Ghost Walk

CHAPTER TEN

“So what do you want him for?”

“No fair,” Levi said. “I asked you first.”

They were still in the parking lot, sitting in Maria’s car. She’d hesitated at first when he had suggested it, but finally relented. He was definitely Amish—no way that beard was a disguise. She decided he didn’t pose a threat. Even so, she made a point of keeping the canister of pepper spray within reach, and letting him know that she had it.

“Okay,” Maria said, “but I’m warning you. If this is some kind of trick…”

“I assure you that it’s not, Miss Nasr. My interest in Adam Senft most likely parallels your own. In any case, it’s really important.”

“You can call me Maria if you like. Nobody’s called me ‘Miss Nasr’ since I got out of college.”

“Very well. It is nice to make your acquaintance, Maria.”

“Yours, too.” She paused. “Um, not to be rude, but what do I call you, anyway? Brother Stoltzfus or something?”

He appeared confused. “No, I’m not a clergyman. You can just call me Levi if you like.”

“Okay.” Maria relaxed. “I wasn’t sure. I’ve never actually talked to an Amish person before. I took one of those tours in Lancaster when I first moved here, but that’s all. I didn’t know if you guys referred to each other as Brother and Sister or not.”

“Oh, I’m not Amish. At least, not anymore.”

“I see.” She frowned. “I’m sorry. I just assumed, what with your clothing and the buggy and all. Are you Mennonite, then?”

“No. It’s a long story. I was once a part of the Amish faith, but sadly, I left the community many years ago. Now, I’m just…well, I don’t really know what I am. Certainly not Amish or Mennonite. Or even Protestant or Catholic. I guess I’m just trying to live my life right and do God’s work, the way that feels right to me. What would you call that?”

“Noble?”

“I like that.” He smiled. “I would call it nondenominational.”

“That would work, too.”

Levi’s stomach rumbled loudly. He smiled, embarrassed. “Sorry. I haven’t eaten today. I’m fasting.”

Maria nodded. Although she didn’t ask, she wondered what the reason for the fast was. Was it religious or medical?

“So, I’ve got to ask. If you’re not Amish anymore, then why the clothes and the beard? What’s up with the hat?”

“I’m single. I thought that women might be attracted to the beard. And as for the hat, it’s to keep the sun out of my eyes.”

Maria tried to suppress her laughter, but failed. She snorted once, twice, and then laughed out loud, jumping up and down in the seat. Tears streamed from her eyes.

“What?” Levi asked, seemingly puzzled. “What’s so funny? You don’t like my beard?”

“I…” Gasping for breath, Maria wiped the tears from her eyes. “I think it’s great. It’s unique, you know? A lot of guys these days just go with a goatee. You’ve got a very retro vibe going on. It works for you.”

“Excellent.” He sounded pleased.

She stifled another burst of laughter and smiled. When she felt she had control again, Maria explained her assignment—the feature article on the Ghost Walk and how it had inspired the book idea. She told him about her research into LeHorn’s Hollow, powwow magic, and, ultimately, Adam Senft’s involvement. Levi stayed silent throughout. He absentmindedly stroked his beard and listened. His face was expressionless.

“I guess it must all sound pretty bizarre to you,” she finished. “But there are people who still believe in this stuff, even today.”

“Oh, there’s no doubt. I’m one of them.”

Maria was stunned. “W-what?”

“My father worked powwow, as did my grandfather. It’s sort of a family tradition.”

“Wait a second,” Maria said. “Stoltzfus. Your father was Amos Stoltzfus?”

Levi cocked his head. “You’ve heard of him?”

“He was mentioned in some of the articles I read when I was researching. Sort of a famous guy, right?”

Levi shrugged. “He helped a lot of people.”

“So then you already knew all about Nelson LeHorn and the murders and all the legends about that area?”

Levi nodded. “I did.”

“Then why didn’t you interrupt me?”

“I needed to see what you knew. My reasons for speaking with Senft are related to your research into LeHorn’s Hollow. In fact, I was just there last night.”

“When? I was there, too. Are you helping with the Ghost Walk?”

He frowned. “No. But tell me more about this Ghost Walk. Your article sounds interesting.”

“Well,” Maria said, “it’s a Halloween trail that Ken Ripple is building for charity. It’s located in the same forest as LeHorn’s Hollow—or, at least where LeHorn’s Hollow used to be, before it burned down. My article about it runs this afternoon.”

