Conspiracies (Mercedes Lackey) - By Mercedes Lackey Page 0,38

bad was about to happen.…

Maybe not, she tried to tell herself, a little desperately. Maybe it’s just a prank so people can kiss.

But that horrible feeling in her stomach didn’t go away, and neither did the sensation that made her want to shudder. The darkness wasn’t at all comforting; it swallowed up even the little sounds people were making as they stirred nervously, engulfing the shuffling feet and edgy titters in a way that made her hair try to stand up.

There were uneasy murmurs now … whispers that didn’t sound like people were using the dark to neck. Why didn’t Doctor Ambrosius say something?

Why didn’t one of the teachers?

“Something’s wrong,” Burke said, still holding her hand hard. “This never happened at the other dances.”

“C-c-could it be a trick?” she whispered back, her voice shaking despite herself. “You know—a prank?”

“Not a chance. All the circuit-breaker boxes are in locked rooms to keep people from pulling stupid stuff; it has to be a power failure.” Burke sounded very sure of that. “Maybe as far as town. There’s no storm out there, though. Maybe someone from Radial got drunk and blew up a high tension tower.”

“Do they do that?” she asked incredulously.

“Well, they never have before, but they’re redneck cowboys, it’s New Year’s Eve, and they have easy access to dynamite…” his voice trailed off a moment. “Heck, it could be a cascade failure from as far away as Canada. Anyway, the power should kick back on in a minute. Oakhurst has big backup generators. We can make all our own power for as long as the diesel lasts, in fact, and there’s huge storage tanks underground.”

But he moved closer to her, and she to him, and all over the room people were starting to get an edge of fear in their voices.

“I’m sure Doctor Ambrosius and the teachers are getting the gennies going now,” Burke said, but his voice sounded … uncertain.

But the power, and the lights, didn’t come back.

The room was really getting colder.

And the sick feeling in the bottom of Spirit’s stomach told her that the worst was yet to come.

SIX

Spirit clutched Burke’s hand and strained her eyes until they actually hurt, trying to see in the darkness. Still none of the teachers spoke. What was wrong with everybody?

Suddenly, there was something—a spark of light. Then another, and another. For a moment she was afraid that she had strained her eyes until she’d torn something in there, but no—there were more and more of these little lights—

“What’s that? What are those?” someone gasped, a girl with plenty of hysteria in her voice.

More and more of the lights winked on, hundreds of them now, all colors. Just tiny little sparks, not enough to do anything but break the pitch-black darkness. Spirit couldn’t even tell for sure how close they were to her. Were they on the walls? Floating in the air? She glanced up; there were more overhead, anyway.

They weren’t staying on steadily, either, they were flickering—you couldn’t say “flashing,” they were too dim and it was more like they were fading in and out. It was like a million multicolored lightning bugs were in here, but none of them seemed close enough to touch.

Somehow, though, there was nothing very comforting about them. It was more like the lights were watching them. Like eyes. And not friendly eyes, either. Like the lights were waiting for something to happen, and it was going to be bad when it did.

There was some nervous laughter. And just at that moment, it occurred to Spirit that she was in a gym full of magicians … and shouldn’t someone be able to generate light? Or fire? Or something?

And why hadn’t those people whose powers included that little parlor trick thought of doing it yet?

Does it matter? Maybe they’re all just waiting for the punch line of this joke, only it’s not a joke and they haven’t figured that out yet. Say something!

She opened her mouth.

It was as if the mere thought had summoned up a terrible retribution. A wave of incredible terror washed over her, out of nowhere.

The words died in her throat, and the scream that tried to replace them choked off into a little squeak. She couldn’t feel Burke’s hand. The little sparks of light gleamed malevolently at her. Her heart was beating so fast it felt as if it was about to explode in her chest; she was burning hot and ice cold all at the same time. Her eyes burned, and she