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“Ash,
I need to tell you…” I started to say.

“Please
just let me finish,” he interrupted.

“I…”

“Please
Lexi,” he begged. As I clasped my hands together and nodded, his shoulders
slumped and he drew a deep breath. “This is part of the craziness,” he said and
exhaled loudly. “After the accident I continued having premonitions. They
always involved the death of some unsuspecting person or persons. I realized
that I could save people – children, parents, families…” His lower lip
quivered. “Other people’s loved ones. I made it my mission to act upon my
premonitions and save the lives of people I didn’t know. I’ve never lost
another person. Not ever. Not since my family.” He stopped and shuffled his
feet. The shadows were descending upon us, and the smell of roasted hot dogs
invaded the area. Now that the autumn days of September were upon us, the
dropping temperatures fell much earlier in the day. He gazed right into my
eyes. “You’re probably ready to make a mad dash for your car, thinking I’m
either delusional or seriously deranged.”

“No,”
I shook my head and frowned. “I don’t think that at all. I believe everything
you’ve told me. I also think you’re courageous and…wonderful. But more
importantly, I think I have some friends who can help you.”

Looking
at me like I was the lunatic, his eyebrows twitched and his jaw tightened. “I
don’t think that’s possible. Even if you do believe me, which I appreciate by
the way,” he smiled briefly, twisting his hands. Contempt tormented his face.
“I’m beyond help. I’ve changed. Changed for the worse, and I can’t explain it
to you. It’s beyond understanding. I’m a different person now. Dangerous!
Unstable! I can’t even trust myself. And I don’t trust
them
either.
That’s why I need to leave town…” His voice drifted off, anguish dominating the
creases in his forehead.

I
couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. Or maybe I could, and I just
didn’t want to. Taking a deep breath, I fought to control my feelings of panic.
Completely on edge, I stood up and held onto the table for support. “Tell me.
Who can’t you trust?” I demanded.

Squatting
down, he held his head in his hands. “Lexi, I can’t bring you any deeper into
this. I’ve already said too much.”

“No.
Look at me,” I said forcefully and waited for him to meet my eyes. When he did
I said, “You’ve already brought me into this. You can confide in me. Please,
just tell me who it is that you don’t trust.”

Assessing
me, he stood up again. “When I left town I was having headaches and my
premonitions were coming all the time, but they were jumbled and messed up.” He
spoke in a soft and shaky voice. “I wasn’t feeling well, and I thought maybe if
I just isolated myself for awhile, went camping or something I could clear my
mind. I ended up at the Cayoosh Creek Campground in Canada, about four hours
north of Vancouver. After a couple days, I met a group of people about our age.
They…they seemed to know about…about premonitions and my symptoms, and they
said they could help me. I believed them. Why not?” He flung his hands into the
air.“I’d never met anyone else who’d had premonitions like me, so I figured
these people were the answer to my prayers. I was feeling horrible, almost
delusional by that time, so I accepted their help.”

I
gasped and dug my nails into the table.

He
paused but continued, “I was shocked with how they helped me, but I felt instantly
better. But after a few days, as I spent more time with them, I realized my
life would never be the same. I had a new need, but I didn’t want to live the
kind of life they described and seemed to be living.”

A lump
formed in my throat. Grabbing my stomach, I tried to stop the nausea and horror
building inside me. I’d never been one to throw up easily, but that seemed to
be another drastic change in my body lately. Physically queasy, the warning
bells were ringing loudly in my ears, and I could barely breathe. In a voice
that sounded alien even to me I asked, “Are you talking about the Ray-pacs?”

His
shoulders stiffened, and his head snapped back. The flash of surprise followed
by complete puzzlement was evidence enough of what his answer would be. “What?”
he whispered. “How do you know about the Ray-pacs?” His eyes almost popped out
of their sockets when he asked, “You’re not one of them, are you?”

“No,
I’m not,” I said, trembling. “But I know of them.” His head was shaking
furiously. I had a painful prickly feeling. In a cautious voice, I asked, “Did
one of the Ray-pacs link with you?” Instantly, he stopped moving, and his jaw
dropped. All he could do was nod in affirmation. Covering my mouth, I couldn’t
stop the tears from cascading down my face.

