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The Siege - Five “Marie?” she whispered, “Do you hear that? What’s a hel- icopter doing flying so low around here at this time of night? “What helicopter?” Marie replied. “TI don’t hear anything. You must have been dreaming.” “No, I’m not! It’s right over us! I can hear it right now,” Amelia insisted. ““What’s the matter with you?” And then she froze, silent, staring up at the ceiling in astonishment. “T can see it,” she said slowly. “Marie, I can see it.” Marie looked, up at the dark ceiling in disbelief. “Wake up, Amelia, you’re dreaming,” she said. “There’s nothing there.” “T’m not asleep,” Amelia protested, raising her head from the pillow. Her eyes still gazed upwards. “I swear to you, I can see a helicopter right up there! By that big tree with all the leaves. I see the front of the thing, it’s rounded, and the legs are folded underneath.” “Well, why can’t I see it, then?” Marie asked, exasperated. “T don’t know,” Amelia replied. “It’s like the ceiling isn’t there. It has disappeared, and I can see right through the roof.” A faint bluish glow suddenly appeared around Amelia as she tried to rise from the bed, and Marie jumped up with a start. “Oh, my God,” she said as the glow increased, surround- ing the bed in a circular haze of blue light. “Amelia! Get out of there!” “T can’t move,” Amelia said helplessly. “I’m paralyzed! Where are you? I can’t see you any more! There’s something’s down there, by the foot of the bed.” “T tell you, I don’t see anything,” Marie insisted, looking around the room. “What is it that you’re seeing?” “Two people, two beings,” Amelia answered, staring at the end of her bed, “and they don’t look like spirits.” “What do they look like?” Marie asked. “One of them is real tall,’ Amelia described, “‘and he’s got greenish skin, like a lizard or alligator. I never saw such a thing before! Its head is egg-shaped, and I can see slanted Masquerade of Angels 34 The Siege - Five eyes, but no ears or mouth. And this other one is shorter, sort of blue-black colored, like a grape or raisin. What are they, Marie? Can you communicate with them? What kind of spir- its are they?” “Whoa,” Marie interrupted. “I don’t know anything about these beings. They sound like some of Ted’s friends, they’re not mine. Ted!” she shouted, growing more frightened. “Ted! Get in here! There’s something wrong with Amelia!” Ted was awakened by the uproar, but he couldn’t under- stand what Marie was shouting. He padded out the door and started down the hall, stopping momentarily when he saw a blue glow emanating from the open doorway. Inside, Marie had circled around the room and was wait- ing for him, pressed back against the farthest wall from where Amelia lay motionless, enveloped in the brilliant light. Ted stepped in uncertainly and then stopped dead in his tracks, staring. “What the...?” he started to say, but then darting sparks of light suddenly shot through the blue haze, making both Ted and Marie jump in surprise. “Amelia!” he yelled, “get out of there!” “Marie?” Amelia called out, “Marie? Where are you?” “T’m right here,” she shouted back, “and Ted’s here, too.” They inched closer to the bed, still keeping a healthy dis- tance from the blue glow, which was now filled with tiny, rapid explosions of lightning trails. “T can hardly hear you,” Amelia said loudly. “Speak up “What’s going on?” Ted asked. “Where did this all come from?” “T don’t know,” Marie said. “She started talking about a helicopter, and now she says she can see it up through the roof, that it’s right overhead. What should we do?” “Are you all right, Amelia?” Ted shouted. “Is that stuff hurting you, all that lightning?” “What lightning?” Amelia shouted back in surprise. “T’m okay, but I can’t move. That helicopter thing is still up there, and those two other things are still just standing there staring at me.” “What’s she talking about?” Ted asked, and Marie told 7 Masquerade of Angels 35