Drake realized that neither Alice nor Pete could see him. They stood close together, shoulders touching, and gazed blindly into space.

“I’m here,” Drake said.

“I know.” Alice turned partially toward him, relief and joy on her face. “I could sense your presence.”

“He’s really here?” Pete asked. “That voice isn’t a hallucination?”

“He’s here,” Alice said. “The magician pulled off the trick. Told you he would.”

“Alice,” Drake said.

He took her into his arms. It was an awkward move because she did not drop Pete’s hand or the crystal. And then there was Houdini bouncing around as if they were playing some new game.

But Alice rested her forehead against Drake’s shoulder. “I knew you would come for me.”

“You’re sure this guy is your husband?” Pete asked.

Alice raised her head, smiling, even though Drake knew she could not see him.

“Yes,” she said. “This is really my husband. Trust me, I’d know him anywhere.”

Chapter 41

AT TEN THIRTY THAT NIGHT ALICE AND DRAKE SAT AT A table in the Marina Inn Tavern. Alice had Nicholas North’s diary safely stowed in a bag that she kept close to her side.

She and Drake were not alone. Rachel, Charlotte, Jasper, and Fletcher were with them. They were the only people left in the restaurant. Houdini and Darwina had disappeared shortly after the kids had been sent upstairs to bed. Alice was fairly certain that the dust bunnies had gone hunting inside the Preserve. She wondered where they got the energy. She was exhausted but still too worked up to sleep. She doubted that she would sleep at all that night. She wanted to read her great-grandfather’s diary.

Earlier, Burt had fixed her a large bowl of canned vegetable soup accompanied by crackers. She had eaten everything he put in front of her and asked for seconds.

The power had come back on an hour ago. There was no sign of the dark fog. A few brave souls who had been staying at the inn had returned to their own homes, but many of the Marina Inn rooms were still occupied and the B&B was doing a brisk business. There were those who did not entirely trust that the threat was over.

But the lights were on and phones and computers were functioning. Communications with the mainland had been restored. Ferry service was scheduled to resume in the morning, conditions permitting. The proprietor of the service had promised to bring supplies, including toilet paper and groceries, on the early run.

Alice studied the two crystal slabs on the table. “So much trouble for such dumb-looking stones.”

“Not very impressive, are they?” Charlotte observed.

The crystals no longer glowed. Shortly after being removed from the pyramid they had reverted to a murky, unremarkable gray.

Rachel looked at Drake. “What are you going to do with them?”

“I’m tempted to drop them offshore into a deep-sea ravine but I’m not sure that would neutralize them,” Drake said. “It might have the opposite effect. These damn rocks have an affinity for geothermal energy. Be my luck they’d land in an undersea volcano and cause an eruption. For now they’ll be safer in a mag-steel-and-glass strongbox where the energy levels can be monitored.”

“In hindsight, it’s a wonder that the crystals were dormant for decades, sitting in a box in a cave here on the island,” Rachel mused. “Rainshadow is a nexus, a real hot spot where geothermal psi-forces intersect.”

“That’s probably why the Aliens chose it to set up their bio-research labs in the first place,” Alice said.

“According to the Old Earth records, the crystals have never caused any problem as long as they were properly stored aboveground in a strongbox,” Drake said. “But taking them underground into a hot psi environment was a hell of a mistake.”

Charlotte folded her arms on the table. “I assume you’ll store them in one of the Foundation labs?”

“Right,” Drake said. “We’ve got special vaults for the volatile specimens.”

Jasper looked thoughtful. “Think there’s any way to destroy them?”

“I don’t know,” Drake said. “It might be possible to pulverize them and scatter the bits and pieces over a large stretch of the ocean. Theoretically that would limit the resonating power of each individual shard. But I’m not even certain that would work.”

“Something else to consider here,” Fletcher said. “We humans have only been around on Harmony for a couple of hundred years. No more than a fraction of the planet and the Alien underworld has been explored. Got a hunch there are a lot of surprises waiting for us in the oceans and the catacombs and the rain forest. We might need some real firepower someday. Could be a good idea to have these stones in our hip pocket, so to speak.”

“Kind of like having spare tuned amber when you go into the tunnels,” Jasper added.

“My family has been guarding these rocks for a few hundred years, first on Earth and now here on Harmony,” Drake said. “Guess we’ll have to keep on doing that for a while. But once we get these back to the lab we can do some serious research on them. We need to know what we’ve got here.”

Drake started to say something, but a faint, muffled sound stopped him. Alice heard it, too. Chanting.

“. . . The Ancients will return, the Ancients will return.

Glorious dawn, glorious dawn, glorious dawn.

The Ancients will return, the Ancients will return.

Bringing wonders, bringing wonders, bringing wonders to behold . . .”

Burt came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on his apron. “Sounds like Harry and Slade found that bunch of Glorious Dawners who went missing.”

“Not sure that’s a good thing,” Fletcher said.

“Look at it this way,” Drake said. “Tomorrow morning we can put them on the first ferry off the island and send them home.”

“Good idea,” Jasper said.

The door of the tavern opened, bringing in the fresh air of a fog-free night. Two men walked into the room. Energy whispered in the atmosphere around them. Men of talent, Alice thought. Slade Attridge and Harry Sebastian had returned.

Chairs scraped on the floorboards. Rachel and Charlotte leaped to their feet. Both women were glowing with relief and delight. They rushed forward, each hurtling into the arms of one of the men.

Three dust bunnies scurried into the tavern and began chattering enthusiastically.

A small gaggle of ragged-looking people in green robes paraded into the room. They had evidently lost their signs along the way but that had not diminished their enthusiasm.

“Glorious dawn, glorious dawn, glorious dawn.”

Burt planted his hands on his hips and eyed the newcomers. “Anyone who wants to eat had better shut up and stop chanting now.”

A sudden hush descended.

The tall, dark-haired man, who had one arm wrapped around Rachel, looked at Burt.

“Thank you,” he said. “I know I speak for Slade as well when I tell you that we are forever in your debt.”

“That damn chanting was enough to make us seriously consider leaving these dudes behind in the Preserve,” Slade added.

Houdini dashed toward Alice and bounced up onto the table. He made enthusiastic greeting sounds. Alice patted him affectionately.

“So that’s where you and Darwina went tonight,” she said. “You knew they were on the way back, didn’t you? You went out to meet them.”

One of the Glorious Dawners spotted the small group at the table. He lifted a hand, palm out.

“The nightmare fog is gone,” he intoned. “It’s a sign that the return is near.”

“You know something? I’m starting to think that I’d rather see the Aliens return than these guys,” Fletcher said in low tones.

The Dawner was not deterred. “Glorious dawn, glorious dawn—”