Phantom Game (GhostWalkers 18)

“You’ve got a pack on. They wouldn’t be able to see the target, so they would have to aim for your thick skull, Jeff,” Kyle said helpfully.

“Great. Now the back of my head is all tingly. I think my psychic abilities are expanding. I can feel someone targeting me right now.”

“You’re so full of shit,” Kyle said. “I think you need serious help. You’re turning into a psychic hypochondriac.”

“There isn’t any such sort of thing. You’re making that up.”

“I’m a doctor. I would know,” Kyle assured solemnly.

“Jonas, is there such a thing as a psychic hypochondriac?”

“Yep.”

Jeff burst out laughing. He kept the sound low and directional so only his two companions could hear, but it was real. All the while they were walking along the game trail, Jonas continued to scout for a good place to camp for the night. He wanted somewhere they could defend if needed. With every step they took, the feeling of danger increased.

“I feel it too now,” Kyle said. “Increasing, I mean. Before, the feeling of something watching us was very faint, now it’s strong.”

“My best guess,” Jonas said, as they continued very slowly uphill. “Tree frogs. We’ve now graduated to timber wolves. I noticed a disproportionate number of frogs on the trees as we passed by. The wolves are staying well back, but I’ve caught glimpses of them.”

The trail narrowed significantly as it wound up the forested mountainside. There were fewer trees and more rocks. As they walked, the shimmer became worse. It was very disorienting, at times making it feel as if the ground had dropped out from under them.

There was a brief silence while both Jeff and Kyle looked warily around them.

“You aren’t going to spot them,” Jonas pointed out. “They aren’t hunting to eat us, at least not at the moment. They’re watching us.”

“What does that mean?” Kyle asked.

“Like they’ve never seen humans before and they’re just curious?” Jeff asked.

“I’m not getting that.” Jonas reached out to the wolves with great care. There was plenty of game in the area that could sustain a small pack, and this one seemed small. “They’re watching us for a reason. I have to be very careful.”

Jonas kept his touch delicate as he reached out. The alpha was especially wary. Normally, Jonas had little trouble connecting with wildlife and establishing communication, even if it was just to “push” the animal in a direction away from him. This time, however, there seemed to be something blocking him from using another pathway he found that the wolf was familiar with. That pathway circumvented him from taking command of the animal.

“The ground moving continually is beginning to make me sick,” Kyle said.

“You realize the ground isn’t actually moving,” Jonas pointed out.

“Yeah, I get that,” Kyle agreed, “but it feels and looks like it. I’m trying to make my brain understand it’s all an illusion.”

“Are you feeling ill, Jeff?” Jonas asked.

Jeff was walking very steadily, whereas Kyle seemed a little off balance every few steps.

“No. I’m cheating a little, just like I did when I first suffered a traumatic brain injury. I take a picture of the trail out ahead of me and use it when I’m walking until I get to the end of where I was able to take the picture, and then I do it again as far out as I’m able. I don’t actually look at the trail we’re walking on.”

“Is that how you got around all my tests so fast?” Kyle asked.

It sounded to Jonas as if he were clenching his teeth. Kyle wasn’t actually Jeff’s doctor and he didn’t administer tests to him, but the banter helped the two keep moving.

“Absolutely.”

“There’s a small clearing, nothing big, but that ring of rocks just off to the right would provide cover and is large enough for a fire,” Jonas said. “It looks like it might be a halfway decent defensible position.”

“Head in that direction,” Kyle advised, relief in his voice. “Otherwise, our orders to leave no footprints isn’t going to matter. I’ll be leaving my lunch behind.”

Jonas stretched his senses. Kyle wasn’t a man to be nauseated over a rolling trail. The shimmering mirage was difficult for him to look at, but Kyle wasn’t looking at it. He was looking straight ahead at Jeff’s back. There was another subtle component Jonas was missing, because he couldn’t feel it.

The GhostWalkers had various talents. When Whitney had enhanced them, even the smaller gifts had grown stronger. Practicing to use those talents had developed them even more. Jonas was beginning to believe a GhostWalker or a team of GhostWalkers was using this particular part of the mountain for something they didn’t want known, and they’d set up a perimeter of psychic defenses to keep unwanted visitors away.

“Only a GhostWalker could have produced something as complex as this,” he murmured. “There’s a subtle flow of acoustic energy, a low note to make you feel sick, Kyle. The sound is just below our normal hearing range. And if they decide to up the volume, we’ll be in a world of hurt.”