remark about seeing someone in her backyard last night. Not terribly
surprising, coming from Weezy. But what if …?
He started tiptoeing toward the window, then stopped.
Why am I tiptoeing?
He walked the rest of the way, then crouched until the sil was at chin level. The moonlit cornfield looked just the same as last night. Nothing moving. But he
realized anyone standing in the corn rows would be as good as
invisible and stil have a clear view of his room. That had never occurred to him
before, and it gave him a crawly feeling in his gut.
Thanks a lot, Weez.
He shook off the feeling. Sil y. Nobody out there.
Stil , he pul ed the shade, then undressed in the dark. He crawled under the
covers before turning on his bedside lamp. He wanted to let the Spider take him away from al these spooky feelings. The Spider’s world was safe in that if
things got too weird, Jack could always close the cover.
But real life had no covers. What did you do when life got too weird?
“Jack! Jack, wake up!”
Jack opened his eyes in the dark. An insistent tapping accompanied the frantic,
harshly whispered words.
“Come
Where was he? He felt the pil ow under his head, the sheet pul ed up to his
shoulders …
Bed.
“Jack,
He jackknifed to a sitting position. The voice … coming from the window. He
looked and his heart jumped when he saw a head silhouetted in the
moonlight.
“Who?”
“It’s me—Weezy. You’ve got to—”
“Weez? What are you doing out there?”
“Helicopters, Jack! Over the Pines. They were carrying some kind of equipment.” “So?”
“They’re right over our mound!”
A second head appeared at the window.
“C’mon, Jack.” Eddie’s voice. “We’re gonna go take a look.”
Jack glanced at his clock radio: 1:10 in the morning.
“Are you guys nuts?”
“Yeah,” Eddie said. “Nutsacious. And so are you. That’s why we’re here.” Weezy said, “We’ve got our bikes. So get dressed. Wear dark clothes. Let’s go!” “Do you know how dark it is in there?”
“We’ve got flashlights. Bring another. Come on. We’ve got to see what they’re
doing to our mound.”
Jack thought for a second. He didn’t know how Weezy knew they were over the mound, but he did know his folks would kil him if they found out he’d
sneaked off into the Barrens at night.
But what were helicopters doing over their mound in the middle of the night? What couldn’t wait until morning?
He jumped out of bed.
Wel , why not? Not like he was going to be able to get back to sleep now anyway.
“Be right there.”
As usual, Weezy led the way. She kept her flashlight beam trained ahead as she rode, but Jack figured she knew the trail so wel she probably could have
found her way by the moonlight.
He stayed close behind, holding his own light in reserve, in case Weezy’s ran out. Eddie brought up the rear.
