“Oh, God,” I said, and it came out a moan. “This isn’t right, it isn’t possible.”

I so wanted it to be an optical illusion, but I could feel the air flow, so I knew I wasn’t just seeing things.

“Mom,” Bess said, “we can’t both be in the same nightmare, can we? I mean, this stuff doesn’t happen in real—”

“I’m going in,” I said, but Bess pulled me back as I started to crawl forward.

“Are you crazy? With your back?”

“I can’t leave her in there!”

“She wants to be in there.”

“She says she wants to be by herself but I’ve got to know if she’s all right.”

“What if your back goes out?”

“It won’t go out.”

“But you know what happens when it does. You’ll be stuck.”

I knew she was right, but…

“That’s Ellie in there, Bess. Your little sister. My little girl. I can’t just let her disappear into God knows where!”

She did her patented eye roll. “All right, I’ll go in, okay?”

I could tell she was afraid—who wouldn’t be?—but she’d never admit it. She might aspire to a bohemian life but she’d grown up with that Midwestern hold-my-beer approach to challenges.

With her penlight pointed ahead of her, Bess crawled through the arch on her elbows and knees and disappeared into the tunnel. I crouched at the opening and watched her slowly dwindling silhouette. I estimated she was about fifty feet away when she stopped.

Faintly I heard Ellie’s voice say, “Hello, Bess,” followed by Bess’s scream. And then Bess was frantically crawling backward on her hands and knees, making terrified, high-pitched mewling noises as her shoes scrabbled toward me.

I ducked to the side as she emerged, feet and butt first, almost knocking me over. But she didn’t stop. She kept up the panicked backward crawl, kept making those terrified noises as she reverse-scuttled across the room until she ran out of floor. It might have been comical were it not for the look of abject horror twisting her face. With her back pressed against the wall, she slid upright, slipped and fell, then regained her feet and stumbled-ran from the bedroom.

I hurried after her and found her at the apartment’s front door, her back pressed against it, blinking, cringing, shuddering as she reached for me with a trembling hand.

“M-m-mom!” she panted in a breathless voice. “You’ve got to get out of here!”

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“You can’t stay here! You can crash in my dorm! Lena won’t mind!”

“That’s crazy talk. I’m not going anywhere while Ellie—”

“That’s not Ellie in there!”

Bess had just voiced my greatest suspicion, my worst fear. I felt my knees soften, ready to give way, but I forced them straight and locked them. I wouldn’t, couldn’t acknowledge it.

“Don’t be silly. I—”

“I am not being silly! You can’t stay here!”

“I can and I will and I don’t want to hear any more of this. Now come into the kitchen and I’ll make you—”