The pressure in the room hurts her head. Maeve tries to pull up in bed, to stand, but she’s so tired. Her shoulders burn. Her muscles won’t work; her bones won’t support her. She is weeping with the effort. If she doesn’t get up, she will never get home to Rudy and Talia. She has to get home to save them. The bear is coming for them too—

The dead bolt moves in the latch.

Her door bursts open; a rush of wind pins her down. The little photo strip flutters against her mirror, then flies away. Maeve finds herself pressed flat, trapped, and the bear, the bear is right outside her window, coming at her with the sound of a train.

There’s an explosion of shattering glass and then it’s on her, its long claws slicing her skin.

Maeve pushes up, gasping for breath.

She’s leapt out of bed in her sleep. Disoriented, she looks around. There’s a swirl of white at the window, but the glass is intact. To the other side, the door is closed and locked, just as she left it. The photo strip tucked safe in the mirror frame.

Her arm stings and Maeve sees that she is bleeding; she knocked into the bedside lamp, breaking it on her way down. The jagged edge of a shard of china is still lodged in her skin. She takes hold of it with two fingers and pulls it out, and the room spins.

For a moment she thinks she will vomit, and she bends her head to her knees.

In the bathroom, she stands over the sink, mopping at her arm with a wet facecloth, then she rinses and squeezes it out and presses it to her forehead instead. She takes a drink and looks at herself.

So. That’s the dream.

The bathroom light, a soft white over the mirror, flickers a little. She looks pale. She looks like an old-time movie star, harrowed and lit from above.

Then the light blinks out.

Instinctively, Maeve reaches over and toggles the switch. When nothing happens, she gropes her way back to the bedside. The clock radio stares at her blankly; she pushes at the buttons but no numbers come up. On the far side of the bed there is another lamp, but it doesn’t work, either. She reaches for her phone: 3:15.