But Sadie wasn’t looking at Lou anymore. They’d reached the door Lou had said would be there. Four panes of glass looked out on pitch darkness. Sadie grabbed the knob and attempted to turn it. “Locked!”

“Can I try?” Lou wriggled the knob for a few seconds before giving up. She leaned forward toward the glass, trying to block her own reflection, but she couldn’t see anything. It was too dark outside.

“Should we break the glass?” Sadie asked.

Lou thought of the giant eyeball that had been staring in at her through the window upstairs and stepped back. “I’m not sure I want to go out there.”

“We can’t stay in here. We’re not alone.”

“What can we use to smash it?” Lou asked, her voice sounding weak and wobbly in her ears.

Sadie slipped her foot out of one of her big black boots. She picked it up. “This?”

Lou was unsure, but answered, “It looks solid enough.”

“Watch out.” Sadie swung the boot at the window. It bounced and fell to the floor with a sad thump. “Gosh. That’s thick glass.”

“Put your hand inside the boot and just … punch.”

Sadie raised an eyebrow, impressed. “Is this something you’ve done before?”

The kids in Lou’s dreams had tried many methods of escaping the house. But the windows in the dream version of her dollhouse had always been unbreakable. Lou shook her head. Sadie shoved her hand into the boot, but quickly pulled it out again. Cringing, she said, “I don’t want to hurt myself. If I break a bone, I can’t play my ukulele.”

“Ukulele?” asked Lou.

Sadie leaned back and raised her eyebrows. She paused for a few seconds before asking, “Do I look familiar to you?”

Lou shook her head again. “I’m sorry. Should you?”

Sadie sighed as if relieved. “You’re not Canadian, then.”

Lou almost burst out laughing. “Um … I live in California with my family, just east of the Bay Area.”

“I’m from Toronto. It’s just me and my mom. She’s my manager.”

“Manager? For what?”

“I’m a singer.”

“Oh, wow. That’s so … cool!” It felt like a strange time to be impressed. “And you play the ukulele?”

Sadie nodded, but then her eyes glazed, as if a bit of life had left them. Lou could tell that bad memories were swimming in the girl’s head. “I was on a Canadian Broadcasting talent show. I made it to the semifinals by performing my own version of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ from The Wizard of Oz.”

“Sadie!” Lou said, her excitement spilling out. “That’s amazing!”

“It was only the semifinals. No biggie.” She held out her hand.