Part 2 (1/2)
”Come on, Elena,” she whispered. ”Talk to me.” The planchette began to move.
None of them could be guiding it; they were all applying pressure from different points. Nevertheless, the little triangle of plastic was sliding smoothly, confidently. Bonnie kept her eyes shut until it stopped and then looked. The planchette was pointing to the wordYes .
Vickie gave something like a soft sob.
Bonnie looked at the others. Caroline was breathing fast, green eyes narrowed. Sue, the only one of all of them, still had her eyes resolutely closed. Meredith looked pale.
They all expected her to know what to do.
”Keep concentrating,” Bonnie told them. She felt unready and a little stupid addressing the empty air directly. But she was the expert; she had to do it.
”Is that you, Elena?” she said.
The planchette made a little circle and returned toYes .
Suddenly Bonnie's heart was beating so hard she was afraid it would shake her fingers. The plastic underneath her fingertips felt different, electrified almost, as if some supernatural energy was flowing through it. She no longer felt stupid. Tears came to her eyes, and she could see that Meredith's eyes were glistening too. Meredith nodded at her.
”How can we be sure?” Caroline was saying, loudly, suspiciously. Caroline doesn't feel it, Bonnie realized; she doesn't sense anything I do. Psychically speaking, she's a dud.
The planchette was moving again, touching letters now, so quickly that Meredith barely had time to spell out the message. Even without punctuation it was clear.
CAROLINE DONT BE A JERK, it said. YOURE LUCKY IM TALKING TO YOU AT ALL ”That's Elena, all right,” Meredith said dryly.
”It sounds like her, but-”
”Oh, shut up, Caroline,” Bonnie said. ”Elena, I'm just so glad...” Her throat locked up and she tried again.
BONNIE THERES NO TIME STOP SNIVELING AND GET DOWN TO BUSINESS.
Andthat was Elena too. Bonnie sniffed and went on. ”I had a dream about you last night.”
TEA.
”Yes.” Bonnie's heart was thudding faster than ever. ”I wanted to talk to you, but things got weird and then we kept losing contact-”
BONNIE DONT TRANCE NO TRANCE NO TRANCE.
”All right.”That answered her question, and she was relieved to hear it.
CORRUPTING INFLUENCES DISTORTING OUR COMMUNICATION THERE ARE BAD.
THINGS VERY BAD THINGS OUT HERE.
”Like what?” Bonnie leaned closer to the board. ”Like what?”
NO TIME!.
The planchette seemed to add the exclamation point. It was jerking violently from letter to letter as if Elena could barely contain her impatience.
HESBUSY SO I CAN TALK NOW BUT THERES NOT MUCH TIME LISTEN WHEN WESTOP GET OUT OF THE HOUSE FAST YOURE IN DANGER ”Danger?”Vickie repeated, looking as if she might jump off the chair and run. WAIT LISTEN FIRST THEWHOLE TOWN IS IN DANGER ”What do we do?” said Meredith instantly.
YOU NEED HELP HES OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE UNBELIEVABLY STRONG NOW LISTEN.
AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS YOU HAVE TO DO A SUMMONING SPELL AND THE.
FIRST INGREDIENT IS H-.
Without warning, the planchette jerked away from the letters and flew around the board wildly. It pointed at the stylized picture of the moon, then at the sun, then at the wordsParker Brothers, Inc . ”Elena!” The planchette bobbed back to the letters. ANOTHER MOUSE ANOTHER MOUSE ANOTHER MOUSE ”What's happening?” Sue cried, eyes wide open now. Bonnie was frightened. The planchette was pulsing with energy, a dark and ugly energy like boiling blacktar that stung her fingers. But she could also feel the quivering silver thread that was Elena's presencefighting it. ”Don't let go!” she cried desperately. ”Don't take your hands off it!”
MOUSMUDKILLYOU, the board reeled off. BLOODBLOODBLOOD . And then... BONNIE
GET OUT RUN HES HERE RUN RUN RU- The planchette jerked furiously, whipping out from under Bonnie's fingers and beyond her reach, flyingacross the board and through the air as if someone had thrown it. Vickie screamed. Meredith started toher feet.
And then all the lights went out, plunging the house into darkness.
Three.
Vickie's screams went out of control. Bonnie could feel panic rising in her chest.
”Vickie, stop it! Come on; we've got to get out of here!” Meredith was shouting to be heard. ”It's your house, Caroline. Everybody grab hands and you lead us to the front door.”
”Okay,” Caroline said. She didn't sound as frightened as everybody else. That was the advantage to having no imagination, Bonnie thought. You couldn't picture the terrible things that were going to happen to you.
She felt better with Meredith's narrow, cold hand grasping hers. She fumbled on the other side and caught Caroline's, feeling the hardness of long fingernails.
She could see nothing. Her eyes should be adjusting to the dark by now, but she couldn't make out even a glimmer of light or shadow as Caroline started leading them. There was no light coming through the windows from the street; the power seemed to be out everywhere. Caroline cursed, running into some piece of furniture, and Bonnie stumbled against her.
Vickie was whimpering softly from the back of the line. ”Hang on,” whispered Sue. ”Hang on, Vickie, we'll make it.”
They made slow, shuffling progress in the dark. Then Bonnie felt tile under her feet. ”This is the front hall,” Caroline said. ”Stay here a minute while I find the door.” Her fingers slipped out of Bonnie's .
”Caroline! Don't let go-where are you? Caroline, give me your hand!” Bonnie cried, groping frantically like a blind person.
Out of the darkness something large and moist closed around her fingers. It was a hand. It wasn't Caroline's.
Bonnie screamed.