then crept to the window and peeked out.
The sun is officially up, he announced. We made it.
I’m scared to go downstairs, whispered Kendra.
Everybody’s fine, Seth said nonchalantly.
Then why haven’t they come to get us?
Seth had no response. Kendra had gone easy on him
during the night. The consequences for opening the window
were brutal enough without placing blame and starting
arguments. And Seth had really acted remorseful. But
now he was reverting to his idiot self.
Kendra glared at him. You realize you might have
killed them all.
His face fell and he turned away, shoulders shaking
with sobs. He buried his face in his hands. They’re
probably fine, he squeaked. Dale had a gun and everything.
They know how to handle themselves.
Kendra felt bad, seeing that Seth clearly was worried
too. She went to him and tried to give him a hug. He
shoved her away. Leave me alone.
Seth, whatever happened isn’t your fault.
Of course it’s my fault! His nose was getting
congested.
I mean, they tricked us. I sort of wanted to open the
window too, when I saw those wolves charging. You know,
in case it wasn’t fake.
I knew it might be a trick, he sobbed. But that baby
looked so real. I thought they might have kidnapped him
to use him as bait. I thought I could save him.
You were trying to do the right thing. She attempted
to hug him once more, but he pushed her away again.
Don’t, he snapped.
I didn’t mean to blame you, said Kendra. You were
acting like you didn’t even care.
Of course I care! You don’t think I’m terrified to go
down there and find out what I did?
You didn’t do it. They tricked you. I would have
opened the window if you hadn’t.
If I would have stayed in bed none of it would have
happened, Seth lamented.
Maybe they’re fine.
Right. And they let a monster come in the house and
up to our door pretending to be Grandpa.
Maybe they had to hide down in the basement or
someplace.
Seth was no longer crying. He picked up a doll and
used her dress to wipe his nose. I hope so.
Just in case something bad did happen, you can’t
blame yourself. All you did was open a window. If those
monsters did something bad, it’s their fault.
Partly.
Grandpa and Lena and Dale all know that living here
is risky. I’m sure they’re fine, but if they aren’t, you mustn’t
blame yourself.
Whatever.
I’m serious.
I like it better when you’re funny.
You know what I liked? Kendra said.
What?
When you saved Goldilocks.
He laughed, snorting a little through his stuffy nostrils.
Did you see how bad the salt burned that guy? He
retrieved the doll and wiped his nose again on the dress.
It was really brave.
I’m just glad it worked.
It was quick thinking.
Seth glanced at the door and then back at Kendra. We
should probably go check out the damage.
If you say so.
Aftermath
Kendra knew it would be bad the moment she opened
the door. Ragged gouges furrowed the walls of the
stairwell. Crude pictograms defaced the far side of the door,
along with an abundance of less orderly nicks and
scratches. Near the base of the stairs, a crusty brown substance
was smeared on the wall.
I’m grabbing some salt, Seth said. He returned to the
ring around the bed and filled his hands and pockets with
the salt that had scorched the intruder the night before.
When Seth rejoined her, Kendra started down the
stairs. The steps creaked loudly in the quiet house. The hall
at the bottom was worse than the stairway. Again the walls
had been savagely raked by claws. The bathroom door was
off its hinges and had three splintery holes of different sizes.
Patches of carpeting were burned and stained.
Kendra moved down the hall, appalled by the aftermath
of the violent night. A smashed mirror. A broken
light fixture. A table reduced to kindling. And at the end
of the hall, a gaping rectangle instead of a window.
Looks like they let others in, Kendra said, pointing
down the hall.
Seth was examining singed hairs in a damp stain on the
floor. Grandpa? he yelled. Anybody!
The silence was an ominous answer.
Kendra descended the stairs to the entry hall. Sections
of the banister were gone. The front door hung askew, an
arrow protruding from the frame. Primitive drawings
marred the walls, some scored, others scrawled.
In a trance, Kendra roamed the lower rooms of the
house. The place had been gutted. Almost all the windows
were destroyed. Battered doors lay far from their frames.
Mutilated furniture bled stuffing onto mangled carpeting.
Shredded drapes dangled in tattered ribbons. Chandeliers
lay in shattered ruins. Half of one charred sofa was entirely
missing.
Kendra wandered to the back porch. Wind chimes lay
in tangles. The furniture was scattered around the garden.
A broken rocking chair balanced atop a fountain. A wicker
love seat protruded from a hedge.
Back in the house, Kendra found Seth in Grandpa’s
office. It looked as if an anvil had fallen on the desk.
