It was distorted and foggy, like something you see halfway between a dream and waking up. But it was clear enough. Too clear, in fact. Right behind us, a section of the brick walkway had lifted up. It was like there was a secret trapdoor in the middle of the garden. A red-eyed figure wrapped in darkness was rising out of the ground. I couldn’t see the figure’s face, but it was lifting one pale arm high as it began to come toward us. There was something held in its raised, threatening hand that glistened like steel. I had to turn around. I had to scream.

But I didn’t. Instead I heard words spoken in a voice that started out sounding like my father’s and then, I realized, was my own.

Neimpaug pesk homwak.

The strongest gust of wind I have ever felt in my entire life came barreling into the garden at that exact second, along with so much rain that it seemed as if the whole sky was a storm gutter. And with that rain and wind came an arrow of lightning that exploded so close to us it rocked Roger and me back against the side of the building.

We were grabbing onto each other, trying not to fall down, trying to get our bearings. I smelled burning wood, but I could barely see far enough to pick out the ground underfoot. We were stunned and confused by the rain and the concussion of the lightning, and all we could think of was finding shelter. The rain was so heavy that it was barely possible to move as we stumbled forward blindly, and it was absolutely impossible to talk over the roaring, rushing sound of the curtain of rain wrapped tightly around us. It was as if the ocean had come all the way up from the coast and was sending its waves into the town.

Then, as suddenly as it came, it ended. The air cleared and the sky went from black to the milky color of a blown glass bottle. Thunder was still rumbling, but from much farther away. Only that one lightning strike had been close. By the time we’d fumbled our way back to the gate of the garden, we didn’t need to find shelter after all.

I wiped rain and hair out of my eyes, gasping like a fish washed up on shore.

“Ohmigod,” I said to Roger as I tried to unstick my T-shirt from my body. “Did you see that?”