Case of Imagination by Jane Tesh Page B

legitimate fashion show of Antoine Largen’s new fall line.”
    “Fall? It’s July.”
    Twenty looked at me and shook her head. “They have no clue. Guys, in the fashion world, you have to be months ahead.”
    “Well, I’ll do it,” Jerry said. “Just tell me when and where.”
    “Excellent! We have a rehearsal in two weeks, and the show is the last day of July. I have a dark blue suit that would look great on you, and a gray that you were born to wear.”
    Hayden was still thinking about it. “Two suits? That’s all?”
    “Yes, dear, a dark blue and a black. Please say yes. I may put you and Jerry in black at the end. You’ll look good together because you’re the same height.”
    “I think Hayden’s a little taller,” I said, and Jerry gave my arm a punch.
    I had noticed similarities between Hayden Amry and Jerry. They were about the same size. They both had youthful faces brightened by expressive eyes. But Hayden had a distracted air; he seemed anxious, even about something as simple as modeling a few suits. His every move was careful and deliberate. I vastly preferred Jerry’s cheerful demeanor. His movements were quicker, more decisive, and he certainly smiled more. As much as I admired Hayden’s blue-green eyes, whenever Jerry looked at me with his calm gray gaze, I still felt that sudden jump in my pulse.
    Suddenly, something made us all jump, a jarring noise from somewhere on the front porch.
    “What in the world was that?” Shana said.
    “Are you expecting company?” I asked.
    “No. Hayden?”
    He was already on his feet. Another thump. “I’ll go see.”
    “I’ll come with you,” I said, and Jerry followed me.
    We stepped out onto the porch. A mild breeze sent a few leaves scurrying across the lawn. The moon shone faintly behind the clouds. Nothing else. No movement in the forest.
    “Theo?” Hayden said.
    A shape darted around the corner of the porch, small, humped, alien.
    Hayden reacted with alarm. “Oh, my God. Another one!”
    The shape was too large for a dog and moved with a curious sideways motion. It headed toward the back of the house.
    “Another what?” Jerry asked.
    Hayden spoke in a panicked whisper. “She’s sent something after us, an evil creature to do her bidding, a familiar, a demon.”
    Jerry brightened. “A demon? Hot damn.”
    We followed the shape. It stopped at one of the side windows. It was bigger than I’d first thought, and it was hunched over the sill doing—doing what? It moved on, heading for the dining room windows.
    Hayden was shaking. “How can we stop it?”
    Something crunched under our feet. I bent down and touched a grainy powder. The same substance was all over the window frame.
    “Is it cocaine?” Jerry asked me.
    “Why would anyone sprinkle it on the window sills?”
    “We have to stop this creature,” Hayden said.
    The figure turned the corner of the porch and halted just before the light spilling out of the dining room windows. We heard Shana call, “Hayden, is that you thumping around out there?”
    He cried, “Don’t come out!” but she had already pushed open the French doors and stepped out onto the porch, face to face with the mysterious prowler. Twenty was right behind her. Shana screamed. The creature swerved, saw us coming up behind, and made a mad dash past Shana and Twenty into the dining room.
    Shana ran after it. “Get out of my house!”
    Twenty came next, shouting for Shana to leave the burglar alone. We ran back around the porch and in the front door, hoping to intercept the creature. We did better than intercept. We ran right into it. Yellow light flashed as if a gigantic camera had taken a group shot. When my vision cleared, I found everyone on the floor. Shana was coughing and waving smoke away with one of the sofa cushions, her dress smudged and her hair in wild disarray. Twenty was charred around the edges, her face outlined in smoke, her hair and clothes so tangled, I could hardly tell where hairdo began