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  Spreading out the mat in my designated spot, I collapsed onto it, managing to stifle my moan.

  A sharp elbow in my shoulder made me jerk into sitting position, staring wildly around the dim room. “What?” I snapped.

  “Shhh!” The man beside me gave me a dirty look. “You were snoring. Again.”

  “Oh.” I sank back onto the mat. “Sorry.”

  “Shhh.”

  Suitably chastened, I stretched my eyes wide, fighting sleep. That worked for a few minutes, until a porcine snort from my own throat roused me from slumber again. I shook my head vigorously, digging my nails into my palms.

  Do not fall asleep. Do not…

  Snort.

  I jerked awake again and chanced a sidelong look at my neighbour. His eyes were tightly closed and he was humming determinedly, but a scowl knitted his brows together.

  Do not fall asleep. Do not fall asleep…

  At last the gong released me from my misery and I dragged myself to my feet, mumbling an apology to my neighbour. He shushed me severely for a third time, and I hung my head and shuffled out with everybody else.

  Half asleep, I slogged along the winding path, mindlessly following the woman in front of me. In the field I sank to my aching knees and closed my eyes. At least it was harder to fall asleep kneeling in the rain. I phased in and out of awareness, not sure whether I was fighting sleep or hypothermia.

  At last Aurora and Zen offered us the Earth Spirit’s blessing in offensively cheerful tones, and I creaked to my feet. I was plodding across the field with my eyes half-closed when Nichele’s voice chirped beside me.

  “Well, that was freaky-deaky! How weird is it to get up in the middle of the night to hang with some wacko Spirit in the rain?”

  “Too fucking weird,” I growled. I pried open an eyelid to survey her in the reflected glow of her big flashlight. A bright yellow rain slicker enveloped her completely, framing her bright-eyed face and perky smile. She looked warm and dry and wide awake.

  I came very close to hating her.

  “Aydan, you’re soaked!” She lifted a sodden lock of my hair and let it fall against my jacket. “You’re going to catch your death of cold.”

  “That’d be a mercy,” I mumbled. “Just shoot me now.”

  “You can’t go back to bed like that.” She frowned at me for a moment before her face cleared. “I’ll get you fixed up. Come on.”

  It took all my willpower not to groan out loud, but I let her lead me back to the kitchen. I watched dully while she dragged a chair over beside one of the stoves and tossed a few sticks of wood on top of the glowing coals.

  Then she pulled a blanket off the bed she’d made for herself beside the stove and held it up in front of me, stretching her arms wide.

  “Strip,” she commanded.

  “Nichele…”

  “Shut up and strip. I’ll hold up the blanket and nobody will see you in the corner here.” She glowered at me with all the authority of a tiny general.

  Realizing protests were futile, I opted for damage control. “I have to pee first.”

  “Fine. Go and pee and then come right back.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I retreated, shivering my way out to the latrine and cursing steadily while I peed and, more importantly, removed my Glock and ankle holster and stowed them in my already-distended jacket pockets.

  The pocket flaps barely closed and the jacket hung like a lead weight from my shoulders, swinging ponderously under its burden of classified technology and concealed weapons. Muttering, I took it off and draped it over my arm before re-entering the kitchen.

  Nichele looked up from the steaming bucket she’d placed in front of the chair. “Good, now strip.”

  She held up the blanket again, and I carefully balled up my jacket around its cargo and laid it in the corner before stripping down to underwear and goosebumps.

  Nichele wrapped the blanket around me. “Sit.” She pointed to the chair. “And put your feet in that bucket.”

  I obeyed, then yelped and jerked my feet out of the scalding water.

  “It’s not that hot, it’s just that your feet are that cold,” Nichele reassured me. “Now get in there.”

  After a few more tentative dips I managed to keep my feet submerged, and she briskly towelled my hair before wrapping the towel around my head. “Better. Here, drink this.” She handed me a mug of hot chocolate and added, “Stay put. I’ll be right back.”

  Already feeling the warmth of the woodstove at my back and the heat rising through my feet, I nodded gratefully and sipped while she hurried out the door, flashlight in hand.

