“Of course,” Oscar said, smiling. “I own its twin. I never thought I’d see it again, though, not after it was given to that dreadful man who never stopped talking. But here it is, in my very own house. It’s come home.”

He tried moving past Bill, but got shoved back for his efforts. The smile never left his face.

“In that case,” said Betty, “we’ll take yours, too. May as well have the full set, wouldn’t you agree?”

Oscar shook his head. “Oh no, I’m sorry, I can’t give it to you. I need it for my work.”

Bill and Betty turned into demons so quickly that Austin never even saw the change. But all at once there they were, red-skinned and horned, and Cole cried out and Cole’s mom stumbled backwards. She had a strange look on her face, though. It wasn’t shock – it was merely surprise, like they weren’t supposed to be able to do that.

And then Oscar Moreno changed. His transformation wasn’t as smooth as the demons, but it was no less effective. He grew taller, his arms and legs lengthening, his body getting thinner as it stretched. His face changed, too, his hair receding to a wiry mass, his skin getting paler. His eyes sank to each side, widening the space between them. His nose got smaller. His mouth widened.

The Narrow Man.

Violence erupted and Austin fell backwards, twisted, and ran into the kitchen. The back door was locked. Cole’s mom was shouting, and there were grunts and crashes and Cole came running in after him, his eyes wide with madness. He tugged the gun, but it was caught in his waistband.

The key. Austin had heard Linda and Kelly talking about what it could do. It had sounded ridiculous, like magic, but what was going on in that hallway right now was magic, so Austin jammed the key into the locked door and twisted. An image of another door, a dull metal door, filled his mind as he twisted again, then he turned the handle and yanked the key out and suddenly Cole was barging into him and they both fell through.

The door slammed shut behind them and they were in darkness.

It wasn’t the darkness that night brought. There were no stars above. No street lights. This was the dark of an enclosed space. At first, Austin thought the dark was absolute, but that wasn’t true. The darkness lifted to gloom just ahead of him. While he waited for his eyes to adjust, he listened to the only sound he could hear over his own beating heart and shallow breathing. A sucking noise.

“Cole?” he whispered. Cole didn’t answer.