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She did not expect to sleep, but at some point she slipped into a dream involving a vault that held the answers that she and Molly sought. A dark forest of towering stacks of papers, artifacts, and junk stood in the way. She kept getting lost. She desperately needed to find the right path.

And then she saw the yellow crystal. It glowed in the shadows, just out of reach. All she had to do was follow it to the answers…

She opened her eyes and saw Roxy hovering over her, muttering. She was not sleeked out but there was no mistaking the air of concern.

“What’s wrong?” Leona asked softly.

Roxy muttered again.

Leona sat up slowly, wincing when several muscles protested. She had fallen asleep next to Oliver, whose eyes were still closed. She reminded herself that this was not the first time she had spent a night on the hard quartz floors of the Underworld.

“It never gets easier,” she said to Roxy.

She glanced at her amber-based watch and saw that it was a little after dawn. By rough calculation, she decided she and Oliver had slept about five hours.

Satisfied that she was awake, Roxy bustled to the messenger bag.

Leona pushed herself to her feet. “What’s wrong?”

Roxy chortled—insistent now.

“Got it. You’re hungry and you know there are some energy bars in my bag. I’ll get one for you. Come to think of it, I could use one, too. And some water.”

When she bent down to pick up her bag, Roxy growled. It did not sound like the cheery sound she made when she was anticipating a snack. More like a warning.

“What is it?” Leona looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

When she got no response, she unzipped the bag with some care and peered inside. The pyramid crystal no longer glowed faintly. It pulsed with strong, slow-but-steady oscillating currents of energy.

She reached inside the bag and took out the stone. Now she could feel the energy as well as see it. “I wonder what—”

“The key to Vortex,” Oliver said.

She turned and watched as he levered himself up to a sitting position. He did not take his eyes off the pyramid.

“The enhancing machine you’ve been searching for?” Leona asked.

“Maybe.” Oliver got to his feet and moved to stand beside her. He took the crystal and examined it. “It’s responding to a signal. But there’s nothing in this chamber.”

Leona opened her senses. “It’s directional. Watch.”

She retrieved the crystal and turned in a slow circle. The pulse of energy inside the stone got stronger when she aimed it at the entrance of the chamber.

“You’re right.” Oliver leaned down and grabbed his messenger bag. “Let’s see where it takes us.”

“Wait,” she said. “How are you feeling?”

He blinked, briefly distracted. Then he switched his attention to her. His eyes heated. “Good. I feel good, thanks to you.”

“You need food.” She took an energy bar out of the bag and tossed it to him.

“Thanks.”

“And you need to hydrate.”

“I’ve got a bottle of water in my bag,” he said.

Distracted, Roxy chortled. Leona gave her an energy bar and then took one for herself.

“You know,” she said to Oliver, “whoever tried to kill you last night used an artifact as a weapon.”

“I noticed. Not only can you activate some artifacts, you can flatline them, too. Nice. As I have already observed on more than one occasion, you are very handy to have around.”

“My point is that it looks like there is someone else here in Lost Creek who can activate Alien artifacts.”

“And whoever it is wants me dead for some reason.” He peeled the wrapper off the energy bar. “Yeah, I get that. What’s got me worried is that the juggler may be a multi-talent. Quite possibly a triple. We’ll have to assume the individual is unstable.”

She chilled. “What makes you suspect the juggler is a multi-talent?”

“Think about it. Assuming there is one person behind this operation, we can conclude that the individual has three powerful core talents—a high-level ability to plot an elaborate conspiracy involving a lot of moving pieces, a serious talent for some version of hypnosis—”

Leona frowned. “Hypnosis? Oh, you mean the so-called Voice that Starkey mentioned.”

“Right. You’ve got to admit it’s impressive. Our Vance wannabe is sending out hypnotic suggestions to several different people simultaneously by means of those pendants. According to the historians, Vance himself may have had that sort of ability. It’s very rare but very powerful. It was how he made true believers out of so many people so quickly.”

“It is an impressive form of hypnosis,” she agreed. “So maybe the juggler does have at least two talents.”

“And now we have discovered that our mini-Vance can also activate at least some Alien tech—namely, that crystal bowl.”

“Unless the juggler is manipulating someone else who has that kind of talent,” Leona said quickly. “Maybe using that person to work AUPs.”

