He had just started to turn the knob when the house shook on its foundation. Andrew jumped back as if the knob were a screaming-hot oven, the rifle slipping from his tenuous grasp.

Next came a dreadful howl that was so loud, so close, it sounded as if it were coming from within the cottage.

Nikki let loose with a terrified screech.

Buttons started barking furiously, paws scratching at the door.

And then the power went out.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The bed shook seconds before the lights went out. The sudden plunge into darkness whipped Kate from her paralysis.

Andrew, Ryker, and Nikki were all yelling, but she couldn’t make out a single word. It was like being trapped in a dream, her brain fuzzy, disconnected, unable to grasp what was going on around her. Utterly blind in the total darkness, she tried calling out for Andrew, but only a strangled gasp spilled from her mouth.

What had happened?

It felt like an earthquake.

Kate had never been in one before (though she remembered reading the little card about what to do in case of an earthquake at the hotel she and Andrew stayed in when they went to San Francisco), but what else could rattle an entire house like that?

Unless a car or truck had lost control and plowed into them.

She would have heard a car barreling down the narrow drive.

Aaaaaaaahhhhhuuuuuuggghhhhhhh!

The beastly wail stopped her heart.

“An…Andrew!”

The scream broke from her locked throat.

“Kate!”

She heard heavy footsteps, then felt her husband’s body press against her. She smelled his aftershave and pulled him close, her face pressed to his neck.

“Andrew, what’s happening?”

“I don’t know.”

“Nikki!” Ryker shouted.

“I’m all right.”

Kate twisted within Andrew’s embrace to look behind her. A white glow, almost like a ghost floating into the room, found Ryker in the kitchen, his back against the sink, both hands gripping the counter. She could just make out Nikki, the cell phone held out in front of her like a candle.

“What the fuck was that?” Nikki said. She sounded on the verge of tears.

“It’s like something tried to lift the house,” Ryker said. He used the cell phone’s light to locate the block of knives, extracted the big chef’s knife, and pulled Nikki close.

Kate’s hand drifted to Andrew’s chest. She could feel his heart pounding madly. “Hand me my tablet,” she said.

He passed it to her and she turned it on, adding a little more light to the cottage.

It cast weird shadows on Andrew’s face, making him look like a ghoul from an old silent horror movie.

Lon Chaney from Phantom of the Opera, she thought. That’s exactly what he looks like.

Had those bags and dark circles always been there?

She shifted the tablet away from him.

“Do you have any candles?” Ryker said.