up. “Keep your mouth shut about things you know nothing about.”

  “You planning to kill me, Jack?” Greg asked softly. “Because if you are, let me call my wife and see if my insurance is paid up.”

  Blinking, Jack dropped his friend, went to the bar against the far wall, poured two glasses full of cold ginger ale, and gave one to Greg. “Let’s stop this, all right? Some things have happened that I can’t tell you about, and as for Darci, she’s been through a lot, can do a lot, and—” He downed half his drink, then looked back at Greg. “Tell me what you came here to say.”

  Greg was looking at his friend in speculation. “I’ve been told that the bureau wants you off the case.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I’m considered too lowly to be told much of anything. You and I and your little sister out there…” Greg was making a joke but Jack didn’t smile. �