Eye of the Beholder

said something about taking some earlier."
    "The medics are on the way. Try to keep her awake and alert until they get there. Better not go back inside the house."
    "Right." Alexa disconnected. She leaned anxiously over Joanna. "Tell me what happened."
    "Monsters." Joanna's lashes fluttered again in sudden agitation. "It's with the monsters."
    "What's with the monsters?"
    "Get them away from me. Do something. They're going to kill me. Get them away."
    "Joanna, listen to me, you're hallucinating. There's nothing here."
    "I can see them." Joanna's voice was shrill with terror now. She moved one hand in an ineffectual gesture apparently designed to fend off some unseen horrors. "Stop them. Please, make them go away."
    Alexa clasped Joanna's hand very tightly. "I won't let them get you, I promise."
    Joanna blinked rapidly and then, suddenly, disconcertingly looked up at Alexa with dazed, frightened eyes. "I'm sorry. Couldn't think of anything else. I was so afraid."
    "Afraid of what?"
    "That it was happening all over again." Joanna closed her eyes. "And it is. It is, don't you see?"
    "What's happening?"
    Joanna writhed and clawed at the air. "They're eating me. Make them stop."
    Alexa heard a siren in the distance. She tightened her grip on Joanna's hand. "I won't let them hurt you, Joanna."
    "Promise?" Tears leaked out of the corners of Joanna's eyes.
    "I promise." Alexa heard a car pull into the drive. "The ambulance is here, Joanna. You're going to be fine."
    Joanna moaned. "I'm sorry. I was desperate. Couldn't think of anything else to do. I'm sorry."
    Someone knocked loudly. Alexa jumped to her feet.
    "We're back here," she shouted. "On the deck."
    "Don't forget." Joanna stared bleary-eyed up at Alexa. "The monsters. Be careful. Be very careful."
    "I'll be careful," Alexa said soothingly.
    Two medics swept past her, efficient and businesslike. It was only then that she saw who else had arrived.
    "Trask. What are you doing here?"
    "We had an agreement, remember?" His face was set in stark lines. "You weren't supposed to go off on your own."
    "I could have sworn that rule applied only to nights. Besides, I wasn't exactly alone. I was with Joanna."
    "This is not a good time to discuss the fine points of this partnership. I'm not in what you might call an expansive mood. What the hell is going on?"
    "An interesting question."
    He paused and then glanced through the open door. "Is that gas?"
    "I think so." Alexa watched the medics as they moved around Joanna. "She recently had a gas range installed. Something must have gone wrong."

    Half an hour later Trask picked up the phone on the table next to the sofa in Joanna's living room. The smell of rotten eggs was gone now. He'd shut off the gas at the outside tank. All of the windows and doors stood wide open.
    He glanced at the number in the phone book he had just consulted. His call was answered on the second ring.
    "The Dimensions Institute." The voice was warm, welcoming, filled with peace and serenity. "May I help you?"
    "This is Trask. Avalon Resorts, Inc." He did not infuse his voice with any peace and serenity. "Get Webster Bell on the line."
    There was a short, startled pause. Trask glanced at Alexa. She was standing at the window watching the ambulance drive off toward town.
    "I'm very sorry, Mr. Trask, but Mr. Bell is unavailable at the moment. He's giving a seminar. We never interrupt him when he's teaching."
    "Get him," Trask said. "Now."
    "Uh, one moment please."
    The receptionist put her hand over the receiver. Trask heard her speak to someone else. She sounded stressed.
    She came back on the line a few seconds later. "Please hold, Mr. Trask."
    Another voice came on the line. "This is Foster Radstone . What seems to be the problem, Trask?"
    "The problem," Trask said deliberately, "is that I just watched two medics load Joanna Bell into the back of an ambulance."
    "Joanna?" Shock disturbed Foster's cushioned tones. "Are you certain? What's wrong? Is she—?"
    "She's alive, if that's what you're asking. Barely. Get Bell ."
    "Yes, of course. Hold on a moment."
    There was another short silence before Webster Bell picked up the phone. Trask realized that Foster had not hung up. He was still on the line, listening.
    "What's this about Joanna?" Webster asked urgently. "Is she all right?"
    "She's on her way to the hospital," Trask said. "Alexa Chambers found her here at her house. It looks like she took some tranquilizers and there was a problem with her new gas