A new sound joined the steady click-click-click of his claws: a sound like tumbling stones. A fresh cobblestone path rippled through the square, coming to meet the street they stood beside. Rag-a-bone and Shatterblack streamed down it, their tongues lolling and eyes bright.

“Leave them!” Rag-a-bone cried.

“They’re ours to catch!” Shatterblack added.

“Back off,” the graveyard dog barked. “I smelled them first.”

The three dogs glared at each other. Then turned, as one, toward the humans.

“We should probably run,” Otto whispered.

A car engine revved down the street. Pip reached for her sword. The dogs charged.

A van whipped around the corner so fast it almost lifted off its wheels. It blasted past the dogs, sending them yelping and scrambling in all directions, and screeched to a halt in front of them, cutting them off momentarily.

The driver rolled down the window, and Eleanor let out a shaky breath of relief. “Uncle Ben?”

“Get in, quick!” he said, motioning frantically.

Eleanor didn’t waste time asking questions. She hauled open the back door and helped Thea up. The others piled in behind. They’d hardly closed the door behind them when Ben slammed on the gas, throwing them back against the seats in an ungainly tangle. Eleanor twisted to look out the back window. The dogs were falling behind quickly. Shatterblack and Rag-a-bone snapped at the graveyard dog’s flanks, slowing them all down even more. Eleanor let out a relieved sigh and turned back around.

Only then did she notice that the floor of the van was papered with flyers for missing people. Some of them Eleanor didn’t recognize, but there were a few kids from school and people she knew around town, and—

Jenny and Naomi. “Aunt Jenny and Naomi are missing?” Eleanor said, picking up the flyer. She recognized the photo—it was on the mantel at home. “What happened? Uncle Ben, what’s going on?”

“I kind of hoped you might know, since you’ve been missing, too,” Ben said. He’d slowed down a bit as they left the town proper, but he was still hurtling along at well over the speed limit. Ben was the most cautious driver Eleanor knew, other than Jack, but now she clutched the door to keep steady as he swayed in the lane.

Eleanor looked at him in the rearview mirror. He was scruffy—well, scruffier than usual, not in his usual “friendly forest bear” way—and he was wearing a battered baseball cap over long, scraggly hair.

“Wait. How long have we been gone?” Eleanor asked.

“Since the eclipse started,” Ben said.

“And that was . . .” Eleanor began.

“Four months ago,” Ben said.

Eleanor sat back with a moan. How could they have been gone four months?

“Wait. What day is it?” Pip demanded.