Chapter 10

At the bottom of the staircase Randy paused, staring up in the direction of Ava's room. Something flickered in the back of his mind, an idea about the statue in the hidden sex nest. But before it could come to the surface where he could examine it, the lights dimmed and suddenly went out.

A long, bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the house.

Randy felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. The scream hadn't come from any particular direction. It seemed to come from everywhere. For a moment he paused at the bottom of the staircase, his ears straining to catch any slight sound. Then he remembered Gina and Sherry were in the library. He started in that direction, walking carefully with his hands stretched out before him in the pitch-black darkness. Again the scream sounded, louder than before.

The sound made him freeze in his tracks. His hearing was very acute, and he was convinced that it wasn't an illusion that the sound seemed to come from everywhere. The very walls and the ceiling reverberated with it. And this time it wasn't followed by complete silence. Instead, a haunting, sobbing female's voice ensued, crying softly at first, then increasing in volume until Randy had to cover his ears with his hands. For a couple of minutes the sobs racked throughout the house, then ceased.

Randy groped carefully forward again in the direction of the library. His hands finally touched a wall. He felt to the right for a few feet and found the knob. Turning it, he swung open the door. He heard gasps.

"Don't come any closer," Gina's shaky voice implored, "or I'll ... I'll crown you!"

"It's me," Randy said. "Turn on the flashlight."

"It doesn't work."

"Did you hear?" Sherry asked.

"A deaf person couldn't fail to hear it," Randy said, stepping carefully in the direction of their voices. His outstretched hand touched a soft body, and it jumped. Then a woman's hand slid into his.

"Gina?"

"Yes, Randy. Thank Christ you've come back."

"Shhh!" whispered Sherry. "Listen ... "

A very faint sound began, in the distance it seemed. As it grew louder, they recognized it as a woman's voice laughing. It became louder, coming from everywhere. A mocking, cruel laugh that threatened to deafen them, shaking the walls and ceiling. Gina shivered violently and held Randy's hand to her heaving bosom. Sherry clutched him from behind, putting her arms around his waist and hugging desperately. The laughter continued, growing higher in pitch until it was hysterical. Then it abruptly ceased.

The sudden silence was painful to their ears.

"Now do you believe me?" quivered Sherry.

"I never doubted you," Randy said. "Which direction did it seem to come from?"

"The ceiling," Sherry said.

"No," Gina said. "It came from the walls, too. It came from everywhere."

"Do you think Ava is safe?" Sherry asked.

"I wish I could go up and cheek," Randy said, "but without light of any sort it's impossible. I ought to go to the kitchen and get Groton. Maybe it's nothing more than a blown fuse ... "

"Listen," Sherry hissed.

A faint thumping sound reached their ears. At first it sounded like a bass drum, but as it increased in volume, it distinctly became a hammering sound, a fist pounding on the walls. By degrees, it

grew louder.

Bang!

A few seconds' pause followed.

Bang!

No human fist could make such a sound, Randy thought. Only a giant fist or device could produce such a shattering effect. It seemed to rock the very foundations of the house. Randy felt Sherry's chin digging into his back as she clutched him fiercely, and Gina's breasts trembled as she squeezed his hand to her chest.

"Go away!" Sherry cried out hysterically.

BANG!

BANG!

The giant fist responded with explosive smashes that made their ears ring painfully. Just when it seemed that the old house couldn't withstand such a battering any longer, it stopped.

Randy heard Sherry's sobs, so faint after the ear-splitting, shattering eruptions of sound that she might have been in the next room.

Gina let out a long, shuddering breath of relief. "Why don't we all just leave tonight? You'd have to be crazy to hang around this place after that."

"There's got to be a logical explanation," Randy said firmly. "And I'm going to find it."

"If you don't go deaf or crazy first," said Gina. "I want to leave."

"All right," Randy said. "Take the car and go back. I'll have Sherry drive me back later. I'm staying."

"Then I'm staying, too," Gina said stubbornly. "You're not going anywhere or staying anywhere without me. Not until this is over."

"Aren't you going to do anything?" Sherry sobbed. "Aren't you at least going to try and trap this ... this thing?"

"I've got a pretty good idea where this so-called thing is originating," Randy said. "But I can't do anything about it until tomorrow. I've got to go to the village first and do some shopping."

"For what?" Gina asked.

Before Randy could reply, another sound made them all strain their ears with apprehension. Faintly at first, growing louder with each repetition, it was the unmistakable sound of footsteps. But not ordinary footsteps. One foot dragged behind, as if it were a leaden weight.

Thump ... shuffle. . . thump ... shuffle...

"Someone's coming," Sherry quaked.

There was no doubt someone or something was approaching the library. As the sound of footsteps became clearer, they recognized another sound.

Whatever it was that was coming for them, it was rasping heavily with exertion. With each step, it gave a painful grunt, seeming to labor with the effort of dragging its useless foot behind it.

"Let's make a run for it," Sherry sobbed. "Let's get out of here quick ... "

"Quiet!" Randy commanded.

The thing was almost at the library door, its heavy, snuffling breath rasping throughout the house. No ordinary human could exhale with such force. Randy judged the thing must be monstrous in size. He looked over at the closed library door, coming to a decision.

"I'm going to meet it," he said.

"No!" Gina's fingernails dug into his hand. "Don't, please. Maybe it won't come in here. Maybe it'll go away if we're quiet."

Its breath was on the door now, heavy and gigantic, its leaden foot dragging outside.

"Let go," Randy told Gina and Sherry. "Both of you, let go or I'll take you with me."

As great as their fear was, his threat was terrifying enough to convince them.

Randy stretched one hand out before him as a probe in the darkness and started toward the door.

He felt heartbeats hammering against his ribs. Whatever it was now seemed directly outside the door, its footsteps having ceased but its immense breath rasping on the door, as though it were waiting for him.

Randy moved closer to the door, now less than a yard away, his mind resolutely determined to face the thing, regardless of the consequences.

'It can't be real,' he told himself over and over, 'it simply can't be. A human being would have to be as tall as a building to make such sounds. It had to be an illusion of some sort, a trick...'

His hand touched the cold, damp wood of the door, then slid down groping for the knob.

At that moment a low, ominous growl of such depth and power came from outside the door that he involuntarily shivered from head to toe.

"Don't!" cried Gina's voice behind him. "Don't, please..."

Randy gritted his teeth and turned the knob. Again, the growl sounded, much louder now, causing Sherry to start sobbing hysterically.

Randy took a deep breath. Gripping the knob, he flung open the door with all his might, straining his eyes against the blackness, his heart pounding painfully in his chest.

The rasping, snuffling breath towered over him, coming from far above him. Randy looked up, seeing nothing. With a final, supreme effort of will, he reached out a tentative hand, feeling the darkness.

Nothing.

It was gone. Except for Sherry's sobbing, the house was utterly still.

Randy wiped his sweating forehead with the back of his hand.

"It's gone," he told the girls in a hoarse, limp voice. "Whatever it was, it's gone."