“It’s a possibility.” Oliver took a bite of the energy bar and munched, looking thoughtful. Then he shook his head. “But I don’t think so. Too risky.”

“Too risky?”

“As far as the juggler is concerned,” he explained. “We think we’ve got a few control issues but we’ve got nothing on the mastermind behind this operation. We’re dealing with a classic obsessive control freak who would never leave something as critical as the hypnotic manipulation factor to chance. Whoever it is wants me out of the way so they can get at you.”

“Because I’ve got the key?”

“That’s part of it, obviously. But I think the real motivation is deeper and more complicated. I think we’ve got an unstable triple who is obsessed with you on our hands.”

“Why are you so sure the juggler is an unstable triple?” She realized her voice was rising. Not good.

Oliver looked at her. “Because they have concluded that you are a triple, too. What’s more, you are clearly stable. That must be driving the juggler mad.”

Her temper flared. “What if I told you that I am a triple?”

Oliver took another bite of the energy bar. “It’s possible, but it depends on how you define the concept of core talent. The way I see it, you’re basically a locksmith, one with the ability to unlock a lot of different things—psi-locks and even some artifacts, for example. You could call that two different talents, I suppose, but it seems more like a powerful version of your basic profile.” He ate the last bite of the energy bar. “So, maybe you’re a true double. Maybe.”

“And if you’re wrong? If I am a triple?”

“You believe you really are a multi-talent, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

He shrugged. “Okay, what’s talent number three?”

She swallowed hard. “That’s just it. I don’t know. When I was in my teens, my family concluded that my ability to release the energy in some artifacts as well as resonate with them was my third. But now I think that’s just a side effect of my locksmith talent. I can’t escape the feeling that I’ve got a latent ability that has not yet appeared.”

“What makes you think you have an undeveloped talent?”

“I can’t explain it. I just know. The thing is, it could manifest itself at any time and I might not be able to control it.”

“You’ll be fine. Even if you are a true triple, you’re stable. That’s all that matters.”

“But—”

“We can finish this conversation some other time. Right now, we need to find Vortex. Priorities, Leona.”

He walked out of the entrance of the chamber. Thrilled by a promise of action, Roxy scurried to join him.

Leona gave up, slung her messenger bag over her shoulder, and hurried after the pair. When she moved into the hallway, the pulse of the pyramid crystal abruptly strengthened. She looked at it and kicked up her senses, feeling for the through line. And there it was.

“That way,” she said, gesturing toward the far end of a seemingly endless green corridor. “The signal is coming from that direction.”

They went forward together. Now that she was concentrating on the pyramid, she discovered it wasn’t difficult to read the meaning of the pulses.

“It’s similar to a locator,” she said. “It’s definitely responding to a strong signal.”

“For you,” Oliver said. “I can sense the energy in the pyramid. But I can’t resonate with it.”

She drew a deep breath. “Apparently I can.”

They stopped at an intersection of five corridors. Again she turned slowly on her heel until she got the pulses that indicated one of the passageways. It led to the vaulted entrance of a green quartz chamber.

A large, clunky but ominous-looking machine stood in the center of the space. It was made of heavy-gauge steel and bore an unnerving resemblance to a metal sarcophagus.

Everything about it shouted Old World tech. The control panel was decorated with dials and switches—the kind that had to be operated manually, not rezzed on and off with a little psi. The long seam that ran the length of the metal machine indicated that the entire top portion was designed to open.

Like a coffin, she thought, unnerved.

There was a window of thick glass above the control panel. Behind it a yellow crystal pyramid pulsed with energy. Leona knew it was resonating with the crystal in her hand. She felt the hair lift on the back of her neck. Disturbing frissons arced across her senses.

Oliver went forward to get a closer look. Curious, Roxy joined him.

“Too bad we didn’t bring a bottle of champagne,” Oliver said.

She realized he was oblivious to the vibe of pure dread that she was getting. “Why?”

He smiled an ice-cold smile of satisfaction. “Because I’m pretty sure we just found the Vortex machine that Vincent Lee Vance used to turn himself into a multi-talent monster.”

Leona swallowed hard against a sudden wave of lightheadedness. If he was right, there was a very real possibility that she was looking at the machine that had been used to create Molly and herself. Human monsters.