People in Glass Houses (Harmony) - Softcover

Buch 10 von 12: Harmony

Castle, Jayne

 
9780593639894: People in Glass Houses (Harmony)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0593639898 ISBN 13: 9780593639894
Verlag: Berkley Books, 2025

Inhaltsangabe

Two people desperate for answers wade through smoke and mirrors within the alien world of Harmony in this exhilarating novel by New York Times bestselling author Jayne Castle.

His name is Joshua Knight. Once a respected explorer, the press now calls him the Tarnished Knight. He took the fall for a disaster in the Underworld that destroyed his career. The devastating event occurred in the newly discovered sector known as Glass House—a maze of crystal that is rumored to conceal powerful Alien antiquities. The rest of the Hollister Expedition team disappeared and are presumed dead.

Whatever happened down in the tunnels scrambled Josh’s psychic senses and his memories, but he’s determined to uncover the truth. Labeled delusional and paranoid, he retreats to an abandoned mansion in the desert, a house filled with mirrors. Now a recluse, Josh spends his days trying to discover the secrets in the looking glasses that cover the walls. He knows he is running out of time.

Talented, ambitious crystal artist Molly Griffin is shocked to learn that the Tarnished Knight has been located. She drops everything and heads for the mansion to find Josh, confident she can help him regain control of his shattered senses. She has no choice—he is the key to finding her sister, Leona, a member of the vanished expedition team. Josh reluctantly allows her to stay one night but there are two rules: she must not go down into the basement, and she must not uncover the mirrors that have been draped.

But her only hope for finding her sister is to break the rules…

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jayne Castle, the author of People in Glass Houses, Sweetwater and the Witch, Guild Boss, Illusion Town, Siren's Call, The Hot Zone, and more, is a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, the author of more than fifty New York Times bestsellers. She writes contemporary romantic suspense novels under the Krentz name, as well as historical novels under the pseudonym Amanda Quick.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Chapter One

The past . . .

"Higher," Molly shouted, thrilling to the reckless sense of freedom she got on the swings. "I can almost see the sign."

Leona obliged, pushing harder on the playground swing. The billboard on the other side of the brick wall came into view. It had been erected a few months earlier and had not yet had time to fade in the desert sun. griffin investigations. want answers? we'll get them for you. call now. no waiting. Beneath the words was a phone number printed in giant red letters. Molly and Leona had both spent so much time on the swings they had memorized it.

Molly's full name was Molly No Middle Initial No Last Name. She was six and a half years old. Her sister's name was Leona No Middle Initial No Last Name. Leona was also six and a half years old. Ms. Inskip, the director of the Inskip School for Orphan Girls, had explained that although they had been left on the doorstep of the school together when they were infants, Molly and Leona were not biological sisters. Molly and Leona had decided to ignore her. After a while Ms. Inskip had given up trying to explain the facts of DNA.

A few months earlier, Molly had found a couple small chunks of untuned amber in the orphanage garden. During arts and crafts class, she and Leona had figured out how to tie lengths of ribbon around the amber to create necklaces. They wore the pendants night and day, symbols of their sisterhood.

Molly and Leona had grown up together within the confines of the school. It was not a bad place like the orphanages in some of the stories they read. Ms. Inskip was stern but not mean. For the most part she hired trained, caring teachers and staff.

As the years went by, Molly and Leona had watched as the other girls who wound up in the orphanage were adopted. But no one had ever wanted the sisters with no last names. Ms. Inskip had told them that they were very special and that someday special parents would come to adopt them. They had stopped believing her.

"Can you see it yet?" Leona demanded, giving the swing another strong shove.

"'Want answers?'" Molly sang out. "'We'll get them for you. Call now. No waiting.'" She rattled off the phone number.

"My turn," Leona announced.

Molly wanted to argue, but there were rules. They had agreed that when the sign came into view it was time to take turns on the swing. Besides, Ms. Inskip would soon call them back inside. The director believed in an orderly routine. She claimed it was the best way to ensure that the orphaned girls in her care developed what she called the life skills needed to take their place as respectable, responsible adults in society.

What Molly and Leona were gradually figuring out was that becoming a respectable, responsible adult in a society in which family and family connections were everything was not easy for orphans-and even more difficult for those whose last name was No Last Name.

