"We watched them drive away..." Grandma's voice trailed off.
"Did you observe them from all angles the entire time?" Vanessa pursued. "Is it possible the Sphinx might have released the prisoner before passing through the gate?"
Grandma and Grandpa looked at each other. Then Grandpa looked at Vanessa. "We watched them depart, but not closely enough to guarantee you're wrong. Your theory is plausible."
"Given the circumstances," Vanessa said, "I'd say probable. There is no other explanation."
The thought of that secret prisoner bundled in burlap roaming the preserve turning nipsies and fairies dark made Seth shudder. He had to admit, it was the most likely proposition they had considered.
"What do you know about the prisoner?" Grandma asked Vanessa.
"No more than you," Vanessa said. "I have no clue who the prisoner was, or how he or she or it started the plague, but the process of elimination sure makes the prisoner look like the culprit. And it definitely doesn't reflect well on the Sphinx."
"You're right, we should have seen this possibility," Grandpa said. "I wonder if, deep down, I still haven't come to terms with the reality that the Sphinx might be our greatest enemy."
"This is still all conjecture," Grandma reminded them, although without much conviction.
"Have you any other information that might help us?" Grandpa inquired.
"Not with solving the mystery of this plague," Vanessa said. "I would need time to study it firsthand. If you let me help, I'm sure I could be of service."
"We're shorthanded enough without having to stand guard over you," Grandpa replied.
"Fine," Vanessa said. "Could you take the shackles with you this time?"
Tanu unlocked and removed the handcuffs. Vanessa stepped back into the box. She winked at Seth. He stuck out his tongue. Grandma closed the door, the box rotated, and Dale emerged.
"I was starting to worry this was all an elaborate setup to get rid of me," Dale said, shaking his arms as if clearing off invisible cobwebs.
"Did it feel like a long time?" Seth asked.
"Long enough," Dale answered. "You lose your senses in there. Can't hear a thing, can't see a thing, can't smell a thing. You start losing all sensation. You feel like a disembodied mind. It's almost relaxing, but not in a good way. You start losing your grip of who you are. I can't figure how Vanessa manages to string words into sentences after spending weeks in that emptiness."
"I'm not sure anything could put her at a loss for words," Grandma said. "She's as slippery as they come. Whatever we do, we must place no trust in her."
"No trust," Grandpa said. "But she may be of further use for information. She acts like she still has a card to play, and she's no fool, so she probably does. How can we discover the identity of the hooded prisoner?"
"Could Nero have seen something in his stone?" Grandma asked.
"Possibly," Grandpa said. "If not, there's a chance he still could."
"I'll go ask him," Seth offered. His previous visit with the cliff troll had been exciting. The greedy troll had wanted to acquire him as a servant in exchange for using a seeing stone to locate Grandpa.
"You'll do nothing of the kind," Grandma said. "A massage enticed him into helping us once. The same offer might tempt him again."
"Knowing Nero, having sampled your skills once, he'll want you to sign on as his permanent masseuse before he'll assist us," Grandpa said. "Last time, he had never had a massage. The novelty of it was the key. You proved that curiosity will motivate him more than riches."
"A special potion, perhaps?" Tanu suggested.
"Something modern?" Seth tried. "Like a cell phone or a camera?" Grandpa put his hands together against his lips as if praying. "It's hard to say what might do the trick, but something along those lines is worth a try. With creatures transformed by the plague lurking about, simply getting to Nero might be the hardest part."
"What if Nero has been affected by the plague?" Dale wondered.
"If it turns light creatures dark, it might turn dark creatures darker," Tanu speculated.
"Maybe we'd have better luck following Coulter," Seth reminded them.
"We won't be able to answer those questions until we make a choice and take a risk," Grandpa said. "Let's sleep on it and decide tomorrow."
Chapter Nine
Pathways
A squeal escaped Kendra when she awoke in the night, the roar of the thunderclap fading. She felt flustered and disoriented. The noise had jolted her out of sleep as abruptly as a punch in the face. Although this was her second night at Lost Mesa, the dark room initially appeared unfamiliar-it took a moment to make sense of the rustic furniture fashioned from knotty wooden posts.
Had the house been struck by lightning? Even though she had been asleep, Kendra felt certain she had never heard thunder that loud. It had been like dy***ite exploding inside her pillow. She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. A brilliant strobe flickered, bright enough to throw shadows, accompanied almost instantaneously by another deafening detonation of thunder. Covering her ears, Kendra walked to the window, staring out into the dim courtyard. With clouds blotting out all starlight and no lights on in the hacienda, the courtyard should have looked totally black.
She could make out cactus shapes in the dimness. The courtyard had a fountain in the center, tiled paths, gravel paths, and a variety of desert flora. She expected to see one of the taller cacti in flames from a lightning strike, but that did not appear to be the case. No rain was falling. The courtyard was still. Kendra felt tense, awaiting the next flash of light and crash of sound.
Instead of more lightning and thunder, rain began to fall. For a few seconds it pattered lightly; then it really began to pour. Kendra opened her window, enjoying the aroma the rain released from the desert soil. A fairy with wings like a June bug alighted on the windowsill. Glowing a soft green, she had an exquisite face and was pudgier than any fairy Kendra had seen.
"Got caught in the rain?" Kendra asked.
"I don't mind the water," the fairy chirped. "Freshens things up. This little cloudburst will pass in a few minutes."
"Did you see the lightning?" Kendra asked.
"Hard to miss. You shine almost as brightly."
"I've been told that before. Do you want to come into my room?"
The fairy giggled. "The windowsill is as close as I can come. You're up late."