Rufus and Nina had left the black cloak lying on the floor several feet away and were scouring the bedroom for a tool with which they could destroy it. Rufus dragged open the drawers of a wardrobe between the windows, and Nina pawed through the cabinets of a vanity. Something shiny on the floor near the baseboard caught Jason’s attention. A pair of scissors. He leaned over and whispered its location into Lou’s ear.

To his surprise, she flinched and turned. Jason? she mouthed, almost looking into his eyes. In that moment, he was certain she’d seen him. “I’m here,” he said again. A glimmer shone in her face. A knowledge that he’d been with her all along.

Wiping at her cheeks, Lou approached the object and picked it up. “Will this help?” she asked Nina.

“I hope so.” Nina brandished the scissors.

Rufus joined the girls. The three encircled the cloak as Jason stood unseen a few inches away. Nina reached out to the black velvet, but when she got close, the fabric bunched up and moved from her hand. Nina gasped. “Did you guys see that?”

“It moved,” said Rufus.

“How?” asked Lou.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Nina. “It won’t be moving again.”

As if to prove her wrong, the cloak slid toward her. Nina shrieked and dropped the scissors. The cloak reached up across her torso to her neck, twisting itself into a ropelike shape and then looping around her throat. Rufus and Lou both pulled at the cloak’s hem, but it only jerked Nina forward.

“Oh, no!” Jason breathed.

The cloak tightened around Nina’s neck, and a gurgling noise escaped her throat. Her eyes rolled back in her head, bulging like marbles.

Rufus attacked the noose. He slipped his fingers between it and Nina’s skin, but as he tried to pry it away, the loop only grew tighter.

Lou swept her hands across the floor, and the scissors clattered. She jumped on them, then spun toward the cloak. The fabric rippled as she cut into the spot that was closest to her.

The noose loosened, and Nina tore it away from herself. She fell to the floor, coughing and sputtering. Rufus crouched at her side and rubbed at her back. “Are you okay?” he asked, but Nina couldn’t answer.

Lou continued to cut at the cloak, but the scissors were too small to do much damage.

“Tear it up,” Jason whispered. “Come on, Lou.”

The fabric slid across the floor, heading for Nina again. She glanced up just in time, rolled aside, and then grabbed at the spot where Lou had cut into the cloak. Sitting up, Nina clutched at it and then brought her hands swiftly apart.

A shredding sound echoed across the room like a shriek.