Death of an Adept

She touched the solar disk on the necklace at her breast and smiled at Ximena, in particular.

"This necklace is one of those tools. It was once the badge of office of a priest of Amun Ra - someone with whom my son has special affinities. Adam's father bought it for me, shortly after Adam was born, so it means a great deal to me as well. By wearing it while I work, I hope to put myself in harmony with my son while I attempt to locate him by means of scrying. That's what the crystal is for."

She let one hand rest on the crystal as she went on.

"Scrying is a form of self-induced clairvoyance. It's tantamount to a radio operator trying to tune in to a particular radio frequency - except that the resonances I'll be trying to home in on are psychic. For a more specific focus on Adam himself, I've brought down his skean dubh." She picked it up by the sheath, with the stone uppermost.

"This particular skean dubh is more than just an item of fancy Highland dress; it's a magical tool that Adam uses regularly in his work. Other than the ring that most of you have seen him wear - and that will be in the hands of Raeburn by now - this carries perhaps the strongest residual of his unique psychic signature that we could hope for. An affinity also exists between this stone and the one in Adam's ring, just as there's an affinity between his ring and the ones the rest of us wear. That may also work in our favor.

"In this instance, I plan to use the skean dubh like a tuner to help me focus on the particular signature band that I'm looking for. If I'm successful," she concluded, laying the skean dubh beside the crystal, "at least a few of us will be able to catch visual images in this piece of rock crystal."

So saying, she joined hands with Julian and McLeod and watched as the others joined hands as well, following her lead - Ximena between Julian and Christopher, to Philippa's left, Harry at the end opposite them, and Julia directly across from Philippa, between her husband and Victoria. When everyone had settled, Philippa drew a deep breath and began entering into trance.

One by one, the other members of the Hunting Lodge did likewise, silently linking their wills to Philippa's, Christopher bowing his head in a whispered prayer which Ximena found herself repeating. After a moment, at Philippa's silent cue, McLeod and Julian released her hands and shifted their contacts to her arms instead, maintaining the circle while Philippa took up Adam's skean dubh by the sheath and held it before her entranced gaze, elbows propped on her chair arms and against the table edge as she stared into the depths of the azure stone.

The hushed silence became a tranquil focus of stilled anticipation, only soft breathing and the faint crackle of the flames upon the hearth edging the stillness. Long minutes passed before Philippa slowly reached out her left hand to cup the stand of the crystal ball, her right hand bringing the pommel of the skean dubh to touch her bowed forehead.

A shiver passed through her body, transmitted along the circle as a frisson of certainty that something was happening, though no one dared break the silence. For another long moment there was no other sound - until all at once Philippa drew a sudden sharp breath, leaning slightly forward to peer into the heart of the crystal, the skean dubh still pressed to her forehead.

"Show me," she whispered. "Oh, please - let me see…."

Hardly daring to breathe herself, Ximena leaned closer, as did Harry and Julia, hardly knowing what they might be expected to see. The others did not move.

Philippa's eyes sharpened, her gaze flickering minutely back and forth as if she were, indeed, following some moving sequence of images. Then, abruptly, she exhaled gustily and slumped back in her chair, the skean dubh slipping from her fingers with a dull clatter.

"You got something," McLeod declared, eyeing her intently, as Julian's nimble fingers shifted on Philippa's wrist to check her pulse.

The other members of the Hunting Lodge also roused themselves, all of them looking to Philippa for enlightenment.

"Nothing of substance," Philippa murmured, shaking her head as she made her eyes refocus. "Only a few fleeting images associated with the actual kidnapping. They may even have been triggered by Ximena's descriptions of what happened."

"Nothing of Adam himself?" McLeod pressed.

Philippa shook her head again, and Ximena drew herself up, clinging to Christopher's hand.

"Does that mean he's dead?" she forced herself to ask.

"No," Philippa said emphatically. "That's the one piece of good news. If he were dead, the evidence would be clearly emblazoned on the astral. My guess is that he's being kept drugged and unconscious, in addition to being magically shielded. Raeburn's already proven his effectiveness at keeping things hidden."

"Then what next?" Peregrine asked.