Saymi screamed as the jeep crashed into a palm tree. A huge cloud of smoke rose from the front of the jeep and Adrian's vehicle refused to move anymore.
Adrian exclaimed and laughed. “Don't tell Abigail. I'll show you the Banks another day I guess.”
“I'm out of here anyway,” Sadier said looking at his watch.
“Really? what time do you set your alarm for?” Adrian asked taking off his sunglasses.
“Earlier than you I guess,” Sadier replied as he dissolved from their eyes. He jumped out of bed and silenced his alarm clock feeling fully rested even though he had spent a busy day in the upperworld.
In the first two weeks since Sadier and Saymi had accepted the Alma's invitation and started training under Adrian and Abigail, there was only one real attack and it wasn't much of a threat. That's why I'm not giving an account of it.
I'm going to pick up on the Tuesday of that third week. Sadier told me this was about when he started to have the revelations. And this was also the week during which Sadier had the biggest scare of his whole year. I'll get to that later though.
“Did you understand that theory Adrian was telling us about, about the moon waves?” Sadier asked his sister as she rolled into the kitchen.
“A little bit I guess. It's confusing,” Saymi replied.
“I think it's kinda like a beta reaction in that it only pulls memories,” Sadier replied.
1st hour, 2nd hour, 3rd hour, 4th hour, lunch, 5th hour, PE, then a mysteriously encrypted doorway opening in the ceiling. He jumped through it and it sealed so none could follow. He glided down a hallway, red dots and rainbow flashings in his eyes. His tennis shoes landed on carpet.
“Did Adrian hit a tree last night?” Abigail asked Sadier as he took his seat.
“He told us not to tell you,” Sadier replied.
“I don't know what I'm going to do with that boy,” she laughed.
“What are we looking at today?” he asked.
“How to recognize Alpha Reactions,” she replied.
“Oh good, I've been looking forward to this chapter,” Sadier said.
“Reading ahead in Mr. Bradley's notes?” Abigail asked.
Sadier shrugged, “How can I not?”
Just then a blue portal opened and Adrian joined them striking a superman pose as he reached the floor.
When Saymi joined the table the meeting commenced.
“Okay, first of all,” Abigail started, “Our angels captured a Sapphire late last night. So, we're up 1-0.”
Adrian shouted in celebration making Abigail jump.
“You hadn't heard?” she said.
“No I did. I'm just super stoked about it,” he replied.
“I don't know if I quite understand the Sapphire thing yet?” Sadier spoke up. “How do we capture them?”
“The Sapphires are extremely powerful weapons in the war,” Abigail answered. “Whoever is able to lay their foundation with the majority will have significantly more influence over the students in the year following.”
“So it's a gauge to tell who is winning,” Adrian added. “We've won three of the last four years, since I joined.” Adrian boasted puffing out his chest.
“Okay, superman,” Abigail said punching him in the arm. “We have a lot of material to cover today. We'll help you guys understand Sapphires in a future day.”
That was the meeting I think that answered many of Sadier's burning questions with regard to the Alma, the group he had joined.
“No, you're correct,” Abigail was saying later, “We aren't the only team. We are one of five teams in the Alma this year. In fact,” Abigail reached down and pulled a sheet of paper from her red backpack. “Now, what I'm about to show you you must not share with anyone. We are very secretive about our new recruits.” She slid Sadier and Saymi the sheet of paper.
“As you can see,” Abigail explained, “There are 23 members this year, the largest group we've ever had.”
Team Angel's student involvement year 10 (Alma) 2014-15
There were names and stats on the paper. Sadier's eyes looked over his team's entries. He noticed something odd. Abigail entered in the 3rd grade, and had 6 years of service. He quickly calculated that it didn't add up because she was a senior. Further there was a funny symbol next to the 6. And it added up right for everyone else. Adrian detected what he had found. Sadier was about to ask about it, but when he looked up Adrian locked eyes with him and shook his head slowly as if to say “Don't you dare ask.”
“So, do you ever recruit someone and they turn you down?” Sadier asked instead.
“Never once,” Abigail replied. “When you start to understood the power we deal with you'll understand why. You have to get your mind around this random does not exist concept.”
“So, why don't the demons do the same,” Sadier asked. “I mean why don't they recruit students from the school who will help them with their efforts.”
