Black Gate: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 4 by Michele Callahan Page A

place for a few hours. She tried not to worry about the team. She could still feel their heartbeats when she thought about it. Now that she was rested and ready to listen, the darkness she’d absorbed into her body supplied information.
    She wondered if it would give her enough power to summon a portal like Teagh had.
    Only one way to find out…she’d ask.
    The sound of waves called to her and she walked out of the bedroom and past the cuddling couch she couldn’t bear to look at. She hurried past the very modern, very clean kitchen. A sliding glass door opened to the back and she stepped outside into the breeze. The ocean stretched out in front of a long winding line of rocky beach ran in both directions as far as she could see.
    She’d try to call a portal. If that failed, she’d hit the road, find a phone, and pray that whoever had replaced the Rear Admiral was in an accommodating mood. She broke into a light jog along the sand and ran until she was about a half mile away from Teagh’s home. Sure steps took her to the water’s edge where she knelt in the sand. She didn’t have time to admire the view. He could return at any moment and she had to be long gone. But first, she needed to send a message.
    Katherine knelt and focused on calling forth the energy of Earth, that which had once sang so sweetly to her, but now barely answered her summons.
    This was the power that she and Sarah shared. But lately she had begun to suspect that she and her cousin were two halves of the power wheel. Sarah walked in the Light. She grew more certain each day that her destiny was to walk in the Dark.
    Sarah. Can you hear me? Katherine waited patiently for a few seconds and her cousin answered.
    Yes. Are you okay? Where are you? Sarah’s telepathic voice swelled with worry and Katherine sensed Sarah sitting up, pulling away from her husband, Tim, to focus on the conversation. Sarah was in Bermuda and covering long distances this way was usually difficult. But not today. Katherine felt flooded with power, and speaking to Sarah was as easy as breathing.
    I’m fine. I need to show you something, in case I don’t come back.
    What? What do you mean “in case you don’t come back”? Tell me. We can help.
    Katherine smiled and sent her cousin the image of a warm hug. Thanks, Sarah. But you can’t help me on this one. I’m going in after my team. If I don’t make it out of the dark, I needed you to know.
    Sarah didn’t waste time arguing. They’d had many conversations, and Sarah had helped Katherine save more than a few descendants from the clutches of the Casper Project. They’d teamed up to help the newest member of their group, Mari, the water-breathing healer, just a few weeks ago. Sarah knew and understood the risks Katherine accepted as her due, and knew, too, the lengths she’d go to protect the people she cared about.
    Fine. Stubborn wench. Show me.
    Katherine summoned her memories of the last few hours, the Gate, her walk through the dark, the wall with its prisoner, and the screams of her men. She abruptly cut off the flow of information at the memory of how Teagh’s massive power had forced her to run like a scared rabbit back through the portal.
    Sarah took it all in with her usual sunny-side-up attitude. So, you going back to play hide-and-seek in the dark?
    Yes.
    Are you going to break that prisoner loose, too?
    Yes.
    Do you think that’s a good idea? What if he’s some kind of supernatural serial killer or something?
    Katherine hadn’t considered that. Didn’t matter. If he was a problem, she’d deal with it. I can’t leave him there.
    Okay. Be careful. Let me know the second you get back.
    I will. Neither spoke of the alternative. If Katherine didn’t come back, there was nothing either of them would be able to do about it.
    Katherine broke the connection and dug her hands into the warm sand. The knees of her pants were soaked through, but she didn’t care. She needed to feel something physical,