He groaned.
“I don’t understand. If you’re not one of them, how do you know about them? How
do you know about linking?” he demanded.

I dug
my fingernails deeper into the picnic table. “I’ll tell you everything I know,”
I promised in a hitched voice. “But can you tell me, are they here in
Bellingham?” Watching him closely, I brushed my cheeks with the edge of my
sweater.

“No!”
he said adamantly. “They’re still in Canada.”

“How
can you be sure?” I asked with renewed terror.

“I
can’t believe you’re shaking so badly,” he said, moving a little closer. “I
promise it’s true. They said they can’t come down to this area right now,
because their enemies, the Guardians or something, control this territory. They
figured I could move around easily without being spotted since I lived here
already.”

How
the heck did Ash sneak in under the radar? How was it the Guardians hadn’t
tracked him down yet? I glanced around. Crap. Hopefully they weren’t onto him
or watching us from a distance. No, I reasoned. If they’d sensed him, they’d
have taken him out. With my eyes still darting around, I pressed him further.
“Keep going.”

He
took an awkward step forward. “They helped me, and now the expectation is that
I will help them, but I don’t want to. They want me to scout about and find
someone for them – someone who would be really helpful to them. I don’t know
all the details. They don’t completely trust me yet. But I don’t trust them
either, and I’m not too keen on doing anything for them. That’s why I was
planning to break all ties with them and everyone here and get out of
Bellingham before…”

“Who
are you looking for?” I interrupted, staring at him while frozen in fear.

“What?”

“Who
do they want you to find?” I repeated in a sharp tone.

“Why
does it matter?”

“It
just does,” I said adamantly.

“Okay.
All right. I’m supposed to find some guy named Jason. They think he lives down
at Squalicum Harbor, and then I’m supposed to follow him and see if he leads me
to a girl named Alex. Why does this matter so much? You’re really scaring me
now.” He twisted the leather bands at his wrist.

I
didn’t blink or flinch. I stood motionless like a statue. They knew Jason lived
down at the marina. That was not good.

“Lexi?”
he prompted.

“You
won’t have to worry about the guy at the marina.” I gazed into his eyes.

“Why?
What do you know about this?” His tone was fused with confusion and
frustration.

Swallowing,
I hesitated. “You’re looking for me Ash. I’m Alex.”

“What?”
His body went slack, and I could see the blood draining from his face.

“Remember,
my full name is Alexandria. But, the one time I met the Ray-pacs, they only
heard me referred to as Alex.” I said this placidly, as if I was perfectly
calm. But by insides were rolling in total turmoil.

Taking
a step closer, he cursed. Dark fury radiated in his eyes. “You can’t be,” he
growled. “Please tell me it’s not true.”

“I
can’t,” I murmured sadly. “Did they tell you how you’d know when you found the
right girl?”

“Yes,”
he said cautiously, toying with the keys he’d just pulled out of his pocket.
“They said her Essence would be so strong that when I touched her it would
burn, almost knock me off my feet.”

I held
out my arm.

After
assessing me grimly, he slowly reached out. When his fingertips touched my hand,
he flinched violently, whirled around and swore. He kicked the dirt all around
him like a madman. Fir needles and dust shot through the air.

“I’m
sorry,” I said slightly taken aback. “I didn’t realize it would hurt you that
bad.”

He
turned back around immediately and stepped within inches of me. “It’s not that.
I don’t care about the pain. I’m scared to death for you. We have to get you
out of town, too. You’re coming with me, and we’re leaving tonight,” he said
resolutely.

“I
can’t do that,” I replied just as strongly. “Listen to me. I need to know
everything that happened to you. And I’m sure you’ll want to hear my story and
what my connections are. I think we can work through this – if we work
together, promising to be open and forthcoming with everything we know.” As I
tilted my head sideways, he clamped his jaw down but nodded. “How much time did
they give you to find me?”

Stepping
back, he covered his ears and grimaced. “This can’t be happening.”

“Ash,
how long?”

