Chapter Six — Lola 

It had only been a moment since Altoos left the living room, and he was already gone. The shadow — whatever it was — only seemed to want to transform people who were alone. Time didn’t matter, every moment alone was a threat. But if everyone stuck together. . . “We have a chance,” Yamaneko whispered. “We can save ourselves. All of us.” 

Allen looked around him. There weren’t very many people left to save. Lola, her lips shiny with pink lip gloss; Saylor, still wearing Lola’s Crocs; frail, weeping Iduna in the other room; himself; and, of course, Yamaneko, the cat-girl who was in control of the operation. Lola, Saylor, Iduna, Allen, and Yamaneko. Only half of the people who had arrived that morning. Everyone else was gone. Clay, Rencon, Katherine, Altoos. Myra. 

No. He wouldn’t think about Myra, not about how small and helpless she looked in the herb garden, not about her flaming red hair and the grim, quiet strength in her pale blue eyes. He wouldn’t think about her, because that would make him hurt too badly. All that he would think about was how much he hated Kytleen Marsh, how he could destroy her so that she would never stop hurting, and how he could save these people. He had only known them for a day, but they already were closer to him than his own family had ever been. 

And yes.  

He would save them. 

But at the same time, Saylor was shivering. She was the one who had seen the shadow. It had hardly seemed human, as slender as a snake; dark and nearly transparent all at once. She had seen the hands reach towards Altoos and pull him towards her. She had seen his disappear, replaced by the slim packet of papers. A manuscript. Saylor had seen enough manuscripts to know one by sight. Times New Roman, 12-point font, double spaced. That was what Altoos had been reduced to. He was annoying and childish, perhaps, and his raccoon was a holy terror, but he didn’t deserve such a fate. 

No one did. 

The raccoon. 

Bandit. 

Saylor looked down at her feet, around which the little animal was lying. She was so tiny and innocent looking. Nothing like the demon-thing that she had met this morning. When she looked up at Saylor, her eyes seemed to say, “Where is my Altoos?” 

“Shhh,” Saylor replied. “Your Altoos is gone, Bandit. But I’ll take care of you.” 

Iduna Vance heard the sound of Saylor’s voice in the back of her mind, behind the mist that clouded everything else. Clay was gone. And it was her fault. She remembered his sweet, shy smile, and the way his hair fell into his eyes. What color eyes? Blue, maybe? Or was it gray? 

Iduna shook her head. What was wrong with her? Was she in love with this boy? It felt like it. She couldn’t get him out of her mind. And yet she didn’t even know what color his eyes were. She didn’t know what he enjoyed doing, she didn’t know anything except that he was dreamily cute, and his book was a collection of dystopian short stories. And yet she had been making a fool of herself all day because this boy had turned into paper. 

Turned into paper! What sort of sorcery was that? It was ridiculous. She was ridiculous, crying over this boy she didn’t even know. When all around her, the biggest adventure of her life was happening. True, the magic was odd, but she was trapped in a creepy, old mansion, and her life was being threatened by her maniac babysitter, Kytleen Marsh. It was the sort of thing that happened in books, and she wasn’t going to miss another moment. She leapt up from her chair and raced through the door, only to stumble into a small crowd of people. These were the other authors. But where was everyone else? Weren’t there more than four other people? 

Then, the memories flooded into Iduna’s mind. All at once, she remembered the shouting and screams of the others as more and more papers were found. Rencon, Myra, Katherine, Altoos. It wasn’t only Clay. 

But this Iduna was not the sniveling child she had been a moment ago. She was strong, and the flood of memories barely shook her. Instead, she went into the kitchen. She needed some coffee, or better yet, a strong cup of tea. 

No one but Lola saw Iduna get up and leave the room. 

No one saw Lola race up behind Iduna and push her away. 

No one but Iduna saw Lola tumble to the ground and roll unnaturally into the kitchen. 

And no one saw the slender shadow pick Lola up from the floor. 

But everyone heard Iduna’s scream. And everyone heard what she read aloud in a quiet, quivering voice. 

“Chapter Six — Lola 

It had only been a moment since Altoos left the living room, and he was already gone.”