AFTER LOU HAD gotten to her feet, Nina called out to the group. “Is everybody happy? We’re not in the kitchen anymore, but is this place any better?” She ran both hands through her long hair, squeezing the foul liquid from it. “At least before I didn’t smell like my little brother’s diaper bin!”

“This is awful,” said Rufus, shuddering.

Cal piped up. “But we’re not worrying about what might be hiding in the fridge anymore. So that’s good. Right?”

“If you say so,” answered Sadie. She turned her ukulele over and drained the goop that had collected inside it.

“It is good,” said Marcus. “We’ve got to stay calm. And quiet. We don’t want the house to know where we are.”

“Where are we?” asked Rufus.

She looked around, but the compact room was lit only by a pale reflected glow that came in through what looked like a hole in the ceiling. The walls were constructed of ancient stone. “I don’t recognize this place,” she said. “Marcus?” Her cousin shook his head.

Sadie approached a crate that sat in the middle of the floor. It was made of metal wires and looked large enough to house a Rottweiler. “It’s a kennel,” she whispered. She gestured to the shadows, where many more cages were stacked along the walls.

As Lou scanned the room, she thought she heard the distant sound of barking. And when she approached one of the crates, for a moment, she thought she saw a large black dog lunging toward her.

Scrambling back, she tripped over her feet and fell into the sludge again. From the ground, she saw that the crate was definitely empty.

She also noticed a pile of long, thick bones beside her. Femurs. Antlers. Ribs. The pale light from overhead allowed Lou to see gnaw marks left on them by sharp teeth. If this place had once lodged the dogs of Larkspur House, these bones might have been their last treats. Lou scrambled away. “I think it would be best if we got out of here as soon as possible,” she said.

“There are no doors,” said Marcus. “I already checked.”

Cal pointed up. “That’s got to lead somewhere.”

“The hole in the ceiling?” Nina asked. “How would we reach it?”

“I wish Lou’s brother and that other girl were still here with us,” said Rufus. “I wish we had a mirror. They’d know where to send us.”

“I wish the same thing,” Lou said.

Cal pulled one of the crates directly underneath the hole. Climbing on top of the crate, he stretched out his arms; the gap between him and the ceiling was now only several feet. “Help me stack some more of these. We’ll use the crates like blocks.”

“And then what?” asked Nina. “Climb blindly into another tunnel? So we can end up in another creepy room with no doors?”

“Name another option,” said Cal. “Just one.”

Rufus shrugged. “I’m not sure I’d even be able to fit through this one, Cal.”

“And how can I climb while carrying this thing?” Sadie asked, raising the ukulele.

“You could always just drop it,” Cal suggested. Sadie squinted at him. “We’re not staying down here. And there’s no other way out.” Not waiting for an answer, he dragged another two crates over to the first. “A little help?” Rufus reluctantly lifted one on top of the other. Sliding the three crates together, they became giant steps leading up to the shaft. Cal went to the top and craned his neck, peeking into the passage. “There’s a hatch in the side only a few feet farther up. If we can make it—”

“Who’s there?” Rufus interrupted. He glanced around, then turned to the others, shaking. “Did anyone else hear people calling out my name?”

“People?” asked Lou. “What people?”

“They … they sounded like the boys from my school,” he whispered. “The bullies.”

Barking filled the room.

Lou cringed. Nearby, the shadow-dog she’d seen lunge at her reappeared inside its crate. Its black body was transparent, but its teeth were as white as stars. They bit out at the wires, rattling them.

Slowly, dogs faded into the crates around the room—cages jammed with furious shadows whose gleaming canines chomped and dripped with shimmering saliva.

Thankfully, the doors were all still shut.

“Come on,” Lou shouted. “Everyone move.”

She grabbed Nina’s hand and made sure she went first this time. Nina didn’t argue as Cal boosted her up. Lou watched her feet disappear into the chute. The rest of them climbed onto the makeshift steps, the crates wobbling under their weight.

Sadie went up next. She used one hand to reach up into the shaft while the other pressed against her side, trapping the ukulele beneath it.

All at once, the cage doors around the room swung open. Silhouettes of a dozen black dogs leapt out. Lou groaned and hugged herself while Rufus kicked out at the leaping shadows. “Get away from me!” he shrieked. “Leave me alone!”

Cal and Marcus focused on lifting Sadie in to the ceiling.

One of the phantom dogs latched on to Rufus’s sneaker. Rufus howled as the shadow shook at his foot. The stacked crates wobbled even harder. As Rufus yanked his foot away, he rolled off the crate and hit the floor with a solid whump!

The room hushed as all the dogs zeroed in on him.

“No, no, no … ,” he groaned.

Voices whispered about the room, echoing off the stone walls. “Ruuufuuuussss … We’ve found you … Can’t sneak away now, can you?”

“Stop it,” Rufus choked out. “I-I never did anything to you.”

Lou called to him from atop the crate. “Don’t listen, Rufus. It’s only the house, trying to scare you. They can’t actually hurt you!”

“Ohhhh,” said the voices, rising in unison, becoming a growl, and then several sharp barks. “Yes! We! Can!” The shadow-dogs rushed him, and Rufus scrambled back, through the slime, and pressed himself against the wall. One of the shadows snagged Rufus’s calf. Another bit at his arm. He yelped, punching out at the shadows.

“No!” Lou shouted, leaping down. “Bad dogs!” She picked up one of the bones from the floor and threw it. It passed right through the shadow-dogs and smacked against the stone wall beside Rufus. And for a moment, the creatures paused their attack, fixating briefly on the bone.

Rufus crawled toward Lou. She helped him to his feet as the shadow-dogs focused on them both and then charged.

Lou and Rufus swerved around the other side of the crates, jostling them. Cal and Marcus lost their grip on Sadie and she slipped down.

The ukulele caught on the bottom edge of the chute and slipped out from under Sadie’s arm. Lou tried to grab it but she was too late.

It hit the ground below and splintered.

Inside the tunnel, Sadie screamed as if she had broken too, and then she dropped down onto the top crate with the others. She fell to her knees and reached out to the ukulele below.

“What are you guys doing down there?” came Nina’s voice from the chute.

The shadow-dogs approached, sniffing and growling at the remains of the instrument. One of them even snapped at the broken wood and tangle of string, catching it in its jaws and whipping it back and forth.

Rufus and Lou scrambled up onto the crates and away from the gleaming teeth. Then, looking up at the chute, Rufus gasped. “Sadie, what’s happening to you?”

Sadie was becoming translucent. Lou stared in horror. She could see right through her.

“I don’t know,” Sadie said, her eyes focusing on something directly in front of her—something that was invisible to the others. “I can see my bedroom! I think … I think I’m going home.”

Before anyone could answer, she was gone.