“Shining Star, Silver Reef,” Theodore repeated. John got up again, putting his ear to Theodore’s nose, trying to make sure he had it right. “Shining Star, Silver Reef …” the rabbit intoned. John raced back to his car.

When he reached Clay’s driveway again, John stopped dead: the front door was gaping open, light from inside the house spilling into the yard. He ran up the steps, calling, “Clay! Clay, are you here?” He ran inside, still shouting, and made for Clay’s office just a few steps past the front hall.

“Clay!”

John dropped to his knees beside Clay; he was on the floor, one side of his face slick with his own blood, more pooling beneath his head. His eyes were closed. John grabbed his wrist and pressed his fingers against the veins, hoping for a pulse: after a few frantic seconds, he found it, and relief washed through him, but it was momentary. “Clay?” John repeated, jostling him lightly. Clay didn’t respond. John looked around with alarm; the new door, the one Clay had described as “reinforced,” was in pieces. What was left of the door was still hanging in place by the upper hinge. Hastily, John pulled Clay out into the hall as best he could.

He glanced back toward the office: the chair was overturned, and everything that had been on the desk littered the carpet. He patted Clay’s shoulder. “You’re going to be okay,” he said hoarsely, and he went to the office phone and dialed 911. As he waited for an operator, he looked nervously back at the demolished door. Another surge of wind rushed through the front door and out the open window, seemingly to carry with it whatever horror had happened here.

CHAPTER FIVE

The hissing sound continued; there was no place to get away from it. Their pain came at random, for no reason they could discern, and they clung together in their confusion.

“Hold still,” a voice said, and they trembled with fear, for they knew the terrifying voice well. Frozen like a frightened animal, trying to hide but completely exposed; inner, bloody screams silent to the world. The shadow blotted out the light from above. “Keep wiggling, and I will keep taking the parts of you that wiggle,” the voice growled. The hissing grew louder, and with a sudden snap, and a flash of shocking pain, the shadow withdrew, holding something in his hands. “I’ll be back soon.”

*  *  *