Pulverized memorabilia littered the floor.
Everything’s trashed, Seth said.
It looks like a demolition team came through here
with sledgehammers.
Or hand grenades. Seth indicated where tar appeared
to have been slopped against the wall. Is that blood?
It looks too dark to be human.
Seth picked his way around the splintered desk to the
empty window. Maybe they got out.
I hope so.
Out on the lawn, Seth said. Is that a person?
Kendra approached the window. Dale? she shouted.
The prone figure did not move. Come on, Seth said,
hurrying through the wreckage.
Kendra followed him out the front door and around to
the side of the house. They dashed over to the figure lying
supine near an overturned birdbath.
Oh, no, Seth said.
It was a painted statue of Dale. A faithful replica,
except the paint was more simplified than his actual coloring
would have been. His head was turned to one side, eyes
squinted shut, arms raised protectively. The proportions
were exact. He was wearing the same outfit he had worn
the previous night.
Kendra touched the figure. It was made of metal,
clothes and all. Bronze, maybe? Lead? Steel? She rapped
her knuckles against the forearm. Sounded solid. No hollow
ringing.
They turned him into a statue, Seth said.
You think it’s really him?
It has to be!
Help me flip him over.
Both of them strained, but Dale did not budge. He was
way too heavy.
I really blew it, Seth said, palms pressed against his
temples. What have I done?
Maybe we can change him back.
Seth kneeled down and put his mouth to Dale’s ear. If
you can hear me, give us a sign! he yelled.
The metallic figure made no response.
Do you think Grandpa and Lena are around here too?
Kendra asked.
We’ll have to look.
Kendra cupped her hands around her mouth.
Grandpa! Grandpa Sorenson! Lena! Can you hear me?
Look at this, Seth said, crouching beside the overturned
birdbath. The birdbath had tipped over toward a
flowerbed. In the flowerbed was a clear footprint-three
large toes and a narrow heel. The print was big enough to
suggest that it came from a creature at least the size of a
grown man.
Giant bird?
Check out the hole behind the heel. He stuck a finger
into a nickel-sized hole. A couple inches deep.
Weird.
Seth acted excited. It has a pointy thing on the back
of its heel, a spur or something.
Which means what?
We can probably track it.
Track it?
Seth moved forward in the direction the toes pointed,
scanning the ground. See! He crouched, pointing at a
hole in the lawn. That spur digs deep. It should leave a
clear trail.
And what happens if you catch up to whatever made
the tracks?
He patted his pockets. I throw some salt and rescue
Grandpa.
How do you know it took Grandpa?
I don’t, he admitted. But it’s a start.
What if it turns you into a painted statue?
I won’t look directly at it. Just in mirrors.
Where’d you get that from?
History.
You don’t even know what you’re talking about,
Kendra said.
We’ll see about that. I better get my camo shirt.
First let’s make sure there aren’t any other statues in
the yard.
Fine, then I’m out of here. I don’t want the trail getting
cold.
After scouring the yard for half an hour, Kendra and
Seth had come across various articles of furniture from the
house or porch in unexpected locations, but they had
found no other life-sized painted statues. They ended up by
the swimming pool.
Have you noticed the butterflies? Kendra asked.
Yeah.
Anything special about them?
Seth slapped his forehead with the heel of his hand.
We haven’t had milk today!
Yep. No fairies, just bugs.
If those fairies are smart, they won’t show their faces
around here, growled Seth.
Yeah, you’ll show them. What do you want to be this
time? A giraffe?
None of this would have happened if they had kept
guarding the window.
You did torture one of them, Kendra pointed out.
They tortured me back! We’re even.
Whatever we do, we should drink some milk first.
They went into the house. The refrigerator was lying
on its side. Together they pried the door open. Some of the
milk bottles had broken, but a few were intact. Kendra
grabbed one, uncapped it, and took a sip. Seth drank next.
I need my stuff, he said, bolting for the stairs.
Kendra started searching for clues. Wouldn’t Grandpa
have tried to leave them a message? Maybe there hadn’t
been time. She walked through the rooms, but encountered
no hints to explain the fate of either Lena or Grandpa.
Seth showed up in his camouflage shirt, carrying the
cereal box. I was trying to find that shotgun. You haven’t
seen it?
Nope. There’s an arrow by the front door. You could
toss that at the monster.
I think I’ll stick with the salt.
We never checked the basement, Kendra said.
Worth a try.
They opened the door by the kitchen and stared down
into the gloom. Kendra realized it was just about the only
undamaged door in the house. Stone steps led into the
darkness.
