Norma leadfooted the little Honda down the expressway. She glanced over to Greg in the seat beside her. In the flashing lights of passing streetlamps, she could see that his shirt was stained with blood streaming from the numerous cuts and scratches on his face.

My God, my God… she thought. What the hell happened to him? I only left him a couple of hours ago and now look at him!

As they drove, Greg’s agitation subsided, and at one point he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Norma quickly glanced at him. She couldn’t believe it…but Greg was smiling! She shook her head and turned to face the road again. I don’t know what he’s got to smile about, looking the way he does! she thought.

They drove on for a few more miles, then Norma slowed down and took an exit.

"Um, where are we going?" Greg said.

"We—we need to talk." Norma said. Though she tried to keep her tone under control, there was no mistaking the tension evident in her voice.

"Where are we?" Greg said, looking around. "I’m not familiar with this area."

"Neither am I."

"Then why—"

"Here, let’s pull in here," Norma said, pulling into the parking-lot of a convenience store. She pulled into an empty space in a dark corner of the lot. She parked, pulled the handbrake and shut off the engine. She switched on the dome light and looked at Greg.

The two sat in silence and stared at each other for an eternity. Greg couldn’t quite read Norma’s emotion; she was understandably upset over nearly hitting him, but there seemed to be more to it than that. Now Norma seemed to be the one with something on her mind that she just couldn’t say. Something had happened to her since they had seen each other earlier in the day, but Greg couldn’t imagine what it might be.

Norma started to say something, then apparently changed her mind. Then, without a word, she reached into her purse and pulled out a folded-up piece of paper, and handed it to Greg. He looked at her curiously as he took it from her, then unfolded it and read it. It appeared to be a photocopy of a newspaper article, regarding a certain incident that had become indelibly burned into Greg’s memory. He gulped as he quickly glanced through it, then looked at Norma.

"What—" he began.

"It’s Cathy, isn’t it?" Norma said quietly, interrupting him. "She’s—she’s invisible…isn’t she?"

Greg’s mouth dropped open. He was absolutely stunned. How the hell did she know? he wondered. Without a word, he merely nodded.

"I thought so. Or rather, I suspected." Norma shook her head in disbelief. "I—I couldn’t believe it at first, but now…"

"But now you do."

"Now I do."

Greg opened his mouth and took a breath, held it for long seconds, then slowly released it.

"So why don’t you tell me about it?" Norma said softly. "The whole story. Right from the beginning."

Greg realized that the opportunity he had long hoped for was here at last: Someone he could tell about the nightmare he’d been living for months, someone who would believe him. He broke down and proceeded to tell Norma everything. About Cat turning invisible. About her subsequent descent into cruelty, sadism and madness. About her months-long siege of terror directed at him. About her escalating physical abuse. About her most recent attack which had caused him to run out into an expressway and nearly get run over.

The entire time Greg spoke, Norma simply listened. Silently, patiently, nodding occasionally, sometimes patting Greg’s hand in sympathy.

Finally, Greg reached the end of his story, and the two sat in silence, broken only when Norma let out a long sigh. "Wow…" she half-whispered. "Now I understand…everything. Now it all makes sense."

"But you see why I couldn’t tell you before!" Greg said. "You understand now! I mean, if it were happening to you, would you expect anyone to believe it?"

"I know, I know, I understand. But listen," she said. "You’re not alone in this anymore. I offered you my help, remember? Well, my offer still stands. I want to help you. And that goes for Nick too. We want to help you, in any way we can." She paused, and gave him a smile. "Okay?"

Greg looked at his friend and smiled back. "Okay… And thanks," he said.

But Greg’s smile quickly vanished, and his former agitation returned. "But Norma!" he said, gripping her arm. "Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?" his grip tightened. "She’s dangerous! I told you before! She’s even more dangerous now; she’s invisible!"

"I know, I know… It’s okay Greg," Norma said, gently prying his fingers loose from her arm. "I’ll be careful!"

