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Annabel gripped her hand tightly "Listen to me, Riley Don't ask questions Nohappens to et to the mountain and complete the ritual You know every word, every ht You'll feel the earth h you and "

"Nothing's going to happen to you, Mo way to sheer terror Her mother's eyes reflected soer she knew of that Riley was -more a terrible vulnerability that had never been there before None of the -survived the loss of a spouse, but Riley was deter her mother like a hawk since her father, Daniel Parker, died in the hospital following a , but she hadn't see like this, you're scaring me"

Annabel struggled into a sitting position "I'ave it to et to the mountain, the burden falls on you You are part of an ancient lineage, and we've been given a duty that has passed frohter for centuries My mother took me to this mountain, just as her mother took her I've taken you You are a child of the cloud forest, Riley, born there as I was You drew your first breath on that s and with it, the forest and all that cos"

Annabel shuddered again and reached for the vial Riley held With shaking hands she drew up her shirt to reveal the tiny ers to get theel onto the bites

"Whendramatic and I scoffed at her," Annabel continued "Oh, not to her face of course, but I thought her so old and superstitious I'd heard the stories of the mountains We lived in Peru and soe still whispered about the great evil that came before the Incas and could not be driven away, not even by theirstories handed down for generations I thought the stories had been passed downtoo far froe, but I learned better afteris there, Riley, in theevil, and it's our job to contain it"

Riley wanted to believe her mother was delirious with pain, but her eyes were steady-evenand her hts of fancy More to reassure her mother than because she actually believed the nonsense about so trapped inside a mountain, Riley nodded

"You're going to be fine," she assured "We've been bitten by Manta Blanca on previous trips They aren't poisonous Nothing's going to happen to you, Mo the can happen in the rain forest "

"No, Riley" Annabel caught her daughter's hand and held it tight "All the delaysall the proble The evil in theto slowaccidents and illness We have to be realistic, Riley" Her body shuddered again

Riley hunted through her pack and came up with a packet of pills "Antihistao to sleep but at least the itching will stop for a while"

Annabel nodded and sed the pills, chasing them ater "Don't trust anyone, Riley Any one of these people can be our eneo our oay as soon as possible"

Riley bit her lip, refraining fro at all She needed time to think She enty-five years old and had been to the Andes four ti when she was born in the cloud forest This was the fifth trip that she re, but she'd never felt terrified as she was now It was too late to turn back and from what her mother said, it wasn't an option She needed to let her mother rest, and then they had to talk She had to learn much more about the why of the trip to the Andes

She dropped the sheet in place as soon as heroff and went out onto the deck Raul, the porter, glanced at her and looked quickly away, clearly uncomfortable with the presence of both women Goose bu to walk along the railing to try to put soers She just needed a little space

There wasn't enough room aboard the boat to find a quiet corner Jubal and Gary, the two researchers, sat together in one of the few secluded spots, and judging from the expressions on their faces, they weren't very happy She gave theer, the third engineer, the one she couldn't quite make up her mind about He was always courteous to both wo a protective streak toward them

Ben nodded at her "Is your ht?"

Riley flashed hiave her an antihistaave us, the itch won't s"

"Shethat attracted the "Maybe a perfume?"

Riley knew her ood explanation She nodded slowly "I didn't think of that The attack was so bizarre"

Ben studied her face intently, his eyes so watchful, she found his gaze disturbing "I've heard you and yourlike that ever happened?"

Riley shook her head, grateful she could tell the truth "Never"

"Why do you and your erous place?" Ben asked curiously Again he didn't blink, or take his eyes froator "It's uides haven't traveled to this et the infore It seee destination for toes on the uistics"

Riley gave hiue smile "Mother's work as a horticulturist and advocate for the protection of rain forests takes us many places But we come here also because we're descendents of the Cloud People and my mother wants us to learn as otten" She pressed her lips together and put a defensive hand on her throat "That sounded mean I love the rain forest, and I enjoy the trips with my mother I was actually born in the cloud forest, so I think ood tradition to carry on, couide and lowered her voice "We weren't certain these ht it would be safer traveling with all of you"

"I've never been," Ben admitted "I've traveled around many rain forests, but not to this particular mountain I don't knohy Don said we all had been here before He likes to think he knows everything about everything Is the forest as dangerous as everyone says?"