“Good question, Sadier. It turns out they do just that.” Abigail replied. “It's called the Darma. The Darma is comprised of students who do the same for the demons as we do for the angels. We'll encounter the Darma plenty this year. But for now I've told you all you need to know about them.”
Sadier's curiosity seemed to have no end, and he was catching on remarkably quick. Besides the meetings Abigail and Adrian started giving Sadier and Saymi revelations around the school.
Sadier gave me an account of the first time he saw a reaction at the Academy.
“You see that right there.” Abigail said as they ate lunch. “It's a Beta reaction.”
Sadier's eyes were still getting used to the upperworld. “Oh yeah, right over there, I see it.”
“No, no, you don't see it,” Abigail said. “There, below the air vent. It's twirling north.” She took his head and aimed it at the reaction.
“Oh,” Sadier gasped. “Wow, I didn't know they looked so... lively.”
Beta reactions appear purplish and they twirl and move like something you might see in the science room under a microscope. All reactions look a little different though.
“Do you ever feel sad and you don't even know why?” Abigail asked them in the next meeting.
“Yeah, I do, all the time.” Saymi, who rarely spoke, admitted.
Abigail nodded, “This is why. You're not necessarily actually sad. It's a reaction. A carefully crafted affliction. Designed far far below, activated and aimed here above by the creatures, the only remedy for which is an angel's counter reaction, either that or don't let the creatures get that close to their target in the first place,” Abigail said.
“So reactions are like the seeds,” Sadier guessed.
“Yes, Sadier, the reactions are the seeds,” Abigail replied. “Reactions are the tool that our unseen friends and enemies use to shape our thoughts and mood.”
I tell you, my friend, it's a chess game up here in the upperworld. I, Sal, remember watching it with fascination as everything starts to make sense. All that heartache has a reason. I often remember seeing reactions wrapping around students like ghosts. Then you start seeing the angels. I made a point to ask Sadier what this what like for him.
“Remember what I was telling you about angels and demons yesterday?” Abigail said. “They are literally everywhere, Sadier. And you're going to see one today. There's a Heytin over your left shoulder about eight feet away.”
Sadier looked, and saw a white wall.
“Yes, you're looking right at him now. He's leaning against the wall. See him? The Heytins are easiest to spot because they have a low pulsation. His name is Seagway. He always guards the west side of the gym entry. He loves children. His favorite color is a Inscape.”
“What color is that?” Sadier asked.
“It's just a color. You'll start seeing it soon,” Abigail answered. “Do you see him?” Abigail knew that Sadier had finally spotted the angel when she saw his muscles tense in fear. He was just a shadow, a silhouette, but there he was leaning against the column, folding him arms as he looked out over the lunchroom.
“You see,” Abigail said. “You have to stop looking with your eyes. In fact, close your eyes now.”
Sadier closed his eyes and smiled as the shadow of the Heytin became stronger. Sadier's heart beat quick in thrill and terror.
“He's says its good to meet you,” Abigail said.
“You communicate with them?” Sadier said breathing heavily.
“Do I communicate with them?” Abigail laughed. “What kind of question is that? You say something to him.”
“How?” Sadier asked.
“The same way you saw him,” Abigail coached. “In other words, don't use your voice. You just kind of send it. No, stop squinting. That's silly. You're trying to hard. Ask him what city he is from.”
“Archport,” Sadier smiled. “He's from Archport of the surface of Allison.”
“That's right,” Abigail smiled. “Very good.”
That was when Sadier started to hear the whisperings. Like radio waves floating through the air. He heard wondrous things. He heard terrible things. He was flooded with whisperings. It didn't take him long to realize that Abigail and Adrian sometimes communicated non-verbally. When a child starts to hear language their parents can't talk behind his back anymore, which is what Abigail and Adrian discovered when Adrian found a napkin that Sadier had been scribbling on. They realized that Sadier had started to crack a secret he wasn't even supposed to know about till the following year of his training.”
Then right when everything was going so well, Sadier tells me, they had the worst scare they had all year. Sadier knew that Abigail and Adrian preferred to let them discover things for themselves, but sometimes this resulted in them stumbling into something absolutely terrifying. None more was this true when Saymi made a discovery late one night in their house. It was no coincidence that it happened during one of those rare times when their godfather was away for the night. They were home alone out in their quiet house that was surrounded by frosty fields. The wild animals that wondered outside and howled under the moon didn't scare them anymore since they had become aware of the upperworld.
