Page 24 of Sapphire Nights
Her mournful operatic cry had silenced even thecrows.
“I trust I’m not supposed to translate wailing?” Sam askeddubiously.
“When the Lucys told me she was up here, I tried talking with her. She rattled onabout crows and gravestones and the past returning to haunt us.” Walker looked more concerned than angry at Val’s descent into madness. They both knew she could speak normally when shechose.
“I doubt I can translate symbolism either. Why don’t you go back down and pick up whichever Lucys are most lucid? If they don’t want to make that climb up to Val, I can. I’ll see what I can get, thencome back down and maybe they cantranslate.”
“Tried that,” Walker said gloomily. “They refuse to walk on evil. You want to start with translatingthat?”
“Not touching it,” Sam said fervently. “I haven’t defined evil yet either. So okay, that’s why Mariah isn’t up here. The Lucys find something about this area evil and are fearful of polluting their so-called powers with it. I canalmost understandthat.”
“That’s more than I can do. Want me to help you upthere?”
“I have no idea. Unless I led a really secluded life, though, I’m guessing I spent a good amount of time scrambling around rocks. What else is there to do in Utah?” Sam got out without waiting for Walker to open the door. “I don’t like snakes,” she added, watching for slithery creatures in the rocks.Apparently primal fears were more memorable than whether she took cream in hercoffee.
As she located footholds in the craggy boulders, Walker got out to keep an eye on her. She hoped his radio signal worked so he could call an ambulance if needed. She was wearing well-padded athletic shoes, but they weren’t boots by anymeans.
She didn’t feel comfortable on this side of the valley,as she had over by the cemetery. The morning fog still lingered, making it damp and cool. And the earth... just didn’t feel as welcoming. There was a sharp—oily?—quality that made her think of clammy caves and old bones. Was that weird? Maybe not, if the Lucys sensedit.
Val’s keening lessened as Sam climbed. She could almost talk over the racket once she gotclose.
“Are you inpain?” Sam asked, taking a seat on a flat rock near Val’sfeet.
“The universe cries in pain at the injustice,” Val keened in a wail that at least containedwords.
“That’s not news. What injustice brought you up here today?” The rock was cold, and Uneasiness quivered in her middle. She didn’t much like this setting. At this early hour, chilly wind blew in from the coast, lifting thehair off the back of herneck.
“They kill, they kill without punishment! They litter the mountain with bodies, and the gods cry out for justice. Look at the crows—five! First there were four, now there are five! The mountainweeps.”
“So, the new crow means someone died out here last night?” Sam asked, using her wildly imaginative psychic power ofguessing.
“Evil seeks evil,”Val saidmournfully.
“Is the evil nearby?” So much for psychic guessing. She was starting to feel as if she were the insane person, sitting here tempting snakes while talking to abanshee.
Sam glanced down at Walker. He leaned against the hood of the car, arms crossed, keeping a sharp eye on them. She hoped he wasn’t expecting Val to attackher.
Val pointed a long bony finger.“There. They dumped him there. The animals have already foundhim.”
Sam’s blood curdled. She followed the direction of Val’s finger, but she saw nothing but rocks and scrub trees. No animals, no body, not even crows. Anotherskeleton?
“Did they do it last night?” she asked cautiously. For all she knew, Val could be remembering herchildhood.
“That’s when the spirit rose,”Val said with a definite nod. “You heard him. We all heard him. He howled hisanguish.”
Remembering the cry that had woken her, Sam really got spooked. “Did you see whathappened?”
“The world sees,” Val cried, gesturing dramatically at their surroundings. “The stars, the moon, the birds in the trees—they all know when a life is taken. He must be mourned and his spirit laid torest.”
If Sam wastranslatingcorrectly, someone had died last night, and been dumped up here in theserocks.
She hastily scrambled down off her perch, to the safety of Deputy Walker—who was already striding toward her, ready to catch her if shefell.
