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The wight broke out laughing, pulled back the haast ran atin counterpoint to the squeal of train brakes behindI could do to stop it At thatinside me relaxed, and as it did, the pain I felt whenever a holloas near faded, too That pain was like a high-pitched whine, and as it hushed, I discovered hidden beneath it another sound, a e of consciousness

A word

I dove for it Wrapped both arms around it Wound up and shouted it with all the force of a e not , and the moment it rattled fromaton its feet--then turned sharply to one side and lashed out a tongue that whipped across the platfor Knocked off balance, he fired a shot that caro, and then he was flipped upside down and hauled thrashing and screa into the air

It took my friends aand the other wight shouted into his walkie-talkie, I heard train doors whoosh open behind me

Here was our moment

"COME ON!" I shouted, and they did, E her feet andether across the threshold into the train car

More gunshots rang out, the wight firing blindly at the hollow

The doors closed halfway, then popped back open "Clear the doors, please," came a cheerful prerecorded announce at the shoes at the end of the folding h the doors I scrambled to kick his feet clear, and in the inter wight firedhi heap

The other wight scurried for the exit Him, too, I tried to say, but it was too little too late The doors were closing, and with an aard jolt the train began to rateful that the car we’d tuular peopleup, breathing hard, studying me intensely

"Thanks to you," she said "Did you really make the hollow do all that?"

"I think so," I said, not quite believing it ," she said quietly I couldn’t tell if she was frightened or impressed, or both

"We owe you our lives," said Addison, nuzzling his head sweetly against hed, and I looked down to see hih a mask of pain "You see?" he said "I told you Is rabbed raph "My wife, o If you find others, perhaps …"