“Victor is probably already tearing into the Riverview finances. He’s got a whole team of forensic accountants. But I’ll call him just to make sure he’s pushing in that direction. We need to know how and why Loring got involved with Garraway.”

“You and I should get a couple of hours’ sleep before we head for Fogg Lake.”

North scrubbed his face with the heels of his hands. “You get some sleep. I won’t be able to sleep, not unless I put on the glasses.”

“I honestly don’t think that would be a good idea. You need to let the poison wear off.”

“Assuming you’re right, that could take days.”

“No, I don’t think so. I think we’re talking hours, not days, for this stuff to wear off. We know you still have your talent, because you used it to douse that light grenade. You can try accessing it. Maybe that will help suppress the hallucinations.”

“It’s going to be a long night,” North said.

With no guarantee that, come morning, he would still be sane. But Sierra’s certainty gave him the first real shot of hope he’d had since the hallucinations had set in. If she turned out to be right, he would deal with the implications later.

“Forget sleep.” Sierra got to her feet. “I’ll make some coffee.”

“You’re going to stay awake with me?”

“I might be able to use my locket to help you concentrate on suppressing some of the effects of the poison, especially the whispers. I think they are the real problem.”

“You’re going to use your talent the way you did to help me sleep last night and the way you used it to help Matt Harper recover his memories?”

“I’m pretty strong.” She paused, tilted her head slightly and gave him an unreadable look. “Some people would say that my talent makes me one of the monsters, the kind the Foundation cleaners hunt.”

“No,” he said. “I’ve met monsters. You’re not one of them. What you are is amazing.”

CHAPTER 25

North sat quietly while Sierra got the small coffeemaker going. He watched the whispering images come and go at the edges of his vision, first attempting to suppress the panic they inspired and then trying to banish them through sheer force of will. He discovered he could suppress them temporarily, but as soon as he stopped concentrating on one, it popped up again.

Sierra hit the switch to turn on the coffeemaker. Then she folded her arms and leaned against the counter.

“Any idea who might want you psi-blind?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “Probably the same bastard who tried to murder my father—Loring. This all seems to have roots in the past. But I’ll figure it out later. Right now we need to stay focused on finding the artifact that partially destabilized Dad’s aura.”

“It strikes me that any way you look at this thing we’re dealing with paranormal weapons,” Sierra said. “I thought that, technically speaking, it was impossible to construct such a device. Something to do with tuning problems.”