Nora

Before the nudge, or the start of the ‘Team Building exercise’ Gary though they were going to get into, Nora performed her part, grabbing the second twelve-pack of beer and taking it down to the lake, checking her watch as she did, glancing up at the sky, noting the trace of a glow high overhead.

The Lake of Two Skies wasn’t a large body of water, maybe three miles long and half that wide, with some rocky islets dotting it, covered in the kind of windswept trees she’d seen once on a family trip to a gallery in Ontario when she was in High School. Group of Seven pictures, she remembered. Groups of seven were good. Five, she worried a little about.

Not much of a glow, she saw. Some noctilucent clouds up in the sky to the north, but that was about it. They were becoming more common, and given what she’d been told about such phenomenon, things they worked on were going to get weirder, and more common. On the other hand, it did suggest steady employment in future or global warming.

Nora wondered briefly about Palantine’s other offices. She’d only met the group from the European office. They seemed dedicated, if weird in their own European ways. Were they getting busier too?

Well, little else was going on as yet. The conjunction was fluid, Nora knew that. Anywhere between an hour and three before the action truly began.

Which was where Harold came in. As a being caught between this world and the next, he’d be the first to notice what was coming and pinpoint it better than any of them possibly could. He’d better. Amy Lougheed’s life depended on it. He’d been quiet since they’d made camp, though.

By the time she got back dinner was almost ready. After kebabs, marshmallows and that stupid Paul McCartney sing-along Frank insisted on was finally ready to begin, starting with ‘the story’. She helped along where she could, nodded to Benny when he glanced at her from his log.

“I could use another beer,” Gary said looking over at her. “Think that second batch is cold yet?”

He was looking a bit disturbed at what Frank had been spinning.

Nothing yet from Harold, though.

“Give them a few more minutes,” she said. “Now the sun is going down, the water will cool down fast.”

He’d nodded.

“It’s cold here,” Harold finally chimed in. “Getting colder. Can’t you feel that? You’re alive. You should be shivering. It’s sooooo cold.”

She could feel it, even under her jacket. That meant something was going to happen, and soon.

“Look at Gary,” she whispered to him. “What do you see?”

“Holy shit! He’s strobing Nora,” Harold said anxiously. “You have to get away from here!”

She glanced over at Benny, me his gaze, nodded to him. The man tensed a bit, ready for the reaction.

“What are you talking about?” Gary was asking Frank. “Aren’t we up here for a teambuilding exercise Flores was talking about?”

“We are,” Frank told him. “But she might not have been explicit about what kind of team we’re here to build.”

“Excuse me?” Gary asked.

“You have to get away from him!” Harold repeated more stridently. “Or you could be caught too!”

“Quiet,” Nora whispered an order, then turned to Gary. “Want to come and help me get the beer? Should be cold by now. No good team building exercise starts without an Old Milwaukee, am I right?”

He gave her a surprised look. Then nodded.

“Come on then,” she told him. “Don’t let Frank’s over active imagination spook you.”

Harold kept nattering at her all the way down to the lake. Gary was eyeing her suspiciously as well.

“What?” she asked when they reached the shore.

“You brought it down,” he told her.

“And they say chivalry isn’t dead,” Nora complained, then pointed. “It’s over there. You pull it out, you get the first can. I just dropped it in. I’m not going to pull it out. That water is cold.”

He gave her another questioning look.

“Are you a man or a little boy?” she tried.

Gary shrugged and reached into the water, then pulled out the twelve pack.

“Was that so hard?” she asked.

“Oh my God!!” she heard Harold cry out. A flickering light sprinkled the rippling water. Nora looked up. There were lights flashing. And not the normal kind. Good!

When she turned Gary was looking up as well. And from his expression, not so good. He dropped the beer, turned and broke into a run, disappearing into the forest in seconds.

“Oh crap!” she swore, grabbed her phone and pressed the button for the short-range radio. “Benny, Frank. Gary saw the lights and totally freaked. We’ve got a runner!”