Stopping a murder that happened forty years earlier may be the only way to heal a tortured mind ...<br><br>Six months after Jesse Madding is brutally tortured by Marcus Brooker, he is still experiencing flashbacks, panic attacks, and jumping at his own shadow. His lovers, Gideon Keel and Emma Coolidge, would do anything to help him, but Jesse refuses to be hospitalized for treatment, or even visit a therapist. Desperate for a change, Gideon and Emma suggest a radical solution.<br><br> Jesse wants to fix his life. More than anything, he wants to be normal again. He doesn't want to live in fear. He doesn't want to be ashamed of his scarred and mutilated body. He doesn't want to shy away from Gideon's touch. Certain that the holding pattern will kill him, he agrees to Gideon and Emma's proposed solution: travel to an alternative dimension and save Marcus Brooker from witnessing Mary's grisly murder ... in order to save Brooker's soul.

Chaos and Communion

The biggest band in the trail came from Gideon’s bare and mangled foot. He’d obviously dragged it along, bones shattered in his ankle, blood dripping down a calf muscle that looked like it had been scored with a rake. Oddly enough, his other shoe was still on, but questioning Gideon as to why he was half-shod was impossible. He was unconscious and had been ever since showing up. His clothes were torn, evidence of whatever struggle had caused all this, and Jesse watched Hal tear away the rest of the shirt to reveal deep bruising and gouges in the muscled chest. A crossbow bolt, broken off, was still buried in his right side, and his fingernails were crusted in blood and black, the knuckles torn and enflamed.


Chapter 36