Hunted

Chapter 20: An Unwelcomed Guest

Less than a minute had passed when Haley saw a sudden brightening in Chelle's expression. She resisted an urge to stand, starting to rise as her facial features did but then settling back at his side.

"Here it comes," she whispered to him, keeping her eyes focused on whatever approached.

For a time, Haley could see nothing but her from his prone position. His lack of energy was so severe that he couldn't even find the willpower to stir himself to see what was coming. Rather, he watched the arrival of whatever made its way toward them by studying Chelle's face. Her eyes were wide and bright, like a child's on Christmas morning, but she bit her lip nervously.

Finally her head swiveled to the area above him, and he looked skyward. There, a couple of meters away, was a blue ball of electric light about the size of a grapefruit. The majority of it was a central sphere, perfect in form, looking every bit like a large, luminescent blue pearl. Around the main body small sparks and bolts of electricity flowed continuously, a swirling mass of energy. Despite its appearance as a glowing, energetic orb, the thing gave off very little light to the surrounding area, much less than even the centers of the transparent spheres carried by the villagers.

"What is it?" Haley asked breathlessly, unable to take his eyes off of it. It hovered above him, swaying back and forth as if it expected him to spring toward it any second and had to stay ready to move quickly.

"Hush!" she whispered sternly.

The urgency in her voice attracted his attention. With one look, she quieted him completely. He had to trust her or die. There really was no other choice. He nodded slowly, once, merely tipping his chin. Even if he had to, he really didn't have the energy to put up any sort of a fight.

The globe descended slowly, and as it drew near, Haley could hear that it hummed softly, a steady buzz like that of a transformer. It dropped toward his chest, then moved up over his face. As it did, Haley instinctively started to pull back, pushing his head against the long grass and the unyielding ground underneath. Chelle calmed him with a reassuring touch on his chest.

The thing hovered mere centimeters from his face. He squinted at first, afraid of the sparks of energy, but it neither hurt his eyes when he dared to look at it nor gave off any heat. The energy that flowed around it did so in a random pattern, but somehow it was still contained and controlled. The flashes of electricity never even hinted at darting toward his exposed face.

When Chelle placed a second hand on his chest as if to hold him, Haley braced himself. The thing came closer, sliding past his cheek and then back toward his neck.

He heard the crackling sounds of sparks flying, and smelled the stench of burnt flesh, but he felt no pain and Chelle smiled uncontrollably while her eyes watered, filled with liquid joy at what was happening. He couldn't see what was going on, but her happiness soothed him more than any words could.

After a few seconds, it was over. The thing jumped back toward the sky and circled over him. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it darted into the night and out of sight.

"What was that?" Haley asked again, this time in the past tense.

Chelle was looking to the horizon, and needed to shake herself from a trance-like state before answering. "A Lumen."

"What did it-"

"Chelle!" It was her father. This time his shout for his daughter sounded angry.

"Do not worry," she said to Haley softly. She rose to meet her father, who moved toward them with long, purposeful strides, leading the recently dismissed crowd that was returning with him.