AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?”
“It will be interesting to see if Venner’s body disappears, too.”
“We are not hanging around to find out,” Luke said. “Plans havechanged. We’re going into the conservatory now, not tonight. We can’t risk wasting any more time. Two people are dead and our only lead is that hothouse.”
“What if someone sees us trying to break in?” Talia said.
“It will be more interesting if someone tries to stop us,” Luke said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
There’s definitely noneed for a jacket in here,” Talia said. She surveyed the mass of vibrant green foliage that crammed the interior of the conservatory, awed and fascinated by the energy in the humid atmosphere. “It feels like we’re in Hawaii.”
The hothouse was laden with the earthy scents of vegetation that was thriving with uncanny vigor.
Luke looked around. “There’s something going on with these plants. It’s as if they’re reacting to the storm. Listen.”
He was right, Talia thought. There was a low-level rustling sound, and the leaves of many of the plants were gently shifting and undulating. The greenery in the outside gardens was agitated because it was being whipped and lashed by the wind and the rain. But here, inside the conservatory, the vegetation was protected by the glass walls and steel skeleton of the structure. The foliage should not be stirring, and yet it was.
The flashlight-shaped device had worked without a hitch. The pinging had become steady when she and Luke got close to the steel door. The black crystals had sparked a short time later and the heavydoor had opened. They had stepped into an airlock-like chamber. When the outer door closed and relocked, the glass door inside had opened, allowing them into the plant-filled space.
“It’s easy to talk about the power of nature, but when you’re confronted with it like this there are no good adjectives,” Talia said. “I wonder why these plants haven’t smashed through the glass bricks and taken over the island.”
“Good question.” Luke looked down at the glowing crystal stones beneath their feet. “The root systems should have turned this flooring to rubble over the decades. Hard to believe this place has been running on old technology since the last half of the twentieth century. Hell, they were still working with slide rules in those days.”
“They got to the moon in the last century using slide rules,” Talia reminded him.
“Fair point. Anything new from Phoebe’s necklace?”
Talia reached up to touch the crystal. Her pulse skittered when she realized that the energy pulsing from it was stronger. “We’re definitely closer to her, but I’m still getting the impression of a whirlpool.”
“She must be in here somewhere.”
“It’s going to be hard to search this place. The plants look impenetrable. We would need machetes to hack through them.”
“Maybe not,” Luke said, cool certainty infusing his voice. “There’s a path.”
He walked across the stone floor and stopped at the edge of a wall of greenery. He reached out and pulled some of the leaves aside.
“Here we go,” he said. “Whoever built this place used the same stones as those in the labyrinth gardens.”
She went forward to join him and saw a path of faintly glowing stones set into the rich soil. Only three were clearly visible. The fourth peeked out from under a screen of violet orchids.
“Stay close,” Luke said. “For all we know there may be several paths in here, just like there are in the gardens. If I lose you it could take a very long time to find you.”
That hurt. Well, sure, she was being overly sensitive, but she had a right to a few emotions. A short time ago she had been in bed with the man, having the most amazing sex of her entire life and telling herself that she and Luke had some sort of special psychic bond, blah, blah, blah, and now he was complaining about the possibility of having to look for her if she got lost. It was too much.
“Right.” She gave him an overly bright smile. “Wouldn’t want you to be forced to waste time searching for me. Priorities.”
He shot her a severe but baffled look. “I’m serious. This place is a miniature jungle.”
“I noticed.”
He hesitated for a beat. She got the feeling he was going to launch into a lecture on other potential or theoretical dangers that might be lurking in the conservatory.
“We should probably get moving,” she said.
Evidently concluding this was not a good time for an argument, he turned around and moved forward along the path. She stayed close behind him. He was right. She really did not want to get lost in this place.
