Carpathian 11 - Dark Descent

him.
    "No," Gabriele whispered. "I just can't move. Have you ever heard the term 'paralyzed with fear'? I think I realy am."
    Joie pushed forward as the ceiling lifted, alowing her to walk once again. Eventualy the hal opened into a large chamber. "Hey, you two, it's much better in here. There's a large galery." She shone her light around the area, noting the fingerlike formations surrounding a large abyss that yawned in the middle of the chamber. She climbed into her rigging as she struggled to hold on to reality. "Gabriele! Jubal! I'm going to begin my descent." Joie tested her harness and glanced back toward the hal. "Gabriele! Jubal! Are you two okay?"
    "Wait for us, Joie," Jubal ordered. "Gabriele has a bad feeling about this and so do I. I'm thinking we should regroup for a few minutes and talk this over. This could be more trouble than we want."
    Joie fought back laughter that bubbled up out of nowhere. "Talk it over? Nobody's in more trouble than I am right now, Jubal. I can't turn back. I have to make this descent or go live in a padded cel for the rest of my life. I am not kidding you."
    Jubal caught at Gabriele's leg. "She isn't joking; she sounds on the verge of hysteria. Move it, Gabriele. Right now."
    Jubal rarely used that tone with either of his independent sisters, but it had the desired effect. Gabriele scooted forward, driven by the fact that her brother obviously shared her growing fears for Joie.

    Joie sat on the edge of the precipice, staring down into the black abyss. She didn't look up when her brother and sister joined her. Jubal rested his hands on her shoulders.
    Gabriele sat cautiously beside her and took her hand. "So tel us. What's going on, Joie? We always stick together. There's no need to hide anything from us."
    "Does insanity run in the family?" Joie continued to stare down into the wel of darkness. "Because if it does, someone should have warned us."
    "You think you're insane?" Jubal struggled to understand. Joie was the one who laughed al the time, who found humor in everything. She lit up the world with her smile, and she certainly never seemed to suffer from depression.
    "I hear voices. Wel…" she hedged, "a voice. One voice. Al the time. We have conversations. Long conversations. Sometimes very intense and sometimes humorous." She felt the color rise beneath her skin and was grateful it was dark in the galery. "Sometimes sexy. I find myself staying up al night just to be able to hear his voice and spend time with him." She shrugged her shoulders. "He even has a name. Traian Trigovise. How could I think up a name like that? He has an accent. A European, very sexy accent."
    Gabriele tightened her fingers around Joie's hand. "When did this start? When did you first hear this voice?"
    Joie shrugged, remaining silent. Neither Jubal nor Gabriele spoke, waiting her out. Finaly she sighed. "When I was shot in Austria. You know how much I hate hospitals.
    When they took me there, I did my little disappearing act." She looked at her brother and sister. "I thought I was dreaming when I first saw him, but I'd been experimenting for some time with astral projection. I guess I succeeded, I don't know. I think we connected because we'd both been in a storm, in a battle and wounded." She shrugged helplessly. "It's the only reasonable explanation to me. He didn't go away. I could hear him talking to me in my mind. He found something important in the caves. I was already planning a trip here with you two, so I figured I could see if he was real."
    "Joie," Jubal reprimanded gently. "Telepathic communication? With someone else? I know we can use telepathy, but we've never met anyone else who can."
    "Is it realy that far-fetched? I can take myself somewhere else. I know when I'm in danger. You're weird with patterns, and Gabriele can do al sorts of strange things.
    We're al able to use telepathy with each other. Is it such a stretch to believe others can use it, too? I have to go down there. I have to know if he's real, if he's here, in this place. I feel him. I can't explain it, but it's like he's crawled inside of me somehow and I need him. I need to prove this to myself."
    "Why didn't you tel us right away, Joie?" Jubal asked.
    "Because I don't want the voice to go away," Joie admitted with stark truth. "I saw a counselor. He said I was having a break with reality, schizophrenia, probably brought on by the trauma of being shot. I didn't want to point out it wasn't the first time I've taken a