He could feel Sara lying against him. The figures were peering at her, now. They were probing her. With what? Probing her with what? He could hear her heavy, terrified breathing. She slipped into panic and screamed.

He couldn't move; he realized, now, that he was almost completely paralyzed. He could turn his head, but he couldn't move his arms and legs. He was paralyzed on his back and the balls of light came through the ceiling like eggs dropping from a hen. The pulsating balls hovered over them as they lay helpless on the blanket­covered floor-hovered and formed a ring of five, glowing, blue pearls. The ring began to slowly spin above them. Then the spinning accelerated until it looked like a solid band of blue fire. Daniel was sure they were going to die.

And then, as suddenly as it began, the ring of blue fire vanished.

Daniel felt his strength returning to him. He reached for the lantern and knocked it over, but he managed to find the switch. The lantern was dead. He reached out in the dark and put a protective arm around Sara.

"Shhh, wait-listen-listen-listen, wait, listen," he chattered in a whisper. The same scuttling sounds that woke him scurried in the darkened room. He could see nothing. He could only hear the sounds of movement, soft and quick. "Don't move don't move don't move don't move!" he whispered frantically. They lay together, frozen in terror. Suddenly, the scuttling sounds were silent. The lantern blinked on and the room filled with light. Their shadows, cast eerily on the wall, seemed to take on a life of their own. Daniel and Sara buried themselves in each other's embrace.  less