How about that flashlight? Kendra said.
No light switch? he asked. They couldn’t find one.
He rummaged in the cereal box and withdrew the
flashlight.
With some salt from his pocket clutched in one hand
and the flashlight in the other, Seth led the way. It was a
longer flight than would ordinarily lead to a basement —— more
than twenty steep stairs. At the bottom the flashlight
beam illuminated a short, barren hallway ending at an iron
door.
They walked to the door. It had a keyhole below the
handle. Seth tugged the handle, but the door was locked.
There was a small hatch at the base of the door.
What’s this? he asked.
It’s for brownies, so they can come in and fix stuff.
He pushed open the hatch. Grandpa! Lena!
Anybody!
They waited in vain for a reply. He called once more
before standing and shining his light into the keyhole.
None of your keys would fit this? he asked.
They’re way too small.
There might be a key stashed in Grandpa’s bedroom.
If they were down here, I think they’d answer.
Kendra and Seth started back up the stairs. At the top,
they heard a loud, deep groan that lasted at least ten seconds.
The penetrating sound came from outside. It was
much too powerful to have been made by a human. They
to say from which direction it had originated.
They waited, looking around, expecting a recurrence of
the unusual sound. After a tense minute or two, Kendra
broke the silence. What was it?
I bet it was whatever has Grandpa and Lena, Seth
said. And it didn’t sound too far off.
It sounded big.
Yeah.
Like whale big.
We have the salt, Seth reminded her. We need to
follow that trail.
Are you sure that’s a good idea?
You have a better one?
I don’t know. Wait and see if they show up? Maybe
they’ll escape.
If that hasn’t happened by now, it isn’t going to. We’ll
be careful, and we’ll make sure to get back before dark.
We’ll be fine. We have the salt. That stuff works like acid.
If something goes wrong, who saves us? Kendra asked.
You don’t have to come. But I’m going.
Seth hurried down the porch steps and started across
the yard. Kendra reluctantly followed. She wasn’t sure how
they would pull off a rescue if scalding the monster with
salt failed, but Seth was right about one thing-they
couldn’t just abandon Grandpa.
Kendra caught up with Seth at the flowerbed where
they had originally found the prints. Combing through the
grass together, they followed a series of nickel-sized holes
across the lawn. The holes were spaced roughly five feet
apart and followed a generally straight line, passing the
barn and eventually leav
ing the yard along a narrow path
into the woods.
No longer obscured by grass, the tracks were even easier
to follow. They passed a couple of intersecting paths,
but the way was always certain. The prints of whatever
creature had left the holes were unmistakable. They made
rapid progress. Kendra remained alert, searching the trees
for mythical beasts, but spotted nothing more spectacular
than a goldfinch and some chipmunks.
I’m starving, Seth announced.
I’m okay. I’m getting sleepy, though.
Just don’t think about it.
My throat is getting sore, Kendra went on. You
know, we’ve been up almost thirty hours.
I’m not that tired, Seth said. Just hungry. We should
have foraged for food in the pantry. It can’t all be smashed.
We must not be too hungry if we didn’t think about it
at the time.
Suddenly Seth stopped short. Uh-oh.
What?
Seth went several paces forward. Leaning close to the
ground, he worked his way back past Kendra. He went forward
again more slowly, kicking aside any leaves or
branches on the trail. Kendra realized the problem before
Seth vocalized it. No more holes.
She helped scan the ground. They both scrutinized the
same segment of the path multiple times before Seth began
to search off the trail. This could be bad, he said.
There’s a lot of undergrowth, Kendra agreed.
If we could even find one hole, we’d know which
direction it went.
If it left the path, we’ll never be able to follow it.
Seth crawled on hands and knees along the edge of the
path, sifting through the mulch beneath the undergrowth.
Kendra picked up a stick and used it to poke around.
Don’t make any holes, Seth cautioned.
I’m just moving leaves.
You could do it with your hands.
If I wanted bug bites and a rash.
Hey, this is it. He showed Kendra a hole about five
feet from the last one on the path. It turned left.
Diagonally. She made a line with her hand connecting
the two dots and continuing into the woods.
But it might have turned more, Seth said. We
should find another one.
Finding the next hole took almost fifteen minutes. It
proved that the creature had indeed turned almost directly
to the left, perpendicular to the path.
What if it kept turning? Kendra said.
It would sort of be backtracking if it turned more.
Maybe it wanted to throw off pursuit.
Seth went forward five feet and found the next hole
almost instantly. It confirmed that the new course was perpendicular