He
looked at me. “A few months. They wanted me to be extra careful and not raise
any suspicions. Once I find you then they’ll make the final plans on how to
capture you. Lexi, what is this all about? Why do they want you?”

I sat
down on the bench. “This is really complicated. I have so much to tell you, but
I need to know what they’ve told you first; they may have told you lies and
distorted the truth.”

“You’re
probably right,” he said. In a menacing voice he added, “I wouldn’t put
anything past them.”

I
nodded. “I
can
tell you I’m considered an Amethyst, or a Healer. My
Essence allows me to heal others.”

His
eyes shot up in surprise, but in a controlled voice he asked hoarsely, “Why do
they want you? Do they think you can heal them or something?”

“I’m
not sure why they want me. And no, supposedly once you’re a Ray-pac, you’re
always a Ray-pac.” I shrugged sorrowfully, my throat suddenly parched.
“Honestly, I think they like being who they are – crazy, sadistic killers. But
I don’t know what they think I can do for them.”

“Well,
I can promise you it isn’t good,” Ash said viciously. “There is no way I’m
letting Kieran, or Melanie for that matter, get near you.”

I
jerked. “Kieran and Melanie?”

“Yeah!”
he said and spat. “That witch has a serious vengeance for you. I’ll be happy
when my link with her breaks, and I won’t have to listen to her buzzing in my
head anymore…”

“You’re
linked with Melanie?” I said sourly. Could it get any worse? “How many of them
are there?”

“Six
that I met, but I think there are more in their immediate group. I’m not sure;
there was talk of having lost a couple of their friends recently.”

Pointing
at the table next to me, I said, “Sit down and tell me everything that happened
to you, and then I’ll tell you about me and my friends.”

His
golden eyes regarded me for several seconds, but then he slumped down onto the
bench. Breaking the silence, a little brown squirrel chirped loudly from the
top of the big boulder Ash had been leaning against before. We both gave short,
nervous laughs. Eventually, Ash leaned one arm onto the table and rested his
chin against his hand and began recounting everything that had happened to him
on his camping trip.

We
realized just how uninformed he really was about the Ray-pacs and their plans.
They’d told him that in order to gain their trust he would first have to find
me, and they hadn’t been honest with him about who the Guardians were either. I
listened for quite awhile, eventually breaking the news that if he’d been found
by a Guardian and linked with one of them, his situation would have been much
different. Much better.

Sounding
exhausted and defeated, he told me that after all those years of saving lives,
there was no way he wanted to be part of their group. They hadn’t been very
clear with him, but he’d gotten the feeling they were stealing Essence from
people. I thought he was going to come unglued when I let him know exactly how
they hunted for Essence and were killing people for it, too.

Jumping
to his feet, he walked around in a panic. “I knew I was feeling funny. I don’t
know if I want or need Essence right now, but I’ve been fighting these strong
urges to plunder it the last couple days – I just feel bad, like I need a fix;
I need the boost. I can’t explain it. They told me I would be able to sustain
myself for awhile by just touching an animal or a person and their Essence
would flow into me, making me feel better. But if I do that, I’m no better than
the predators they are.”

“Oh
Ash,” I said, my voice dripping with desperation.

“I’m
fighting off the urge to do what they said, but I don’t know how much longer I
can shy away from these hunter instincts.” With utter despair he added, “I’m
like a monster!” Shaking his head, he marched around and swung at the trees,
kicked up dust, and slapped the huge boulder with his hands.

“Ash come
here,” I said excitedly, several thoughts coming together in my mind. Turning,
he gave me a quizzical look but ambled my way. “I have an idea. If I can touch
you and direct my Essence into you, maybe it will satiate that need – give you
the energy boost you need without you having to seek it out in other ways.”

A
glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes. “Do you think that’s possible?” He barely
breathed.

“I
really do,” I said, nervously reaching my hands to his shoulders. Apprehensive
about touching him, I remembered Jason telling me that a Ray-pac’s Essence was
pure evil. I’d been terrified to touch Kieran, and luckily that had never come
to pass, because Max had appeared in the nick of time and saved me from
touching that monster. But Ash wasn’t a monster – he was my friend, and he
needed me.