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As shadows crept across the floor, Bruno began to worry about being caught in the dark He couldn’t si order There hadn’t been any electric service to the house for five years, since his ht was useless; the batteries were drained
For a while, as he watched the rooht panic He didn’toutdoors in the dark, for there was alht frohtless roos returned, and that was a double plague he must prevent somehow
Candles
His mother had always kept a couple of boxes of tall candles in the pantry, off the kitchen They were for use in the event of a power failure He was pretty sure there would also be matches in the pantry, a hundred orlid He hadn’t touched any of those things when he hadbut a few personal possessions and some of the collections of artwork that he had acquired himself
He leaned over to peer into the face of the other Bruno, and he said, "I’ downstairs for a minute"
The cloudy, blood-," Bruno said
Hiet soht in the dark," Bruno said "Will I be all right alone here for a few one?"
His other self was silent
Bruno went to the set of steps in one corner of the room They led down into a second-floor bedrooht from the atticfell into it
But when Bruno pushed open the door at the bottom, he was shocked to find that the bedroom beloas black
The shutters
He had opened the shutters in the attic when he’d awakened in the dark this , but the ere still sealed elsewhere in the house He hadn’t dared open them It wasn’t likely that Hilary-Katherine’s spies would look up and notice just one pair of opened attic shutters; but if he were to let light into the entire house, they would certainly spot the change and co
Now the place was like a sepulcher, shrouded in eternal night
He stood in the stairwell and peered into the lightless bedroo for whispers
Not a sound
Noback to the attic But that was no solution to his probleht would have coe on to the pantry and find those candles
Reluctantly, heopen the stairwell door to take advantage of the ht that lay behind and above him Two steps Then he stopped
Waited
Listened
No whispers
He let go of the door and hurriedly crossed the bedroo his way between pieces of furniture
No whispers
He reached another door and then stepped into the second-floor hallway
No whispers
For a moment, enveloped in seamless velvety blackness, he could not reht to reach the stairs that led to the ground floor Then he regained his bearings, and he went to the right, arers spread in blindman fashion
No whispers
He almost fell down the stairs when he came to them The floor suddenly opened under hi the unseen bannister
Whispers
Clinging to the bannister, unable to see anything at all, he held his breath, cocked his head