Strangers

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    Berkley titles by Dean Koontz
    THE EYES OF DARKNESS
    THE KEY TO MIDNIGHT
    MR. MURDER
    THE FUNHOUSE
    DRAGON TEARS
    SHADOWFIRES
    HIDEAWAY
    COLDFIRE
    THE HOUSE OF THUNDER
    THE VOICE OF THE NIGHT
    THE BAD PLACE
    THE SERVANTS OF TWILIGHT
    MIDNIGHT
    LIGHTNING
    THE MASK

    WATCHERS
    TWILIGHT EYES
    STRANGERS
    DEMON SEED
    PHANTOMS
    WHISPERS
    NIGHT CHILLS
    DARKFALL
    SHATTERED
    THE VISION
    THE FACE OF FEAR
        
    Strangers
    Dean Koontz
    BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK

    If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
    STRANGERS
    A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with G. P. Putnam's Sons
    PRINTING HISTORY
    G. P. Putnam's Sons edition / April 1986 Berkley edition / December 1986 Copyright (c) 1986 by Nkui. Inc. "Afterword" copyright (c) 2002 by Dean Koontz. Definition for "fugue" on p. 20 taken from Tuber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, Clayton L. Thomas, M.D., M.PH., (Ed.), 12th Edition, p. F-44. Published in 1973 by F.A. Davis Company, Philadelphia. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. Visit our website at www.penguinputnam.com
    ISBN.-0-425-18111-1
    BERKLEY(r) Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. BERKLEY and the "B" design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.
    PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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    To Bob Tanner, whose enthusiasm at a crucial stage was more important than he can know.
        

PART I
        
    A Time of Trouble A faithful friend is a strong defense. A faithful friend is the medicine of life.
    -APOCRYPHA
        

    A terrible darkness has fallen upon us, but we must not surrender to it. We shall lift lamps of courage and find our way through to the morning.
    -ANONYMOUS MEMBER OF THE FRENCH RESISTANCE (1943)

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    ONE
        
    November 7-December 2

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    1.
        
    Laguna Beach, California
        
        Dominick Corvaisis went to sleep under a light wool blanket and a crisp white sheet, sprawled alone in his bed, but he woke elsewhere-in the darkness at the back of the large foyer closet, behind concealing coats and jackets. He was curled in the fetal position. His hands were squeezed into tight fists. The muscles in his neck and arms ached from the tension of a bad though unremembered dream.
        He could not recall leaving the comfort of his mattress during the night, but he was not surprised to find that he had traveled in the dark hours. It had happened on two other occasions, and recently.
        Somnambulism, a potentially dangerous practice commonly referred to as sleepwalking, has fascinated people throughout history. It fascinated Dom, too, from the moment he became a baffled victim of it. He had found references to sleepwalkers in writings that dated as far back as 1000 B.C. The ancient Persians believed that the wandering body of a sleepwalker was seeking his spirit, which had detached itself and drifted away during the night. Europeans of the grim medieval period favored demonic possession or lycanthropy as an explanation.
        Dom Corvaisis did not worry about his affliction, though he was discomfited and somewhat embarrassed by it. As a novelist, he was intrigued by these new nocturnal ramblings, for he viewed all new experiences as material for his fiction.
        Nevertheless, though he might eventually profit from creative use of his own somnambulism, it was an affliction. He crawled out of the closet, wincing as the pain in his neck spread up across his scalp and down into his shoulders. He had difficulty getting to his feet because his legs were cramped.
        As always, he felt sheepish. He now knew that somnambulism was a condition to which adults were vulnerable, but he still considered it a childish