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At the head of the stairs, as I hear Mr Harhts behind ht and left I turn left, trusting my intuition, which unfortunately isn’t 100 percent reliable

Out of a rooht, a boy of about fifteen, bare-chested and barefoot, wearing pajama bottoms, erupts as if catapulted, slams into me, drives me into the wall, and reveals himself to be possessed when he says, "Shitface"

Although the ih I drop the pistol, although the boy’s sour breath reeks of garlic fro to be offended by the unnecessary repetition of that insult to my appearance, I am nevertheless impressed by the puppeteer’s ability to switch from host to host in what see, yes, but definitely cool

As I drive one knee hard into the boy’s crotch, I say, "Sorry, sorry, sorry," which I ret I expressed for violating the sanctity of their second floor He collapses into the fetal position with a wordless groan that would most accurately be pronounced "urrrrlll," and I assure hi, he will live

Mr Har confused But then his face hardens into a gargoyle snarl as the Presence invades hi up the pistol, I bolt across the hall, into the room out of which the boy attacked es the latch, but there’s no deadbolt

Mr Har the knob, just as I brace it with a straight-backed chair snared froh the animal that Mr Harmony most reminds me of is a rhinoceros, this trick should hold hi eight-pane , I pull open the draperies, see a porch roof beyond, and disengage the latch I can’t raise the inner sash, and I can’t lower the outer sash, because thehas been painted shut

If I were Mr Daniel Craig, the most recent James Bond, I would quickly kick out the wooden h the sash without raising it, and be gone But I alass would blindend of a broken e open the peroneal artery, and bleed me dry in 21 s a song about how "It’s not easy being green," and as true as thata man who isn’t James Bond

Meanwhile, at the door, Mr Harmony doesn’t bellow like soainst the door or kicks it with rhinocerosian fury

Perhaps sixteen years have passed since I last tried to hide under a bed; and even then I was easily found

Two additional doors offer the only possibilities The first leads to a closet in which Mr Harous fists and then garrote er

The second opens into a bathroom This door does have a deadbolt on the inside The bathroolassdirectly above the toilet

The Victorian tilework offers a field of pale green with here and there hand-painted white baskets overfloith roses, all set off hite-and-yellow-checkered triarish, but in the interest of staying alive, I enter the bath anyway and lock the door behind me

I put the pistol on the counter beside the sink, disengage the well-lubricatedlatch, and find to my surprise that theis not painted shut The lower sash slides up easily and stays there without need of a prop Beyond lies the same porch roof I had seen from the other room

As events have unfolded since I first went snooping, this has seeht when I would be well-advised not to buy a lottery ticket or play Russian roulette Although nowKer, "Rainbow Connection"

Whether it is the sight of the loo or the excite I have drunk a beer, a can of Mountain Dew, and a bottle of water Mr Harmony has not quite yet broken down the bedroom door, so it seems wise to take the time to pee here rather than hurry onward and soon be hahs pressed together

With the personal-hygiene vigilance of a responsible short-order cook, I’ my hands as the bedroom door at last crashes open I blot them on my sweatshirt, snatch up the pistol, stand on the closed lid of the toilet, and hastily exit theonto the roof of the porch

This is the front-porch roof, under which I sat with Ardys That was only minutes earlier, but it seean to talk to me

The blush of dawn has not yet touched the eastern horizon In the west, the moon discreetly retreats beyond the curve of the earth, and it al Second by second, the dark night grows yet darker

As the de to kick down the bathrooe I leap off, land on the lawn nine feet beloithout fracturingto my feet

For an instant, I feel like a prince of derring-do, swashbuckler sans sword Honest pride can slide quickly into vanity, however, and then into vainglory, and when in the manner of a musketeer you take a boith a flourish of your feathered hat, you’re likely to raise your head into the doing of a villain’s hatchet

I need to get away froh the hills and vales will surely lead to encounters with possessed members of the Harmony family I have learned much less about the Presence than I need to know, but I have learned too ate or another, it will pursue me relentlessly

It doesn’t have to possess these people to force theht be--six big houses full of them, surely no fewer than thirty, most likely forty or uard against my escape They will obey out of fear that it will flip fro at randoht of rebellion If they love one another, none will flee and allow an unknown nue for he who escapes Freedom at that price isn’t freedouilt from which perhaps there is no exit but suicide

They will hunt me down, and I will have to escape with Annamaria or kill them all I can’t bear to kill so azine of e of a my way out of the Corner My past and my future constrain me By past Iwhat has been lost