Sadier was at his desk working on a science project when Saymi came blasting through his bedroom door. She hurriedly shut it behind her and rolled next to his bed. She never entered his room, and the mere fact that she did instantly made Sadier worried. And further he could see that her eyes were wide and her hands were shaking. He got up and walked towards her, but she didn't even make eye contact with him. When he asked her what was wrong she couldn't talk. His heart was pounding as he wondered what she had stumbled into. He thought back to the team meeting and wondered if she may have been toying with the new pulling technique that Adrian had showed them earlier that day. He had been a little worried about this.
Finally she was able to say, “Sadier, there's something evil in our house.”
“It's okay,” Sadier said. “We know it can't hurt us.” He rose and slowly walked towards the door his whole body shaking in fright. He opened the door a crack and peered out, but he didn't see anything yet. He stayed like that for quite a while, but then put a foot out into the hall. He took a few slow steps his feet shuffling on the carpet. A wall was blocking his view of the livingroom. For some reason he knew that's where it was. He paused after every step and listened intently for any sound. Then when the livingroom came within his perspective he saw it sitting on the couch, and darted back to his room slamming the door behind him. He had only seen half of it the wall blocking the other half. It was the most terrible thing Sadier had ever seen like when something about the face just isn't quite right. It hadn't looked at him though.
“I'm calling Abigail,” Sadier breathed his hands shakily finding Abigail's contact. He activated the speaker phone. Many times they had seen creatures like this, but that was in the upperworld where everything was still a little foggy, and Abigail and Adrian were with them.
“Hey,” Abigail answered.
“Abigail, there's a demon in our house.” Sadier shouted. “What do we do?”
“You think that's odd?” Abigail replied. “Don't be afraid. You know he can't hurt you.”
“But, Abigail, some of us die every year.” Sadier said.
“And where do you go if you die, Sadier?” Abigail asked.
“To a place far, far away,” Sadier replied.
“You see. He can't hurt you,” Abigail said. “Remember what I told you. It's common to see the demons first. Evil is like a little dog who knows he must get what he can quick before the bigger dog shows up. This is why dark travels faster than light. You are starting to become aware of the things that are in your house. It happens about this time. I'm going to help you see the whole truth in your house now, okay? Remember how I've showed you the power of speech, how it can change things in the upperworld. I'm going to stay on the line and you two are going to say 'I see the truth' over and over until you start seeing the truth in your house.
They quickly obeyed and began whispering the phrase repeatedly. After just a few times Sadier saw glimmer in the corner of his eye like when a headlight shines through the window. And at first he thought that's it was until there were glimmers everywhere.
“Do you see it?” he asked Saymi.
She said she couldn't. They kept repeating the phrase. Now transparent silhouettes occasionally faded in and out of Sadier's awareness. He was now deathly afraid of the glimmers, but he kept repeating the phrase over and over. The bedroom door opened and closed several times. A wind started blowing and slowly rose to a tornado that moved the curtains and the papers in his room. Then Sadier felt a huge hand on his shoulder, and confidence came to him. He looked up and there was a giant towering over him his golden white armor glimmering like the flashing of a car's headlights. Then he started noticing another who was sitting on his desk eating something, and then another appeared who was talking to someone he couldn't see yet. Sadier jumped as one appeared right in front of his face and laughed. He saw one outside his bedroom window who peered and said hi in when she realized that he was waking up.
“I see something now.” Saymi said.
“They're everywhere Saymi. Keep saying it,” he replied. Twenty or thirty of them all in his room. Sadier tried to talk to them. He knew their names. They winked at him in a way that made him feel like they were thousands of years old. Sadier rose.
“Where are you going?” Saymi asked.
“Come with me,” he replied, but she didn't move. Sadier opened the bedroom door and immediately spotted several more angels in the hallway and in the dinning room, a girl who did a graceful flip off a table, and a guy who was testing a weapon. There was a woman in red garments who was studying a diagram on a strangely wired device. And there were two sleeping on the ceiling. They looked at him when he passed by. There was no emergency. No war to fight.
“We see them, Abigail.” Sadier said into his phone. “But if there are so many why don't they throw the one evil one out.”
“Well, sometimes space and time aren't as straight forward as they seem,” she replied. “He might not actually be in your house, so the angels can't get rid of him. But you can.”
