He understood now why Olivia had insisted they spend the night in the car. It was possible to walk through the stuff provided you moved cautiously, but driving would have been a nightmarish experience. The glowing mist ebbed and flowed in a seemingly random pattern, occasionally clearing enough to allow him to make out rocks and trees a yard or two away. At other times the stuff closed in without warning, reducing visibility to inches.

The recorder music was growing louder and sharper. He glanced at Olivia, who was so close beside him their arms frequently brushed against each other. It wasn’t a gesture of intimacy, despite what had happened in the back of the SUV. It was common sense. Physical proximity enhanced the ability to deal with heavy energy. Two auras combined were stronger than each individually. In the unearthly light of the fog he could tell she was concentrating intently. Focused.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Stop talking or they’ll hear you.”

“Right.”

He reminded himself that they were in her territory. She was the one with on-the-ground knowledge.

The closer they got to the main road, the more unpleasant the music sounded, at least to his ears. There was a piercing quality to the notes. He sensed the tension that was shivering through Olivia and knew she was having to pull a lot of energy in order to stay in control. He reminded himself that she had already been through a lot that day. How much could she handle?

He’d been through the same shit. How much could he handle?

Halfway around a bend in the narrow road Olivia reached out and clamped her fingers around his upper arm. The glare of fog-shrouded headlights could be seen from where they stood. He touched her hand to let her know he got the warning and put his mouth close to her ear.

“Stay here,” he said.

She nodded.

He went forward carefully, using the cover of an outcropping of boulders. When he was in a position to view the scene on the far side of the bend in the road, he could see the looming shapes of two SUVs parked one behind the other on the pavement. Four figures moved in the mist, keeping very close to the vehicles. One of them held an object to his mouth. The recorder player.

“This is a waste of time,” one of them announced. “We don’t even know if the woman is within hearing distance.”

Trev, Harlan decided.

The recorder player lowered the instrument. “This damned fog closed in fast. They can’t drive through this stuff—not without the nav device. This is where the signal got lost in the noise. They must be nearby.”

Ink was the one playing the paranormal recorder.

“Where? Can’t see anything in this shit.”

The speaker was the one who had been called Ox that afternoon.