"’Careful?’" Greg repeated. "For God’s sake, ‘careful?’ You don’t understand! She—she—thinks that…" he hesitated. "Listen, when you and I were—when we were at the café earlier, she was sitting right next to us the whole time!"

Norma’s eyes opened wide and her mouth dropped open. "Oh, my God! You mean she—"

"Heard every word we said!" Greg finished for her. "And she thinks—she thinks that—that you and I have something going on together."

Norma was silent; Greg went on.

"I mean, you’ve seen what she did to me! There’s no telling what she’s liable to do to you!"

"Greg, we’ll be careful, all right? Besides, she can’t take on the three of us, can she?"

"Three?" Greg looked puzzled for a moment, before taking Norma’s meaning. "Oh, now wait a minute!" he said. "You’re not going to tell Nick about all this, are you?"

"Well, of course! And between the three of us, we can—"

"No, NO!" Greg shook his head. "I—I can’t face Nick with all this! He’ll think I’m nuts! Crazy! I mean, you believe me, but that—that’s different! Just because you believe me doesn’t mean he will!"

"Greg, Greg…" Norma said, gently rubbing his arm. "He knows about it already. As a matter of fact, Nick is the one who told me about this," she said, holding up the photocopied article. "And he’s the one who figured it all out about Cathy being invisible and all."

Greg looked at Norma in astonishment. "Are you serious?"

She nodded, soberly.

Greg stared straight ahead, through the darkened windshield. He let out a long, low sigh. "Oh, wow… So…So he knew about it all this time?" he asked.

"Well, no…not really. Just since this afternoon. Before that, he had a theory…" her voice trailed off. "But that’s not important. What’s important is that, as I said before, you’re not alone with this anymore. You have friends. And I know that, together, we can work something out. We can find a solution to your problem. Okay?" She smiled at him.

Greg smiled back. "Okay," he said.

The two sat in silence for another minute, then Norma took a deep breath. "Well…" she said, stretching her fingers out on the steering-wheel. "Now that that’s settled, let’s get you to the hospital & get you taken care of." She started the engine and pulled out of the parking space. "Um—I think the hospital’s not too far from here. I think if we get back on the expressway, it should be just a couple more exits."

"Okay," Greg said, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. He suddenly felt very sleepy. He felt calm, relaxed and comfortable. Relieved, as though a tremendous weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Drowsiness crept over him. He had just started to drift off to sleep when Norma pulled up to the entrance of the hospital emergency room. She nudged his arm, waking him.

* * *

Cat stepped off the bus and onto the sidewalk. She was lucky the bus on this route ran all night, and she was lucky she was able to get it to stop for her. Her feet were killing her; there was no way she could walk the distance to Norma’s house. Or to her own place, for that matter. No, it was the bus or nothing.

Getting the bus to stop wasn’t easy. Cat knew it would never stop for her at the bus-stop, so instead, she simply waited for it where she stood. Then as it drove past her, she threw a rock against its aluminum side. The loud BANG echoed in the night air. The driver stopped and pulled over immediately, and got out to try to find out the cause of the sudden loud noise. While the driver inspected the bus’s exterior, Cat slipped behind him, through the open door and on board.

Of course, getting on board was a tricky business in itself. The numerous cuts and scratches that Cat had sustained made her arms, legs and parts of her sides slightly visible, as tiny portions of blood seeped through the wounds and coagulated. In low light or near-darkness, they were not noticeable, but under direct light, such as in the interior of the bus, they could be seen, although very faintly. She had to wait until the driver had walked down the length of the bus, almost to the rear, before she felt safe in slipping on board. And even then, she crept all the way to the back of the bus, to avoid any possible detection, from the driver or any possible boarding passengers .

