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.” She looked startled.“That wet patch.”“Was the mark of a water spirit going past,” Hugh finished for her.He laughed.“A right planar section of an undine on my wall! Come on, give me a break.”“Some earth spirits would smell earthy,” George said slyly, “and you said yourself you get odd smells here.”“And that rust on the fireplace screen could be the Great Essence of Oxidation on his way to the office,” Susie giggled.She yawned and added, “By the way, excuse me, but I think we ought to be getting home.OK with you, George?”“I guess.Hate to run out on you so early, Hugh, but you know it’s a long drive back to my place.”“Sure, I understand.I’ll fetch your jackets.” Hugh went to the closet by the door, then stopped and peered up into the short stairwell.“George, Leah, Susie,” he said presently, his voice strained, “could you come over here a moment?” They joined him silently.“You ever hear those old stories about fence posts sprouting?” Hugh asked.“Look here.” The once smooth boards of the door were twisted and showing gaps.Roots trailed from the bottom of each of them, anchoring them solidly into the ground.Fresh twigs and pale leaves grew near the tops.“I don’t.” Susie began, then checked herself.“No, I do believe it.But I think it’s a trick.”“It’s not,” Hugh said dully.No word passed among the four, but they turned and walked with deliberate slowness down the passage to the garage.Before they turned the last corner they were greeted with a smell of rust and dampness.The cars were both spotted with patches of rust, incongruously dark against the slick new paint.The bumper of the Cadillac dangled from one brace, the other having corroded through.As they watched, a large wet patch on the wall grew to umbrella size, then slowly vanished.George strode to the end of the garage and yanked sharply at the sliding door.It refused to move, the latch and frame welded together by rust.He swore softly.“Look, let’s all go back to the living room,” Hugh said with disingenuous brightness.“I’ll call the police and have them bring something to open the doors.I don’t know what this is but I’d rather sit down with a brandy to figure it out.Hell, if any gnomes come out of the walls maybe we could offer them a snifter full, right?” Leah gave him a sharp look but followed the others back.Hugh spent a few minutes on the phone, then joined the others sitting near the fire.“The state cops cover this area,” he said, “and I had to do a long song and dance to get them to come out here without saying what was wrong.But they said they’d get here in ten minutes.”“Do those windows open?” Susie asked.“This is kind of embarrassing,” Hugh said, “but no, they don’t.I’ve got central air conditioning.They’re hard to break, too; had ‘em made out of Lexan plastic.Let’s just be cool and wait for the cops.” Comically uniform, all four looked down into their glasses.Leah swirled her liquor, quietly tense.“Hugh, I just thought of something,” she said presently.“Remember, about two nights ago, just after we went to bed.do you think that could have been the same sort of thing as.um.” Hugh turned slightly pink.“You’re such a puritan, you’re fun to embarrass,” Susie said kindly.“What’s the story.Hugh?”“Oh, it was just a funny thing that happened the other day.We were going to bed one night and we felt pretty good, so we decided to, you know, make love.The thing is, we’ve always had a lot of fun in bed.I mean, we really do enjoy sex, right?” Hugh sounded defensive.“But this particular night, we started off like usual and then all of a sudden, for no reason, we were both just inflamed.We were grunting and biting and rolling around in a way we never did before.And then just like that it was over and we were lying there looking at each other.”“You think it might have been sort of an elemental or something going by?” Susie asked.“I guess there would be spirits for sex if there were any at all.” Leah nodded her head indecisively.“But why should they all congregate here this particular night?” Hugh asked, not belligerently.George raised his head
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