Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

before at the boulder, actually. Not quite as bad, but close. Definitely worse than it felt at the Lodge, though it seems that every time we come out here the sensations intensify and hang around longer.”
Biting his lip, Dean tapped a finger on the side of the EMF detector. “That’s not really consistent with muscle strain, Bo. I don’t like it.”
“That’s exactly what Sam said.” Bo wrinkled his nose. “We were speculating earlier that the old bite might be reacting in some way to the presence—or former presence—of a portal, though I have no idea how or why that would happen.”
“Hmm. The pattern of symptoms fits.” Bending down, Dean peered at Bo’s thigh, then pressed it gently with his fingers. “There’s no swelling that I can see, no lumps or anything like that. Still no redness? No opening or drainage of the incision?”
“Not a bit.”
Dean straightened up and stood staring thoughtfully at Bo’s leg while Sam recorded the information. “I hate to say it, but it sure is looking like it might be reacting to something in this area, whether a portal or something else.”
“We’ll do as we discussed and record the information at intervals. Then we can analyze what we have and see what shows up.” Bo drew away from Sam, reached over and took the video camera from the bag. “Let’s go.”
What with stopping every few minutes to take EMF readings and documenting information on Sam’s psychic senses and Bo’s leg, it took them much longer than usual to reach Sunset Rock. They arrived just as the sun’s disc met the bank of ominous faery clouds hovering just below the mountaintops. Swirls of tiny snowflakes glinted in the sunset light. The sky blazed angry red, making the rounded tops of clouds look like they’d been dipped in blood.
“EMF’s zero point two all over,” Dean announced after pacing off the entire rock. “No spikes or dips, it’s rock steady. Pun intended.”
As he noted the figure, Sam shot Dean an amused look. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”
“Nope.”
Bo shook his head. “The discomfort in my leg has eased a little, but hasn’t entirely gone away. Just like last time, Sam.”
Nodding, Sam wrote down the information. “It’s gotten a little weaker at every checkpoint.”
“Just as the EMF level’s gone down,” Bo agreed, rubbing his thigh. “Though it dropped kind of suddenly, didn’t it?”
Sam consulted his notebook. “Yeah. It went from three point oh at twenty-five feet from the start point to zero point five at fifty feet.”
“But your leg’s felt a little better at each stop. The change has been more gradual.” Dean frowned. “So it seems that it’s not related to the EMF level.”
Bo glanced at Sam. “Sam? What do you feel this time?”
Sam hadn’t felt anything other than the normal psychic energy of the living forest since the first check. Letting his eyelids flutter shut, he relaxed his mind to search for what he’d sensed beside the boulder. As before, he found no trace.
“Nothing that doesn’t belong here,” Sam answered, opening his eyes. “The level of abnormal energy doesn’t correlate exactly with your leg, Bo, but it’s close.”
Bo grimaced. “I know. Damn it.”
Brow furrowed, Dean walked over to stand beside Bo. “I wonder if it has anything to do with that chemical they found in your tissues after that thing bit you.”
“I’m wondering the same thing.” Bo tugged on his braid. “The chemical never was identified, and its properties never were defined. No one’s sure what else it might do.”
Bo’s expression was tight and blank. Sam knew that look well. It hid Bo’s worry and fear when he didn’t want anyone to know he was worried or afraid. Moving closer, Sam slipped an arm around Bo’s shoulders and pulled him close. Bo leaned against him and rested their heads together. Neither said anything, but Sam felt better with the contact, and he could tell Bo did too.
The creature which had bitten Bo in the tunnels beneath South Bay High School had injected an unknown organism and an unidentified chemical into Bo’s leg with the bite. Testing had shown that the chemical appeared to activate the organism for a limited amount of time, but after a few days the chemical had become dormant and the organism had died in culture. Nothing more had been discovered from either, and neither the chemical nor the organism had ever been identified.
Sam had begun to hope the alien chemical would cause Bo no