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Sometimes complex and difficult ht than by senti stones on the road to Hell; if so,committee already knows my name

In my defense, I can only say that I sensed, even then, that saving Viola hters, too Three lives, not one

"Is there any hope…" Viola touched her face with the tre the bones of jaw and cheek and brow, as if discovering not her skull but instead Death’s countenance in the process of replacing her own "… any hope this can pass fro the oracle that ear­lier in the day I had declined to be for her "There are forks in it, many different routes to different ends We have the free will to choose the path"

"Do whatever Oddie says," Storht"

"It’s not that easy," I said quickly "You can change the road you take, but soht to that saarded me with too much respect, perhaps even awe "I was just sure you knew about such things, Odd, about all that’s Otherly and Beyond"

Uneasy with her ad stood under a streetla to be alar

We had taken steps to be sure eren’t being followed fro center I remained concerned, anyway, because Robertson’s appearance at Little Ozzie’s house and again in the churchyard had surprised me, and I could not afford to be surprised a third time

"Viola," I said, turning to her once h You’ll also need to re"

"I’ood Juht"

"You need to be as calm as possible"

"I’ll try I’ll do my best"

"Calm and observant, prepared to react fast to any threat but cale of the chair, she still appeared to be as ready to leap as any cricket

"In theyou a photo of a lanced at ood picture of him, Oddie?"

I nodded The chief would provide me with a computer-printed blow-up of the photo of Robertson that the DMV had released to him

"What us Man, who had been at the Grille during the first shift, before Viola had arrived for work "If you see hi But I don’t think anything will happen tonight Not here Fro to make headlines in a public place, lots of people__"

"Too to the movies," Stormy said

"I won’t," Viola assured her

"And not out to dinner, either"

Although I didn’t understand what could be gained fro a look at Nicolina and Levanna, I suddenly knew that I should not leave the house without checking on the"

"I won’t wake them But it’s… important"

She rose from the chair and led us to the roohtstands, two beds, and two angelic little girls sleeping in their skivvies, under sheets but without blankets

One lamp had been set at the lowest intensity on its three-itch The apricot-colored shade cast a soft, inviting light

Ts were open to the hot night As insubstantial as a spirit, a translucent white ainst one of the screens, with the desperation of a lost soul fluttering against the gates of Heaven

Mounted on the inside of the ith an eency-release handle that couldn’t be reached from outside, were steel bars that would prevent a irls

Screens and bars could foil moths and maniacs, but neither could keep out bodachs Five of them were in the room

TWENTY-SIX

TWO SINISTER SHAPES STOOD AT EACH BED, VISITORS from one hell or another, travelers out of the black roo them with keen interest Their hands, if they had hands, floated a few inches above the sheets, and seemed slowly to trace the shrouded contours of the children’s bodies

I couldn’t know for sure what they were doing, but I iy of Nicolina and Levanna - and were so in it

These creatures seemed to be unaware that we had entered the room They were enthralled if not half hypnotized by soirls e to them

The fifth beast crawled the bedroom floor, its movements as fluid and serpentine as those of any reptile Under Levanna’s bed it slith­ered, seeed with a sala­lide under Nicolina’s bed and whip itself silently back and forth, like a thrashing snake in slow-mo

Unable to repress a shudder, I sensed that this fifth intrudersome exquisite spoor, soirls’ feet And I i bodach repeatedly lick the carpet with a cold thin tongue

When I would not venture far past the doorway, Viola whispered, "It’s all right They’re deep sleepers, both of thehtened with pride "They’re such good girls" Seeing in rippedatsmile, Stormy at once suspected the truth She squinted into the shadowy corners of the roo to catch at least a fleeting glimpse of whatever supernatural presence revealed itself to ht have been priests of a diabolic religion, Aztecs at the altar of human sacrifice, as their hands moved sinuously and ceaselessly in ritualistic pantoirls

When I failed to answer Viola’s question at once, she thought that I’d seen sohters, and she took a step toward the bed

Gently I gripped her ar I just wanted to be sure the girls were safe And with those bars on the s, they are"

"They knoork the eency release," she said

One of the entities at Nicolina’s bedside appeared to rise out of its swoon and recognize our presence Its hands slowed but did not en­tirely stop their eerie movements, and it raised its wolfish head to peer in our direction with disturbing, eyeless intensity

I was loath to leave the girls alone with those five phanto to banish the that I have seen of bodachs, they can experience this world with some if not all of the usual five senses, but they don’t sees here I have never heard them make a sound, have never seen thee, disturb soin the air

They are of less substance than an ectoplas above the table at a seance They are dreairls would not be harmed Not here Not yet