After Glow by Jayne Castle Page A

carton.”
    “Mmm.” She peered into the carton, studying the shadows within. The amber she wore on her wrist warmed slightly as she used it to tune into the psychic frequencies of the little trap.
    It was small, but the resonating patterns were extremely complex.
    “Maltby was a real pro,” she murmured. “This is not a simple trap. He probably found it somewhere down in the catacombs and managed to de-rez it without destroying it. Then he reset it inside this carton. Couldn’t have been easy.”
    “Can you see what he used to anchor it?”
    “Not yet.”
    An illusion trap had to be anchored to some material of alien construction, usually an object fashioned of green quartz or the far more rare dreamstone.
    She probed with the sure, firm touch required. A tentative approach was often disastrous because the effort resulted in a disturbance of the trap’s pattern that could trigger it.
    Picking up the rhythm of the underlying currents she sent out a few psychic pulses designed to dampen the waves of psi energy.
    This was the most dangerous part of the operation. One misstep at this juncture and the energy pulses would rebound, overwhelming her and locking her into an alien nightmare that would last until she went unconscious. It might take her brain only a few seconds to shut down but it would feel like an eternity.
    The uncoiling energy waves would also catch anyone else who happened to be standing too close when the illusion snare snapped. The fact that Emmett had not bothered to retreat several discreet steps said a great deal about his respect for her skills as a tangler.
    She felt the energy of the trap gradually subside and then cease altogether. She held the frequency for a moment longer until she was certain that the trap had been destroyed permanently and could not be reset.
    “Got it,” she said, struggling to suppress the little flash of euphoria that always followed a successful untangling. It was considered uncool, not to mention extremely unprofessional, to let anyone see you getting off on the small rush.
    “You’re good,” Emmett said softly.
    “Thanks.” The praise made her smile. Hunters were notoriously churlish when it came to giving credit to tanglers. “Coming from a Guild boss, that is praise, indeed.”
    “Credit where it’s due, I always say.” He leaned closer, trying to get a view of the interior of the carton. “What’s inside?”
    She looked down and saw a tiny green quartz tomb mirror and what appeared to be a piece of paper that had been folded into a square. “I’m not sure.”
    Picking up the carton, she upended it. The mirror clunked when it hit the table. The folded paper landed on top of it.
    “He used a mirror for the anchor,” Emmett said.
    “Uh-huh.” She picked up the paper and unfolded it with care.
    “It’s a copy of an old newspaper article,” she said.
    She spread it out on the table. Together she and Emmett studied the piece.
     
    Local Student Disappears Underground; Feared Dead
    Troy Burgis, a student at Old Frequency College, vanished into an unexplored underground passageway sometime late yesterday. A search team was sent down but reported no trace of Burgis. He is presumed lost.
    College authorities said that Burgis and two companions had gone into the catacombs beneath Old Frequency without official permission. Evidently the unauthorized venture was instigated by Burgis.
    Jason Clark and Norman Fairbanks, the two students who accompanied Burgis on the illegal expedition, said that they became separated when Burgis insisted on trying to untangle a large illusion trap that blocked access to one of the corridors.
    Burgis failed and in the process accidentally triggered the trap. Clark and Fairbanks said that they were standing as far away as possible but when the illusion energy rebounded on Burgis, they felt some of the effects. They were unconscious for almost an hour. When they awakened, Burgis was gone.
    College officials reported that Burgis’s