"Jesus," Miranda whispered. "But. . . how? Who would have a connection to her strong enough that he could find her so quickly?"
"Who is it, Lynet?" Bishop demanded. "Who is this bad man?"
The planchette was motionless for several seconds, then spelled slowly: Lewis Harrison.
Miranda and Bishop didn't waste another moment asking questions, they just ran for the door.
Halfway to the clinic, Miranda broke the tense silence to say, "Six and a half years? Dead all that time and he's still a threat to us?"
"Bonnie was the one who got away, literally," Bishop said. "The only one of his victims to actually survive. He was psychic — he must have known or realized at some point that she was a medium. Maybe he even touched her mind there at the last moment, established a connection she wasn't even aware of. So all these years he's bided his time, waited for her to open a door for him. If you hadn't protected her in every sense of the word, he would have gotten to her years ago."
"And when she opened the door to let in poor little Lynet, he came in too. Bonnie told me she had a bad feeling about it. That's one of the reasons she got Seth and Amy out of the house so quickly. But he got to her anyway. The house couldn't hold him."
"We'll stop him, Miranda."
"Stop him how?" Her voice was shaky. "Noah, I've been in contact with people trying to fight off an invading spirit, remember? I know what hell they're trapped in. What I don't know is how to free them from that torment."
"We'll find a way. You saw this, Miranda, remember?"
"I didn't see this," she protested.
"Of course you did. It wasn't a visual image but an absolute certainty. You've known for weeks that I'd save Bonnie's life."
"You've already saved her."
He reached over and took her hand. "Think about it. You're the one who saved Bonnie, Miranda. You took down MacBride before he could hurt Bonnie. I saved your life. His gun was pointed at you."
Miranda wasn't sure he was right, but she stopped arguing. Of course they would save Bonnie, somehow. Anything else was just unthinkable.
Abstractedly, she said, "Have I thanked you for that, by the way?"
"You will," he said cryptically.
There was no time to question him now, since they had reached the clinic. They hurried straight to Bonnie's room and found a distraught Seth watching his father examine Bonnie. She was lying in the bed, still and silent — but her eyes were wide open.
"I was about to call you," Seth told Miranda, his voice cracking. "She was okay, she was sleeping, you'd told us she'd probably sleep all night without waking. But all of a sudden she made this little sound, like something hurt her or scared her — and her eyes opened. She's been like that ever since."
Colin Daniels straightened and frowned as he gazed down at Bonnie. "I don't understand this. Her pulse and blood pressure are normal, pupils normal, reflexes." He looked straight at Miranda. "I know what she's capable of, what she did today, and I know how much it drains her, but this is something different."
"Something very different. Her body is fine, Colin," Miranda said, stepping to the side of the bed. She started to reach for her sister's hand, but Bishop spoke before she could.
"Let me."
Miranda knew he was the stronger telepath, and since their connection had been severed so brutally hours before, she couldn't borrow that strength, so she merely nodded.
Bishop took Bonnie's hand, and almost immediately his face tightened. Half under his breath, he muttered, "Goddammit, it is him. I touched his mind once before. Cold and slimy, so black with evil it's like a bottomless pit." He concentrated, then said, "He hasn't won yet. Bonnie's protecting herself, at least partially. But she's weakening."
Bewildered, Seth said, "He? You mean someone's — inside Bonnie's mind?"
"An old enemy," Miranda said. "We think he's been waiting, watching her. Now that she's vulnerable ..."
Seth caught his breath and let out an anguished groan. "I knew there was something here, something not right. I could hear it sometimes, almost see it. And the way that damned Ouija board kept turning up like it had a mind of its own and wanted Bonnie to use it — "
"Don't blame yourself," Miranda said. "There was nothing you could have done to prevent this, Seth."
"I could have warned her," he said miserably. "She didn't seem to feel anything, any threat, not like I did."
"No, she wouldn't have. Her mental shields were up in order to protect her. That. . . makes us sort of blind to a threat like this one."
"Dammit," Seth muttered. "Dad, can't you — "
Colin Daniels shook his head. "Some things are beyond today's medical science, son. This is one of them. I can't help her. It's up to them."
Seth gave his father a faintly surprised look, though whether that was due to the admission of the limitations of science or to the clear acceptance of the paranormal, he didn't say. He just returned his anxious attention to the bed where Bonnie lay and muttered another helpless curse under his breath.
Miranda waited until Bishop gently released Bonnie's hand, then said as steadily as she could, "I still don't know how to save her."
"I do." He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. "I've fought him before, Miranda. I crawled inside his head until I could predict what he'd do before he thought of it himself. Tracked him, hunted him. And killed him. I killed him once, I can do it again."
"After what happened today, you can't possibly have the strength to — "
"With your help. Your strength and abilities added to mine will be enough to fight him and win. He can't withstand both of us."
"The connection was destroyed," she reminded him. "It can only be rebuilt in a physical joining."
"No, there's another way. Something else can forge a bond, and even stronger than the one we had before. If we let it."
She stared up at him for a long moment, and even in her desperate need to save her sister, vital seconds ticking away, the last lingering tinge of fear made her hesitate.
Bishop looked at her steadily, and waited.
In the end, Miranda realized her hesitation was only a reflex, an instinctive urge to protect herself. But that wasn't necessary anymore. She had known the truth long before now. She held out her hand, and when his fingers closed over hers, she smiled at him. "Let's get the bastard."
He smiled in return. "Reach for me, Miranda. Reach out with your mind."
Miranda obeyed, closing her eyes to concentrate better, opening her mind to him.
It was astonishingly simple. Her mind and spirit knew his so well that reaching out to him was virtually involuntary, and when he met her halfway, his mind wide open and welcoming, she had a curiously fateful sense of having come home. She could feel the gossamer threads of energy and awareness forming between them, touching and twining, stronger and more solidly anchored than ever before so that their connection was deep and sure.
Ready, love?
Ready, she affirmed.
Let me fight him. Lend me your strength and will, but don't take an active part in that; force him to concentrate on me while you help Bonnie.
Miranda wasn't at all surprised to realize that she knew, now, how to help Bonnie. And her trust and confidence in Bishop were absolute. I know what to do. Get him.
Eyes still closed, they reached out their free hands and touched Bonnie.
"What — " Seth began, but his father grasped his arm and sent him a warning glance.
"Wait," he murmured. "Just wait."
Miranda wasn't even conscious of them. She was entirely caught up in what she and Bishop were trying to do. The only direct mind-to-mind connection she had ever known was the one with Bishop, so she was surprised at the very different sensations when she slipped with him into Bonnie's mind.