JCastle - H1 Bridal Jitters by aka Jayne Ann Krentz Harmony Series

the unlucky   person who had   triggered
    it.   No two traps   produced the same harrowing   visions. Some were simple to
    de-rez, especially the   really old ones.   But in later   Harmonic traps,   the
    energy   had been   woven into complex   patterns that defied   all but the most
    skilled tanglers.   No one   who had   ever survived   the experience   of   being
    caught   in an illusion trap's web   could ever fully describe the nightmares.
    Sam had sensed enough on the occasions when he had been zapped with some   of
    the flashback energy from a poorly sprung trap to know that the visions were
    composed of   unimaginable   colors   and   a   vertigo-inspiring   darkness.   The
    experts   claimed that   the nightmares lasted   only a few   minutes before the
    human brain sought refuge in   unconsciousness. The resulting coma,   however,
    could last for hours or days. When the victim eventually awakened, he or she
    invariably suffered an amnesia that cloaked most memories of the event. Some
    never recovered completely. They tended to end up in the para-psych wards of
    mental institutions.   Others   were   so traumatized   they   could   never   work
    underground   again. No   one knew why   the Harmonics had   booby trapped their
    underground catacombs. Whoever   their enemies   had been, they   were as   long
    gone as those who had set snares for them.
    "Got   it," Virginia said   with soft satisfaction. She   took a BRIDAL JITTERS
     
    23
     
    breath and looked   up from   the jar.   "Didn't even   heat up   my amber.   It's
    clean."
    "Nice   job." He picked up   the jar and turned it   in his hands, examining it
    from every angle. The fizz of malign energy that had warned him of the   trap
    had   ceased. The trap could   be reset by a   skilled tangler, but unless that
    was done,   the unguent   jar was   safe to   handle. He   looked down   into   the
    interior.   The   unnatural, viscous   shadow was   gone. In   its place   was the
    ordinary darkness one expected to find in the interior of any small   vessel.
    There   was also something else inside the little jar. He pulled out a square
    of folded paper. Virginia frowned. "It looks like a note."
    "Yes, it does, doesn't it? Maybe our prankster wants to brag. Thoughtful   of
    him   to provide   a clue." He   unfolded the   paper and read   aloud the single
    sentence typed on it. '' 'Happy   Halloween. The ghosts and goblins are   real
    in the catacombs this week. Stay out. This will be your only warning.' "
    "What in the world?"
    "Not   real   original," Sam   remarked. Virginia   snatched the   paper from his
    hand. "Let me see that." Her brows drew together in a stern line as she read
    it silently. Then she looked at him. "What do you think this is all about?"
    "I think," Sam said, "that one of Mac Ewert's competitors doesn't want us to
    go to work for him.   Wouldn't be the first time   a rival has tried to   scare
    off another team's consultants."
    "Huh."   She dropped   the note into   the trash. "Obviously   whoever sent this
    doesn't realize who they're dealing with.   The firm of Gage & Burch   doesn't
    get scared off that easily."
    Sam   saw the gutsy determination in her   eyes and smiled. For some reason he
    suddenly felt a lot more optimistic about his marriage prospects than he had
    when he had come downstairs earlier. 24 C n a r m e a
    "Damndest thing I've ever seen." Mac Ewert ran a blunt-fingered hand through
    his thinning gray   hair. "I've heard   of waterfalls, but   I've been   mapping
    catacombs for twenty years, and this is the first one I've ever run into."
    "They're rare," Sam agreed. "But I think we can handle it for you."
    Virginia felt her jaw drop. She barely managed to conceal her shock. She was
    amazed by Sam's casual response to Ewert's announcement. They were going   to
    have   to de-rez a waterfall? She almost   groaned