Are you really so frightened by us?”

It was impossible for Steve to say anything. He could only look at them, wondering who they were and how they had ever gotten there. The eyes of the man standing only a short distance away from him were crystal clear and yet had color. More than anything else they promised him no harm. Yet Steve said not a word, nor did he relax his muscles.

“Flick,” the man said without taking his eyes off Steve, “please bring the lantern over here. I want to talk to Steve, and one can’t talk to a person in the dark.”

As the other came forward with the lantern, Steve was about to run but he checked the impulse. The two men were now within a few feet of him, but they were still far enough away for him to be able to elude them, he decided.

The man who had brought the lantern spoke. “Really, Jay, this is all taking much too long,” he said impatiently. “Let’s try again some other time. We’re neglecting our duties.”

“Nonsense. Just relax, Flick. I’ll attend to everything, and it won’t take very long.”

“No,” the other answered. “You’re too impetuous. I’m in charge, remember that.”

Steve turned from one to the other. Far from being sinister, these two men were arguing like a couple of children. He looked at them again in the bright light of their lantern. The one called Flick wore a brown tweed suit, a white shirt and a black-and-gold tie. His hair was gray and cropped short; it had a bright reddish tint, and yet the small mustache beneath his large beaked nose was more black than gray or red. Steve found it impossible to be alarmed by him.

The other man wore a sky-blue suit, a white shirt and a black string bow tie. His hair was very long and wavy, more blue than black. There was nothing frightening about him, either.

“Careful,” Steve warned himself. “That may be what they want you to think. Don’t let them come closer.”

Jay’s gaze was still on him. Steve glanced at the man called Flick and found the same shimmering clearness of eye, devoid of all color yet containing all the colors in the world. He felt a sudden throbbing in his head.

“Aren’t you surprised to see us, Steve?” Jay asked again. “You’re more startled than frightened, isn’t that so?”

Steve nodded as he felt a numbness claim his body. He fought it, telling himself that he should run, but he couldn’t leave. He could only stare into those eyes, thinking how much they resembled glass marbles. And yet they looked back at him as marbles never could, with more expression than he had ever seen in anyone’s eyes.

The men waited patiently, kindly, while he tried again to speak. They came no closer … but even if they had, he could not have left.

They were helping him, and finally his words came in a whisper.