“Well, I have no more time to waste. I must get back oat to your little retreat and dispose of Louis and Henry. I shall miss Louis. He was a comfort. But the world is full of young men. And, then, there’s the matter of Tim.
“But you, Miss Bradley. I can’t have you simply disappear like the others. It would cause inquiries and bothersome complications. A heart attack?” He frowned. “No. Too unimaginative. I told you I am a slave to theatricals. We need something more dramatic. I know—you will be found drowned in the river. A most tragic accident, but hardly a mystery.”
He smiled at them with pursed lips. “Ah, but you look so nice together. It touches the poet in me. If you like, you may drown together. You’ll be found floating in each other’s arms. Very lyrical, don’t you think? Just like Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet. There won’t be a dry eye in the house. Shall we go?”
Haverstock looked at the water in Crooked Creek and smiled. “This will do nicely.” He turned to Angel and Evelyn.
Evelyn tried to bury herself in Angel’s chest. His arms were tightly around her. Her brain was numb, anesthetized. It was unfair, so desperately unfair.
Angel’s mind was packed in cotton batting. He poked at it, tore at it, tried to break through, tried to free his muffled senses. But each rent closed as fast as he opened it, and he fell back helplessly.
“You should make it into town by tomorrow noon,” Haverstock continued. “The current is rather sluggish.”
An involuntary whimper escaped Evelyn’s throat.
“Now, Miss Bradley,” he admonished. “You’ve been very brave. Don’t break down now. It would only cause distress for us all. Think how badly poor Angel will feel, knowing he can do nothing to protect you.”
A damp fog began forming around Angel and Evelyn. Then it was a mist, growing thicker until it coalesced into a globe of water like the one Angel had made as they sat in the sand. But this was larger; it enclosed their heads and shoulders. Evelyn fought at it with her hands, but they passed through it, scattering only a few drops. She put her hands flat on her face and tried to push it away, but nothing would dislodge it. She was drowning. She wouldn’t be able to hold her breath much longer.
Angel ripped at the insulation around his mind. At first nothing happened. The rips resealed as quickly as he made them. Then a fury of desperation, fear, and hatred rose in him. He split the damping field and held it open. A cold wind of icy loathing swept away the last shreds.
The water exploded away from them, drenching Haverstock. Evelyn coughed and gasped for breath. Angel released her and stepped away.
“Don’t move,” his voice whispered in her ear.
Haverstock wiped the water from his face and looked at Angel in confusion. He met garnet eyes that seemed to strip away his skin. He felt a lump of ice in his stomach for a moment, but it went away.
“My, you have gotten into a lot of mischief, haven’t you?” His voice was insolent with confidence. He sent a bolt of blue energy at Angel. It crackled and sizzled in the air. Angel flopped backward and rolled head over heels. He lay gasping for breath.
Haverstock hurled an identical bolt at Evelyn, but it spattered on the shield Angel had put around her. Evelyn screamed and trembled’. She wanted desperately to run, but Angel had told her not to move. Haverstock’s eyebrows rose. He looked at them speculatively. Angel rose groggily to his feet.
“Bravo,” Haverstock sang. “Well done.”
Angel sent a stream of flame at Haverstock, but he diverted it easily.
Haverstock smiled. “This will do you no good.”
Angel concentrated. He had to make it just right. He had to make Haverstock think he was really talking, not using the gift in any way. “We’ll see,” he said, matching the vibration of Haverstock’s eardrum to his lip movements, making the sound appear to come from his mouth.
Haverstock’s eyes widened in consternation, then he smiled. “You have been a busy little bee, haven’t you? How have you managed that? You must tell me.”
“Why should I?” Angel asked.
Haverstock looked offended. “Dear boy! Didn’t I tell you all my secrets?”
Angel smiled. “It’s magic,” he said.
Haverstock sent another bolt of energy, but Angel was prepared and swept it aside. It struck the ground and the dry buffalo grass ignited. Suddenly the earth split between Angel’s feet. He toppled in and the earth closed with a crash like thunder.
Haverstock turned to Evelyn and smiled. He shrugged, dismissing Angel as a minor inconvenience. Evelyn watched through panic as he walked toward her.
She screamed when a shaft of flame erupted at his feet. He staggered backward, his hair singed. Angel stood in the center of the flame. It flickered out and the two men faced each other. A little frown of concern crossed Haverstock’s face.
The sky above them darkened. The stars dimmed slowly and vanished behind black, boiling clouds laced by lightning. Angel looked up, feeling a little unsure, wondering what the other had in mind.
He sent a bolt of energy at Haverstock, but only started another grass fire. He launched a volley of bolts in rapid succession, but the older man diverted them all. Fires burned all around them. Smoke drifted across them, stinging Angel’s eyes and burning his nose. He extinguished the fires and blew away the smoke. He watched Haverstock warily.
The clouds continued to thicken and lightning played across them almost continuously. Angel was ready when the first bolt speared down. It shied off him and blasted a smoking crater in the earth.
They watched each other.
“Theatricals again?” Angel asked.
Haverstock shrugged, but his face held a slightly strained expression. “I fear I have become a creature of habit. Well, my boy, it begins to look as if we are at an impasse. We accomplish nothing by throwing stones at each other, so to speak. We are both, pardon me, all three, shielded so that no outside force can reach us. You may be a bit stronger than I; oh, yes, I freely admit it, but you’ve forgotten what I said earlier. The gift is useless without the knowledge to use it properly. You see, your shield is perfectly adequate to keep out physical objects and force, but it can’t keep out my mind.”
Angel felt a terrible pain in his chest and knew that his heart had stopped. He fought the pain and the creeping darkness and willed his heart into motion. He felt it tremble and, hesitantly, began beating. He was stronger than Haverstock, but the pain was almost more than he could bear. Haverstock was right; he could destroy Angel’s body bit by bit, faster than he could repair it, if he could summon the knowledge to repair it at all. Soon he would grow too weak to resist and it would be over.
There had to be another kind of shield, one that would keep out another’s mind. He had been able to do other things simply by willing it, not really knowing how he did it, pulling the knowledge from his subconscious without understanding what he was doing.
He willed it, visualizing an encasing mirror that reflected everything from him. He built it, strengthened it, shored it where it faltered. And the pressure on his heart ceased. It beat strongly again and he gulped air. But he couldn’t get enough; he couldn’t see and his ears rang. He had shut out everything, even light and sound and air.
Quickly, he opened the shield, enlarged it, included Evelyn within it, and closed it. She gasped and whimpered at the sudden darkness. He took her in his arms.
“Don’t be frightened,” he said. He felt her nod against hi s chest.