She was fortunate too, in that the bus itself was almost completely empty of passengers at that late hour. The only one who noticed the slightly-visible collection of scratches and cuts walking down the length of the bus was an elderly man with a flushed face and a large, beet-red nose, seated toward the back of the bus. He blinked his bleary eyes twice at the sight, then closed them and promptly went to sleep, taking no further notice, as though he’d seen this sort of thing every day of the week.

The driver returned and boarded the bus, settling into driver’s seat, muttering curses to himself about a dent in the side of his bus. Cat simply shrugged to herself. So the bus got a little damaged, she thought. So what? That’s what insurance is for… At least I got it to stop, that’s the important thing…

The ride down to Norma’s house went quickly. At this time of night, there were few people getting on or off, and with light traffic, the bus arrived at its destination in a short period of time. When it passed the cross street near Norma’s house, Cat reached up and pulled the "stop" cord. The bus pulled over to the curb, and Cat stepped off, exiting through the rear door.

The driver noticed the rear door opening by itself, and he got up and walked back to inspect it. He muttered another series of curses, and made a mental note to himself to report the broken door to maintenance, along with the dented side, once he got back to the car barn at the end of his shift.

Cat walked the short distance to Norma’s house. It was only half a block, but the soles of Cat’s feet were so sore that, to her it felt like a thousand miles on broken glass. And it was freezing, too! And Cat was hungry; she hadn’t had a damned thing to eat all day. And it was late, and she was tired. The lateness of the hour, coupled with her fatigue from her repeated altercations with Greg, had left her extremely weak. And dizzy. She knew she wasn’t in the best condition right now to face down anyone. Nor was she even in the mood anymore. A part of her still wanted to just go home and forget the whole thing. She even knew, deep down inside, that this would be the smart thing to do.

But she just couldn’t. No, she had to see this through. Now. Tonight. She would face down her enemy, the cause of all her heartaches, right here and now.

She finally arrived at the small row-house that was Norma’s home and looked around. She saw a van parked in the car port, but no sign of the little gray Honda. That meant that Nick was probably home, but not Norma. Just to be sure, Cat prowled around to the sides of the house, and looked in all the windows. She saw Nick sitting on the sofa, staring at a phone on a little end-table, but no sign of Norma anywhere.

She must still be out…with Greg! she thought. Well, she has to come home sometime! And I’ll be right here waiting for her…!

Cat walked gingerly across the cold, damp grass of the front lawn, found a reasonably comfortable spot, sat down and waited…

* * *

"Nick? Hi, it’s me," Norma said, speaking quietly into receiver of the waiting-room pay phone. "Yeah…yeah, I found him. Well, um—listen, he’s—he’s beat up pretty bad. But he’s okay. I mean, I think he’ll be okay." She paused. "That’s right. You got it! It was her that did it to him." She sighed. "Jeez, you should see him. She really did a job on him. God, he’s a mess."

Her voice momentarily choked with emotion, and she fell silent. She then glanced briefly around her, as though looking to see if anyone was within earshot, and said quietly:

"And Nick? Listen: You were right! About everything!" She paused. "That’s right, everything! Yeah, that’s what I mean! She’s—" She paused again, then cupping her hand over the mouthpiece, whispered: "Invisible! Yeah, I know! I know it sounds incredible, but apparently, it’s true! Yeah, that’s what he told me! Well, it’s a long story; you’d better let him tell it to you the next time you see him."

She paused again, listening, then looked to the admissions desk of the emergency room. "Well, I don’t know," she said. "They’re looking him over right now. No…I don’t know. Well, I don’t think they’ll keep him overnight. I mean, he—" she dropped her voice again. "I mean, he looks like hell, but—but he can still walk, so I don’t think it can be too serious."

She glanced up. "Oh, wait! Nick? They’re bringing him out now. Yeah…yeah, I think he’s okay. Listen, I’ll call you back. Well, I’m going to drive him home, then I’ll come home. Yeah, I’ll fill you in on everything later. All right? Okay. Love you. ‘Bye."

