The storm is all around me and I’m running through the woods. Somewhere ahead of me I hear a bellowing yelp and then silence. I come to a clearing and find the body of a beautiful dog lying on its side. I sink to my knees beside the dog; I lift up its beautiful head and hold it in my lap, stroking its soft fur and sobbing. Who would do this? Why would they take him away from me? Don’t they know that I’m all alone now—that I have no one else in all the world?

She clenched her fists and her body began to stretch as tight as a wire; sweat began to run down her forehead and form shallow salt pools in her eyes.

I hear a branch snap and look up. Someone is there, watching me. I take off running again, running for the trailer—but something is running behind me, matching me stride for stride, slowly gaining on me, reaching out its fingers—

I stop. I turn. I face the thing and I look into its eyes—

The people of Endor—the ignorance, the prejudice, the stories that make my blood run cold. The loneliness—the fear—the awful sounds that come from the woods at night. The dreams—the hopes that never come true. Daddy, why?Where did you go, and why don’t you ever come back? My beautiful Acheron dead on the ground. The skull of my father staring up at me from a flimsy folding table—

Alena writhed in the dirt as heat from her anguished body caused molecules of scent to lift from her skin and slowly drift away.

40

40

Nick watched from the shadows of the shedrow barn and waited for Riddick to reappear. After several agonizing minutes he finally heard the squeak of the hay barn doors again and saw Riddick emerge from behind the barn and head back toward the house. Nick adjusted his glasses and looked carefully: Riddick had nothing in his hands. He had taken nothing with him when he went to the barn, and apparently there was nothing he went there to retrieve. So why would he visit an empty barn, especially at this hour of the night?

There was only one way to find out.

He waited until Riddick disappeared into the house and the security light switched off again, returning the entire area to darkness. He took Trygg by the collar and pulled her to her feet, then started for the barn. He had to take another look—Riddick’s visit to the barn was like a neon arrow pointing to the site. But what was the point? Nick had searched there already and the barn was empty—and to make matters worse, Trygg had already searched there too. Why would she pick up a scent this time that she hadn’t detected before?

Nick stopped and looked at the dog.