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High up in the corner of the room next to the skylight, a fat, silvery-black spider sat in the middle of its dusty web. For some time the arachnid's cold, multifaceted eyes had been focused with interest on the human activity below, and just before Paula suffered her seizure, the spider had abruptly folded its legs and rolled itself up into a tight ball. In its own way, the spider experienced a brief moment of agony when the skin of its bloated belly split like a rotten melon right down the middle. Out of this jagged fissure came a tiny puff of foulsmelling green vapor. The vapor hovered over the web, swirling and twisting around itself, growing thicker and thicker like congealing blood, and expanding until it blotted out the sun's rays coming through the skylight. |
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When the light dimmed, Cyrus glanced up. |
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The cloud had grown to the size of a beach ball and was slowly drifting down from the ceiling. Cyrus was completely taken aback but had the presence of mind to connect the cloud's sudden appearance with Paula's mysterious seizure. |
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"Get out of here!" he snapped to Kyna. |
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He grabbed Paula by the shoulders and tried to steer her toward the exit, but it was as if the woman's feet were embedded in quicksand. |
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"Go on!" he shouted at Kyna. |
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Kyna pressed her lips together and shook her head. |
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The cloud had grown and was filled with strange flickering lights. As the sphere continued to expand it abruptly changed color and shape, becoming more ovalits surface darkening and roughing into irregular peaks and valleys. In spite of himself, Cyrus became caught up in the almost hypnotic pyrotechnic display. He stopped trying to move Paula and just stared, a bemused half-smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. |
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Then . . . it dawned upon him what the sphere was becoming. |
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It was a heada human headbut the face was straight out of one of Rod Serling's nightmares: hollow cheeks, a nose |
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