Mercy stood at the kitchen door, and watched while Sidonia led Eve across the open field and toward the higher mountain range. The Caves of Awenasa were over three miles away, deep in the forest that covered the far western mountainside. Within minutes, both Sidonia and Eve disappeared, the cloaking spell in full effect now, protecting them from detection, guarding them from harm.
Believing that Eve was safe and that she would instantly know if anyone had penetrated the cloaking spell, Mercy hurried upstairs to dress and make preparations for what was to come: battle-perhaps the final battle-with the Ansara.
Fifteen minutes later, dressed in black pants, knee-high black boots and a crimson blouse, Mercy came down the front stairs and headed for her study. Dante would contact all Raintree within driving distance first, and then word would go out to Raintree around the world. How many could actually make it to the sanctuary before the Ansara attack, she didn’t know. There were only a handful visiting the home place right now-less than twenty in all, and some of them not at full strength. And her guess was that another twenty-five or so could be here within a few hours.
She also had no way of knowing how many Ansara comprised the forces Judah and Cael would bring down on the sanctuary, or exactly when the first attack would take place. Soon, certainly. Within a few hours? Before sunset?
After entering her study, she picked up the phone and dialed Hugh’s cabin. He answered on the third ring. “Hugh, it’s Mercy. I need you to gather up all the Raintree visiting here at the sanctuary and bring them to the house. Do this as quickly as possible.”
“All right,” he replied. “Can you tell me what this is about?”
“I’ll tell all of you as soon as you get here.”
Mercy could hardly believe what was happening. She felt like such a fool-for the second time in her life. Both times thanks to Judah Ansara. How much of what he’d told her had been lies? Part of it? All of it? One thing she didn’t doubt: he wanted Eve and was willing to kill Mercy to get her.
And she also believed that he had killed one of his own people to stop the man from killing her. Because Judah had claimed her as his kill and wouldn’t allow anyone else the honor of taking the Raintree princess’s life. No doubt Dante was also Judah’s kill. And perhaps Gideon, too.
How was it possible that she loved Judah, loved him as much as she hated him? Why had she let down her defenses, even for a few days, a few hours, a few moments?
All the while Judah had proclaimed Eve was in life-threatening danger from his brother, had it simply been a ruse, a plot the brothers had concocted together? Had Judah’s purpose in staying at the sanctuary been to keep Mercy distracted?
No, it wasn’t possible that he had fooled her so completely.
Then where is he? Why isn’t he here explaining himself to me?
Damn you, Judah. Damn you!
Reno, Nevada, 9:15 a.m. (Reno time)
Lorna hadn’t taken the time to make any calls while she’d still been at Dante’s house; instead, she’d grabbed his address book, checked to see that both Mercy and Gideon were listed, then run for her old Corolla. While she was on the way to the airport, she put her cell phone to use. She knew she didn’t have time to fly commercial, but she didn’t know how to go about renting a jet. She had a pocket full of cash and one credit card with a five-thousand-dollar limit. If that wasn’t enough money, she didn’t know what she would do.
The only person she knew in Reno who might be able to help her was Al Franklin, Dante’s chief of security. He wasn’t exactly on her favorites list, but Dante not only liked him, he trusted him-and this was an emergency.
Thank God, thank God. Al’s number was listed, too. She’d been afraid Dante would have all his numbers stored on his cell phone, which he had with him. Swiftly, keeping one eye on the twisting road, she punched in the numbers.
“’Lo?”
The sleepy voice reminded her that it was-she glanced at the dashboard clock-not yet ten o’clock on a Sunday morning.
“This is Lorna Clay!” she half yelled. “Dante’s gone-there’s trouble at Sanctuary-he might get killed! I have to get there. How do I hire a jet?”
“Whoa! Wait-what did you say?”
“Sanctuary. There’s trouble at Sanctuary. I need a jet!”
“How is Dante getting there?”
“I don’t know!” Why was he playing twenty questions? Why didn’t he answer her questions? “He just ran out. I’m about half an hour behind him, I think.”
“Go to the airport,” Al said swiftly. “He has two corporate jets. He’ll take the bigger, faster one. I’ll call and have the smaller one fueled and ready. It’ll take longer-you’ll have to put down somewhere for fuel-but you still won’t be more than an hour, hour and a half, behind him.”
“Thank you,” she said, almost sobbing with relief. “I didn’t think-”
“You didn’t think I’d help? You said the magic word.”
“‘Please’?” She didn’t know if she’d said “please,” but she’d definitely said “thank you.”
“Sanctuary,” he said.
Wilmington, North Carolina, 1:00 p.m.
Hope Malory paced the kitchen nervously as she waited for the phone to ring. Gideon hadn’t been gone much more than an hour, so she really shouldn’t expect his call so soon, but still…she was anxious. He owed her a serious explanation.
When the phone finally did ring, she lurched forward and grabbed the receiver. “Hello?”
She held her breath as she waited for Gideon’s calming, reasonable voice on the other end of the line. Her first clue that it wasn’t Gideon was the lack of static.
A woman’s smooth voice caused Hope’s heart to drop. “Is this the Gideon Raintree residence?’
Great. An old girlfriend. A wannabe girlfriend. Maybe a telemarketer. “Yes, but he’s not-”
“Not there, I know,” the woman said, not quite so smoothly this time. There was an almost undetectable hint of panic in her voice. “There’s no time for a proper explanation, but-”
That was the wrong thing to say. “I don’t know who you are, but ‘no time for a proper explanation’ isn’t going to earn you any points with me today.”
Before Hope could hang up the phone, the woman laughed in a nervous but friendly way that caught her attention. “I can only imagine. I’ll make this brief, then. My name is Lorna Clay. Dante and Gideon need us. I’m coming your way on a jet that’s scheduled to land at Fairmont Executive Airport just west of Asheville shortly before six this evening. If you can pick me up, I’ll explain all that I can while we’re on our way to the Raintree home place.”
Hope glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall and did some mental math, taking into account the horsepower in Gideon’s Challenger. “I’ll be there.”
During the early afternoon, Mercy spoke to the eighteen Raintree visiting the home place, and together they began making preparations for the attack. By mid-afternoon, ten Raintree who lived within easy driving distance had arrived, including Echo, who had come flying in, tires screeching and horn honking. Her psychic abilities were powerful, but she had not yet mastered them, making her predictions a hodgepodge of sights and sounds and feelings. Mercy knew that one day soon, Echo would fulfill all the promise she now showed, including a latent empathic ability.
The moment Echo stormed into the house, she began calling Mercy’s name as she ran from room to room. She shoved open the door to the study. Wild-eyed and frantic, she rushed toward Mercy and grasped her hand. “I’ve been going nuts all the way here. Seeing things. Hearing things. Help me, please.” Echo clutched her head. “It won’t stop. I had to pull off to the side of the road twice on the way here.”
Mercy grasped Echo’s trembling hands.