Riley nodded "Very few people have ever traveled to this peak It's a volcano and, although it hasn't erupted in well over five hundred years, I'h mostly because of the way the locals talk about it There's soh the various local tribes about that mountain, soto travel to it" She frowned "Truly, it has an off-putting feeling You find yourself growing uneasy the higher you climb"

Ben ran both hands through his hair, alitated "This entire side of the rain forest seeends and myths No one wants to talk about them to outsiders, and all of them seem to involve so"

Riley shrugged "That's understandable Practically everything in the rain forest is out for your blood I've heard the ruuide told us that it wasn't the Incas who destroyed the Cloud People, or the Spanish The locals and descendents whisper of a great evil whofaainst one another The Cloud People were fierce in battle and gentle in their home life, but they supposedly succue to the Incas When the Incas came to conquer the forest people, apparently most of the warriors were already dead It's ru here suffered the sa evil Their bravest warriors died first"

"That's not in the history books," Ben said

Still, she had the feeling he wasn't surprised, that he'd heard that whispered version There werethan the other Tales of bloodless victi murdered

"Are you talking vampires?"

She blinked He'd slipped that question in so casually Too casually Ben Charger had a deeper agenda than ends? Could he want to write? Whatever his reasons, Riley was certain they had nothing to do withit over Could the evil entity whispered about be a vampire? The myth of the vampire seemed to have existed in every ancient culture

"I honestly have no idea I've never heard whatever the entity is called a vaed so much over the years, quite a bit is lost in translation I suppose it's possible Va the Chachapoyas as well At least based on what little ed to learn on o on"

"Fascinating," Ben said "If we get a chance, I'd like to hear , and here, in this part of the rain forest, the tribes and stories seeues me all the more I'm a bit of an a a new region to learn as o, certain legendary creatures have infiltrated the cultures all over the world It's intriguing"

At a soft sound, Riley turned to find her uarded for a moment, her face swollen with bites, her eyes watchful and very suspicious of Ben Riley stared at her in surprise Her entle woman Riley had ever been around She didn't have a mean, suspicious bone in her body As a rule she shared inforravitated toward her Riley always felt protective toward herwhere Riley wasn't

Annabel blinked and the look of suspicion was gone, leaving herat Ben Riley felt a little as if her world was spinning Nothing, no one-not even her , Mom So many bites can make you sick"

Annabel shook her head "I' It took the itch away, and you know the bites aren't poisonous Gary and his friendthe properties of plants, because the gel really works"

Ben glanced over at the two h both were clearly American, Gary and Jubal had journeyed from somewhere in Europe to search for aproperties that supposedly grew high in the Andes By the expression on his face, he thought both htly insane

Annabel took Riley's hand and they nodded at Ben andof the boat, in the center where they were alone

The river narrowed e root syste the bank nearly scraped the boat Lines of bats swayed high in the trees, an eerie sight They were large, hanging upside down up in the thick canopy Riley had seen the sight before, even as a child, but for so, as if the bats were lying in wait, in the hunt-this tiave a little shudder at her own dramatic fantasy

She was allowing the edginess of close confinee and definitely vaer was personal and certainly they weren't just waiting for an unsuspecting boatload of hu

She felt eyes on her and turned to see Don Weston staring at her He grinned and pretended to shoot an iinary rifle at the motionless creatures Riley turned away Weston's need to be the center of attention every usted her But his reaction to the bats was just a little too close to the way she was feeling-and she didn't want to feel anything at all in common with the man

She turned her attention back to herthey'd left the un the journey up the tributary toward one of the le had closed around theing upriver The forest was in constantthereat round eyes Colorfulin and out of the tree canopy

They were definitely entering the world of the rain forest, the lush jungle of erous with each passing second The river narrowed, and the air grew still with the dark pungent scents of the deep rain forest She recognized the signs Soon, the river would be iate They would be forced to abandon the boats and trah the forest on foot Unlike many places in the rain forest where it was easy to walk because very little could live on the forest floor without too ht, this area was dense She'd traveled extensively, but the s she'd found nowhere else on earth Unlike any of her previous visits, this time Riley felt a little claustrophobic

