"And tonight?"Kari asked, keeping Silver engaged."Why not wait until tomorrow as your notes indicated?"
"Your visit to my home forced an adjustment," Silver said, sounding almost professorial despite the circumstances."Once I realized you'd discovered my planning room, I knew I needed to complete the ceremony immediately."He gestured around the cave."Fortunately, I've maintained this site in preparation for many years.Everything was ready."
As he spoke, Kari noticed Ruth slowly shifting position, her bound hands working at something behind her back.The ceremonial fire nearest her flickered oddly, its flames bending in a way that defied the still air of the cave.
"You won't succeed," Kari said firmly."Backup is already on the way.This cave will be surrounded within minutes."
Silver smiled knowingly."They won't arrive in time.The ceremony is already underway."He gestured toward Ruth."The final vessel has been prepared.The threshold is aligning."
"Even if you kill Ruth," Kari said, her mind racing, "that's only four victims.The original ritual required five deaths—five points in the star.You're still one short."
Silver's eyes locked with hers, a terrible understanding passing between them."Very observant, Detective Blackhorse," he said softly.
"Me," Kari said as the realization dawned on her."You knew I would find that secret room in your house, knew I would come here."
Silver shrugged modestly."I hoped."
Ruth's eyes met Kari's, a silent message passing between them.Then, with a sudden movement that defied her age and bound state, Ruth rolled toward the nearest ceremonial fire, kicking it violently toward Silver.
Burning embers scattered across the cave floor, momentarily disorienting Silver as Kari launched herself forward, using the distraction to close the distance.Silver recovered quickly, swinging the ceremonial blade in a practiced arc that forced Kari to abort her direct approach.
"Impressive coordination," Silver said, backing toward the altar."But ultimately futile.The Shadow is already partially manifest.You can feel it, can't you?The pressure in the air, the sense of something watching from just beyond perception?"
Now that he mentioned it, Kari did notice something strange about the cave's atmosphere—a heaviness that hadn't been present when she entered, a sense of the air itself becoming somehow dense and resistant to movement.
Ruth had managed to position herself away from the altar, her back against the cave wall.Despite her bound state, she began a low, rhythmic chant—different from Silver's earlier intonations, opposing them somehow.
Silver's expression darkened."Silence her," he ordered, not taking his eyes off Kari."Her interference disrupts the frequency."
Kari realized with a chill that Silver wasn't speaking to her.His command was directed elsewhere, at something she couldn't see.Yet the air near Ruth seemed to shimmer slightly, like heat rising from sun-baked stone.
"Ruth!"Kari called, trying to move toward her grandmother while keeping Silver in view."Hold on!"
"The boundaries are already weakening," Silver said, his voice taking on an unsettling resonance that hadn't been present before."What was begun fifty years ago approaches completion.The Shadow Walker returns to physical form."
As he spoke, the ceremonial fires flared simultaneously, their flames stretching toward the ceiling in defiance of natural law.The petroglyphs on the walls seemed to writhe in the shifting light, ancient figures appearing to step forward from the stone before retreating again.
Something was happening in this cave that went beyond Kari's training, beyond rational explanation.The air itself felt charged with potential, like the buildup before a powerful storm.
Ruth's chanting grew stronger, her voice carrying a power that seemed to counter the unnatural heaviness in the atmosphere.Silver's expression contorted with frustration.
"Enough!"he shouted, lunging toward Ruth with the blade raised.
Kari fired, her shot echoing deafeningly in the enclosed space.Silver staggered but didn't fall, blood blooming across his upper arm where the bullet had grazed him.He turned toward Kari, and for an instant, his eyes seemed to reflect something other than the firelight—a darkness deeper than the absence of light, something that observed her through Silver's gaze.
"Too late," he said, his voice overlaid with a deeper resonance that raised the hairs on Kari's neck."The crossing has begun.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
The scattered embers cast crazed shadows across the cave walls as Kari regained her footing.Silver backed toward the altar, the ceremonial blade held with unexpected expertise for a tribal councilman.
"Drop the weapon," Kari said, her service pistol trained steadily on his center mass."It's over."
Silver's eyes flickered to Ruth, who had managed to push herself against the cave wall.Without warning, he lunged toward Ruth, the blade raised.
Kari fired, the shot echoing deafeningly in the enclosed space.The bullet caught Silver in the shoulder, spinning him away from Ruth.He stumbled against the altar, ceremonial items clattering to the stone floor.
"Stay down!"Kari ordered as she advanced.