“Really? How?” Sadier asked. He hadn't yet let his eyes fall where he had seen the demon.
“Think about it?” Abigail replied. “You'll figure it out.”
“With speech,” Sadier whispered.
Sadier bravely walked the rest of the way down the hall till he could see the creature who was sitting on the couch reading something. Five or six warriors where at Sadier's shoulders to give him confidence as the ninth grader walked up to the demon. The creature didn't look up.
“You will go now,” Sadier said.
The creature slowly raised his head to meet Sadier's gaze. Then he closed his book, clicked off the lamp, and rose. He walked to the entryway and took his coat off the rack. With one more look into Sadier's eyes the creature opened the door and went out into the cold dark night.
| Name | Grade | Gender | Team | Specialty | Years of Service | Grade Woken |
| Lachish | Senior | M | N/A | Scout (Captain) | 8 | 4th |
| Al | Senior | M | Grey | Scout (Veteran) | 6 | 6th |
| Amos | Senior | M | Grey | Scout (Veteran) | 6 | 6th |
| Reuben | Senior | M | Blue | Protector (Veteran) | 5 | 7th |
| Valerie | Sophomore | F | Blue | Guide | 3 | 7th |
| Newman | Freshman | M | Blue | Medical | 2 | 7th |
| Trey | 7th | M | Blue | (Not Yet Found) | 1 | 6th |
| Priscilla | 6th | F | Blue | (New Recruit) | 0 | 6th |
| Abigail | Senior | F | Orange | Archives (Veteran) | 6 *T | 3rd |
| Adrian | Sophomore | M | Orange | Protector | 3 | 7th |
| Madeline | Freshman | F | Orange | Scout | 1 | 8th |
| Sadier | 8th | M | Orange | (New Recruit) | 0 | 8th |
| Saymi | 7th | F | Orange | (New Recruit) | 0 | 7th |
| Riley | Junior | M | Green | Medical (Veteran) | 4 | 7th |
| Ada | Junior | F | Green | Technology | 2 | Freshman |
| Wendy | 7th | F | Green | (New Recruit) | 0 | 7th |
| Ethan | 6th | M | Green | (New Recruit) | 0 | 6th |
| Theodore | Junior | M | Purple | Geography (Veteran) | 4 | 7th |
| Yolanda | Sophomore | F | Purple | (Hard to Summarize) | 2 | 8th |
| Josiah | Sophomore | M | Purple | Protector | 2 | 8th |
| Daisy | 5th | F | Purple | (New Recruit) | 0 | 5th |
| Ali | Junior | F | N/A | Medical | 4 | 7th |
| Jason | Sophomore | M | N/A | Operator | 2 | 6th |
| Cephas | Junior | M | N/A | (Not revealed to all) | 4 | 7th |
There were names and stats on the paper. Sadier's eyes looked over his team's entries. He noticed something odd. Abigail entered in the 3rd grade, and had 6 years of service. He quickly calculated that it didn't add up because she was a senior. Further there was a funny symbol next to the 6. And it added up right for everyone else. Adrian detected what he had found. Sadier was about to ask about it, but when he looked up Adrian locked eyes with him and shook his head slowly as if to say “Don't you dare ask.”
“So, do you ever recruit someone and they turn you down?” Sadier asked instead.
“Never once,” Abigail replied. “When you start to understood the power we deal with you'll understand why. You have to get your mind around this random does not exist concept.”
“So, why don't the demons do the same,” Sadier asked. “I mean why don't they recruit students from the school who will help them with their efforts.”
“Good question, Sadier. It turns out they do just that.” Abigail replied. “It's called the Darma. The Darma is comprised of students who do the same for the demons as we do for the angels. We'll encounter the Darma plenty this year. But for now I've told you all you need to know about them.”
Sadier's curiosity seemed to have no end, and he was catching on remarkably quick. Besides the meetings Abigail and Adrian started giving Sadier and Saymi revelations around the school.
Sadier gave me an account of the first time he saw a reaction at the Academy.
“You see that right there.” Abigail said as they ate lunch. “It's a Beta reaction.”
Sadier's eyes were still getting used to the upperworld. “Oh yeah, right over there, I see it.”
“No, no, you don't see it,” Abigail said. “There, below the air vent. It's twirling north.” She took his head and aimed it at the reaction.