"Hey, Mack," Don called to the other engineer "What the hell is going on now? I swear the jungle is alive" He gave a nervous laugh as he pointed out the strange way the branches dipped down and reached toward them as the boat passed

Everyone turned to watch the bank closest to the the out across the water as if seeking to stop their progress upriver The first boat had passed unscathed, but the moment the second boat came close to the bank, the leaves reached for thele had really come alive like Don said

Riley's heart dropped She'd seen the phenomenon many times before Her etting around it The force of the , but the thick foliage along both banks welcorew inches in an atteood to draw too much attention to oneself in the rain forest around the superstitious guides and porters Riley felt a deep need to protect herthe railing with both hands and staring out at the unfolding plants ide, shocked eyes

"Wow," she added to the sudden "

"It's creepy," Mack said, stepping back away from the rail

The porters and the guide stared at the reaching plants and trees and then turned to look directly at Annabel They whispered to each other Riley felt other eyes on the at her ineers stared into the rain forest as it closed in around them

The two boats continued upstreaiant dinosaurs of the past, sunned thery eye on the s their space Great clouds of black insects bit every inch of exposed skin and got caught in hair and even teeth, this ti to do but endure it Below theress, and twice, the boat ground to a halt and had to be cut free of the tangled reeds reaching out greedily to wrap about the underside of the motor and propeller Each ti across the deck

Weston picked hiered to the side of the boat to spit into the water "This is ridiculous Couldn't you have found another way?" he deuide, Pedro

The guide shot him a tense look "There is no easy way to this place you want to go"

Weston rested his butt on the railing as he gave the guide the finger "I think you're just trying forto happen, pal"

Pedro e to the two porters

This one the jungle can eat, Riley interpreted She didn't blame them

The guide and porters snickered

Weston lit a cigarette and glared out over the dark water The boat staggered again and then, as they were all desperately trying to gain their footing, it gave a huge lurch Weston fell forward, hanging up for one heart-stoppingprecariously, arms down, closer to the water

Riley caught his belt buckle while Annabel reached over the side to grasp at his ar Weston's, the water ca silver with muddy patches of red

"Mo Weston His weight was pulling them all forward

The others rushed to help as Annabel slipped farther toward the dark, reed-choked water, now boiling with frenzied piranha There was no blood in the water so the turan to leap out of the water, hundreds of the froular-shaped jaith razor-sharp teeth snapping open and shut with terrible clacking sounds

Although the stories of piranha frenzies abounded, Riley knew attacks on people were quite rare She'd swum in the water with them on several occasions This bizarre behavior was extraordinary, as unnatural and unsettling as the La Manta Blanca attack And just like with the Manta Blancas, it see her mother, not Don Weston

It was Jubal who caught Annabel and yanked her back away froht Weston and hauled hiineer slapped at Jubal's hands, cursing and sliding down to sit on the deck, his breath colared at Pedro and the two porters as if the three men had deliberately tried to murder him

The guide and porters both stared at Annabel with a look that un close at hand Before anyone could speak, the boat nearly ran aground, and the two natives turned back to their work A low branch overhead dipped down, and a snake dropped onto the deck with a thud right at Don Weston's boots

"No one ineer "That viper's extremely poisonous"

Pedro, the guide, turned back, catching up the machete that was always close Before he could take a step, the viper did an abrupt spin and launched itself at Riley She stus heading straight toward her mother Gary Jansen yanked Annabel off her feet and twisted around, holding her in the air while Jubal shoved Riley aside, yelling at the guide, hand up in the air

Pedro tossed the machete and in one smooth movement, Jubal slam the head There was aher steady so that she didn't fall

"Thank you," Riley breathed softly to both researchers She didn't try to hide the fact that she was very shaken

Her mother stared at her with stricken eyes Riley's world crumbled Capa, Raul and Pedro looked at her mother with the same look they had on their faces when they'd first seen the viper They were in real trouble if the guides and porters became hostile toward thehtly