Dark Nights by Christine Feehan Read Free Book Online

Jubal! I’m going to begin my descent.” Joie tested her harness and glanced back toward the tube. “Gabrielle! Jubal! Are you two okay?”
    “Wait for us, Joie,” Jubal ordered. “Gabrielle has a bad feeling about this and so do I. I’m thinking we should regroup for a few minutes and talk this over. This could be more trouble than we want.”
    Joie fought back hysterical laughter that bubbled up out of nowhere. “Talk it over? Nobody’s in more trouble than I am right now, Jubal. I can’t turn back. I have to make this descent or go live in a padded cell for the rest of my life. I am not kidding you.”
    Jubal caught at Gabrielle’s leg. “She isn’t joking; she sounds on the verge of hysteria.”
    “I can’t,” Gabrielle began to cry.
    “Move your ass. Right now,” he ordered Gabrielle, and then raised his voice to make certain his youngest sister could hear him. “Joie, don’t you dare start that descent without us. You stay right where you are until we get there. If you don’t listen to me, I’m going to haul your ass back to the surface and take you out of here.”
    Jubal rarely used that tone with either of his independent sisters, but it had the desired effect. Gabrielle scooted forward, driven by the fact that her brother obviously shared her growing fears for Joie.
    Shaken, Joie pulled back from the abyss, shocked at herself that she would have started without Gabrielle and Jubal. She always put safety first. Always. She was an expert climber and caver. It made no sense that she was acting so insane. She was in dangerous territory. An unexplored ice cave was a disaster waiting to happen for anyone not paying attention to what they were doing.
    She pressed her fingertips to her eyes, taking in great gulps of air, trying to find a balance. She couldn’t risk the lives of her brother and sister. She knew they’d come exploring with her because they were concerned about her. She was just as worried as they were for her sanity.
    Joie. You must listen to me. You and your siblings are in mortal danger. There is evil here and you must leave before it is too late.
    She drew in her breath sharply. There he was again—her mythical man. His voice was commanding. Firm. His tone held absolute conviction. But it also held pain. He was somewhere down below her suffering. She could feel him close to her. He needed her, whether he wanted to admit it or not. He needed her. She had been on rescue teams many times, even led a few herself, but this was different. Whatever his injuries, they hadn’t been sustained in a climbing accident.
    His fear for her—for all of them—beat at her, impossible to ignore. Joie sat on the edge of the precipice, staring down into the black abyss. The walls of ice belled outward away from any rope, creating a free rappel. It would be difficult to slow down. They’d have to work to control speed on their descent on an ice-slick rope. Jubal and she both were expert at handling a descent bobbin, but Gabrielle might have a little more trouble. She didn’t look up when her brother and sister joined her.
    Jubal rested his hands on her shoulders. He took a long slow look around the large chamber, shining his light up along the vaulted ceilings and studying the edges of the abyss to assess their safety should they choose to make the descent.
    “Joie,” he said, as gently as possible. “You’re going to have to talk to us. We have to know what’s going on with you. Exploring caves is something we all enjoy together, we have for a lot of years, since Mom and Dad rigged harnesses for us when we were toddlers. But this isn’t fun. It isn’t even safe and I think you know that. We’re willing to follow you and help you any way we can, but we have to understand what’s going on.”
    Gabrielle sat cautiously beside her and took her hand. “So tell us. We’ll help. We always stick together. There’s no need to hide anything from us.”
    There was a small silence. Finally Joie