“Oh,” Sadier gasped. “Wow, I didn't know they looked so... lively.”
Beta reactions appear purplish and they twirl and move like something you might see in the science room under a microscope. All reactions look a little different though.
“Do you ever feel sad and you don't even know why?” Abigail asked them in the next meeting.
“Yeah, I do, all the time.” Saymi, who rarely spoke, admitted.
Abigail nodded, “This is why. You're not necessarily actually sad. It's a reaction. A carefully crafted affliction. Designed far far below, activated and aimed here above by the creatures, the only remedy for which is an angel's counter reaction, either that or don't let the creatures get that close to their target in the first place,” Abigail said.
“So reactions are like the seeds,” Sadier guessed.
“Yes, Sadier, the reactions are the seeds,” Abigail replied. “Reactions are the tool that our unseen friends and enemies use to shape our thoughts and mood.”
I tell you, my friend, it's a chess game up here in the upperworld. I, Sal, remember watching it with fascination as everything starts to make sense. All that heartache has a reason. I often remember seeing reactions wrapping around students like ghosts. Then you start seeing the angels. I made a point to ask Sadier what this what like for him.
“Remember what I was telling you about angels and demons yesterday?” Abigail said. “They are literally everywhere, Sadier. And you're going to see one today. There's a Heytin over your left shoulder about eight feet away.”
Sadier looked, and saw a white wall.
“Yes, you're looking right at him now. He's leaning against the wall. See him? The Heytins are easiest to spot because they have a low pulsation. His name is Seagway. He always guards the west side of the gym entry. He loves children. His favorite color is a Inscape.”
“What color is that?” Sadier asked.
“It's just a color. You'll start seeing it soon,” Abigail answered. “Do you see him?” Abigail knew that Sadier had finally spotted the angel when she saw his muscles tense in fear. He was just a shadow, a silhouette, but there he was leaning against the column, folding him arms as he looked out over the lunchroom.
“You see,” Abigail said. “You have to stop looking with your eyes. In fact, close your eyes now.”
Sadier closed his eyes and smiled as the shadow of the Heytin became stronger. Sadier's heart beat quick in thrill and terror.
“He's says its good to meet you,” Abigail said.
“You communicate with them?” Sadier said breathing heavily.
“Do I communicate with them?” Abigail laughed. “What kind of question is that? You say something to him.”
“How?” Sadier asked.
“The same way you saw him,” Abigail coached. “In other words, don't use your voice. You just kind of send it. No, stop squinting. That's silly. You're trying to hard. Ask him what city he is from.”
“Archport,” Sadier smiled. “He's from Archport of the surface of Allison.”
“That's right,” Abigail smiled. “Very good.”
That was when Sadier started to hear the whisperings. Like radio waves floating through the air. He heard wondrous things. He heard terrible things. He was flooded with whisperings. It didn't take him long to realize that Abigail and Adrian sometimes communicated non-verbally. When a child starts to hear language their parents can't talk behind his back anymore, which is what Abigail and Adrian discovered when Adrian found a napkin that Sadier had been scribbling on. They realized that Sadier had started to crack a secret he wasn't even supposed to know about till the following year of his training.”
Then right when everything was going so well, Sadier tells me, they had the worst scare they had all year. Sadier knew that Abigail and Adrian preferred to let them discover things for themselves, but sometimes this resulted in them stumbling into something absolutely terrifying. None more was this true when Saymi made a discovery late one night in their house. It was no coincidence that it happened during one of those rare times when their godfather was away for the night. They were home alone out in their quiet house that was surrounded by frosty fields. The wild animals that wondered outside and howled under the moon didn't scare them anymore since they had become aware of the upperworld.
Sadier was at his desk working on a science project when Saymi came blasting through his bedroom door. She hurriedly shut it behind her and rolled next to his bed. She never entered his room, and the mere fact that she did instantly made Sadier worried. And further he could see that her eyes were wide and her hands were shaking. He got up and walked towards her, but she didn't even make eye contact with him. When he asked her what was wrong she couldn't talk. His heart was pounding as he wondered what she had stumbled into. He thought back to the team meeting and wondered if she may have been toying with the new pulling technique that Adrian had showed them earlier that day. He had been a little worried about this.
Finally she was able to say, “Sadier, there's something evil in our house.”
