“I can’t remember a thing after—the—blackness lifted us,” Luke continued in an uncertain, wavery voice. “It seems like all that was just a second ago, like nothing happened in between. Like I was switched off somehow.”
Suddenly Mandy had a horrible thought. “What time is it?!” she cried. “My parents are going to kill me!”
Luke had a watch with a luminous face. When he pushed up his jacket sleeve to look, she could see where he was. The sight of him, even though he was just a black shape, calmed her further.
“It’s two A.M. We lost four hours. Just like the first time.”
Mandy shuddered. “I suppose it was the power surge. It must have nearly fried our brains.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“It was a tremendous power surge. Obviously. I mean, you know that. You were there. It’s clear the power surge put us into a fugue state,” Mandy insisted. “Kind of a brain seizure. Luckily the effects seem temporary.”
“Oh, right,” said Luke. “And then we sleepwalked here and decided to nap on the damp ground.”
“You don’t have to be sarcastic,” Mandy spat. “I suppose you think it was aliens,” she said with sarcasm of her own.
Luke didn’t respond.
“Electrical fields are known to do strange things to the human brain,” she said, forcing her voice into a reasonable tone. “Our brain activity, after all, is just a series of electrical impulses. A strong surge like that can scramble those impulses, overloading the switches.”
She got to her feet and briskly brushed off her jeans. “Our minds went into shock. Shut down our consciousness as a survival mechanism. We wandered mechanically until the effect wore off. Then we collapsed, probably slept for a while to regenerate energy and—here we are.”
Luke was silent for a beat. “Interesting theory, Mandy, but there’s a problem. I saw something very strange in the woods behind the power-line junction several hours before this happened,” he said finally. “It was some kind of living thing. And it was not human.”
“What was it then?” she challenged. “What did it look like? A noncarbon-based life-form, I suppose.”
Luke ignored her tone. “It was shimmery. Almost invisible. As if it was at the edge of what humans can see.”
Mandy was glad Luke couldn’t see her eyes rolling. She tried to keep her voice even. She didn’t want him to stalk off mad and leave her in the woods.
“Luke, our brains have taken severe shocks. We’ve both been subject to excruciating hallucinations.”
Quentin’s leering face flashed into her mind for a searing, horrible instant. Mandy faltered, suddenly breathless. But Luke didn’t notice.
“Yeah. Well, this hallucination came after me because I found something strange,” he said defiantly. “An artifact. Some clear substance I’d never seen before.”
“Oh? Where is it?” asked Mandy archly, covering the shakiness of her thoughts. “Can I see it?”
She knew he’d have some excuse why she couldn’t.
“The—creature—shot something at me. It destroyed the thing I found. Reduced it to powder. Which I can show you once we get out of here. Plus, I’ve got a nasty blister on my hand where the beam hit me.”
“I see. A blister.”
Luke went on. “I chased it. Almost caught it, too. They don’t move through Earth’s atmosphere very well. I think our air tires them. Or maybe it’s the gravity.”
“But you didn’t catch it, did you?”
“No. There must have been another one out there waiting. It shot me from behind, I think. Some kind of stun gun. I was out for hours. When I came out of the woods and found you, I had just woken up.”
“Luke, listen to yourself,” Mandy pleaded. Her patience was disappearing fast. “Do you know how crazy this sounds?”
Luke sighed. “Yeah. But I know what I saw. It wasn’t a hallucination.”
“Look, in a way, I sympathize,” Mandy said. “Given the trillions of stars and the likelihood of billions of solar systems, chances are good for the existence of life elsewhere in the universe, and it seems possible that some of that life could be intelligent.”
“Well, well,” Luke said. “A major concession.”
“Not exactly,” Mandy corrected. “Any possible civilizations are so many light-years distant that it’s unlikely anyone in Earth’s lifetime will ever meet them, much less in our own lifetime. The government has been searching for alien life for years and never found one scrap of evidence. And now you think they’ve decided to plunk down in Greenfield and come after us? Our chances of winning the lottery are more likely than that.”
Luke was silent for a moment. But Mandy knew she hadn’t convinced him.
“What were you doing out there anyway, Mandy? Why were you hanging around the power lines at ten o’clock at night?”
“Trying to record objective evidence,” she told him. “I borrowed my dad’s video camera and set it up to tape what happened during a power surge.”
“Really,” Luke responded thoughtfully. He was quiet for a moment. “Hey, we’d better start for home,” he said suddenly. “Any idea which way to go?”
Mandy looked at the sky, glad to change the subject. “There’s the moon. It’s setting in the southwest, so that way must be east. The road should be east.”
Without a flashlight, the going was slow. The undergrowth was a tangle of bushes, many with thorns. The dark was so complete they kept walking into low branches and tripping over rocks and roots.
Conversation was limited to grunts and curses and an occasional “Ouch, that must have hurt” and “Are you okay?”
But eventually they came out behind the power plant, scratched and exhausted. The plant was ringed with lights.
Luke’s hair was full of bits of leaves and pine needles, and there was a dirty scratch over one eye.
“If I look half as bad as you,” Mandy said, “I’m going to be in even bigger trouble than I already thought.”