“I see.”

“You must have noticed them working on it when you were there.”

“No,” Levi said. “I was preoccupied with something else. What is it, exactly?”

Maria shrugged. “People dress up in scary costumes and hide in the woods. Then other people pay money to walk through the woods and be scared.”

“Hmmm.” Levi’s frown deepened. “A lot of people probably attend an event like that.”

“Sure,” Maria agreed. “At least, that’s what the organizers are hoping. The proceeds go to help fight women’s cancer.”

“When does it open?”

“Tomorrow night. The trail opens at seven and stays open until midnight, followed by a party with live bands and stuff. You know, to celebrate the start of Halloween, since the holiday begins at midnight. I know a lot of people don’t really celebrate until the next night, but technically, the holiday starts at midnight.”

Levi’s face grew pale. He looked startled—or maybe sick. He sank into the seat, shoulders slumped, head hung low. He closed his eyes and sighed.

Maria leaned forward, concerned. “Are you okay? You look like you’re going to throw up.”

Levi didn’t answer her right away, and when he did, his voice was panicked. He covered his mouth with one trembling hand.

“Tomorrow night. Of course…The walls will be at their thinnest then, just after midnight. If it breaches with all those people in the area…My Lord! There’s no time…”

“What are you talking about?” Alarmed by his reaction, Maria inched her hand toward the pepper spray.

Levi bolted upright, reached out, and snatched her wrist. He squeezed—gently, but firm. Alarmed, Maria tried to pull away.

“Hey!” she shouted. “Let go of me or I’ll fucking scream.”

She hated that. Hated the threat of screaming, like that was the only thing a woman was capable of. If you don’t stop, the widdle girly will scweam. It sounded pathetic. There were other ways to defend herself. Her fear dissipated, replaced with anger. She was furious that he’d made her feel this way.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Levi said. “Please calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down.” She tried to get free again. “Let go of me, you son of a bitch.”

Maria raised her free hand and slapped at him. To her dismay, she missed. Levi blinked as the blow whizzed by. Her hand glanced off the seat. It seemed impossible to her. This close, there was no way she could have missed.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he repeated, his voice patient. “Please. I just need you to listen to me and I don’t want to be hit. Okay?”

Breathing hard, Maria nodded.

“Okay.” He released her wrist and folded his hands in his lap. “I’m sorry if I upset you. That wasn’t my intention. I’m just scared, is all.”

“What you are,” Maria said, “is lucky. Lucky I didn’t knock your head off.”

He smiled slightly. “Even if you’d wanted to, you couldn’t have.”

“Oh, believe me—I wanted to. You gonna tell me you’re an expert at Amish karate or something?”

“No, not at all. It’s just that I carry something on my person that prevents attacks like that. Your aim was true. It just wasn’t effective.”

Maria started to protest, but Levi held up his hand.

“Please, let me continue. I’m sorry for upsetting you. I shouldn’t have touched you and I know it was wrong. But we have a very serious situation here and not a lot of time to deal with it. I can’t do this alone. I need help, starting with Adam Senft.”

“Is this some kind of powwow thing?”

“No. The powers that I’ll be calling on and the methods I’ll be using have nothing to do with powwow. They are a much older and much more dangerous form of magic.”

“I think I’ve heard enough,” Maria said. She reached for the pepper spray again. “I’d like you to leave. Now.”

“Listen to me,” Levi pleaded. “You don’t understand what’s going on. If I could just—”

“I want you to get out of my car right now.”

“Please…”

“Let’s see if powwow has a cure for pepper spray to the fucking face!”

She raised the canister and pointed the nozzle at him. Her thumb was on the button.

“When you were eight years old,” Levi said quickly, “you had a pet turtle named Lucky. You called him that because your father found him in the middle of the Garden State Parkway, crossing several lanes of traffic. He was lucky to be alive.”

“What—” She lowered the pepper spray and stared at him, gaping.

“One day,” Levi continued, “you came home from school and took Lucky out into the backyard. You had a small, plastic wading pool with green and pink fish painted on the sides. You used to let Lucky splash around in it. On that day, Pete Nincetti, the bully from next door, came into the yard and stole Lucky from you. Your parents weren’t home yet, and you were scared of Pete because he was older than you were. You tried to get Lucky back but Pete shoved you down. You started crying. Then he tossed Lucky into the air and hit him with his baseball bat. He did this four more times, cracking the shell and finally knocking Lucky down into a sewer drain.”

