Quicksilver by Amanda Quick Page A

to distinguish up from down. If she put one foot wrong she might tumble down the staircase that she could no longer see.
    A voice came out of the mist, edged with the grim determination of a man who is hanging on to sanity by sheer force of will.
    “Hallucinations,” Owen rasped. “Get down. This energy is so thick we won’t be able to find the stairs.”
    He used the grip on her arm to pull her down onto her knees and then into a sitting position beside him. They locked hands and scrambled backward, feeling their way, until they came up against a hard surface. The wall, Virginia thought. At least she now had a sense of direction.
    “It’s glasslight energy,” she said. “The same energy that was infused in the clockwork carriage. But there’s so much of it. It’s as if I’m trapped in a nightmare. I can’t lower my talent.”
    “Neither can I,” Owen said. “Too much stimulation. The radiation is so intense, it’s electrifying our senses.”
    “This thing is a far more powerful weapon than the carriage.”
    “I think the carriage was designed to induce unconsciousness. This device was made to kill.”
    “Or drive one to one’s death,” Virginia said.
    “Can you control it? If not, we’re going to have to feel our way to the staircase.”
    “I am doing my best.”
    She strained to concentrate her senses in an effort to perceive some image in the mist that she knew was real. The horrific visions blurred and faded slightly. The clockwork dragon came back into view. It wavered in and out of focus as it slithered, scraped and clanked toward her.
    “Much better,” Owen said. “A little closer and I will be able to kick it over.”
    The device halted several feet away. The nightmarish scenes flickered on and off like visions in some ghostly magic lantern show.
    “Not close enough,” Owen said. “But given the erratic way in which it is generating energy now, I may be able to reach it.”
    She felt him shift beside her and knew that he was about to push himself away from the wall.
    “Wait,” she said quickly. “I’ve managed to neutralize some of the energy, but if you get too close, it will get a better fix on you. Right now it appears to be confused.”
    “You speak of the damn thing as though it were alive. It’s just a machine, a bloody damn clock.”
    “I’m aware of that, thank you very much,” she snapped.
    “Right,” Owen said, his tone suddenly very neutral. “Sorry.”
    This was hardly the best moment for a quarrel, she thought. She concentrated on holding the currents steady.
    “I believe the problem from the machine’s point of view is that we are touching each other,” she said. She tightened her hand around Owen’s gloved fingers and pressed her shoulder more firmly against his. “Our auras are overlapping. I think we appear to be a single entity to the dragon.”
    “A single entity with two auras. It can’t get a strong fix.”
    “Yes, I think so. But I cannot hold it still much longer. Let’s remove our gloves. Perhaps we can increase the confusion with skin-to-skin contact.”
    “Worth a try.”
    Arms linked, they each stripped off a glove. Seconds later Owen’s powerful bare hand closed firmly around Virginia’s fingers. A shock of awareness shivered through her. The surging currents of masculine energy thrilled her. It seemed to her that she was drawing power from him, as if the currents of her aura were now carried along on the rush of Owen’s energy field. Like a swimmer taking advantage of a powerful ocean wave, she thought. She should have been terrified, but the unfamiliar sensation was exhilarating. Because it is connected to Owen.
    On the heels of that thought came another: What is happening here between us ?
    But there was no time to try to understand the sense of intimate connection that she was experiencing. The dragon’s energy was becoming increasingly violent.
    She drew on the link with Owen to heighten her talent and intensify her focus.