A complete absence of basic personal information-no birth certificates, no sad notes from desperate unwed mothers, no ancestry records-was an extremely rare circumstance, but Ms. Inskip insisted that was the case for Molly and Leona.

Molly reluctantly jumped off the swing. Leona took her place.

"Make it go really high," Leona ordered. She was inclined to tell others what to do and how to do it whether or not they wanted the instructions.

Molly pushed until Leona was flying high enough to read the Griffin Investigations sign. She was about to demand another turn on the swings when a man's arm wrapped around her from behind, squeezing her so hard she couldn't breathe. A big hand clamped across her mouth. Remembering Ms. Inskip's rules for dealing with Stranger Danger, she struggled wildly. But in the next instant she felt a sharp sting on her upper shoulder. She got dizzy.

She was dimly aware that the stranger was carrying her out through the open gate. She wondered briefly how he had managed to steal the key from Ms. Inskip, and then she fell into darkness.

The last thing she heard before she went unconscious was Leona's scream.

Chapter Two

The past . . .

She woke up in a radiant green chamber. There was a high, arched doorway but no windows. She was a fan of the rez-screen series Jake Carlisle, Underworld Explorer, so she recognized the setting immediately. She was in the maze of ancient underground tunnels that crisscrossed the planet.

Two metal tables sat in the center of the room. There were a notebook and a small pile of yellow crystals on one of the tables. The other table was covered with glass tubes and jars, some of which contained strangely colored liquids. The items reminded Molly of a scene in the video Ms. Inskip had made the girls watch the previous week, Do I Want to Be a Scientist When I Grow Up? She remembered that chambers like the one she was in were called laboratories.

Leona had been fascinated with the video. Molly had been bored.

At the thought of Leona, she reached up to take comfort from the amber pendant. But it was gone. She realized she must have lost it in the struggle with the stranger.

Out of nowhere, terror swept over her, closing her throat and making it almost impossible to breathe. There was no sign of the man who had taken her, but she was sure he was not far away. She was afraid to move, because every instinct warned her that doing so might draw his attention.

After a while she realized she could not stay motionless forever. She had to pee and then she had to escape. She scrambled to her feet, never taking her eyes off the doorway. When the stranger did not appear, she started to move out into the hall to search for a bathroom.

Without warning the doorway began to shiver with shadows. Another wave of fear lanced through her. Somehow she knew she must not touch the strange darkness that whispered in the opening.

Unable to come up with an alternative, she retreated to a corner to take care of the immediate problem.

When she was finished, she went back to the doorway again, hoping the scary shadows were gone. She was not sure what she would do if she did get out of the horrible chamber. Like every other kid on Harmony, she and the girls at the orphanage had been warned repeatedly about the risks of going down into the maze of ancient green quartz tunnels that crisscrossed the planet. Children who went into the Underworld alone never returned to the surface, according to Ms. Inskip. But anything was better than staying in the laboratory waiting for the stranger to come back.

She moved as cautiously as she could, trying to sneak up on the shadows, but when she was a couple of steps away, they flared in the doorway, blocking her path.

She looked around the small space. There was nowhere to hide. She stood in the center of the room, tears leaking from her eyes, unable to think of anything else to do.

She cried until she could not cry any more and then she hunkered down against a wall, drew up her knees, and hugged her legs close, trying to make herself as small as possible.

She had no idea how much time passed before the first dust bunny showed up in the doorway. He stood on his hind paws and chortled. He looked just like the pictures of Newton, the Clever Dust Bunny, the hero of her favorite series of children's books. He was a scruffy ball of gray fur with two small ears and six paws. He watched her with his bright blue eyes. She knew he had a second set that he used for hunting, but they were closed.

It was such a relief to see a nonthreatening creature that she almost cried again.

"Hi," she whispered.

The dust bunny fluttered through the doorway, unconcerned about the dark shadows, and halted in front of her. She patted him gently on top of his furry head.

"You should leave before the stranger comes," Molly said....

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Verlag
Berkley Books
Erscheinungsdatum
2025
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0593639898
ISBN 13 
9780593639894
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
381
Kontakt zum Hersteller
BERKLEY
https://www.penguin.com/?s=BERKLEY

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