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Only afterwards did she see it as an astoundingthat sus preyed on her mind

For example, Maharet and Mael simply never appeared until after dark, and the explanation-they slept all day-was no explanation at all And where did they sleep?-that was another question Their rooms lay e with exotic and spectacular clothes At sunset they would appear almost as if they'dby the hearth, her makeup elaborate and flawless, her clothes dra in the broken light Mael, dressed as usual in soft brown buckskin jacket and pants, stood silently against the wall

But when Jesse asked about their strange hours, Maharet's ansere utterly convincing! They were pale beings, they detested sunlight, and they did stay up so late! True Why, at four in thewith each other about politics or history, and fro cities by their ancient naue that Jesse could not classify, let alone understand With her psychic gift, she soe sounds baffled her

And so about Mael rankled Maharet, it was obvious Was he her lover? It did not really seem so

Then it was the way that Mael and Maharet kept speaking to each other, as if they were reading each other's minds All of a sudden, Mael would say, "But I told you not to worry," when in fact Maharet had not said a word out loud And sometimes they did it with Jesse too One time, Jesse was certain, Maharet had called her, asked her to coh Jesse could have sworn she heard the voice only in her head Of course Jesse was psychic But were Mael and Maharet both powerful psychics as well?

Dinner: that was another thing-the way that Jesse's favorite dishes appeared She didn't have to tell the servants what she liked and didn't like They knew! Escargots, baked oysters, fettucini alia carbonara, beef Wellington, any and all her favorites were the nightly fare And the wine, she had never tasted such delicious vintages Yet Maharet and Mael ate like birds, or so it seeloves on

And the strange visitors, what about them? Santino, for instance, a black-haired Italian, who arrived one evening on foot, with a youthful companion named Eric Santino had stared at Jesse as if she were an exotic anieous e, which had disappeared without explanation several nights later For two hours Santino had argued with Maharet in that sae, with the flustered Eric

Then there were the strange nighttime parties Hadn't Jesse awakened twice at three or four in theto find the house full of people? There had been people laughing and talking in every roo in common They were very pale with remarkable eyes, much like Mael and Maharet But Jesse had been so sleepy She couldn't even re back to bed Only that at one point she had been surrounded by several very beautiful youngshe kneas h theThe house was empty

Also, Jesse had heard things at odd hours The roar of helicopters, ss

But Jesse was so happy! These things seemed of no consequence! Maharet's ansould banish Jesse's doubts in an insta

nt Yet how unusual that Jesse would change her mind like that Jesse was such a confident person Her own feelings were often known to her at once She was actually rather stubborn

And yet she always had two attitudes towards various things Maharet told her On the one hand, "Why, that's ridiculous," and on the other, "Of course!"

But Jesse was having too s of her visit talking with Maharet and Mael about archaeology And Maharet was a fund of infore ideas

For exariculture had actually co wanted to have hallucinogenic plants ever available to theious trances And also they wanted beer Never ical evidence Just keep digging Jesse would find out

Mael read poetry out loud beautifully; Maharet sometimes played the piano, very slowly,theht films with him fro these Kwaidan, in particular, had been quite i And the Italian Juliet of the Spirits had made Jesse break into tears