She hung up the phone then hurried over to Greg, who was just coming into the waiting-room, accompanied by his doctor. The blood had been cleaned away from his face, which, along with his neck and hands, was now heavily bandaged. As he approached, Norma could see bruises on the unbandaged portions of his skin. His blood-stained shirt was gone; all he wore underneath his shredded suit-coat was a T-shirt. He looked better than he had when he’d been first brought in…but just barely.

"So how you doing?" Norma said to him, trying to sound light and casual, putting on a weak smile.

"He’ll live," the doctor answered for him. "But I really wish you’d stay away from dangerous women for a while," she said, turning to Greg. She caught the look of surprise on his face. "Yeah, you didn’t think I knew about that business in Seattle, did you? Well, I did; the hospital up there gave me all the details." The doctor shook her head at Greg, in a vaguely disapproving manner. "Next time, will you please wait until the stitches come out before you start mixing it up with someone? Please? It’ll make it a lot less messy to clean up afterward."

Norma looked from the doctor to Greg. "Did you tell her—" she started to say.

"Um, so—so when do you want me to come in for a follow-up?" Greg said, interrupting her.

"Oh, um—next Thursday would be fine." The doctor said. "And please try not to rip these stitches open!"

Greg and the doctor exchanged some more words, regarding follow-up visits for further tests and removal of stitches and the like. The doctor then departed, leaving Greg and Norma alone. They turned and headed toward the exit and back to the car.

"So what’s the story?" Norma said.

"Oh, um…it’s mostly just superficial stuff: cuts, scratches, abrasions, bruises, contusions..." He hesitated, then went on. "Um…well, you heard: a few stitches got torn out, so she had to re-do them. And…well, a couple of my ribs are cracked, so she had to tape up my ribcage."

Norma turned visibly pale and gulped loudly. She muttered something under her breath, but Greg couldn’t catch it.

"And they think there might be some internal injuries as well." he went on. "But they’re not sure; they want me to come in for more tests in a couple of days. Matter of fact, they said if they weren’t short of bed space, they’d have me spend the night, just to be on the safe side."

"What about… Did you… What did you tell her?"

Greg looked at her quizzically. "Oh! Well, I just told her the truth. Sort of. I told her I tangled with some psychotic woman. They notified the police, a cop came in, asked me a bunch of questions, and I gave him a statement. I told him everything. Well…almost everything. I don’t know how much of it they believed, though."

"But you didn’t—" she hesitated.

"No, no… I didn’t mention that she was invisible. And I didn’t mention a name, either. I just said it was someone I never saw before, a stranger. But I gave them a good description of her."

"But what good will that do? If she’s--" she couldn’t finish.

Greg sighed. "I don’t know if it’ll do any good, to be honest. I just don’t know. I’m just so freaking tired and sore and aggravated now, I don’t even care any more. When that cop started asking me questions in there, while the doc was sewing my face up, I couldn’t even think straight. I couldn’t even make up a good story. So I just told him the truth. Well, part of the truth, anyway." Greg yawned widely. "Anyhow, I’m too tired to think about it anymore. It’s been a long day and an even longer night. I just want to go home. We can talk more about it more tomorrow."

"Yeah," Norma said, stretching and yawning herself. "Let’s go home,"

"I’m for that." Greg answered.

* * *

Cat sat crouched on the lawn, almost nodding off to sleep. She was now chilled to the bone, her body was wracked with aches and pains and she was so weary, she felt ready to collapse. She was exhausted, and wished more than ever she were back home in her nice, warm, comfortable apartment.

What am I doing here? she thought. I must be out of my mind… What the hell am I doing here?? What time is it? God, it must be late… Is she ever going to get her butt home? I’m sick of this… this is nuts…I should be home in bed, not out here freezing my ass off! Screw it…I ought to just get up right now and leave, go home. I should’ve been home hours ago…the potion will be wearing off in another hour or two… I feel like hell…I’m falling apart…my legs hurt, my feet hurt… I’m liable to catch pneumonia out here… I could freeze to death and nobody would even care… Nobody cares about me, nobody…! I should just get up and go home right now and to hell with Greg, to hell with Norma, to hell with all of them…

But she was driven by a force, a compulsion she could neither understand nor resist. She felt compelled to stay and face down her enemy, her competitor for Greg’s affections.