Tears streamed down Maria’s shocked face. “Stop it. How do you—”

“You told your parents when they came home. Your father hollered at Mr. Nincetti, but nothing ever happened. The police did nothing. His parents did nothing. Pete wasn’t punished.”

“I…I never told anyone.”

“Wrong. You told Clarissa Thomas, your roommate during your freshman year in college. But what you never told anyone was that three months later, it was you who wrapped the rat poison up in a piece of bologna and fed it to Pete’s dog.”

“Shut up,” Maria sobbed. “Just stop it.”

“The dog vomited blood and died. Pete cried. So did you.”

“Are you some kind of stalker or something? Have you been following me?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know this? Tell me!”

“I just know.”

She buried her face in her hands. “You son of a bitch.”

“I’m sorry that I had to do this,” Levi said, “but I needed to get your attention. I had to show you proof that this isn’t just the ramblings of a crazy man. I need you to listen to me, Maria. More importantly, I need you to believe what I’m saying.”

“But you just—”

“If it’s any consolation, you might like to know that, years later, Pete was shot in the head by two men named Tony Genova and Vincent Napoli, after he ran afoul of the mob. Despite the severity of the wound, it took him a long time to die. He suffered. His body is buried in an unmarked grave near Manalapan.”

Maria opened the console between them and pulled out a tissue. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose, then tossed the crumpled tissue on the floor.

“How the hell do you know all this?”

“The methods don’t matter,” Levi said. “What matters is that you’ve seen incontrovertible proof that I can do things like that. Things that you don’t believe in. Except that now you’ve got no choice but to believe in them. This was no parlor trick. It’s real. Do you believe?”

She hesitated. “Yes.”

“Good. Because I’ve got a lot more to tell you, and if you’re going to help me, then you can’t have any doubts.”

“Help you? I’m not involved in anything, Levi. I’m just researching a book.”

“No,” he said. “You’re involved. Whether you realize it or not. It feels…right, to me. You’re a part of this. Not by your own hand, but because that’s what God wants of you.”

“I may believe you’re some kind of mind reader, but I definitely don’t believe in God. I was raised to believe in Allah, but I’m not even sure about that anymore.”

“It doesn’t matter. God. Allah. Yahweh. These are all just different names for the same being.”

“Whatever. I’ve heard that before, too. Still doesn’t mean I believe in any of them.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate.”

Maria smirked. “Is this the part where you tell me that’s okay because God believes in me? If so, save the clichés for somebody else. I’ve heard that one before.”

“No.” Levi shook his head. “I’m not going to tell you that. Because by tomorrow night, if we don’t stop what’s about to occur, you’ll have your disbelief resolved whether you like it or not.”

“How?”

“All souls, whether they believe in Him or not, stand before God after they die. And unless we act soon, there are going to be a lot of people dying—us included.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The end of the world.”

“Okay,” Maria agreed. “You’ve got my attention, at least. Let’s hear what you have to say. Should we go somewhere more secluded or are you comfortable here?”

Levi glanced out the window and checked the parking lot. While his attention was diverted, Maria reached down and quickly turned on her digital voice recorder, which was sitting in the console’s cup-holder. She sat back up and smiled as Levi turned back to her.

“We should be okay here,” he said. “I’m sure it will put you more at ease.”

“Whatever you prefer.”

He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Much of what the human race thinks it knows is actually wrong. The history of our planet—of our past—is full of inaccuracies. This is especially true of our religions. The primary texts of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Shinto, Satanism, Wicca, and all of the others are fundamentally flawed. They’ve been tampered with and rewritten by man so much over the years that much of them are now filled with falsehoods. It takes many years of study and searching to learn the real truths.”

“And that’s what it means to be Amish?”

He snorted. “No. We’re just another Christian denomination—and we’re just as flawed. Perhaps more so. I no longer believe what they believe, because I’ve seen the bigger picture. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, one of his sons.”

“I remember that from the times I went to church with my Christian friends. I thought the mantra was, ‘His only son’?”

