Blood Ties by Kay Hooper

important for the case, maybe it wasn’t as intensely personal as it felt.
    “Diana?” Quentin’s voice was steady. “Whatever happened in the gray time, whatever was said or done, you know that wasn’t me, know I wasn’t there. Right?”
    “Right.” She nodded. “Right.”
    “We can leave,” DeMarco offered, matter-of-fact, and Hollis nodded grave agreement.
    Diana got a grip on herself. Be a professional about this, dammit. If you’re going to be any help at all… “No, of course not. Because it has to mean something to the case. It has to be connected somehow. Brooke said it is, and the guides don’t lie. And maybe one of you can work it out, because I can’t seem to.”
    Hollis said, “Okay, then. Tell us what the fake Quentin said.”
    “He said… that we belonged together and that he’d been waiting for me to realize it. That I had to accept it because it was the way things had to be. That he knew what was best for me and I could trust him.” Avoiding everyone’s gaze, she hurried on, “Here’s the thing. The gray time is an almost-empty place, between worlds or times, whatever. That’s why there’s no substance, no color or light or shadow, no depth or dimension. It’s a place to… travel. Like a road through a cold desert. Not a place where you want to pause any longer than necessary, let alone a place to live in.”
    “Okay,” Hollis said. “I would certainly agree it isn’t a place to live in. And so?”
    Fumbling for the right words, Diana said, “It’s also a place of truth, or always has been. Absolute truth. Like everything else has been stripped away, with only the truth left. I see the guides there, and once before I felt some… thing… truly evil there. But I don’t see deception, and none of the guides has ever lied to me. As far as I know, anyway. They never tell me everything, and as I said they’re more often than not damn cryptic, but there’s never been any attempt to deceive. Not like this.”
    DeMarco said, “You’re sure you have no idea what it means? The deception?”
    “No.”
    “How many times have you had company in the gray time? From this side, I mean.”

Trust DeMarco to home in on that . “Once before,” Diana said reluctantly. And before anyone else could comment, she looked steadily at Hollis, adding, “I’m sorry, Hollis. I should never have done that.”
    “It was my idea.”
    “I know. But it was wrong, and I should have known why.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you’re a medium too. The last person I should have taken there. And now you’re sort of… connected to the gray time, almost like I am. At least according to Brooke.”
    Hollis blinked. “Which means?”
    “If Brooke was right, if she wasn’t trying to deceive me, it means that whenever I visit the gray time, whenever I open that door, you’ll be drawn there too.”
    “Whether she wants to be or not,” DeMarco said, and it wasn’t really a question.
    Diana nodded. “She’s a medium, and we’re hardwired to communicate with the spirit world, one way or another. Most of us open doors, the way Hollis opens doors. But those doors are almost always meant to work only one way, allowing the spirits to come here, to this plane of existence. According to Bishop, I’m the only medium he’s ever encountered who… walks with the spirits on the other side of the door, in that place or time in between. And I’ve spent my whole life—even if it was mostly subconsciously—learning how to do that, learning how to exist over there, as safely as possible. Hollis, I thought I could protect you too, but… now I’m not so sure.”
    Hollis began to chew on a thumbnail and without moving her thumb managed to say clearly, “This is the whole pillar-of-salt thing, right? The consequences?”
    “Bishop’s Second Rule,” Quentin murmured. “There are always consequences.”
    Momentarily distracted, Diana said, “What’s his First Rule?”
    “Some things have to happen just the way