Chapter 54

“Good morning,” Charley said.

Thom sat at the table, dressed and brooding. Henry and Charley walked downstairs and sat at the table with him.

“Oh, hi. Good morning. I didn’t even hear you come down.”

“You look lost in thought,” Henry said and pulled a milk gallon from the refrigerator.

“I guess I am. I’ve been lost all morning.”

Henry reached for the cereal box and grabbed a bowl from the cupboard. He searched through the drawers for a spoon.

“Where’s Mom?”

As if on cue, the front door opened. Dawn walked in, shotgun in hand, and shut the door behind her.

Charley gasped.

Henry nearly dropped the milk on the floor. “What happened?” he said.

Dawn was covered in soot, with large smears from head to toe. She looked like she had just finished a day’s job as a chimney sweep. She smelled of sulfurous smoke, and small plumes evanescently rose from her shirt into the air of the house. She brushed her sleeves off at the door.

“I need a shower.”

She tossed her shotgun on the couch and walked into the bathroom.

Thom, Henry, and Charley dug into their breakfast. A while later, Dawn walked out, clean and drying her hair. She wore a change of clothes stashed away in a dresser from years ago.

She pulled up a chair.

“So much for secrets,” Dawn said. “The Nekura are more aggressive and pursuant than ever. I’ve never seen them like this before. We need to figure out something. The protection of the safe house will only last so long.” She reached for the bunch of bananas on the table.

“Really,” Thom said. He gazed away, back into his reverie.

“They are after something,” Dawn said.

Henry felt panic rise. He read between the lines. They are after something—or someone.

“Do you think they’re after me?” Henry’s mind flooded with dark thoughts.

“I’m not sure,” Thom said. “I’ve been trying to figure it out all morning. Why now? And why is Charley involved? Even more—why is Rachel involved?”

Henry didn’t feel any better.

“All these years of silence,” Dawn said, “and it seems like now the Veil has been ripped wide open. The Nekura are more numerous and brazen than I have ever seen them here.”

Thom stood up and went to the door next to the kitchen and opened it. Stairs descended.

“Then we need to do something,” he said. “The watch, the nightlight—I put failsafes in place. Maybe there’s something more. Let’s start by looking in the basement.”