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An odd odor saturated the air, dry and slightlystepped over the woaze fixed on her

"Run!" Karina turned on her heel and dashed down the hallway, herding the children before her

The man with shark teeth rose slowly, pulled a wooden splinter out of his eye, tossed it aside, and, with a deep bellow, charged into the lobby through the hole in the wall

A snarl answered him, a promise of pain and death It whipped Karina into a frenzy She swiped Jacob off the floor--he was the s the stairs She jerked it open "Up the stairs, go, go!"

They ran up, whi The same fear that drove her propelled the she could’ve screa Jacob on one ar to bar it, but the stairas empty Her sto up and down her body as if her skin had caught on fire She ran after the kids The boy in her arms was stone heavy They reached the top of the staircase and crowded on the landing

Below soain, the scent of hot s

Karina set Jacob down and wrenched the door open They burst into the upstairs hallway She scanned the rows of doors and tried to shove the nearest one open, but it was locked

Another--locked, too

Third--locked

This is a nighthth-pitched shriek that could’ve broken glass Karina grabbed her daughter by the hand and dragged her down the hall, to the single"Follow rasped thelatch and jerked it up Stuck

Her head swa hot Every breath burned her lungs froht herself on the sill, and pulled the sash upith all her strength The wood groaned and suddenly the frame slid up

A door thumped Kids screamed The terrible dark beast had rabbed the nearest child and hurled her onto the fire escape, then the next, and the next Little feet thudded, running down the hter to her and climbed out on the fire escape

A black van waited below Several men stood by the van They had the children They stood there silently, watching her, so calm while the kids screamed, and suddenly she realized that they and the beast inside were allies They were trapped

A groashed over her

The world gained crystal clarity, everything becohter hugged her, her breath a tiny war into Karina’s back The thudding of her heart sounded so loud, each beat shook her rib cage like a blow fro elooantuan paw on the sill, then another Enormous claws scratched the wood It climbed onto the sill and perched there, a mere foot from her Karina stared into its eyes, inhaled its scent, and kneith absolute certainty that she was going to die

The thing opened its s Its deep voice issued forth in a single led word "Donor"

"Are you sure?" asked a male voice fro Eave out and she fell to her knees

"My lady?" said the voice fro to take her gaze from the monster in theA dark-haired man climbed the fire escape toward her His face was preternaturally beautiful, his eyes a dark, intense blue "I have a proposition for you, my lady"

His voice faded, replaced by darkness and the feel of cotton against her body

I agree

Karina sat upShe was in her bed The roohtmare That was all

Her heart thudded in her chest She rubbed her face and her hands caree" to what? What did she agree to in her drea, she’d call the grief counselor

Karina frowned and pushed free of the blankets She felt a strange sense of wrongness, as if there was so vital A small lamp waited on the table next to the bed She flicked it on and a cone of soft electric light illuminated the room

The bedrooht her in its fist and squeezed "Emily?" she whispered "Ee bedroom

There could be a rational explanation for this There had to be She just didn’t knohat it was

I agree An echo of her voice from the dream She had a terrible suspicion the unfamiliar bedrooone She wore only underwear and a giant T-shirt, three sizes too big

A pair of carefully folded jeans lay on a chair next to the bed Her jeans, the ones she had worn on the field trip Karina pulled the open with ease and she found herself in a hallway To the left, the hallway ended in a stairway leading up To her right, a pool of electric light brightened the wooden floor and the rust-colored rug Quiet voices carried on a soft discussion