The Glass Wall (Return of the Ancients Book 1) by Carmen Caine, Madison Adler

Jerry under the chin, handed him back to me, and said, “I must be going then. Be well.”
    As if he understood, Ajax dutifully wagged his tail stub at me. I followed Rafael toward the door, not really wanting to be alone in case that stranger did come back.
    There was a knock and I jumped.
    Rafael sent me warm smile of reassurance and opened the door.
    Harmony stood on the porch, along with whom I had assumed were Zelphie and Marquis. They were all dressed in scarves and feathers of various colors with heavy makeup. All of them looked at Rafael in open concern.
    “Everything is fine,” Rafael assured them quickly. He moved his fingers in several quick motions and they all visibly relaxed.
    Zelphie turned her attention to me. “I’ve been remiss in introducing myself to you, child,” she said, her eyes crinkling with friendliness. “I beg your forgiveness.”
    She was tall and thin, her eyes were the same gray as Rafael’s. In fact, she looked very much like him, but it could have been all the feathers, scarves, and silver eye shadow.
    “This is Zelphie, my mother.” Rafael bowed a little at her before bowing in the same manner to Marquis. “And this is my father, Marquis.”
    Marquis was different. I don’t know what it was about him that made my flesh crawl, but it did. He didn’t seem related to Rafael at all. He was smaller, almost delicate looking, with a wispy mustache and eyes that I didn’t trust.
    “I’m Sydney,” I said, holding out my hand a bit uncomfortably.
    They both stared at my hand for several seconds before understanding dawned in their eyes. They both hurried to shake it at once. The whole affair was very awkward.
    “Then I must be going.” Rafael bowed at me a little and joined his family on the porch.
    “It was nice meeting you,” I said, hanging on the door. I really didn’t want to be left alone.
    I watched them walk across the street, through a small cloud of mist in the center of the road, and into their house before I closed the door, locked it, and turned off the porch light.
    I was done with giving out candy.
    I made a pass through the house and checked the locks on all the doors and windows. I nearly tripped over Tigger snoring in the hall. I shook my head. Some guard dog he was. Jerry offered more protection than he did.
    I opened my bedroom door and flipped on the light. I jumped a little. There were wisps of mist in my room. Beads of moisture ran down the mirror. My room looked like a sauna. Why was it so humid all of a sudden? Frowning, I dumped Jerry in his cage.
    There had been mist on the street as well. That was understandable; it was a cold, drizzly day. But I couldn’t brush off the fact that I was seeing mist in my room even though the window was closed.
    Suddenly, I recalled the Stealth-Twig.
    I flew to the kitchen, my heart pounding. I rewound the tape and started watching. There were tons of kids skipping on the street, all dressed in their costumes. I fast-forwarded it to where the stranger appeared.
    He stood in front of the house, studying it for some time and staring almost directly into the camera for a good couple of minutes before moving toward the porch and outside of the camera’s view. Several minutes passed, when he was apparently tormenting me at the door, and then I saw him walking back into the view of the camera. He paused in the middle of the street, looking angry, making a disturbing chopping motion with his hand as the bird ruffled its feathers from its perch on his shoulder.
    On tape, he looked vaguely familiar, but I didn’t know why. He was such a bizarre character that I was sure I had never seen him before. I watched him, searching my memory for any clue as to why I thought I knew him, when it happened.
    He simply disappeared.
    Where he had been drifted puffs of white mist.

 
    Chapter Six - What Are They?
     
     
    I rewound the tape and watched him disappear into thin air and a cloud of mist pop up at least a dozen times before Al and