After a moment, Annie said, “That deer was killed by a shadow demon hiding out in the woods. It’s murdered seven people so far.”

Interrupting, Nora said to Raj, “Thanks for helping me up.”

“My pleasure, memsah—” He stopped.

“What?” Nora said.

“Nothing.”

“I know I’m a bit heavy.”

“No, you’re not.”

“He was looking up your skirt,” Alvin said, making his snort.

“Why are you always so disgusting,” Nora said. “No one would know your dad was the minister.”

“Anyway,” Annie continued firmly, “now we have to track him down.”

Nora gave a little sigh. Annie knew she would have preferred to go and have a malt in Snyder’s. She thought they were all too old for this. The flush had finally drained from her broad shield-shaped face, and Annie noticed a cluster of inflamed pores on Nora’s cheek, a yellow spot just below her lip. This was new. She had always had lovely skin, so pale that during the summer it would just redden and peel off over and over again.

“Yeah,” Alvin said, “and he cuts his victim’s guts out and leaves them on people’s doorsteps.”

“Gross,” Nora said.

“No, he doesn’t, you muttonhead,” Annie said. “He takes their souls and traps them in an underground lake, and he’s making a huge ginormous monster out of the animals he traps—wolves and deer and cougars and bears. And he’s going to turn all those human souls evil by keeping them out of sunlight, and he’s going to put them in the monster.”

“Is it worse than the ghost dog?” Alvin asked.

“Isn’t any such thing,” Nora said.

“Lew and Annie have seen it,” Alvin protested. “Lots of people have seen it.”

“Annie just makes things up. Lew, Annie was just making it up, wasn’t she?”

Lew shook his head. “No, we saw the dog,” he said. “And we saw the man turn into the dog.”

Annie tried to stop herself smiling at the shock in Nora’s face. The effect of Lew saying this was electrifying. Anyone who looked at Lew—that seriousness—knew he couldn’t lie. Besides that, she really wasn’t making this up. Annie remembered clearly when they saw the boogerman that day, and he had vanished just as the dog had appeared right in front of them on the other side of the branch.

“Ten times worse,” Annie said.

“What’s this ghost dog?” Raj asked.

“The nigger boogerman’s ghost dog,” Alvin explained. “He’s in the woods somewhere. The boogerman turns into the dog when he wants to eat children.”

“Anyway,” Annie said, “we’ve got to find the shadow demon and kill him before he gets any more souls. He was last seen at the sinkhole.” Annie stepped across the dark hollow and descended, followed by Lew and Alvin. Raj helped Nora down the easy side. Annie then led them all into the dangers of the forest.

PISGAH
1952

ANNIE AND LEWIS, CRAWLING ALONG THE TRUNK OF A fallen tree, were crossing Bull Branch. Days of heavy September rain followed by high winds had uprooted many trees, especially along the banks of the rivers and streams.