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Back Point Last Seen
Chapters (86)
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  4. Dedication
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  86. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Somehow, she still clutched her weapon. Some instinct had warned her to hold it tightly, and she would not relinquish it now. She held it up to the light; the metal shone like stainless steel. She saw the length of it: it was as long as she was tall, and the end curved like a cane back toward her, terminating in a barbed hook.

Thank God she had retained her weapon, because silhouetted against the careening light, a dark, menacing form moved toward her.

She tasted salt and terror.

Him. He stood between her and the house where there was help, light, life.

He was returning to finish the job.

30

ELLE TOOK HER GAZE away from the pendant, leaned back in her chair and sighed. “I had a weapon. I used a weapon. That makes me feel so much better to know I hurt him at least a little.”

Adam was stunned by the clarity of her revelation, and even Rune looked not so much pleased as amazed.

She put her hand on Rune’s. “Can we go on?”

Rune reached into her capacious skirt pocket and pulled out a velvet bag. “Let’s consult the runes.”

Adam groaned. Did they have to go through every phony supernatural device known to mankind?

Rune shook the stones out on the table—they looked like finger bones—and studied them. “The runes say we should postpone our next hypnosis, give Elle some space before she tries again.”

Elle grasped the edges of the table. “But I’m remembering!”

Rune dropped her fortune-teller persona and became the therapist. “You stopped remembering at that point for a reason. Let your subconscious rest and gather strength for the next revelation.”

Adam might scorn the psychic, but the therapist obviously knew her shit.

“There might never be another time!” Elle was almost crying in frustration.

Once again, Rune delved into her pocket and presented Elle with a journal bound in turquoise leather and stamped with an imprint of rope tied in an intricate knot. “Do you know what that is?”

Elle traced the impression with her forefinger. “A Gordian knot. Alexander the Great was presented with it and was told no man could loosen it except he who was destined to be ruler of all Asia. He took out his sword and cut the knot in half.” She peered at Rune. “Is that a message to me?”

“Sometimes the direct way is best. I suggest you start journaling. First thing in the morning, write down anything you feel like—the weather, what you think of Gothic and its inhabitants, what you’d like to see happen in your day-to-day life here. You could even write what you think of grumpy ol’ Adam.” Rune walked to the windows and opened one curtain after another. “Writing has a way of shaking loose thoughts we aren’t expecting.”

“You think it’ll help me recover my memory,” Elle said.