My brother came into the kitchen. He looked down at his new island and scritched it.

There was a loud bang outside. Like a tree cracked right in two. Under the table, Chicken whimpered. He put his paws over his eyes. He didn’t like storms.

“Too bad they don’t make bait for human slugs.” She yanked on the sliding door. The metal screeched. “Then it’d just be you and me, Maisy. Easy street.”

Rowan followed her through the door. She didn’t even need to say a word. She was going to take him into the woods. She was going to leave him there like she done last time. But when she was halfway across the deck a bright flash went off and rain poured out of the clouds. Buckets of it. I heard her squeal. She stopped and pointed near the two steps that went down to the grass. Rowan went and stood right in that spot. Another blast of light went off, but Rowan didn’t budge an inch. Gloria did though. She skipped back inside real fast.

Water dripped off her and she made puddles on the floor. She grabbed a cup towel and wiped at her face. “That was sudden,” she said with a gasp. There was black under her eyes because her makeup was all smeared. She reached over the sink and slammed the window shut. “Don’t worry, Bids, darling. Everything’s going to be okay with Telly. I know him, and he’ll be bored with that witch in no time.” She moved her head toward Rowan. “As for that one. I just need him out of my sight for a while. I don’t know how to get through to him. He can’t leave well enough alone.”

I put my hand in my pocket. I held the metal in my fingers. Something terrible is coming. There was more banging and light outside. Sometimes I couldn’t see nothing.

She pushed the little black switch by the door handle and it snapped down, so it was locked. “Got to keep the wolves out,” she said. “Right, Bids?”

I nodded, but only a little.

“Now I’m off to get a bath, miss. That rain got me chilled through.”

She went up the steps, and there was another thunder crash outside. The light on the ceiling hummed like it was full of beetles. I heard the floor creak upstairs. The pipes creaked and snapped, too. She’d turned on the taps.

When I looked out I could see Rowan through all the lines of water. He was standing still, and his hair was like a helmet. His shirt stretched around his neck and there was nothing on his feet.