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Then I was face to face with it Tongues fanned fro h the glass The hollow let out a low, guttural snarl that turned my insides to jelly, and I half wished the beast would just kill me and be done with it so all this pain and terror could end

The dog barked in Eirl! Make your fire!"

But Emma could neither speak nor stand, and ere alone in the underground station but for toainst the hollow’s fetid stench

And then the booth, the whole booth with all of us in it, swayed one way and then the other, and I heard whatever bolts anchored it to the floor groan and snap Slowly, the hollow lifted us off the ground--six inches, then a foot, then two--only to slalass on us

Then there was nothing at all between the hollow and led into the booth, snaking around hter and tighter until I couldn’t breathe

That’s when I kneas dead And because I was dead, and there was nothing I could do, I stopped fighting I relaxed everyinsidehappened: the hurt stopped hurting The pain shifted and beca else I entered into it, and it envelopedquiet and gentle

A whisper

I openedatblack frorip on my neck relaxed I took my first breath in minutes, calm and deep And then the whisper I’d found inside me traveled up fro a noise that didn’t sound like language, but whoseI knew innately

Back

Off

The hollow retracted its tongues Drew the esture, almost, of submission

And then it sat down

Emma and Addison looked up at me from the floor, surprised by the sudden cal to be afraid of," I said

"Is it gone?"

"No, but it won’t hurt us now"

He didn’t ask how I knew this; just nodded, assured by the tone of my voice