Part 40

They approached without consideration for stealth or caution. Lowell Vern stormed toward the house, staring through the open doorway as the others moved beside and behind him.

"They're in there," he growled. "And I think..." Lowell slowed, but didn't stop. He leaned slightly to one side, trying to see around himself and the others just inside the doorway. The version of himself in the house was larger... significantly so... making it difficult to make a proper count of who else was inside. He saw swollen, monstrous versions of Oscar and Fenton, and caught a glimpse of smaller, more human figures as well. But how many? There should have been seven all together, not counting the baby. But as the distance between him and the ghostly doorway shrank, he couldn't help feeling that there were more.

He stopped and held out one hand expectantly.

"Oscar, gimme yer knife," he whispered.

Oscar slipped a long dagger into Lowell's outstretched hand. Oscar's other hand was already grasping a short sword that hung from his belt.

"Fenton, you bring yer crossbow?"

"No," Fenton whispered back.

"Well whatever you got, get it ready."

Fenton drew a carving knife from a hidden sheath in the small of his back.

"Derris, you armed?"

"Indeed! I am also fully legged, eared, and eyed!"

"Gods... you brought nothing? Can you really be this useless?"

"No, I'm actually pretending. So you won't ask me to go in there get myself stabbed. But you three have fun. I'll be right here."

"Fine. Anybody comes out but us, you watch where they go. Think you can handle that?"

Derris nodded.

"Fenton, you go around to the right Oscar, you go left. Climb in through the windows."

"There's an awful lot of people in there," said Fenton. "Including us."

"Yeah..." Lowell's face folded into a considering frown, as if thinking somehow caused him pain. "...or maybe not as many as it looks. Just get in. Grab they boy as soon as you see him. If you don't, just watch and try to spot anybody who wasn't here the first time."

"And when we do?" Oscar gave his sword a subdued flourish.

"Watch 'em. See what the hell they're doin' in there. This has to be goin' on fer a reason."

Oscar and Fenton responded with grunts, then peeled off in opposite directions. Lowell moved forward, veering away from the open door and taking position by the window instead.

Whoever had looked outside earlier had pulled the curtain back, but it hadn't fallen completely into place. He peeked in.

He was still viewing the scene from the front, thus his own inhumanly broad shoulders still blocked most of the scene. But Oscar and Fenton... the inhuman versions... had circled around the cornered family. Lowell took a quick count as the conversation inside reached the inevitable conclusion.

"...one... two...

The room erupted into motion as the woman and children tried to escape. The man... who's name Lowell worked hard to keep out of his thoughts... leapt at him...at the OTHER him... in an attempt to buy his family time. It shouldn't have worked, but the boy... the OTHER boy, who's name Lowell also had to force out of his thoughts... punched Fenton in the jewels and ran, along with the girl and the baby. Oscar grabbed the mother, but the children vanished into the rear of the house.

Lowell almost ran into the house and after them before he remembered that it had already happened. He watched instead.

Fenton Barney followed the children, just as he had done years ago.

"Ahhh...." Lowell smiled as he spotted a new figure moving across the room. The stranger wore a blood-red robe and carried a staff despite the fact that his motions were smooth and fluid. The versions of himself and Oscar inside the house didn't seem to see him. They played their parts dutifully, repeating exactly what had happened before.

Lowell watched the stranger, and wondered the others were in position yet. Were they seeing what he-

"Boy!" the robed stranger called. Lowell blinked. Who was he talking to? The only 'boy' in the room had already fled. The stranger shouted again. "DAVID!"

WHAT?!

Lowell scoured the scene, but dammit he couldn't SEE! There were too many shadows and too much motion. The stranger was standing there in plain sight, but if David was in there, he was-

Wait...

THERE!

Lowell Vern spotted David running out of the room, following the children and Fenton.

"GOT YA!" Lowell hauled himself up and through the window-

-and landed on his face as the 'solid' wall turned ghostly at his touch. He opened his eyes to find himself inside the scene he'd been watching from the outside.

"All right then..." he grunted. "FENTON! OSCAR! GET IN HERE!"