I just want to face her, she thought. That’s all…I won’t hurt her if I don’t have to…I just need to confront her and make her stay away from Greg… It shouldn’t be too hard… It’s all her fault, anyway…I see that now…she’s the one who put all those ideas into Greg’s head… Well, if she thinks I’m going to just stand by and not do anything about it, she’s mistaken… I can deal with Greg later on, but for now, I’m going to tell that--

She started to nod off again, and shook herself awake.

Damn! Cat thought. What time is it? How long have I been sitting here? That bitch should have been home by now! What the hell are they doing, the two of them, out so late? Cat shuddered; she didn’t even want to speculate…

But she would confront Norma all right, make no mistake about that. She would have it out with her right here and now. Just the two of them… All right, so Cat would have to wait a little while longer. Okay, fine. It would be worth it… And Norma wouldn’t be expecting a thing…

The street was quiet, deserted. By now it was very late. Fewer and fewer cars drove down the residential street. Silence hung heavily in the air.

One lone car drove slowly down the street. Cat looked up hopefully. It was a small car, apparently light in color. Cat couldn’t tell exactly what color it was. Was it gray? It could be. Under the amber-colored street lamps however, everything appeared to be a neutral monochrome.

Then the small car pulled into the driveway. Cat’s pulse quickened. Her numerous aches and pains forgotten, she rose to her feet and flexed her fingers…

* * *

Norma drove slowly, cautiously down D’Agostino Way, after dropping Greg off at his apartment, taking extra care to stay under the speed limit. Her nerves were pretty well shot by now, and although she was anxious to get home, she didn’t want to risk an accident. Not after everything else that happened tonight…

The entire way home, she kept shaking her head in disbelief. God, it’s just so hard to believe, she thought. Invisible! And of all people to become invisible, too! Cathy, for God’s sake! A chill ran down Norma’s back.

That explains everything… she thought. All this time… No wonder Greg’s in such bad shape, like he’s ready for a nervous breakdown… No wonder…!

She shuddered as she recalled the bizarre chain of events that had been plaguing her friend over the past several months, and the even stranger events that had taken place earlier that evening. She couldn’t understand how Greg could live with such a nightmare for so long and still keep his sanity intact. It’s a miracle he’s lasted this long, she thought.

She also recalled Greg’s warning to her to "be careful." After seeing the job that Cat had done on Greg’s face, she had no reason to doubt him in that regard. Still, how can one be "careful" when one is dealing with an invisible sociopath?

Norma turned onto her home street. She slowed as she pulled up to her house and into the driveway. She shut the engine and got out.

She had just started walking up the pathway to her front door when she heard a slight rustling sound behind her, as though something had moved some branches nearby. She jumped at the sound. What was that? she wondered. She paused for several seconds, listening. But she heard nothing more.

Get a grip! she told herself. Don’t be so jumpy! Lighten up… She took a deep breath and let it out. Okay. This day’s been hell, but it’s almost over…Just relax. Everything’s going to be all right now. Greg’s all right…everything’s going to be all right…

She turned and started up the walk again and heard the rustling sound a second time. This time, it was accompanied by a very faint, pat-pat sound, as of soft footsteps. Again Norma froze. And listened. And again she heard nothing more.

No…No, it can’t be… Don’t be getting paranoid, now! she told herself It can’t be her!

She slowly turned around and looked from her left to her right, surveying her surroundings. I don’t see anything…she thought, then realized with a chill: But then, I wouldn’t, would I?

She stood perfectly still, listening. There were a couple of more faint pat-pat sounds; they seemed closer now. In the light from the nearby street lamp, Norma thought she glimpsed a tiny movement in the tall, uncut grass, as though it were stirred by something unseen.

