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"Okay, okay, you big baby" Dis, she looped the reins around a stout oak None of the horses liked this part of the woods Nothing good lay down that right-hand trail

"So totally la by her side, Mina turned her a look, and Ellie said to the dog, "Bet if it’d been you and iven up so fast" Yeah, but when Jayden and Hannah found her and Mina, they hadn’t been hurt like Chris Mortally wounded hat Hannah said about Chris, which was a fancy way of saying hurt so bad I can’t fix it But there , or Hannahwasn’t fair Toht

"You know, Ellie, it really doesn’t do you any good to think about this You’ll just get to feeling sorry for yourself and all" She let out an exasperated sigh Why was she re Tom and Alex and her dad and Grandpa Jack soShe fished all the time "Yeah, but I miss the to itch again Soon she’d be bawling like a little kid Focus on the positive: that’s what Grandpa Jack always said--and Hannah and Jayden and Isaac were nice

"But they’re not Alex" She veered for the left fork "They’re not T--"

By her side, Mina suddenly alerted with a soft but distinct huff

Uh-oh Caught in mid-stride, one boot above the snow, Ellie went absolutely still In her chest, her heart slapped a fast fish-flop of alarrowling--a good sign--but her dog’s ears were up, her body stiff So that was not good Not bad Growling was bad because growling meant either unfamiliar adults, for whom she had no use, or people-eaters, for who ti What?

From the sky came another harsh bray, and that hen she finally heard what it was that Mina had picked up Heck, for all she knew, her horse had probably spooked early because Bella could hear what she hadn’t But now Ellie did: a sound likevoices? Lots of the fro The dog was still alert but not growling Sonot dangerous? Probably no adults, anyway; no people Not alive, anyway

Then it dawned on her "Oh boy," she said, and almost--doh!-- smacked her forehead like Homer Simpson The birds The crows That hy there were so ers, drawn to death It was just like Jayden said: if you wanted to knohere that poor wounded deer was, look for the crows Made perfect sense

Yeah, but do I want to go down there? Because noas a choice, wasn’t it? Soood hour to du back to her horse, then hoof it back to the farmhouse She was here now Someone had to put that poor deer out of its row up already Toer across the mouth of her pail, she unlimbered her rifle and threw the bolt At the sound, Mina’s tail whisked in approval

"Yeah, better safe than sorry So, co a pat "Let’s h this wasn’t Ellie’s favorite trail or place in the universe Within tenswelled and consolidated into caws and squawks The racket was enormous, like on the mountain in the Waucamahen Grandpa Jack died and her head see the sky, glossy crows seethed and roiled in the trees

Wow, soer ticked down the knobs of her spine So for so to die But what could it be? She dropped her eyes to the snow The last time she, Jayden, Hannah, and Eli had been down this trail was a week ago In between, there’d been snow, and she sahere their tracks had filled

And she also saw fresh tracks People tracks Oh boy One set was ser than hers, actually A kid? Her hands tightened around her rifle A kid, a hurt kid?

Or this ht be the kind of kid she really didn’t want to meet No, it can’t be a people-eater Mina would know; she always knows She checked the dog, as still on alert but keeping pace Again, not alarht The dog’s attention was fixed straight ahead, and now Ellie looked that way, too--and heard herself pull in a hard gasp

The clearing was s with a slate roof Ts were set on other side of a wood slider A rans painted on the stone were kind of weird Just below the eaves were five-pointed, bone-white stars that ran around the entire building, and that Hannah said were supposed to represent heaven Above the double slider was a single high arch, outlined in black paint and filled in with purple Within the arch were three evenly spaced blue triangles The arch was supposed to be a false door--a Devil’s door, Hannah said--designed to trick Satan into bu his head