  In a few minutes she was back bearing an object I couldn’t identify at first. When she drew closer, I shot her a wary look. “What are you planning to do with that, give me a makeover? You know there’s no electricity, right?”

  “I know, silly.” Nichele brandished her curling iron. “It’s butane. It doesn’t need electricity. And if you go to bed with all that long hair soaking wet, you’ll be frozen again in minutes. This isn’t as good as a blow dryer, but it’ll dry your hair, so shut up and sit still.”

  I let her work on me in silence for several minutes, sipping the last of the hot chocolate while she wound locks of my hair around the barrel of the curling iron. Wisps of steam drifted around my head.

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I said at last.

  She giggled. “Hell, yeah, girl. If I thought I could get away with it I’d give you a facial, too. And wax your brows, and…”

  “Don’t even think about it. This is embarrassing enough.” I cast a dark look at a couple of the commune members who were eyeing us with bemusement.

  They mercifully vacated the kitchen, leaving us alone in the circle of light from our lantern, and Nichele carried on with her comb and curling iron.

  At last she stepped back. “There.” She applied a round brush to my new ringlets with expert twists of her wrist. “Oh-em-gee, Aydan, you have such beautiful hair. Why don’t you spend a little time on it? I’d kill to have hair like yours.”

  “Your hair always looks beautiful,” I objected.

  “Yeah, because I spend an hour on it every morning,” she retorted.

  I appropriated the towel and extricated my feet from the bucket. “Well, take a picture, because this’ll never happen again.” I dried my feet and straightened just in time to face a blinding flash of light. “Jesus!” I yelped. “What the hell…”

  “So I took a picture.” Nichele hefted her phone, looking at me as if I’d lost my mind. “What did you expect?”

  “Give me that!” I made a grab for the phone, but she danced out of reach, grinning.

  “Nope. Blackmail photos.”

  “Okay, fine. I guess I owe you.” I stretched, easing the knots out of my shoulders. “I feel so much better. Thanks.” I eyed my wet clothes with distaste. “Maybe I’ll just wear this blanket back to my tent.”

  “You should,” she said seriously. “Drape your clothes over the stove and they’ll be dry by morning.”

  I let out a breath. “You’re one smart cookie, you know?”

  “I know.” She gave me a smug smile. “Leave your clothes here and get going. I’ll put them on the stove and take them off when they’re dry. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight.” I stuffed my feet back into my hiking boots and scooped up my jacket. “Thanks, Nichele. You’re the best.”

  Back at my tent I took exactly enough time to transfer my gear to a dry jacket and tuck my gun into its bedside niche before tumbling onto my cot, still wrapped in the blanket.

  When I opened my eyes again, my tent was bright and the damn birds were singing at the tops of their lungs. I squinted at my watch and groaned. Less than five hours of sleep. Again.

  Maybe I could just turn over and grab a few more zees…

  No. Three lives might depend on me.

  I dragged myself resolutely out of bed and checked Orion’s tracker. Up by the garage again. What the hell was he doing the
re? I’d never seen him pick up a tool, and Skidmark certainly wasn’t a big attraction.

  But maybe he was meeting Ratboy.

  I sank down to sit on the edge of my cot, frowning. Why did Ratboy spend so much time at the garage? He obviously had no automotive skills, and he and Skidmark didn’t get along. And it wouldn’t make sense for him to be meeting Orion there. If Orion was going over to the renters’ land every night, surely they could do all the talking they needed then.

  I blew out a breath and rose. Whatever. At least Orion was far away from the people I cared about, assuming Moonbeam and Karma were still in their tent or at breakfast.

  I threw on some clothes and dragged a brush through my hair. The humidity had turned the previous night’s ringlets into a dense frizzy mat, and I expended several minutes and some of my best swearwords untangling it. Then I checked Orion’s tracker one more time to make sure he was still at the garage, and hurried off to the main building.

  When I strode into the kitchen Nichele broke off her animated conversation to wave a cheerful good-morning from the table she was sharing with Moonbeam, Karma, and Aurora. I returned the salute with a smile. All present and accounted for. What a relief.