My God, somebody is here, sure as hell! I can feel it! She felt her blood run cold and without thinking, she slowly, deliberately reached into her jeans pocket.

Okay…okay…okay…there’s nothing to be afraid of, she told herself as she fought back her growing fear. Nothing to be afraid of…no…No, just an invisible psychopath, that’s all! She swallowed and tried to think. Okay…I’m right outside my own house. I can just turn and make a quick dash to the front door, get inside and call the police…

And tell them what? she asked herself. That there’s an invisible prowler outside? Her hand trembled as her fingers groped for the house key on the massive key ring she held.

She was tensing up her body to make a quick dash for the door when a voice suddenly spoke to her from out of the darkness, causing her heart to skip a beat and her bladder to weaken slightly.

"You’d better stay away from him," the voice said. "If you know what’s good for you."

The voice was feminine; but it had a cold, steely edge and a low, growly timbre to it. Whether these were caused by ill-temper, the cold clammy night temperature or as an affectation of toughness, Norma couldn’t tell. But in spite of the unusual tone quality, she immediately recognized it. Oh, my God! she thought. She is here! Cat is here! And she’s invisible!!

She looked all around the darkened lawn. She was alone. There was no one there to account for the voice. Yet there was someone there, she knew, and that someone was invisible.

Okay… Okay, keep calm. she told herself. Don’t let on you know who she is or what’s going on. Don’t let on anything… Don’t provoke her…

"Excuse me?" Norma said, intending to sound neutral but instead sounding a bit more confrontational than she had intended. "Are you speaking to me?" The pitch of her voice rose slightly.

"Yes, I’m speaking to you!" the voice said, now growing more irritated. "I’m telling you right now: you stay away from him!! He’s none of your concern!"

"S-s-stay away from-from w-who?" Her hand in her pocket tightened.

"You know damned well who!" The voice was now quite angry. "You just keep your nose in your own goddamned business and you won’t get hurt!"

Oh, shit! Norma thought, as the ice water than had been in her veins now cascaded in chilling rivulets down her neck and back.

"L-l-look, I don’t know what—"

"You stay away from him, damn you!" the voice now screamed at Norma.

Suddenly, Norma was struck across the cheek by an unseen force, and she went reeling in dizzying pain. During the entire confrontation with the disembodied voice, Norma’s growing fear had gradually tensed up her entire body like a giant steel spring, just waiting for release. Thus, when the blow was struck, she reacted reflexively, acting on pure, blind, unthinking instinct (aided by a certain amount of training and real-life experience.) Her hand whipped out of her jeans pocket, clutching a canister of pepper spray, her finger depressing the button, her arm circling in a giant, 180-degree arc. Without time even to think, she never expected to make contact with her unseen assailant.

It therefore came as a surprise to her to realize that she apparently had. The disembodied voice now let out an outraged scream. Through the waves of her own blinding pain, Norma briefly glimpsed in the dim light of a street lamp, a faint, momentary apparition, as the pepper spray had saturated an unseen form, condensing on the features of an unseen face and neck. The semi-visible apparition screamed again in outrage, then tore loose a string of extremely loud, profuse obscenities, the likes of which Norma hadn’t heard since the time Nick dropped the engine block from his ’74 pickup truck onto his left instep.

The ghostly apparition and the loud, angry, cursing voice quickly receded into the distance, as the unseen assailant ran away from the scene. As the sound faded away, the cursing gradually gave way to choking sobs.

As the apparition screamed and cursed and retreated, Norma retreated as well—in the opposite direction. She made a quick dash to her front door, jammed the key into the lock, nearly breaking it, opened the door and slammed it shut again, locked, bolted it and drew the chain, all within a matter of seconds. She nearly collapsed onto the floor in sobs when Nick approached her from the hallway.

"What happened?" he said as he approached her. "What’s the matter?!?"

