I must have learned to see them, he thought. The way I learned to see the cuttlefish.

Or am I just fooling myself?

In the distance, the colors bobbed and drifted. Not only did Page see them much more quickly than on the previous night, but he also saw them more clearly. It was as if a haze had been removed from his eyes. Radiant, they swirled, far away and yet close. His skin seemed to ripple.

“Tori!”

Thunder rumbled louder, the storm approaching rapidly.

Page made his way toward the fence. Thanks to his pilot training, he knew that the best way to see at night was to try to detect objects from the periphery of his vision. Staring straight ahead at something in the darkness achieved less results than if he worked to detect it from the corners of his eyes because the eye cells designed for night vision, known as rods, were located on the eye’s perimeter.

He looked obliquely past the barbed wire. To his right, he heard shouts from the viewing area. Over there, wraith-like shadows moved farther into the grassland, attracted to the lights. He also heard groans.

“Damn it, I told you to stop shoving me!” someone yelled.

Lightning flashed, revealing silhouettes in a struggle. A man punched another man in the stomach. When the second man doubled over, the first man knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the head. Other people grappled in similar frenzied fights, so many that Page knew he couldn’t stop them.

Then darkness swooped back, seeming deeper than before because Page’s night vision was compromised. Unable to wait for his eyes to adjust, he gripped a post and climbed it, using the barbed wire as a ladder, jumping to the ground on the other side. His holstered hand- gun dug into him.

“Tori!”

A sudden wind hurled dust into his face. He raised his left arm to shield his eyes and moved forward into the murky field. Scrub grass crunched under his sneakers. A drop of rain struck his nose.

He almost tripped over a rock. When he regained his balance, he shifted ahead and tried to continue in a straight line toward the distant lights. The dust made him shut his eyes for a moment. More drops of rain pelted his forehead.

The next flash of lightning revealed silhouettes closer ahead. Once the crowd had reached the field, everyone had separated, desperate to avoid the crush of people that had propelled them over the toppled fence. They looked confused, as if they suddenly realized where they were.

Thunder shook Page’s chest. Then he was sightless again, over- whelmed by darkness.

The next moment, the storm unloaded, the force of the downpour making him stoop. Shockingly cold, it enveloped him, obliterating the distant lights. Without them, he had no bearings. Even the lights back at the observation platform were no longer visible.

“Tori!”

Gusts whipped his face. His wet clothes clung to his skin, the cold rain making him shiver. The next flash of lightning struck nearby. He saw its multiple forks and heard a crack. The two-second blaze of light revealed a figure stumbling ahead of him. Then darkness enveloped him again. Propelled by thunder, he shifted toward where his memory told him he’d seen the figure.

Abruptly they collided. He knew at once that the figure was Tori. Ten years of marriage made it impossible for him not to be able to recognize the feel of her body in the dark.

“Thank God, I found you,” he said. “Come on. We need to get back to the car.”

“No.”

The rumble of thunder made him think he hadn’t heard her correctly. “What?”

“Leave me alone.”

“You’re not safe out here.”

Page gripped Tori’s hand, but the rain slicked her skin, and she was able to pull away, rushing from him.

“Tori!” he yelled. “We need to get back to the car!”

For a panicked moment, Page couldn’t see her. Then lightning revealed her outline, and he charged after her.

“Tori, you could get killed out here!”

Page grabbed her shoulders. Standing behind her, he tried to turn her in the direction from which he’d come. She rammed her elbow into his stomach, knocking him away.

The unexpected blow made him struggle to breathe. Holding him- self, he realized that she’d disappeared again.

The next time lightning flashed, he saw that she’d gone much farther than he’d expected. He ran to catch up to her. Again he grabbed her from behind, but this time, his arms pinned her elbows to her sides. He linked his hands around her stomach and lifted her, trying to carry her backward.

She kicked her heels against his knees. When the pain in his legs made him drop her, she spun.

“You bastard, don’t take me away from the lights again!”

“Again?”

“If you’d let me stay, if you hadn’t grabbed me and shoved me into the car-”

Stunned, Page realized she thought he was someone else. “Tori, I’m not your father.”

“All I want to do is see the lights! You son of a bitch, you’re always yelling at Mom! You’re always trying to touch me!”

Page was shocked by this further revelation.

“Tori, your father died a long time ago! It’s me! Your husband! I love you!”

Lightning showed her frenzied features as she drew back her fist. Drenched by the rain, he waited for the blow.

Her fist struck his mouth. His head jerked back, but as he tasted blood, he kept his feet in place, preparing himself for what he knew would be another blow.

She drew back her fist again. Then darkness made her disappear. The next time lightning flashed, Page saw her staring at him in shock.

Her shoulders heaved. Some of the drops streaming down her face weren’t rain, he suspected, but tears. Her mouth opened, releasing a wail of anguish. When she clutched him, pressing herself against him, she did so with the force of a blow. Her arms clung to him tightly. With her head pressed against his chest, she sobbed uncontrollably.

“Scared,” she moaned.

He could barely hear her in the roar of the wind and the rain.

“I’m scared, too. But it’s going to be all right,” he promised, tasting the blood from his swelling lip. “I’ll do anything for you. Please, let me help.”

“I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

“I don’t know what’s happening to me, either,” Page said close to her cheek. “But believe me, we’re going to find out.”

With his arm around her, he waited for the next crack of lightning. It split the sky so close to them that he flinched, but its blaze allowed him to orient himself. Behind him, he briefly saw the shape of the observation area and began to recognize the faint illumination of headlights and flashing emergency lights.

Tori must have seen them as well. As thunder coincided with renewed darkness, she plodded forward through the gusting rain. Page took her hand and moved next to her. If the lightning didn’t provide more visual bearings, they risked going in circles in the field.

The ground became muddy, their sneakers sinking into it.

“Cold,” Tori murmured.

“Think of a hot bath,” Page told her. “Dry clothes. Steaming coffee. Warm covers in bed.”

“Lost,” Tori said.

“Then we’re lost together.”

Lightning fractured the sky.

Tori pointed. “The fence.”

Their shoes were weighed down by mud. They slipped in it, holding each other up.

When they reached the fence, Page shouted to be heard above the wind. “I’ll pull the strands of wire apart! Try to squeeze through the gap!”

As he used both hands to yank a middle strand up while pressing down on a lower one with his muddy sneaker, he feared that lightning would strike the fence, rush along the wires, and fry both of them.

“I’m through!” Tori yelled.

Page climbed the post and jumped to the ground, where he skidded in the mud, falling to his right knee. Lightning cracked close enough for him to smell it.

“Are you okay?” Tori asked.

“I will be in a minute.” Page came to his feet.