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Joie could blend in Some of the ly beautiful, plain, or just average She could blend in with the tough crowd, the hoift, and she used it willingly She was called in for the difficult assignments, the ones where action was inevitable Few others had her skill with knives or guns, and no one could disappear into a crowd the way she could

She took herself out of her body, watched the frantic scene around her with interest for a few ned to the senator and the Austrian agents had everything under control She was being put into an a, she detested hospitals She si free She wanted to be outdoors, under the sky or beneath the earth in a world of subterranean beauty - it didn'tas it wasn't within the walls of a hospital

Joie felt weightless, free, skih the mountains she had studied so carefully As she soared free, she planned a trip caving with her brother and sister as soon as the senator and his ere safely back home She crossed space Smelled the rain Felt cool and moist in the mist of the mountains Far below her, she saw the entrance to a cave, spotlighted by the sed to peek around the thick cloud cover S, she dropped down to enter a world of crystal and ice Whether she was drea didn'tfrom the pain of her wounds and the smell of the hospital

Traian lay in the cool earth, gazing up at the high, cathedral-like ceiling His body hurt in so many places, he just wanted to rest The beauty of the cave was breathtaking and took his mind off his physical pain Then he turned his head and saw her She was hovering just overhead to his left A wo down at him in complete astonishment

"You're hurt," she said "If you were real, I'd send the paramedics"

"What makes you think I am not real?"

"Because I'm not really here; I'm in a hospital many miles away I don't even knohere here is"

"You look real enough to me"

"What in the world are you doing lying in the h him "You didn't mistake this for a beauty spa, did you?"

His heart nearly ceased beating Those simple questions turned his world upside down He are of everything- the coolness of the interior, the blue of the ice, the dramatic sweep of architecture formed thousands of years earlier He was mostly aware that her hair was a rich brown and her eyes were a cool gray Her h lines

He was seeing in color After hundreds of years of a bleak, gray existence, living in a world without color or e down at hirin There was blood on her shoulder and bruises on her face, a tear in the gown she wore

"You seem a bit overdressed for a cave," he pointed out

She shrugged, her laughter soft and inviting "Yes, well, a lady likes to know she looks her best when the cave crickets co"

"You are hurt, too"

"A small bit of trouble with soo swi hole in your shoulder? You have heard of infection and gangrene, haven't you?"

"How good of you to notice A sroup of unsavory ruffians I was uncharacteristically slow"

"You have an incredibly sexy accent Do women fall all over you just at the sound of your voice?" She was very good at placing people by their accents, but his was different; there was a rich turn to his words As dreams went, this was a fun one

"I have not noticed such a phenomenon, but I atch for it in the future"

"Nice cave I love caves This one looks like a wonderful place to explore"

"I do not believe it has been discovered yet," he replied pleasantly Peace seeped into his body His soul Genuine laughter found its way into his heart

"Really? You just sort of stu way to explore caves Where am I? I'd like to come back here"

It was his turn to arch his eyebrow "You floated through the air blindfolded?"

She grinned at him "I do that sometimes when I don't want to be wherever I am A bad habit"

Her for nasty to me, I can't hold the projection"

He sat up, bit back a groan as the eo yet"

"I'm sorry" She looked down at her ar in her eyes "They're cleaning my wound It hurts like a bear"

And then she was gone Just that fast Vanishing without a trace He sat there alone in the dark of the cave, astonished at how life could change in the blink of an eye She was real Her psychic abilities were strong He had shared her space, shared her mind, and the path was imprinted on his brain She would not escape him

Traian lay back and waved his hand to close the soil over hi of the earth to send hi sleep