She looked up at him and he recoiled at the sight. She was almost hysterical, panting heavily, her face flushed and tear-stained, and above all, there was now a large, swelling welt on her cheek, dangerously close to her eye.

"Oh, my God! What the hell happened?!?" Nick asked again.

Norma shook her head, unable to speak. Nick reached over, took hold of her and helped her into the bathroom. He switched on the light to examine her more closely. He drew a sharp intake of breath and felt a sick feeling in his stomach when he got a good look at the rapidly-swelling welt near her eye. Upon close inspection, it looked like it had been done by someone’s fingernails. God Almighty! he thought in horror. This could have been serious! Another half-inch and she could have lost that eye…!

He gently washed her face with a wet washcloth, and spoke soothingly to her, trying to help her to calm down. Patiently, he dabbed at her face, then went to the kitchen to fetch some ice. He returned and gently pressed an ice cube to the welt.

Gradually, Norma’s sobs began to subside, and her breathing resumed its normal, regular cadence. When at last she was able to speak again, she did so only with great difficulty. "It—It was her!!!" she almost choked on the last word. "God Almighty, she was right outside!! Right there!! Waiting for me!!"

Nick remained silent, but his eyes flared up in fury as he realized who the "her" was. Finally, he spoke "My God, she could have blinded you! She could’ve killed you!"

"Yeah, no shit!" Norma spat out. "Good thing I had that spray junk with me."

"Spray junk?"

"Yeah, this," Norma said, holding up the tiny canister. "I zapped her with pepper spray…and-and I guess I hit her, ‘cause she screamed and took off. I never even expected to hit her; I didn’t even think…" She let out a heaving sigh. "It was just a lucky shot, that’s all! Just plain luck!" Another silence followed. Then, she half-whispered, as though to herself: "Waiting for me! Right outside my own house!"

Nick face hardened as he took it all in. "That does it!" he said finally. "I’m calling the police!"

"NO!!" Norma cried, grabbing at his shirt, halting his progress.

"Norma, I am calling the police!" he repeated. "She’s bound to still be out there somewhere; if the cops come out right away, they have a damn good chance of catching her."

"Nick, think, will you for God’s sake? How are they going to catch her? She’s invisible, remember? Hello? And what am I gonna tell the cops when they get here? That there’s an invisible stalker lurking around out there? Do you think they’ll believe me? In the state I’m in now? Look at me! What do you suppose they’re gonna think?!?"

Nick looked at his wife. She was still almost hysterical from her encounter with Cat, and with her face all flushed, her eyes reddened and swollen from crying and the growing welt on her cheek, there was no telling what the police would think. But it was a pretty safe bet that they’d be unlikely to believe a story about her injury being caused by an invisible attacker.

He sighed in dismay. "Well, we have to do something! What are we supposed to do, just wait around until she kills somebody? Until she kills you? Or me?"

"We’ll do something, all right." Norma answered, the tone of her voice changing dramatically. "We will, you just wait and see. We’ll take care of this ourselves." She took the washcloth from her face and held it under the cool, running water of the faucet. She wrung it out, twisting it much tighter than necessary, then placed the ice cube in it and returned it to her swollen cheek.

Nick shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

Norma looked at him; it felt to Nick as though laser beams were boring right through him. "We’re going to stop that crazy psycho once and for all!" she said. "You. Me. Greg. The three of us. We’re going to stop her."

"Oh, I—I don’t know," Nick said. "I still think we should go to the police and let them handle it." Nick said.

"The hell with that," Norma said. "It’s like Greg said: they’d never believe us."

"But Greg can back up our story; he can corroborate it."

Norma took the washcloth away from her cheek and began to wring it. "Screw that," she said. "Earlier, I might have been willing to go to the police. Not now. Forget it. Things are different now. The situation has changed."

She clenched her teeth and twisted the washcloth very, very tightly.

"Now, it’s personal!"