Lou wanted to run forward, to pull Cal out of the way, but two gigantic hands emerged from the darkness. The white skin that clung to its fingers was transparent, and Lou could see a mess of bones and twigs and tendon and twine moving within, as if the thing had built itself from scraps it had found lying around the house. Long arms followed, scuttling along the floor behind the hands.

Marcus leapt backward in awe. Cal released a shriek so loud that the whole room seemed to shiver with pleasure. With a snap, the arms recoiled back underneath the bed. Cal was gone, but his screaming lingered. Lou covered her ears, but she couldn’t drown out the sounds.

The silence that followed was more terrifying than anything she’d just seen and heard.

There was a fluttering in her stomach, a feeling she’d never experienced before. Lou sprang toward Marcus, her fists raised, her teeth bared, but her cousin saw her coming. His expression was empty. Dead. He spun and bolted toward a door that appeared in the opposite wall. Flinging himself through, he pulled the door shut behind him. Lou grappled with the knob, but when she managed to rip the door open again, she found herself staring at a wall. The doorknob dropped from her grip and rolled across the floor.

“No!” She slammed her palms against the new barrier and screamed, “Marcus, come back! What did you do to Cal?!” Finally, she turned back to her friends, wiping at her cheeks.

Rufus approached the canopy bed, keeping a careful distance, far from where the giant hands had snatched Cal. Still crying, he crouched and peered into the space where Cal had disappeared. He let out a choking sound and then glanced up at the girls. “He’s gone,” he whispered. “There’s nothing here.”

Nina shivered and rubbed at her arms. She moved toward the bed.

“Don’t get too close,” said Rufus.

Ignoring his advice, she inched past him to the mattress, pausing with every step. “Still nothing there?” she asked. Rufus glanced again and nodded. She shoved her hands between the bed’s mattress and frame and dug around. Seconds later, she tugged her black cloak out from where Cal had hidden it and bolted away from the dark space under the frame.

Lou watched as Nina stared down at the object in her hands. Her eyes were filled with fear, and she threw the cloak to the floor. “Is he dead?” Nina asked the others. “Did it kill him?”

Lou didn’t want to think about it. She looked around the room for anything that might be reflective. The floor. The windows. But everything had taken on a dull opaque sheen. Still she called out, “Jason! If you’re there, please help us!”

CHAPTER 29