She scowled, pulled out another equally thick folder and started going through it.
After twenty minutes, Eric leaned back and rubbed his eyes. He’d only made it about a third of the way through the folder but he was seriously thinking about skipping the rest. He was sure he already had more than enough information. The only problem was Maggie. Since she’d taken the time to print everything out, she probably expected him to read it all.
He gave his eyes one more rub, then opened them. As annoying as it was, he was probably going to have to—
He suddenly became aware that there was someone sitting in the chair next to him. He turned his head just enough so he could see who it was and immediately wished he hadn’t.
Filling the chair beside him was the six-foot-two, two-hundred-and-who-knew-how-many-pound solid body of terror known as Peter Garr. That was his legal name, anyway. To most of the kids at school he was known as King of the Jerks.
In the two weeks since Eric had become the victim of choice for after-school intimidation, the one guy who hadn’t bothered with him yet was Peter Garr. Apparently, that was about to change.
With his oily blond hair hanging partially over his face, Peter sneered long and hard at Eric, then opened a car magazine that was sitting on the table and started looking through it.
I didn’t even hear him sit down.
With a shudder, he returned to Maggie’s printouts. But the words refused to cooperate and he soon found himself reading the same sentence over and over and over.
Focus!
Just as Eric was starting to relax enough to understand what was on the page, Peter set a meaty hand on the table. He flexed his fingers then curled them into a fist as he turned his head just enough so that he could look Eric in the eye.
Eric wanted to turn away but Peter’s stare held him in place.
The corner of Peter’s mouth inched upward and he began a laugh so low that Eric almost didn’t hear it. It was nearly half a minute before he turned back to his magazine.
“What are you doing?” Maggie asked. “You can’t be done yet.”
Had she not seen what just happened?
“Nothing. I was just…never mind.” He returned his attention to the folder, but just as he started to read a new page he heard the noise again.
Guuuuu—
His head snapped around, scanning the area behind him. It was close. So very close.
— uuuuuuuuuuuu–
But there was nothing there.
— uuuuuuurrr–
He looked back at Maggie. “Tell me you hear it now,” he said, his voice raised so he could be heard over the sound.
— rrrgly suuuuuu–
“Quiet,” Maggie whispered, her eyes wide.
“You hear it, right?”
— uuuuuuuuuck.
“Why are you talking so loud?”
“Shhh,” Mrs. Kim said from behind the counter.
“Yeah. Shut up,” Peter said beside him in an oddly monotone voice.
Eric turned and looked back again. It had to be there somewhere. But all he could see were bookcases.
Must be in one of the aisles.
He pushed himself out of his chair.
“Where are you going?” Maggie asked.
Peter looked at him as if he was interested in the answer, too.
“The sound,” Eric said.
“What sound?” she asked.
Guuuuuuuuuurrrrrgly suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
“That sound.”
Peter, who had been obviously listening to their conversation, narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t quite understand what Eric was talking about but thought he should.
Maggie shrugged. “The only thing making any noise is you.”
“Shhhhhh,” Mrs. Kim commanded.
Eric shook his head. “Never mind.”
If he was right, the sound was coming from just the other side of the nearest bookcase.
Guuuuuuuuuurrrrrgly suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
He walked around it and stopped at the end of the aisle.
Guuuuuuuuuurrrrrgly suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
No question about it. The gurgly suck was coming from somewhere down there and it seemed to be speeding up. But he couldn’t see anything that could be causing it.
Cautiously, he entered the aisle.
Guuuuuuuuuurrrrrgly suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
When he’d gone halfway down the row, the sound grew so loud he had to put his hands over his ears just to think straight. He looked back the way he’d come, expecting to see a crowd of people gathered there wondering what was making all the racket, but there was no one.
Was he really the only person who could hear it?
He peered through the bookcase back at the table where he’d been sitting. Maggie was writing something in her notebook and Peter appeared engrossed in his magazine. Behind them, Mrs. Kim sat quietly at her desk using the scanner to check in books. If anyone should have heard the noise, it would have been her. Her hearing was scary good.
But she showed no reaction at all. None of them did.
It’s just like everything else that’s been going on. I’m the only one it’s happening to.
The thought that he was going crazy crossed his mind again.
Guuuuuuuuuurrrrrgly suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Guuuuuuuuuurrrrrgly suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Guuuuuuuuuurrrrrgly suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
Eric whipped around in surprise, the noise right behind him. But as he turned, his foot caught on the carpet and sent him banging into the bookcase.
“Shhhh!” Mrs. Kim said. “If you can’t be quiet, then you’ll have to leave.”
Guuuuuuuuuurrrrrgly suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
It was so close Eric felt he could almost reach out and touch it.
Gurgly. Gurgly. Gurgly. Suck. Suck. Suck. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
Then, though he knew it was impossible, the air moved.
Not like a breeze you could feel. He could actually see it. It was like an inflating balloon expanding toward him.
As the last of the sucking sound faded, the air jiggled then collapsed back to normal.
Eric reached out and put his hand through the area where it had been. There was nothing there.
Had he been seeing things? Had he–
Gurgly. Gurgly. Gurgly. Suck. Suck. Suck. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
The air bubble shot out again, coming straight at him. He fell backwards onto the floor but it stopped just inches from where he’d been standing and hovered there. As he scrambled back to his feet, he could see it wasn’t round like he’d initially thought. It was more like a box — a foot long, maybe a little less than that wide, and about two inches thick — but definitely a box.
Once more it snapped back and disappeared.
Eric reached out again, this time halting just short of where the box had been.
Gurgly. Gurgly. Gurgly. Suck. Suck. Suck. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
The air rushed out so quickly it knocked into his fingers before he could pull them away. What he saw had to have been an illusion. There was something solid inside, something definitely not, well, air-like.
Gurgly. Gurgly. Gurgly. Gurgly. Gurgly. Gurgly.
The box pushed out further.
Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck.
It was sticking out at least three feet from where it had started, warping the air around it. Then the box began to vibrate up and down, up and down, up and down. Faster and faster and faster.
Gurgly. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu—
SNAP!