“It's okay,” Sadier said. “We know it can't hurt us.” He rose and slowly walked towards the door his whole body shaking in fright. He opened the door a crack and peered out, but he didn't see anything yet. He stayed like that for quite a while, but then put a foot out into the hall. He took a few slow steps his feet shuffling on the carpet. A wall was blocking his view of the livingroom. For some reason he knew that's where it was. He paused after every step and listened intently for any sound. Then when the livingroom came within his perspective he saw it sitting on the couch, and darted back to his room slamming the door behind him. He had only seen half of it the wall blocking the other half. It was the most terrible thing Sadier had ever seen like when something about the face just isn't quite right. It hadn't looked at him though.
“I'm calling Abigail,” Sadier breathed his hands shakily finding Abigail's contact. He activated the speaker phone. Many times they had seen creatures like this, but that was in the upperworld where everything was still a little foggy, and Abigail and Adrian were with them.
“Hey,” Abigail answered.
“Abigail, there's a demon in our house.” Sadier shouted. “What do we do?”
“You think that's odd?” Abigail replied. “Don't be afraid. You know he can't hurt you.”
“But, Abigail, some of us die every year.” Sadier said.
“And where do you go if you die, Sadier?” Abigail asked.
“To a place far, far away,” Sadier replied.
“You see. He can't hurt you,” Abigail said. “Remember what I told you. It's common to see the demons first. Evil is like a little dog who knows he must get what he can quick before the bigger dog shows up. This is why dark travels faster than light. You are starting to become aware of the things that are in your house. It happens about this time. I'm going to help you see the whole truth in your house now, okay? Remember how I've showed you the power of speech, how it can change things in the upperworld. I'm going to stay on the line and you two are going to say 'I see the truth' over and over until you start seeing the truth in your house.
They quickly obeyed and began whispering the phrase repeatedly. After just a few times Sadier saw glimmer in the corner of his eye like when a headlight shines through the window. And at first he thought that's it was until there were glimmers everywhere.
“Do you see it?” he asked Saymi.
She said she couldn't. They kept repeating the phrase. Now transparent silhouettes occasionally faded in and out of Sadier's awareness. He was now deathly afraid of the glimmers, but he kept repeating the phrase over and over. The bedroom door opened and closed several times. A wind started blowing and slowly rose to a tornado that moved the curtains and the papers in his room. Then Sadier felt a huge hand on his shoulder, and confidence came to him. He looked up and there was a giant towering over him his golden white armor glimmering like the flashing of a car's headlights. Then he started noticing another who was sitting on his desk eating something, and then another appeared who was talking to someone he couldn't see yet. Sadier jumped as one appeared right in front of his face and laughed. He saw one outside his bedroom window who peered and said hi in when she realized that he was waking up.
“I see something now.” Saymi said.
“They're everywhere Saymi. Keep saying it,” he replied. Twenty or thirty of them all in his room. Sadier tried to talk to them. He knew their names. They winked at him in a way that made him feel like they were thousands of years old. Sadier rose.
“Where are you going?” Saymi asked.
“Come with me,” he replied, but she didn't move. Sadier opened the bedroom door and immediately spotted several more angels in the hallway and in the dinning room, a girl who did a graceful flip off a table, and a guy who was testing a weapon. There was a woman in red garments who was studying a diagram on a strangely wired device. And there were two sleeping on the ceiling. They looked at him when he passed by. There was no emergency. No war to fight.
“We see them, Abigail.” Sadier said into his phone. “But if there are so many why don't they throw the one evil one out.”
“Well, sometimes space and time aren't as straight forward as they seem,” she replied. “He might not actually be in your house, so the angels can't get rid of him. But you can.”
“Really? How?” Sadier asked. He hadn't yet let his eyes fall where he had seen the demon.
“Think about it?” Abigail replied. “You'll figure it out.”
“With speech,” Sadier whispered.
Sadier bravely walked the rest of the way down the hall till he could see the creature who was sitting on the couch reading something. Five or six warriors where at Sadier's shoulders to give him confidence as the ninth grader walked up to the demon. The creature didn't look up.
“You will go now,” Sadier said.
The creature slowly raised his head to meet Sadier's gaze. Then he closed his book, clicked off the lamp, and rose. He walked to the entryway and took his coat off the rack. With one more look into Sadier's eyes the creature opened the door and went out into the cold dark night.
