"And that's all?"
"Well… just about…"
"What else?" Charlotte leaned in. Zee, too, stepped forward.
"Oh, it's nothing. It's crazy. I just had this weird feeling. Like…" She didn't have to continue. Charlotte knew exactly what she was going to say, and her brain formed the words just as Maddy said them-Like I was being watched.
There was a knock on the door, and then Mrs. Ruby opened it slightly. A beam of light invaded the room, and Maddy visibly winced. "Charlotte? Honey, I think we should let Maddy rest now"
"Okay, Mrs. Ruby," Charlotte said. "I just need to show her something in the math homework."
"Well…" She entered the room, and Zee stepped back farther. "Charlotte, maybe now isn't the best time."
"It's really important," Charlotte said. "We'll just be another minute."
"It's okay, Mom," said Maddy quietly.
Mrs. Ruby sighed. "Okay, Charlotte. I'll be back up in one minute." She shook her head and then left. Charlotte and Zee exchanged a look. Charlotte was beginning to feel very sweaty. Maddy murmured, "Anyway, Char, we can wait on the math…"
"No, no," Charlotte said, reaching into her pocket. "It's not math. I just wanted to give you some pictures of Bartholomew… I thought they might make you feel better."
"Oh!" Maddy said. "Yeah! Let me see…" Charlotte held the pictures up to her friend, heart in her throat. "Zee, would you mind bringing over that lamp?" She motioned to the bedside table. "It should reach."
Zee moved quickly over to the table. Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut. She heard the sound of her cousin clicking on the lamp and then moving it toward them. She felt the beam of the light on her. Maddy started cooing over the pictures, and Charlotte slowly opened her eyes. She knew exactly what she would see; she had known all along. There were shadows from the photos, from Zee, and from Charlotte, but Maddy cast no shadow at all.
On the way home Charlotte and Zee walked close together through the dusk, talking in whispers. Zee seemed strangely relaxed; Charlotte supposed it helped that someone believed him finally. Charlotte was not relaxed at all, not one bit. Her mouth tasted sour, her stomach was burning, and her heart had expanded to six times its normal size. She shook her head.
"I don't understand," Charlotte said.
"Neither do I, really," said Zee.
"Why would someone take kids' shadows?"
"I don't know," said Zee.
"And why would it make everyone so sick? I mean, it's just… a shadow. It's not real. Is it?"
"I don't know," said Zee.
"Maybe they are real. I mean, how can you take them if they're not real?"
"I don't know," said Zee.
"But that's really weird," said Charlotte. "I mean, even if they are real, why would you want them?"
"I don't know," said Zee.
"I mean, it's obviously something evil. It has to be."
"I don't know," said Zee.
"And why are they following you? I mean, they clearly are."
"I don't know," said Zee.
"And what would they want with shadows, anyway?"
Zee stopped. He turned and looked at Charlotte.
"Look," he said. "I've been thinking about this for a long time. A long time. Constantly. And I just don't know. It doesn't make any sense. I can't figure it out, and I don't see any way to figure it out. But"-he stepped closer and looked her in the eyes-"that doesn't matter. There's only one thing that matters."
"What's that?" Charlotte asked.
"How are we going to save everyone?"
Charlotte blinked. She had nothing to say to that.
"We're the only ones who know what's going on," Zee continued. "And no one will believe us. Something really bad is happening, and we need to stop it and we need to save everyone. Or"- he shrugged -"at least I do." He appraised her.
Charlotte still didn't speak. She felt distinctly like vomiting.
"Anyway" Zee started walking again. "This has got something to do with me. It's my responsibility. And I might be immune. For some reason they're not attacking me. I don't know why. I was the only one who didn't get sick in Exeter and in London, wasn't I? Of course, that doesn't mean…"
"What?" Charlotte said.
"Well…" He looked at her frankly. "I don't know whether or not they would attack you."
"Oh." Charlotte contemplated this for a moment. It sounded quite unpleasant. She bit her lip.
"Hey," Zee said suddenly. "Did you hear something?"
She hadn't. Something else had occurred to her. "You know," she said slowly, "those guys. The men. I think I've dreamed about them."
"What?" Zee exclaimed. He stopped and stared at her.
"I swear. When you mentioned them before. It sounded so familiar. And I've just figured it out. I've dreamed about them."
"Like, how?"
"I think… they were sucking me into the earth." She shuddered. "Like Persephone."
"Sorry?"
"Oh. English. Greek myths. We were doing the underworld before you got here. We were talking about how Hades kidnaps Persephone and makes her his queen, and I guess I dreamed about that."
"Weird!" He thought for a minute. "So you were having a dream about something you were talking about in English, and those men were in it."
"Yeah."
"Maybe they have the power to work their way into normal dreams?"
"Maybe," said Charlotte.
"I dream about doors," Zee added offhandedly.
"Doors?"
"All the time. I'm always opening doors. It could be -" Zee stopped and looked around again. "There. You didn't hear anything?"
"No," said Charlotte.
Zee leaned in. "Come on," he whispered. "Let's go home."
And then Charlotte did hear something. Something sibilant and sneaky, something creepy and close. Her stomach dropped into her intestines. And she felt something too, something shadowy and sinister. Her skin began to prickle…
"Zee!" she exclaimed.
"Run!"
But it was too late. There, right in front of them, were two man-like men, with gray-white skin and dead-looking yellow eyes set in a face like a skeleton's. Charlotte screamed, and the men smiled and bowed-and if you asked Charlotte, that was the creepiest part of all.
The cousins turned as one and began to run in the opposite direction. Charlotte was struck with the feeling that she was about to be sucked into the earth. Or worse.
She thought she was still screaming, but the world seemed absolutely silent all of a sudden. She could feel her feet running, but she wasn't sure she was moving. All seemed strange and still. She knew, somehow, that if she looked behind her, the man-like men would still be standing, still smiling, just as close as they were before.
The world was a lonely, terrible, cold place – and utterly silent.
Then, suddenly, a sound burst into the night-a loud motor, a squeal of tires, then a bright light. A car turned the corner and barreled down the street toward them. Charlotte and Zee ran toward it; Charlotte wanted to jump in front of it because getting hit by a car was surely better than what was about to happen to her.
She could hear her voice again and could feel her feet pounding against the pavement. She ran toward the car and heard her cousin doing the same. She didn't know where the men were, and she didn't want to look back to find out.
The car squealed to a stop right in front of them, the passenger door flew open, and a voice yelled, "Get in!" Charlotte gasped. It was Mr. Metos.
CHAPTER 14
CHARLOTTE AND ZEE SAT SIDE BY SIDE IN THE passenger seat of Mr. Metos's battered old sedan. Charlotte felt like her organs had been ripped from her body. Zee didn't look much better.
"What were you kids doing outside?" Mr. Metos muttered. He didn't sound like he wanted an answer.