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Bryan shrieked as he sahat looked like an upside-down glass bowl break the surface of the lake like a bubble, shih shape of a head, although there were no eyes or nose orhad a neck, and then shoulders, allout of the lake’s surface like a de, a hu on clear feet, the sun casting spectruh the apparition

Bryan sucked in a huge gulp of air, ready to let out the biggest screahost held up its arms and a sudden wave of water exploded fro forward and doard the canoe Hundreds, allons of water, slaods

Bryan Cannon would never eat a catfish again

If the waterkelt had a brain, it ht’ve been impressed with its display of power If the creature had a heart, itthe death of an innocent person It had neither, so it si trees, leaving behind a wet and muddy trail

It knehere to go and what to do when it got there So did its companion, which had been created on the other side of the lake Their bodies sparkled and flashed in the sunlight like glistening quicksilver as they marched toward their duty

Only their creator, Mistress Jane, understood the irony of the situation as she observed from a place very far away Water, the basic element which sustains all human life, was about to be used for quite the opposite

First stop, the Higginbottom house

And then—revenge

Part 1

The Dark Basement

Chapter 1

Two Very Different Missions

Sato shivered, then griainst his skin; it felt as if an ar to him for dear life He’d stood in the open for barely a ure out where he’d arrived exactly Drenched already, he looked about, confused

The air had the feel of twilight, though he kneas almost noon in this Reality The reason for the darkness floated above hi their contents on his sopping-wet head The clouds seee had warned him that this Reality was a dreary, dreadful place where it rained constantly Sato couldn’t have agreed more

But he saw no toraves He stood on concrete—or soularly-spaced holes to drain away the water as quickly as it fell Sato was glad for that He didn’t relish the idea of standing in a deep pool of water

Why do I always get stuck with these jobs? Sato thought to himself If it wasn’t a windy, snoeptlot supposedly full of dead people Fun stuff

He noticed a s about forty feet away, a scarce shadow in the wet darkness No lights shone fro else in any direction except the flat expanse of hole-dotted pave

As he sloshed his way across the ground, he wished he had a coe at least given hieezer would send Sato to the middle of the ocean without a boat, orwithout a parachute