Good. She leaps the railing – hits the stairs going down. Body slams against the wall. Feet still echoing. The scale hides her from sight, but she’s still on all the other senses. They can hear her. Smell her. Nora wishes suddenly she didn’t wear that perfume all the time – the one that smells like gardenias, the one her father bought her a few years ago for Christmas.

No time to worry about that now.

Eighth floor. Through the door. Another stairway on the far side. It won’t connect up to the tenth floor but connects to all the others. In the hall, a small black kid peers out his door, holding a raggedy Elmo doll. As she darts past, she gives him a gentle shove backward, whispers, “Hide!” Then she closes the door.

Nora keeps running.

She tries to soften her steps. Bolts across to the far side of the hall. Opens the door. It squeaks. It bangs.

Still, she’s on the other side. The lights are brighter here. Doesn’t matter, they won’t be able to see her. And nobody’s here.

Time, then, to wait. To hide in plain sight.

Nora eases up against the corner. Presses herself tight against it. Willing herself small. Calm your breath. Her teeth start to chatter. She tenses her whole body till it stops.

Nothing. No movement. Nobody here.

Just the buzz of fluorescents. The distant sound of someone yelling.

She’s not sure how long she stands there. Two minutes? Twenty?

But she’s lost them. She has to have. She creeps out from the corner. With each step she brings her foot gingerly down, soft heel to easy toe. Tip-toe gently toward the steps –

Bam. Something hits her in the solar plexus. The air goes out of her. She staggers back, looks forward. Nobody’s there and–

The air shimmers.

The other fat one appears. Smiling.

“We have magic, too,” is all he says.

Then someone grabs her from behind. Long arms wrap all the way around her. It’s impossible, even as tall as the other killer is. These arms feel like they wind around–

Like snakes.

Oh, no.

The thin one laughs as his fangs sink into her neck.

And he keeps laughing. She can hear that laugh, echoing into her heart and her head. Dull and throbbing around her fading pulse-beat. She tries to cry.

She can’t.

Chapter 19

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