blue. The most vibrant blue Maddie had ever seen. An absolutely piercing color. Those eyes held her completely captive for five erratic beats of her heart.
Finally, he was past. She jerked her head around, cheeks burning. How humiliating, to have no control over her body’s response to a man. How frightening. If she was ever alone with him again . . . Just the thought of it produced a confusing mixture of raw arousal and suffocating terror.
What, exactly, was she afraid of? She couldn’t put a finger on it. And she was afraid to examine the feeling too deeply. She just knew that Cade Leucetius disturbed her on some instinctive level. At the same time, she was attracted to him like crazy. Oh, why couldn’t the man just vanish?
He would, she reminded herself, in a few days. Or at most a week.
A lot could happen in a week.
The teens, plugged into their iPods, chattered loudly as they worked. Maddie bent her head and concentrated on scraping dirt into her bucket. It was nothing but dust and grit; the largest pebble was the size of a pea. She made a note in her field log and moved a few steps to the right, hoping for more fertile ground.
Her headache made it harder and harder to concentrate. The vise constricting her scalp tightened. The pain was impossible to ignore. She muttered a curse and tore off her glasses. Even before her diagnosis, they’d given her headaches.
Of course. That was the problem. Her glasses. Not the tumor. Please God, not the tumor.
She pressed her fingers to her temples. The throbbing eased. When she opened her eyes, she froze. The entire world had changed.
No. That wasn’t right. The world was the same. It was her view of it that had changed. Everything before her—from her hand two inches in front of her face, to the distant rise of the canyon wall—appeared in aggressive, almost unreal detail. As if the world was a 3-D movie playing on a digital high-def screen. It was as if her vision had improved.
Cautiously, she replaced her glasses on her nose. The pain flashed back, stabbing behind her eye. Grimacing, she tore off the eyewear and crammed it into her shirt pocket.
A corner of the pit started to glow. Soft red light spilled from the depths of the ancient well. Maddie glanced toward the three teens working in the opposite corner of the pit. One had started singing loudly off-key to whatever music he was plugged into. The others, groaning, shouted for him to shut up. Even though one of the boys was facing the well, he gave no sign of having seen anything odd.
Maddie inched closer to the well. The team had removed the misshapen boulder that had been lodged in the opening, probably during some ancient earthquake. The rock lay now to one side, revealing a circular hole faced with hand-tooled stone. The dry bottom lay some twelve feet below the level of the excavation pit.
Red light covered the bare, packed earth. The more Maddie stared, trying to puzzle out what it might be, the more light-headed she became. It was as if the hovering radiance had seeped into her eyes and was now trying to lift up the top of her skull. The world faded in and out. The earthen walls and wooden shoring of the excavation pit turned translucent. The banter of the teens became muffled. The black shade canopy over her head somehow took on the aspect of a green, leafy bough.
Her toes were even with the edge of the well now. She peered down into a glistening sheen of water.
Water?
In a dry well? Panic twisted her innards. She stumbled and grabbed for the shoring crossbeam. She missed. And then she was falling, falling . . .
She flung out her arms—
“Ms. Durant?” A hand grasped her elbow. “Is something wrong?”
She looked up, dazed, to find herself crouching on the ground. The older of the identical brothers—Josh?—was frowning down at her. The two other boys crowded behind, their young faces troubled. All three bore traces of white light about their heads and shoulders.
She blinked and rubbed her
Finally, he was past. She jerked her head around, cheeks burning. How humiliating, to have no control over her body’s response to a man. How frightening. If she was ever alone with him again . . . Just the thought of it produced a confusing mixture of raw arousal and suffocating terror.
What, exactly, was she afraid of? She couldn’t put a finger on it. And she was afraid to examine the feeling too deeply. She just knew that Cade Leucetius disturbed her on some instinctive level. At the same time, she was attracted to him like crazy. Oh, why couldn’t the man just vanish?
He would, she reminded herself, in a few days. Or at most a week.
A lot could happen in a week.
The teens, plugged into their iPods, chattered loudly as they worked. Maddie bent her head and concentrated on scraping dirt into her bucket. It was nothing but dust and grit; the largest pebble was the size of a pea. She made a note in her field log and moved a few steps to the right, hoping for more fertile ground.
Her headache made it harder and harder to concentrate. The vise constricting her scalp tightened. The pain was impossible to ignore. She muttered a curse and tore off her glasses. Even before her diagnosis, they’d given her headaches.
Of course. That was the problem. Her glasses. Not the tumor. Please God, not the tumor.
She pressed her fingers to her temples. The throbbing eased. When she opened her eyes, she froze. The entire world had changed.
No. That wasn’t right. The world was the same. It was her view of it that had changed. Everything before her—from her hand two inches in front of her face, to the distant rise of the canyon wall—appeared in aggressive, almost unreal detail. As if the world was a 3-D movie playing on a digital high-def screen. It was as if her vision had improved.
Cautiously, she replaced her glasses on her nose. The pain flashed back, stabbing behind her eye. Grimacing, she tore off the eyewear and crammed it into her shirt pocket.
A corner of the pit started to glow. Soft red light spilled from the depths of the ancient well. Maddie glanced toward the three teens working in the opposite corner of the pit. One had started singing loudly off-key to whatever music he was plugged into. The others, groaning, shouted for him to shut up. Even though one of the boys was facing the well, he gave no sign of having seen anything odd.
Maddie inched closer to the well. The team had removed the misshapen boulder that had been lodged in the opening, probably during some ancient earthquake. The rock lay now to one side, revealing a circular hole faced with hand-tooled stone. The dry bottom lay some twelve feet below the level of the excavation pit.
Red light covered the bare, packed earth. The more Maddie stared, trying to puzzle out what it might be, the more light-headed she became. It was as if the hovering radiance had seeped into her eyes and was now trying to lift up the top of her skull. The world faded in and out. The earthen walls and wooden shoring of the excavation pit turned translucent. The banter of the teens became muffled. The black shade canopy over her head somehow took on the aspect of a green, leafy bough.
Her toes were even with the edge of the well now. She peered down into a glistening sheen of water.
Water?
In a dry well? Panic twisted her innards. She stumbled and grabbed for the shoring crossbeam. She missed. And then she was falling, falling . . .
She flung out her arms—
“Ms. Durant?” A hand grasped her elbow. “Is something wrong?”
She looked up, dazed, to find herself crouching on the ground. The older of the identical brothers—Josh?—was frowning down at her. The two other boys crowded behind, their young faces troubled. All three bore traces of white light about their heads and shoulders.
She blinked and rubbed her
Similar Books