“So do a billion other people, Maria. And they are wrong. All of them. That’s my point. The Bible isn’t the inspired word of God. Nor is the Koran or the Torah or any of the other holy books. They are the words of man. Of many men. Edited and changed to reflect their will, not His. To truly know God and to seek His will, you’ve got to look beyond the Bible. Read between the lines. The book we know today as the Bible is not the complete text. It’s not the inspired word of God. It is made up of a number of scrolls and tablets that men decided should be in it. Men, not God. But there are other texts, and they are just as valid. Texts from the same time that give us true understanding. The Bible we know speaks of Heaven and Hell, but it never mentions places like the Labyrinth or the Great Deep or the Void. The Bible tells how God created our universe, but there’s nothing in it about the universe that existed before this one. Or the enemy that came from that other universe.”

“You’re talking about the devil?”

Levi shook his head. “Which devil? There are more than one. Do you mean Lucifer, the Morningstar? Or maybe Satan? The old serpent? The dragon? The Beast? All of these appear in the Bible, and we’re told to believe that they are the same entity—but they aren’t. In any case, I’m not speaking about any of them. I’m talking about the Thirteen. They are far worse than any devil.”

A car alarm blared across the parking lot. Maria jumped. After a minute, it faded.

“To create this universe,” Levi continued, “God destroyed a universe that existed before ours. Think about it—the act of Creation must have required an unimaginable amount of energy. Where did He get it?”

Maria shrugged.

“He tore down the old universe and used its material as building blocks for our own. The old universe ceased to exist down to its last atom—except for the Thirteen. Somehow, they escaped the destruction. And they’ve been the enemies of God and all of His creations ever since.”

“Demons?” Maria asked. She tried not to sound skeptical. Levi obviously believed what he was saying, and it seemed important to him.

“Not demons.” Levi shuddered. “Although mankind has often mistaken them for demons. And gods. Entire—incorrect—mythologies have been created around them by foolish people who didn’t know the true nature of what they were worshipping. No, the Thirteen are much worse than demons. They have nothing to do with Hell’s legions. And each one of them is more terrifying than the next. Kandara, Lord of the Djinn. Ob, the Obot, who commands the Siqqusim. His brothers, Ab and Api. Leviathan, Lord of the Great Deep. Behemoth. And others—all terrible. But the greatest among the Thirteen is one who can’t be named. Simply speaking its real name out loud causes unimaginable destruction. It is the reason mankind has such an unreasonable fear of the dark, for this thing is darkness incarnate. It sits in the heart of the Labyrinth and infects world after world.”

“Hold up,” Maria interrupted. “The Labyrinth? As in the minotaur and King Minos?”

“No,” Levi said, “although I guess it could be the source of that old myth. The Labyrinth is sort of a dimensional shortcut between different worlds and realities. It weaves through time and space—nowhere and yet everywhere all at once. It connects to everything via a series of dimensional ‘doors.’ This is how the Thirteen travel between worlds. How they traverse the dimensions. And how some humans have traveled, as well. Normally, the only time we see the Labyrinth is when our spirit has departed our body. But there are ways to pass through it while still alive. You just have to know how to open one of the doorways. That’s what Nelson LeHorn did.”

“He traveled to another dimension?”

Levi shrugged. “Possibly. Another dimension. Another Earth.”

“An alternate reality?”

“Exactly. There are many different Earths—mirror versions of our own world with alternate versions of ourselves. On one of them, you might be just like you are now. On another, maybe you’re the first female president of the United States.”

“Freaky. You’re talking about string theory, right?”

“String theory?”

“Yeah, you know. Different dimensions stacked up against each other like membranes?”

“Is that what the scientists call it?”

Maria nodded.

Levi smirked. “They have no idea. And even if they did figure it out, they wouldn’t know how to stop what’s happening. The Thirteen seek to destroy all of these Earths—and all of the other alternate worlds, as well. They’ve sworn to destroy anything created by God. After all, he destroyed their universe. They figure turnabout is fair play. So, on one of these worlds, perhaps Ob is the threat. On another, it might be Leviathan. Sometimes the Thirteen work together. Sometimes they work alone. Think about the end of the world. It can happen in so many different ways. Global warming. Nuclear war. Disease. Maybe it starts raining and doesn’t stop. Perhaps the sun explodes or a comet collides with us. Or maybe zombies—”

“Zombies?” Maria interrupted.

“Sorry,” Levi apologized. “But when you know the things I know, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched. Anyway, yes, the end of the world happens every time the Thirteen are loosed upon one of these other realities. And there have been many ends of the worlds.”

“And Nelson LeHorn escaped to another one of these Earths.”

