Something pounded at the window. A giant fingertip was at the glass, tap-tap-tapping. At any moment, it might smash through and come jousting at her. Lou’s legs nearly gave out. An enormous eye appeared in the frame. As she peered back, the eye pulled away and revealed a gigantic face that looked like Jason’s. He opened his mouth. Strands of spittle stretched from the top teeth to the bottom. Lou sprinted toward a door on the far wall and discovered a small closet space. Hopping inside, she closed the door again and shivered as she held it tight.

Was she dead? Had the plane crashed before reaching Cleveland? Maybe this was what it felt like to be a ghost: left behind by the whole world, forgotten inside a nightmare. Her lungs hitched as she squeezed the doorknob harder.

The walls of the cramped space began to vibrate. A sound emerged from inside the vibration. A growl.

Lou couldn’t stop herself from screaming.

CHAPTER 5

JASON HAD ONLY wanted to get his sister’s attention, but when he saw the look of horror on her tiny face, he realized his mistake. “Lou!” he called. But she’d closed herself into a closet. “It’s only me … Come out!”

To her, he must have looked like some kind of monster.

Something inside the dollhouse was making a horrible noise—a rumbling growl. If Lou hadn’t been frightened before, she was now.

Jason glanced at the kids in the other rooms. One. Two. Three. Four … Lou was number five. Lou had said that in her dreams, there were always five kids trapped in the dollhouse, and nothing she could do to help them. Now it looked like it was Jason’s turn to figure out a way to save them.

There’s safety in numbers, he thought. Let’s bring them together!

Jason dragged his fingers along the roofline, flicking open the latch that kept the dollhouse shut, and then pulled the front half of the house toward himself. The hinges squealed. He flinched, hoping that the creatures out in the darkness weren’t drawn by the noise.

When he looked inside, the kids had changed. With the house opened, they’d become stiff, lifeless figurines. Dolls in a dollhouse. Jason reached in and opened the door where his sister was hiding. Oh, no. No, no, no … Lou had turned into a tiny likeness of herself. Holding his breath, praying she would be okay, he scooped her carefully into his hand and held her up. A part of him was grateful she wasn’t squirming around; another part wished she was fighting back. He placed her into the room with the girl with pigtail braids, standing them so that they’d face each other when they came to life again. If they came to life again … “It’ll be okay, Lou,” he whispered. “Trust me. This is for the best.”