“You’ll need to clean up a little,” Luke agreed.
Suddenly it began to drizzle. “Oh, no!” Mandy cried. “My father’s camera. We’d better hurry.”
“Right,” said Luke. He sounded eager. “I’ll be curious to see what’s on it.”
Mandy was cold and exhausted and achy. The thought of going back to the power-line junction filled her with dread. But Luke set off briskly. Mandy had trouble keeping up with him.
It was past three when the tall metal poles with their sputtering wires and the single streetlight came into view.
Without needing to speak, they both stopped. Mandy’s feet felt rooted to the pavement.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe we should come back in daylight. I can think of something to tell my father.”
“No way,” Luke insisted. “I can imagine how my dad would react. I can do this in a second. You stay here, I’ll be right back.”
Mandy was tempted. But she couldn’t let Luke do it alone. “I’m with you. But let’s do it quickly.”
She gripped his hand and they dashed together into the weeds.
“There’s the camera,” Mandy said with relief. “It’s still recording.”
Luke snatched it up, tripod and all. He got the tripod folded together without detaching the camera.
Once they were back on the road, Luke seemed to forget everything but the video camera.
He stopped right under the buzzing menace of the power lines. He unhitched the camera, handing Mandy the tripod.
“This has a playback feature, doesn’t it?” he asked eagerly, rewinding the tape and hitting a button.
“Luke,” Mandy said pointedly, “I’d like to get a little farther from those wires.”
He looked at her, surprised. “They’re done with us for tonight,” he said.
“They?” Mandy felt a dose of irritation mix in with her nervousness.
“Uh, the power surge, I mean,” Luke told her. “It’s over.”
“Still, I pr
efer not to take any more chances,” Mandy said, tugging his arm and urging him along.
But as soon as they turned off Old High Street, Luke insisted on stopping. They huddled close, looking into the small viewing screen as the tape flickered into life.
The first image wobbled, Mandy’s arm appearing as a dark shadow as she bent to level the tripod. Then came the streaks of light from the sparking power lines.
“Oh!” Mandy couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
The darkness gathered over the sparking, sputtering power lines. They watched in horrified fascination as it seemed to grow, sucking power from the lines.
The dark blot began to move toward the camera, devouring everything in its path. Even on tape, the inky blackness seemed like a living presence. The leaves on the trees trembled and went still.
Mandy gripped Luke’s arm as the hum reverberated in her brain once again, tuning to the beat of her heart. And then, just as she was about to snap the camera off in panic, two figures ran into the picture.
It was them! Luke and Mandy. Legs pumping without getting anywhere. Their mouths open in soundless terror. And suddenly they both stopped in midstride.
Mandy thought she could see the life drain out of her own eyes.
The darkness swirled over them and slowly descended, enveloping them.
Their bodies went limp but didn’t fall.
And then they began to rise.
Mandy watched in disbelief as she and Luke rose straight into the air.
No mistake—the illumination from the sparking power lines was perfect, the focus clear.
The tape showed them rising right out of the picture, into the sky.
Chapter Fifteen
Luke gaped in horrified awe as the night settled back to normal on the tape.
Minus two unconscious people.
The wires stopped their crazy sputtering. The light changed.
“The moon’s back,” Luke whispered.
“What?” Mandy asked. Her voice was dazed and small.
Luke gestured at the running tape. “The light. You can see moonlight again.”
Mandy made a choking noise. Luke could imagine how hard this was for her. Worse even than for him. No way you could put this particular phenomenon down to a “power surge.”
“We’ll show it to my dad,” Mandy said, stabbing the button that stopped the tape. “There’s got to be some explanation. Come on.”
Luke felt a little weird about going home with Mandy at three in the morning. But he definitely wanted to hear her father’s explanation.
Mandy’s front door flew open before she had a chance to turn the knob. “Where have you been?” demanded her father, looming over them both.
Mandy’s mother appeared beside him. The anger in her face changed when she caught sight of her disheveled and dirt-streaked daughter.
“What happened to you? Are you all right?” Her eyes turned accusingly to Luke. “Who is this?”
“I’m Luke Ingram, Mrs. Durgin,” he said, stepping forward—though every muscle in his body yearned for flight. “We’ve had a terrible experience, but this tape will explain everything.” He gestured at the tape in Mandy’s hand.
“Tape!?” Mr. Durgin’s face turned incredulous. “Do you know what time it is? Mandy, your mother’s been frantic. I want an explanation!”
“Were you in an accident?” Mrs. Durgin asked, pulling Mandy inside and examining her face.
Luke, forgotten for the moment, stepped into the house. He wished he could sink beneath the floorboards. But as soon as they saw the videotape, this torture would be over.
Then they would realize that something horribly strange was happening in their town.
Ignoring her parents’ questions, Mandy ran down the hall to the TV room.
Her outraged mom and dad had no choice but to follow. Luke stood in the doorway while Mandy pushed in the tape and turned the VCR on.
She stepped back with a flourish, looking at her parents’ faces rather than at the screen. But her parents’ expressions didn’t change.
Luke watched the screen in confusion. All the hope and energy drained out of him.
“Mandy. Look,” he said softly.
