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almost to a growl, "Noonie's dead, and P-Man's dead, and Brussel's dead. Now there's me; there's just me. I'm in here all alone."
    Again the coarse giggle came from the child's throat, but her face was not smiling, her lips didn't move.
    Karen saw herself enter the frame of the video screen. She knelt down in front of the little girl, who was now thrashing in the chair, pulling at her collar until the button popped open at the top.
    Karen tried to take Lucy's hand. "You're all right, Lucy, you're all right. You can calm down now, honey, you—"
    Abruptly the child pulled her hand away. "Lucy's dead; now I'm in her head."
    "No, I don't want to talk to you. Let me talk to Lucy!"
    "Lucy's done and you're no fun." Again the half-growl, half-giggle. Lucy's body thrashed and squirmed.
    Karen watched herself on the screen; clearly agitated, approaching panic. Now she had grabbed the little girl and was shaking her, holding her by the upper arms! "Lucy, listen to me: you're okay. You're fine and safe. It's me, Lucy, Dr. Karen. Please come and see me."
    The muscles of Lucy's face contorted, rippled. It looked as if fat worms were crawling beneath her skin. The flesh actually stretched. The lips rolled back over her teeth, appearing to retract into her gums.
    "Lucy, can you hear me?"
    "Dr. Karen . . . ?"
    "Yes, Lucy, It's me." Karen's voice was eager, expectant. "Come out, honey. You'll be safe out here with me."
    Lucy straight-armed Karen, shoved her mightily. She toppled backward and sat on the floor just outside the video frame. Karen watched herself scrambling to get back up, trying to stop Lucy from ripping open the front of her blouse.
    Too late! The child's hands, now gnarled, looking almost like claws, grabbed her small, newly developing breasts, their tiny hard nipples tumid with bright blood.
    "You want my tit," the child rasped, "you eat my shit."
    Lucy's talonlike hands scraped her chest and stomach. Bright welts, some of them bleeding, crisscrossed her torso.
    Karen's image froze. Now red-faced, nearly frantic, she had locked up. She sat there on the screen immobile and useless.
    Lucy stood up on the chair, her face out of camera range, screaming.
    The recording of Karen's speech was almost inaudible. "Lucy, listen to me. I'm going to clap my hands three times and you're going to wake up. Do you hear me Lucy? Do you understand? Answer me."
    The sweet, frightened voice of a child: "Yes, I hear."
    Karen clapped her hands, once, twice, three times.
    Lucy flopped back into the seat, again within range of the camera. Now clapping her own hands as if applauding, she laughed crazily. "Wake up. Lucy."
    Her eyes were still closed.
    Then more softly, "Wake up, honey."
    "No, noooo, he won't let me. He's holding me."
    "Who is? Who's holding you?"
    "He is, he won't let me wake up."
    "Who, Lucy? P-Man?"
    "No, it's . . ."
    Again, Lucy began to squirm. Her fingernails bit into the aims of the recliner, puncturing, tearing the material. Then, alter a moment, her body became still. Only her head moved. It roiled around as if her neck muscles had turned to rubber. Slowly, deliberately, her slack mouth twisted into a sneering grin. Her tongue squeezed from between taut lips like foul organic waste extruding from a fleshy orifice. Her eyes widened, then her pale cheeks seemed to shift upward as, impossibly, her brow descended, pinching her eye sockets into narrow black slits.
    The cheeks flattened; the jaw thrust forward.
    Now the growling seemed to come from far away, getting louder, as if some dreadful beast within her were coming closer and closer, almost in view.
    "Who are you?" Karen demanded, her voice cracking. "Tell me your name."
    "Nahumich."
    "Who?"
    "Estheruth."
    "Darn it, what are you talking about? Let me speak to Lucy. I want to speak to Lucy. Now."
    With slow, precisely enunciated syllables, the twisted, sneering face said in Lucy's faint voice, "Lucy is dead. I'm here instead."
    "Who's here? Who are you?"
    Karen looked away