  Grabbing some fruit, yogurt, and granola, I headed for their table and slid into the chair beside Nichele.

  “Good morning, Ay… I mean Storm,” she said. “Guess what? Uncle Karma was just telling me about their school, and I’m going to do a seminar on stock market investing tonight.” She shot a bright-eyed smile at Karma. “This is going to be so much fun! And we’ll have the electricity turned on, too, so I can show everybody the online stuff!”

  Her enthusiasm brought a smile to my face as always. “That’s great,” I agreed. “What age of kids will you be teaching?”

  “Not kids.” Nichele took a quick sip of her coffee before continuing, “Well, the older students if they want to come. But it’s for everybody. They’re so progressive here! Nothing at all like the backwoods attitudes I expected!” She shot a contrite glance at Moonbeam and Karma. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be insulting, but with you being out here with no electricity I thought… well, you know.”

  Moonbeam gave her usual luminous smile. “Of course, dear, no offense taken. And we are looking forward to your talk tonight. We do try to offer our members the best educational opportunities whenever we have experts available. Storm Cloud Dancer gave us a wonderful bookkeeping seminar a couple of months ago.”

  “That’s so cool!” Nichele’s eyes sparkled. She turned to me. “Oh, by the way, your clothes are all dry, they’re folded up beside the stove…” Without pausing for breath she transferred her smile to Aurora. “And I can hardly wait to talk to you some more about the Earth Spirit today; yesterday was so much fun…”

  The two of them chattered busily, and I eased out a breath and applied myself to my breakfast. Nichele was in the thick of things as usual, making new friends and gobbling up new experiences with gusto. At least she’d have plenty of activities to keep her distracted and in the safety of a group. One less thing to worry about.

  Karma and Moonbeam finished their breakfast and rose, and I gulped my last mouthful and stood, too.

  “I’ve got some things to do this morning, so I’ll catch you later, okay?” I said to Nichele, and received a nod and smile in return before she dove back into conversation with Aurora.

  Turning to Moonbeam as we moved toward the door, I lowered my voice. “I’m sorry to keep springing people on you, but another friend is coming to visit me today.”

  “Oh.” A hint of something coloured the word. It sounded almost like annoyance, but it was gone in a flash, hidden by gentle concern. “Oh, dear. I’m terribly sorry, but we’re out of spare tents.”

  “That’s okay, he’ll sleep with me.”

  “Oh.”

  This time her intonation was easier to read.

  Disappointment.

  “I’m honestly not in a relationship with Cosmic River Stone,” I said gently. “I’m sorry if you’re disappointed.”

  Moonbeam sighed. “I have to admit I am disappointed, dear. I would have loved to have had you for a daughter-in-law.”

  “Oh.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Well, thanks. I would’ve loved to have you for a mother-in-law.”

  “Thank you, dear.” She gave me a quick hug before pulling away with a smile. “Now, tell me about your young man. What is his name, and will we be keeping up our pretense as your aunt and uncle?”

  “No, it’s okay. Arnie knows why I’m here. Oh, and that’s his name, Arnold Helmand. But everybody calls him Hellhound.”

  “Oh… That doesn’t sound auspicious… but the numbers tell the tale…” Her eyes unfocused and she hesitated for a moment as though performing some mental calculation before her gaze sharpened again. “He must be quite creative and intuitive.”

  I managed not to let my mouth drop open. “Uh… yeah. He’s a really talented musician, and he… um, probably understands me better than anybody I know.”

  Moonbeam’s face relaxed into a smile. “He sounds like a wonderful person. And I’m so glad you feel safe enough with him to tell him the truth. I’m sure you’ll be very happy together. Are you planning a wedding?”

  “God, no!”

  Moonbeam and Karma looked taken aback by my expression of horror, and I fumbled to explain. “Neither of us wants any kind of commitment. We’re just friends with benefits, and that’s how we both want it to stay.”

  “Oh.” Moonbeam brightened. “So there would still be room in your life for a serious relationship.”

  “Um… in theory, yeah, but…”

  She gave me a whimsical smile. “Don’t worry, dear, I won’t press. But a mother never gives up hope, you know.”