She turned to the screen and saw what he saw.
Nothing. Static. Gray mist.
“It’s got to be here!” Mandy cried. She pressed the button for fast forward.
More static.
She jammed the button again. Nothing.
The proof had disappeared.
Chapter Sixteen
Getting out of Mandy’s house had been a nightmare. Her parents’ furious disbelief, his tongue-tied shock, Mandy’s frantic attempts to explain the unexplainable—it was all a mess.
And he still had to run the gauntlet of his own parents. Luke stopped in front of his house and sighed. It looked like every light was blazing.
That image of him and Mandy rising into the air kept taking hold of his mind. It was hard to think of anything else.
But he made a supreme effort as he opened the front door. Luke winced at the sight of his parents’ faces, strained with worry.
“Where have you been?” his father demanded.
“Have you seen Jeff?” his mother asked.
Lucky for him, Jeff was still out. So his own explanation of falling asleep while watching a meteor shower went over surprisingly well. In minutes he was in his room.
He knew he’d never sleep, but he got ready for bed and lay down. His brain was whirling with images that flitted just out of reach. No matter how he strained he couldn’t get them to come clear.
A strange lethargy took hold of him. His body began to feel heavy. He was sinking deep into the mattress. His arms and legs seemed detached from him, like chunks of thick wood rather than flesh.
The weight was pulling him down, down into sleep.
And then suddenly he was yanked into consciousness. Every cell in his body was shrieking with alarm.
The room was dark. His mouth was dry and his body felt clammy like he’d been sleeping too deeply for too long.
But now something had awakened him. His heart pounded.
There was menace in the room. A presence, just beyond sight. A sense of evil so palpable, Luke felt it saturate the air and seep through his pores, poisoning him.
He began to shiver as the horror of it settled in his chest like a black spill. It spread quickly, smothering his lungs, stopping his heart.
Luke lay helpless. His breath wheezed painfully. His heart struggled like a trapped bird.
“What?” he managed to choke out. “What do you want?”
The air around him shifted. Luke could almost see it. He felt a weight on his rib cage. A face appeared, hanging in the air above him.
“I thought you’d never ask,” it said.
An evil more depraved than Luke had ever believed in shone from this face. It was at once soulless and supremely confident.
“I’ve become rather handsome, wouldn’t you agree?” asked Quentin, grinning as his body materialized, seated cross-legged on Luke’s chest.
Quentin’s skin was pale but perfectly smooth. His brown hair was now lustrous and thick, with a slight wave. His teeth were white and straight. He had a beautiful smile.
Luke thought he had never seen anything more terrifying.
Quentin rose. He went to sit at Luke’s desk chair across the room. Although Luke felt the weight lift, his chest seemed permanently compressed.
Luke stared. His senses were finely honed by fear. He could see starlight glint in Quentin’s still, colorless eyes. He could smell evil as cloying as heavy perfume. As undeniable as death.
Luke could hear the healthy pump of Quentin’s heart from across the room.
And Luke could feel the greedy tug of Quentin’s life force as it sucked the vitality from his own.
Quentin noted Luke’s abject horror with satisfaction. “All this,” he said, indicating his new look, “doesn’t come cheap.” He chuckled softly. “For
you anyway.
“But that’s not really why I’m here,” Quentin continued. “There’s something I want you to see.” His eyes gleamed with anticipation. “No particular reason to show you this, really. Just for pleasure.”
He raised finely arched eyebrows at Luke’s motionless form. “But then that’s really what life is all about, isn’t it, Luke boy? The pursuit of pleasure. Some people limit their pleasures to power, wealth, sex. Others, like myself, are more imaginative. Watch.”
As Quentin spoke, Luke was slammed against the headboard of his bed. He felt as if a glowing ball of pure energy had hurtled across his room and embedded itself full force in his stomach.
The breath was knocked from his body. He groaned, involuntarily shutting his eyes. Immediately he was overcome by a powerful dizziness.
His eyes snapped open, too late. His familiar room had vanished.
Luke was no longer in his bed. He was looking down at his own lifeless body. It was strapped to a gurney. Other than a fretful helpless dread, the body aroused little interest in him.
Something else demanded his attention. What it was he didn’t yet know.
Luke couldn’t really see where he was. His vision was limited. The edges softened to a blurred mist. Beyond the mist was some sort of activity. Others were there, occupied with something.
Anxiety rose in him like a tide. He needed to know what they were doing. Who they were.
His eyes pried at the fog, straining to penetrate it. Suddenly the mist swirled, dissolved, and re-formed.
Luke’s field of vision had abruptly changed. He was looking down on a strange scene. Humanoids, strangely familiar, were bending over something. Their bodies obscured its identity.
The white figures wore clinging silvery garments that shimmered as they moved. They were oddly sexless, like dolls, with hairless heads. He couldn’t see their faces, but they seemed very intent on something.
Frustrated, Luke tried to move his head or whatever it was that contained his eyes, but this was impossible. It seemed he was being permitted only to see the backs of their heads.
Then one of them turned. Recognition hit Luke with full force. He saw the bulging forehead, the multifaceted housefly eyes, the putty-like nose.
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