“Could Dryden have another Talent?”

“Most of us have only the one.” Finn glanced at Nellie. “Except a few Cavendishes.”

“But it’s possible?”

“Anything’s possible—you know that. But if he has any Talent at all, much less several of them, he’s hidden it very well.”

“Maybe it’s something that was triggered only recently,” Hollis murmured, frowning.

Bishop looked at her. “The energy?”

“It’s at least possible, isn’t it? We know energy can affect abilities, even trigger them. So why not in him?” She looked at Finn. “Something’s been nagging at me. The energy started increasing around here when Duncan Cavendish was building his power base, right?”

“It was beginning to affect some of us during the last year or so,” Finn agreed.

“But it only became a real problem for people with Talents since Duncan was killed?”

He frowned at her. “Yeah. In the last few weeks. What’re you thinking?”

“I don’t know what I’m thinking. It just . . . bugs me.”

Diana spoke up then to say, “But how was Daniel—Danny—able to do it? I mean, to get into the gray time? To be able to . . . manipulate that? And I know the guides are never as childlike as they appear, but—”

“So far,” Bishop told her, “the best guess would seem to be that his primary ability, unlike that of his family, or any of the five families, is as a medium. We may never know whether he was born with the instincts to open a door into the gray time, as you were, or if it was triggered more recently and he somehow stumbled onto it.”

Diana blinked at him. “ ‘Stumbled’?”

He shrugged slightly. “Sounds like he spent a lot of time on his own, up in the mountains. He may have been exploring his abilities as well as hiking trails.”

Hollis said, “However he learned about the place—time—whatever—he must have visited, and more than once, especially in these last weeks. And he learned fast. Or, at least, learned enough to be able to manipulate some things in the gray time. Like his own appearance.”

Steadily, Diana said, “Wait. You’re telling me that a serial killer knows how to get into the gray time? By himself? I mean, I know there’s been evil there before, but Samuel couldn’t come and go at will. He needed us to open a door so he could get out.”

Hollis, who understood better than anyone else just how creepy that idea was, nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, I think he can go there at will, and get out when he wants to. Not that I think he’s a traditional—if I can use that term—serial killer. Which, as I remember, you were the first to question.”

Diana looked as if she wanted to say something about that, but in the end just shook her head.

“I think Daniel wanted us to look for a typical serial,” Hollis said, “and not look for personal connections to any of the victims. I mean, books, TV, and movies have pretty much educated way too many people about serial killers and how they hunt and prey on strangers. And about how we investigate crimes, especially murder. I think Daniel was trying to hide his connection to Megan.”