  “Uh, I think in this case maybe you should,” I mumbled.

  She patted my hand, unabashed. “We’ll look forward to meeting your Hellhound. Is the station wagon running? How will you pick him up?”

  “No, he said he’d get here on his own. When I told him vehicles weren’t allowed on the commune he said he’d walk here.”

  Moonbeam’s brow furrowed. “He does realize it’s twelve miles from Port Renfrew, doesn’t he?”

  “I told him.” I shrugged. “He’s in really good shape. And he said he was looking forward to getting some exercise in our nice weather after all the snow they’ve had in Calgary.”

  “Very well, dear. Oh, and you may want to take a larger mattress from the supply room. Your cot is unlikely to be comfortable for two.”

  “Right, thanks.” They began to move off, and I tried to keep my tone casual as I added, “So what’s on your agenda for today?” They looked slightly bemused by the non sequitur, and I added in a burst of inspiration, “I’d like to bring Arnie to meet you later and I was wondering when would be a good time. He thought he’d be here around noon.”

  They exchanged a glance, and Karma smiled and replied, “The Earth Spirit has requested our service today. We’ll likely be unavailable most of the day, but we’ll look forward to meeting him at our evening meal.”

  “Oh. Okay, see you later, then.”

  They turned away, leaving me to worry about what ‘unavailable’ really meant.

  Chapter 24

  I wandered over to collect my clothes from beside the woodstove, deep in thought. What did ‘the Earth Spirit requested their service’ mean? No wonder Stemp had lost patience with the mysterious dogma.

  I didn’t know whether to be reassured or worried. On one hand it meant I needn’t panic if I couldn’t find Moonbeam and Karma, but on the other hand, all kinds of bad things could happen to them and I wouldn’t know until suppertime.

  And what did they mean by ‘unavailable’? It wasn’t like they were going to take their phone off the hook or refuse to answer email. They lived in a tent with no technology at all. Did they mean ‘in their tent but not responding to visitors’, or ‘at some mysterious undisclosed location’?

  I realized I was
beginning to draw odd looks while I stood scowling at the stove, so I abandoned the kitchen and headed for the supply room.

  Wrestling a queen-sized mattress from the main building to my tent provided my workout for the day. By the time I’d folded up my cot and made up the mattress on the floor I was drenched in sweat and beginning to curse the unaccustomed warmth of the sun on my tent.

  I flopped down on the mattress and stared at the canvas ceiling. Wouldn’t you know it; another nice warm sunny day. And I had to wear my jacket all day or risk leaving my secret equipment to be discovered in my tent.

  Or I could sneak it back into my underwater cache, but I didn’t really want to do that in broad daylight, and I didn’t dare go without a secured phone just in case I needed to make an emergency call to Stemp.

  Muttering imprecations, I put on my jacket and checked Orion’s tracker one more time. His red dot was still in the vicinity of the garage, and I sighed. Might as well go up there and get some more work done on the truck. If it happened that Orion and Ratboy were both there, at least I could keep an eye on them.

  The climb to the garage wearing my jacket did nothing to solve my sweat problem. Halfway up the hill I shrugged out of it and tied it around my waist by its sleeves instead. The bulging pockets bumped my calves annoyingly, but at least I wasn’t sweltering anymore.

  As I neared the clearing I slowed, listening, but heard nothing. When I rounded the corner and strode up the last of the grade I discovered I was alone. I poked my head into the garage and circled the clearing, but Orion must have left by another route while I was climbing the hill.

  I stood frowning into space while I thought that through. First he had popped up everywhere as though he had been following me, and now he seemed to be avoiding me. Weird. He didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d completely give up on a woman after failing to score on his first try, so he must have some other reason for lying low. Maybe my empty tent had aroused his suspicions last night after all.

  Stepping into the garage, I untied my jacket and laid it in the cleanest corner of the workbench. There was no sign of Skidmark, so I chanced a peek into my pocket to check Orion’s tracker. My heart almost stopped at the sight of his dot superimposed on my origin point. He couldn’t be more than a hundred yards away.