“Another Earth or another planet. Who knows? He could have miscalculated and ended up on Mars or anywhere else in the universe. Just as there are multiple Earths, there are alternate versions of the other planets as well. Imagine a Mars where life still exists, or a Jupiter that was formed out of rock and dust, rather than gases. All I know for sure is that after he murdered his wife, Nelson LeHorn opened a doorway in the hollow and fled through it. He closed the doorway behind him, but it still exists. LeHorn took precautions. He knew what waited out there. Knew that if he wasn’t careful, something else could come through the portal. So he placed a circle of protection around the door, ensuring that nothing else could use it. But something went wrong. I don’t know what. Maybe the sigils were removed or the circle was broken. Whatever the cause, this entity—this living darkness—is now seeping through into our world. It hasn’t made it all the way through. Not yet. But tomorrow night is when the barriers between all worlds are at their thinnest. When that happens, it will surge into our plane of existence, and there’s not a thing we can do about it.”

Maria studied him closely. He seemed so earnest, so self-aware. Whether or not he was crazy—and he had to be to spin a story like this—Levi honestly believed every word of it.

But how had he known about Lucky? And Pete’s dog? She’d never told anyone about that. Indeed, she’d been ashamed of it all her life. No matter how much time passed, she still felt the guilt.

Levi had known.

“Okay,” she said, still keeping her tone neutral. “What happens then? Once it’s loose. Everything goes dark?”

“Yes. Eternal night. Like a total, planet-wide eclipse. It would start at the doorway and then quickly sweep across the land. But that’s just the beginning. Every living thing that this creature touches gets consumed. It sucks up all their energy, leaving an empty husk behind. Within days, our planet would be a lifeless shell. Once the Earth’s energies had been depleted, the creature would move on to the next world.”

Maria decided to change tactics.

“You seem to know a lot about this…thing that can’t be named. But how? I mean, if all of our history books and religious texts are wrong, then how can you be sure you’ve got the right information?”

“Because of my source. Yes, over the centuries, a lot of people have got it wrong. The Celts, for example, believed this creature was a deity from their pantheon. That’s because the entity tricked them into thinking so. It can shift shapes, appearing as anything it wants. Quite often, it takes the form of things we fear, long for, or regret. As I said, it feeds off our energy. Quite often, it is our fears that generate the biggest amount of energy.”

“But you said it feeds off all living things. So what does it appear as to a tree or a flower? They don’t know fear.”

“Sure they do. A tree fears the roar of a chainsaw or the crackle of flame. A flower fears the hum of a lawn mower or the voice of a young man intent on picking it for his girlfriend.” Maria stared at him, speechless.

“It doesn’t always use that attack, however. It can appear as a benevolent being—a friend or parent or lost love. It appeared to the Celts as a human male with a silver arm replacing its original arm, which had supposedly been lost in battle. It appeared to others as an old man carrying a great wooden staff in one hand, and riding in a seashell chariot drawn by flaming beasts. Again, this was a falsehood. Historians have misidentified it. Archeologists, too—attributing ruins and sites to its name, even though the things worshipped there were far different. Fiction writers like Arthur Machen and H. P. Lovecraft have added to the confusion over the years. One of them even labeled the entity as the Lord of the Great Deep, which is actually Leviathan’s post. In reality, there’s only one, true source of information on this thing—and the rest of the Thirteen. It’s the only source I trust.”

“Let me guess,” Maria said. “You hear the voice of God?”

“Please don’t tease me. This is a very serious matter. My source is something called the Daemonolateria.”

“You know Latin?”

“It’s not Latin. I know it sounds like it, but the word is from a language not spoken on this planet. The Daemonolateria is sort of a book, although it’s unlike any other book you’ve ever heard of. There are different versions; each copy is unique. Some of it exists on this plane of reality. Other parts exist…elsewhere. Its contents can change, depending on the own er and translation, but much of it deals with all of this forgotten history. It contains methods of stopping or banishing the Thirteen, including the thing we face.”

“Sounds awfully confusing.”

“It is. It’s definitely not for amateurs. There’s as much misinformation about the Daemonolateria as there is about the Thirteen. In short, if he wants to be sure, a magus has to build his own version of the book. That’s what I’m in the process of doing. It can be dangerous. Nelson LeHorn’s copy was fairly complete and very accurate. But it also made him paranoid. A lot of people like us coveted it.”

“‘Like us’?”

