The visions he'd seen-the hallucinations of the glorious cathedral-had vanished, leaving only the black-painted reality of the basement room. Luke's heart was hammering, his whole body was covered with a sticky sheen of sweat, and his breath came in panting gasps. His legs feeling as if they'd barely support him, he moved back to the mattress, letting himself sink into its softness, lying back against the wall as his respiration and his pulse slowly returned to normal.
He felt both exhausted and exhilarated, and as the minutes crept by, he listened to the discordant sounds of the music that still blared from Jared's boom box. As the last chords faded away, he finally spoke. "Jeez," he whispered, turning to gaze at Jared in the flickering light of the few candles that were still burning. "Where'd all that come from?"
"Where'd what come from?" Jared asked.
Luke frowned uncertainly. "D-Didn't you see it?" he stammered. "It was like-like some kind of huge church or something. And there was a cross." Haltingly, he tried to describe what he'd seen, what he'd felt, but even as he spoke, the details began to fade from his consciousness, until all that remained was the memory of his exhilaration.
And the anger.
Then he looked at his watch.
One o'clock.
It wasn't possible! He'd only gotten here a little while ago-it couldn't have been more than an hour.
Could it?
He looked again-the numbers on the face of his watch hadn't changed. And he felt exhausted. His muscles all hurt-even his bones seemed to be aching.
The church! That must be it-he must finally be feeling the effects of the hours he and Jared had spent cleaning the church that afternoon. "I-I better get outta here," he mumbled, scrambling to his feet. "My mom's gonna kill-" The words died on his lips as a flicker of a memory rose in his mind, then vanished so quickly he wasn't even certain what it was he'd remembered.
Something about his mom, and-
– and what?
Nothing. Whatever it was, it was gone. "Better get goin'," he muttered.
Jared waited until Luke was gone, then relit the candles on the workbench. Every detail of what Luke had seen was still etched sharply in his mind, as was every word Luke had uttered as he'd stood pointing an accusing finger at his mother's image.
Luke himself might not remember what he'd said, but Jared did.
"Die, God damn you! Just die!"
Then he heard another voice-a voice so faint he could barely make out the words at all.
"No," Kim's voice whispered. "No, Jared, don't…"
Jared hesitated, the match in his hand flickering above the only unlit candle on the workbench.
"Don't," Kim's voice whispered once more, but so faintly now that her words were easy to ignore. "Don't do it, Jared. Please don't do it…"
Jared lowered the match to the wick.
The flame shrank, nearly dying away.
But then the wick glowed red, caught fire, and flared up.
The memory of Kim's softly whispered words was lost as the blinding light expanded once more to fill the room.
"No, Jared! No!"
Kim's own shriek jerked her awake, and she sat bolt upright. A flash of terror came over her-a terror such as she'd never felt before. Then, just as quickly, it was gone.
A dream! It had been nothing but a dream!
The mists she'd been lost in, the darkness she descended into, the vast cathedral she'd seen-all of it had been a dream!
And the figure she'd seen, the evil figure she'd recognized as Jared-nothing but a nightmare.
She sat in the darkness. Though the night was warm and unseasonably humid and her face was sticky with sweat, she felt chilled as well, almost feverish. She got out of bed, pulled on her robe, and went into the bathroom. She flicked on the light, turned on the tap, then washed her face with cool water, rinsing the salty perspiration away from her skin. Finally she looked at herself in the mirror.
She looked exhausted, as if she hadn't slept at all. But the clock on her nightstand said it was after one, so she must have been asleep. Her complexion looked pasty and her hair hung in lank strings around her face. As she reached up to comb it back with her fingers, the mirror reflected a flicker of movement from behind her, and she whirled around, scanning the room.
Nothing!
It must have been her imagin-
And then she saw it.
A rat-the biggest rat she'd ever seen-was climbing out of the toilet, its wet fur matted down. As Kim screamed, the rat bared its teeth, hissing at her. Then another rat climbed out of the bowl, and another.
As Kim screamed in horror she jerked the bathroom door. The latch stuck.
Trapped!
More and more rats erupted from the toilet as Kim's heart raced. They were coming toward her, skittering across the floor toward her bare feet-
"NOOOO!" As the terrified shriek rose from her throat, Kim yanked at the door one last time and it flew open. Sobbing, she stumbled out into the hall just as her parents came through the doorway to their own room at the far end of the mezzanine.
"Kim?" her mother called. "Kim, honey, what is it?"
She hurled herself into her mother's arms, shaking, unable to speak. She pointed toward the bathroom door, which she'd jerked closed behind her.
Her father started toward the closed door, but she reached out, clutching at him. "No," she croaked. "D-Don't. Don't go in there."
Ted looked at her. "Don't go in? Why?"
Kim struggled to speak. She could still see the rats boiling up out of the toilet, their teeth-hundreds of needle-sharp fangs-bared, hissing furiously as they swarmed toward her. "R-Rats," she finally stammered, her voice quavering, her body still trembling at the memory. She began sobbing again. "They were coming out of the toilet, Daddy."
Janet's arms tightened around her weeping daughter. "Call someone, Ted," she said, her own voice shaking now.
But Ted was moving toward the closed bathroom door again.
"Don't!" Kim wailed as his hand closed on the knob and he started to turn it. "Oh, God, Daddy-"
But it was too late. The latch clicked open, and the door swung inward. Gasping, Kim's arms tightened around her mother and she shrank away from the terror about to emerge from the bathroom.
Silence hung over them as Ted pushed the door wider and stepped inside.
Then he was back and looking worriedly at his older daughter. "Honey, there's nothing there," he said softly.
Kim huddled deeper in her mother's arms. "No," she said. "I saw them. I know I saw them."
Ted spread his arms helplessly. "Take a look," he said, stepping away from the door. When Kim made no move, he came back and took her hand. "It's all right, Kim. Just look. I'll be right beside you."
Her heart racing, Kim let go of her mother and let her father lead her toward the open door. At the threshold she tried to pull away, the memory of what she'd seen still vivid. Yet now, as she peered into the brightly lit room, she heard nothing, saw nothing.
Warily, her fingers clutching her father's hand, she edged closer.
Behind the door! That was it-they were hiding behind the door, and as soon as she was inside they would swarm over her.
Her father seemed to read her mind. With his free hand he reached out and pushed the door open until it struck the wall behind it. "See?" he said, stepping inside the room and gently drawing Kim along with him. "Nothing."
She gazed around.
Her father was right.
The water in the toilet was still, and there was no sign of the swarming rats she'd seen a few moments ago.
"A dream," her father told her. "It must have been a dream."
Saying nothing, Kim let her parents lead her back to bed, let her mother tuck her in as if she were a little girl. But after her mother kissed her good night and reached for the light, Kim stopped her. "Leave it on," she whispered. "Please leave it on."
Janet hesitated, then smiled reassuringly at her daughter. "All right," she said. "But just remember, darling-it was only a dream. Just a terrible dream. There's nothing here that can hurt you." She kissed Kim once more, then slipped out of the room, pulling the door closed behind her. "She'll be all right," she told Ted as they returned to their own room. "She's just leaving the light on for a few minutes."