Whitley Strieber: The Grays

As she stood in the doorway, she thought how very innocent they still were, even after all they had done and seen. And that boy, with his dusting of beard just barely visible along his lip, what dreams must he be dreaming in the ocean of thought that he now contained?

She came into the room, went to the bedside, looked down at them. How extraordinarily resilient people were. Had she been asked before this, she would have said that they’d have needed sedatives or even straitjackets, but that underestimated the power of the human heart and the simple, central thing that is the family.

She bent over and kissed Conner’s downy cheek. He made no move, no sigh of awareness. She tried to make herself quiet in her mind. The Callaghans might be at peace, but in her mind there lived demons, the demon of fear-of-future, the demon of distrust, the demon of danger-of-deceit.

She got the one chair that was not in use and stepped across to the doorway. She sat down, angling the chair so that she could see both the Callaghans, the dark window behind them, and the gleaming, silent hallway.

“May I help you?” a passing nurse asked.

“No, no, I’m fine.”

“His vitals are good.”

“I know.”

The nurse smiled slightly, then walked off, her footsteps clicking on the gray floor. Lauren watched, methodically, first the hall, then the window, then the Callaghans. For what, she was not sure. Perhaps for nothing. Perhaps the fight was truly ended, and Conner would be able to enter his training.

But where would it lead? What was she to do?

She laughed a little to herself. How absurd that question was. It would lead beyond imagination, past the edge of the known world.

Three o’clock, an alarm beeped in another room, and nurses hurried past. Half past, the wind came, rattling the window. Conner sighed and muttered words that brought to Lauren’s mind the tone of prayer. She prayed, then, to Conner’s favorite god—that is to say, whatever one happens to be real.

The spirit of man had triumphed this day. Ignition had been achieved. Now, the ascent.

She watched through the deeper hours, watched and waited for the dawn.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

THE GRAYS

Copyright © 2006 by Whitley Strieber

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

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New York, NY 10010

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Tor ®is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Strieber, Whitley.

The Grays / Whitley Strieber.—1st ed.

p. cm.

“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”

ISBN-13:978-0-765-31389-8

ISBN-10:0-765-31389-8 (acid-free paper)

1. Life on other planets—Fiction. 2. Kentucky—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3569.T6955G73 2006

813'.54—dc22

2005034494

First Edition: August 2006

Printed in the United States of America

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