“Magicians. Powwow doctors. Priests. Warlocks. Witches. There are more of us than you think. There are different disciplines and social orders, of course. Some of us are loners. Others have their own little groups and clubs. Black Lodge. The Kwan. Things like the O.T.O. and the Starry Wisdom Sect. Teenagers playing at satanism. Senior citizens giving their money to charismatic leaders.”

“I thought Black Lodge was a division of the CIA?”

“That’s what they would like you to believe.”

“All I know is they’re a conspiracy theorist’s wet dream.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Levi said. “My point is, there are a lot of us—most of whom can’t be trusted. LeHorn became convinced that others might try to kill him for his copy of the book, so he hid several of the most important pages, rendering the rest of the book incomplete and, hopefully, worthless. My father told me of the hiding places that he knew of. One of those pages—the one we need to stop this—was hidden in LeHorn’s copy of The Long Lost Friend. He thought it would be extra safe there. And he was right about that.”

“So you need to find his book?”

Levi nodded. “And that’s why I need to speak with Adam Senft. He was the last person to have LeHorn’s book. I need to know where it is now. It might be in his possession, though I doubt it. Senft was certainly dabbling in magic before his wife’s murder, but I don’t think he’d progressed far enough to secrete something like a page from the Daemonolateria on himself while in a psychiatric hospital. Not without it being detected. It’s more likely that the book—and the page—are hidden somewhere on the outside.”

“What if he doesn’t know where it is, or he doesn’t remember? What then?”

“There are other ways to find it. Divining would work, but that takes weeks and we don’t have time. So we’ll just have to make him remember.”

“You said ‘we’ again. I’m not a part of this. Like I told you before, I’m only interested in Senft for my book. That’s why I’m here. God didn’t bring us together. It was just a coincidence.”

Levi sighed. “You don’t believe what I just told you?”

Maria chose her words carefully. “I believe that you believe it. But, look—I don’t believe in God in the first place. I don’t believe that He created the Earth, so why would I believe that He destroyed another universe to do it and that it’s been covered up ever since? And even if I did believe any of that, it’s not God. It’s Allah.”

“I told you before. Allah and God are the same being. Names have power. Those are just two names for the same divinity.”

“So you say. And so have others. But how do I know that?”

“You take it on faith! Just like any other belief.”

She shook her head and sat in silence.

“Maria,” Levi begged, “I can’t do this alone. I…I don’t have anyone else.”

“I’m sorry, Levi. I really am. You seem very nice. But I’m not some occult avenger. I wouldn’t mind interviewing you some more, specifically about powwow and your father and LeHorn. But that’s all.”

“Interviewing me?”

“If you don’t mind, that is?”

“Would it matter if I did?” Smiling, Levi nodded toward her digital voice recorder. “After all, you’ve been secretly taping our conversation since we started.”

“I…” Maria felt her face flush. “I’m sorry. It made me feel better, just in case…”

“Just in case I turned out to be crazy after all?”

“Yeah, if you want the truth.”

“Go ahead and play it back.”

“Why?”

“Humor me.”

Slowly, Maria picked up the recorder, pressed the stop button and then played back their conversation. Except that instead of Levi’s voice, somebody else spoke to her. A different voice boomed from the device. She couldn’t distinguish its sex or age. There was no accent or distinguishing characteristics. It had a hypnotic, musical quality, and flowed like water.

“MARIA. PLEASE HELP.”

Maria’s jaw went slack. Her fingers tightened around the recorder until her knuckles turned white. The voice was replaced with a feint, electronic hiss—white noise. Maria advanced the recording, but there was just more silence.

“How…” She turned off the recorder and looked at Levi, her eyes wide. “How did you…your voice?”

Levi’s smile grew broader.

“Let me guess,” he teased, mimicking her earlier taunt. “You heard the voice of God?”

Maria started to respond, but couldn’t. Her mouth felt dry, her tongue swollen. She tried licking her lips. They seemed puffy. Heavy. Her ears rang. She struggled to sit up straight, but the car’s interior began to spin. Her fingers grasped the seat, but she couldn’t feel the upholstery.

“Maria?” Levi reached for her, concerned. “Are you okay?”

Levi’s voice sounded far away, as if he were speaking from the other side of a long tunnel. Maria tried to answer him but had trouble forming the words. She felt weak and her senses seemed deadened. She bowed her head, grasping for something to hold on to. Her hand felt heavy—made of lead. It suddenly seemed very hot and stifling inside the car, yet she was shivering.

“N-no…I…”

Then her eyes rolled in their sockets and she fainted.