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Would it be the same today? Was the anticipation worse than the event itself? At least once they got there, reality would replace uncertainty and they would be able to do so, to act All she could do at present orry

How far aas this crazy church? Grando much more than fifteen h she kept an eye out for unicorns, Kendra saw no fanciful creatures

Everything was hiding

The sun dipped below the horizon Grand, sat an old fashioned church house It was a boxy structure with a row of large s fanged with broken glass and a single cupola that probably contained a bell The roof sagged

The wooden walls were gray and splintered There was no guessing what the original color ht of warped steps led up to an eranted access It looked like a perfect lair for bats and zoo slackened his pace, and they came to a stop in front of the shadowy doorway The church was con anybody had been there in a hundred years

I’d rather have the sun, but at least we still have so a tool to set the silver-headed arrow to the string of her undersized crossbow and pull it into position Let’s get this over with as soon as we can

Evil likes darkness

Why is that? Seth asked

Grand Because evil likes to hide

Kendra did not appreciate the tingles she got when Grands? she suggested as they cli witches and ht, Grandhts But we do want to be on the road and away froone

I still say we should have brought soo! Grandma said Lead the way quietly into the basement Protect us fro at the hulking goliath of earth and stone With Hugo as their cha theo as he clie doorway The others followed, staying close to their uard

Grandma draped a red scarf over the crossbow, apparently to conceal it

Please let Muriel not be here, Kendra prayed silently

Please let us just find Grandpa and Lena and nothing else!

The inside of the church was even gloo pews had been smashed and overturned, the pulpit at the front had been thron, and the walls were graffitied with ossah the s and soh to dispel thethat this had once been a house of worship It was just a big, dilapidated, vacant rooo tiptoed toward a door on the far side of the chapel Kendra found herself worrying that the floor would give way and Hugo would take an abrupt shortcut to the baseo eased the corroded door open Since the dooras of a normal size, he had to crouch and twist in order to squeeze through

Everything will be fine, Grand hand on Kendra’s shoulder Stay behind me

The stairs wound down and ended at a doorithout a door Light poured through into the stairwell Peering around Hugo as he contorted to pass through the doorway, Kendra glimpsed that they were not alone As she followed Grandma Sorenson into the spacious baseister

The rooht lanterns It had a high ceiling and sparse furnishings Grandpa Sorenson and Lena were each shackled spread-eagle to the wall

A peculiar figure stood in front of Grandpa and Lena

Fashioned entirely of smooth, dark wood, it looked like a primitive puppet not much shorter than Grandpa Instead of proper joints, the wooden parts were connected by golden hooks at the wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, ankles, knees, hips, waist, and knuckles The head h that was not quite right, because it was cruder and si, ar toward the far end of the basement

Is that her limberjack? Seth asked quietly

Of course! It was Muriel’s creepy dancing puppet, only uided by a rod in its back!

At the far side of the basee alcove It looked like someone had torn down some planks to access the niche A net of knotted ropes crisscrossed the alcove, preventing a view inside the dismal recess A dark form loomed beyond the ropes A tall, beautiful woman with a lustrous cascade of honey-blonde hair stood beside the recess blowing on one of the own that e woman was surrounded by what looked like human-sized versions of the imps Kendra had seen in Muriel’s shack They were all facing the alcove, staring at the ground They ranged from five to six feet tall Some were fat, some were thin, a feere muscular Soing cysts, or tails A couple werea limb or an ear All had scars All had weathered, leathery skin and nubs instead of wings At the feet of the human-sized imps were a multitude of the tiny, fairy-sized versions

The air shis made of smoke and shadow unfurled froo that had overwhel a hen

It seeend of a telescope

A burst of darkness momentarily eclipsed the steady luminance of the lanterns, and suddenly, in thetheir attention, a new human-sized imp sprouted up

Kendra covered her mouth with both hands The beautiful woman had to be Muriel Bahumat was imprisoned by a web of knotted ropes, si wishes to increase the size of her io, Grandma said softly Incapacitate the ied forward

An i yowl, and others spun to face the intruders, revealing cruel, devilish faces

The gorgeous blonde turned, eyes widening in surprise

Seize the iest and o, a o met them in the center of the room With fluid precision, he snatched the leader by the waist with one hand, seizing both feet with the other, and twisted briskly in opposite directions Hugo tossed the howling leader aside as the others descended on hio sent iile leaps to land on his shoulders and scratch at his head But Hugo just kept twirling and twisting and heaving, a violent ballet that sent asacross the baseed around hio whirled and charged after the them like clubs to swat others away

The resilience of the i one into the wall, and the tenacious creature would stumble to its feet and wade back in foraardly onbeyond the tu on a knot Grando, Grando hurled the i the entire distance to the wall, where it ioleo, protect me! Muriel squealed The wooden man, who still danced near Grandpa and Lena, sprinted to intercept Hugo

Free frooleed on Grand a pouch in one hand, Grand cloud of dust As the i the to force their way through it, but electricity flared brighter and sent the Grands were spreading out from the alcove