There was pain and sound and the sensation of being bodily lifted into the air and crashed in debris. For a disorienting heartbeat, Mallory wondered if she was back in that moment beneath the stairs. If everything that had happened since then had been some strange dream her dying mind had conjured. Her hearing was a soft buzz, shifting to a high squeal as the sounds of the world around her shifted back into focus. There was the crackling of fire and the creak of shifting wood. Fire!? Mallory gasped, trying to open her eyes, but she hurt all over and it took effort. She pushed something off, not bothering to identify what it had once been a part of. Debris.

          It was like a bomb had gone off a floor beneath them. She pushed herself to her feet, blinking up at the night sky where a roof had once been. Smoke curled into the air, burning her lungs. She could hear people shouting outside, could hear screaming somewhere nearby. Eliza. Eliza was screaming.

          And then the screaming stopped.

          Before she could fully grasp what was happening, arms gripped her tight and pulled her, shifting her into greyspace. She blinked, reorienting herself again, staring hard at flames that burst forth and engulfed her. She pulled back, gasping, but the flames were insubstantial, grey, passing over her like smoke. The sound of Eliza screaming returned.

          The arms helped her to stand. Looking up, she saw that it was Samanda steadying her. “What happened?” Mallory asked.

          “I’m not sure. We were asleep. Sampson should have been on watch.” She stepped back from Mallory, studying her carefully as she lifted her arms away, looking ready to grab her if she looked unsteady. Once she seemed satisfied that Mallory was fine by herself, she nodded and looked down into the hole. “Stay here,” Samanda commanded. She jumped down into the hole.

          Frowning, Mallory moved to the edge, looking down. Eliza’s cries cut out again. “Fuck that,” Mallory murmured to herself, trying to find an easy path down. After a moment, she recalled her previous time in greyspace and everything they had been told about it. She took a deep breath and allowed herself to slip into the flooring beneath her.

          When it happened, she could feel the floor passing through her. She gasped, wondering how Eliza had managed to walk through a wall. As she lost her focus, the floor lost it’s hold on her and she fell, flailing wildly with a shout of surprise. The ground floor caught her – she hit it, hard, a soft “oof!” escaping her lungs.

          But the damage hadn’t come from the ground floor. It went down further. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” she grumbled to herself. This time she decided to jump. Eliza’s house had a basement, and a nice one at that – Michael had used it as his teenaged escape den often. Mallory remembered that it had been furnished with an old couch with failing springs that was almost uncomfortable to sit in, a large TV and several gaming systems. He’d also had loads of board games, a table to play them at, and a mini fridge loaded with his favorite energy drinks and sodas. The basement was such a blown in mess that Mallory couldn’t tell if any of that stuff had been left untouched by his parents. She gaped at the ruins of the basement. What had caused this?

          She could see Samanda leaning down over Isaac’s body, and started to jog over to help when she caught sight of Eliza out of the corner of her eye. She was also sprawled on the ground, still in her pajamas, one arm up over her head as though she had tried to protect herself. Mallory turned on her heel, instantly moving toward her friend instead.

          Something like the shadow of a very tall man stepped forward. At first, Mallory wasn’t sure if it was even really there. Glinting silvery eyes shifted up, narrowing as it caught sight of her. Mallory felt that same chill from the Miller house – the absolute hatred in that gaze. Her steps almost faltered as it glared at her, and then its gaze shifted down to Eliza. A blade glinted in its hands, as silvery as the eyes. Mallory found herself bending into an all-out sprint as it regarded her friend. Not Eliza! The words shrieked through her brain. Without any hesitation, Mallory tackled the shadow.

          She half expected to simply dive through it, but it was surprisingly solid to the touch, and ice cold. She hissed as she felt the chill seep into her skin, her fingers freezing so badly that she felt like her nerve endings were on fire. It grunted softly at the impact, being pushed back a few steps but not going down. It looked down at her, pulling her closer, almost as though to hug her.

          Mallory had thought touching it was unpleasant, but it was nothing compared to the searing, almost soul-wrenching pain of the knife.