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Dad cut le sharp jerk of his head "We are not discussing this right now," he said "The new security system will be installed to home to oversee it, and ill review our new household rules before one of us drives you to work One of us will also pick you up You will coht home after your shift at the shelter is finished This will continue for the duration of your punish about?" I asked, too bewildered to be really annoyed Annoyance would come later, when I was alone in my roorounding round uardians I don’t care how old you are: while you are under our roof, you will live by our rules," he said "If you have a proble theoing to be?"

"The foreseeable future," Dad said He held out his hand "Givepal it out of o to your room"

Through all of this, Mo at all She just watched me, with an expression of such profound disappointment on her face that it ing I had the book; I had the scra without any fear that Syht," before I turned and walked down the hall tomy approach with dark, sad eyes She shook her head as I passed her, and mouthed, "You fked up," silently before she vanished into the shadows of her roo

Beverly was curled up on my bed when I stepped into ainst theon the floor and setting the copy of Don’t Go Out Alone carefully on the desk "At least soirl?"

Beverly’s tail thu"

I was exhausted and overwhelmed by my day I climbed into bed with my clothes still on Beverly shifted positions so that her nose was tucked into the curled palainstafter our visit to Dr Cale’s secret lair, I found myself a prisoner in my own home The new security system not only controlled the doors and s; it extended to the side gates, and it could be locked down hard by anyone who controlled the master codes--specifically, my mother, father, and Joyce, all of ere deeh" to decide whether poor little Sal could be allowed to go wandering around the neighborhood unprotected The sliding glass door to the backyard had been replaced with a wooden one Beverly now had an electronic collar keyed to the brand-new doggie door, and she could use it to co the hours when no one was home From the perspective of the security system, I was no one

The new security extended to the wireless network and even the television, both of which had been locked down I couldn’t get on the Internet at all, and I couldn’t access any of the news channels--just ic sitcoh school

"This is insane," I’d objected, only to haveat soht of that before you ran off without telling us what had happened here," he’d replied "You et to lie in it Next time, you’ll consider your actions before you commit to them"

"But Dad--"

"I’m not ready to talk to you yet Have a nice day" Then he’d been out the door, heading for the car where Joyce was already waiting I never even saw Moot out of bed; she didn’t coht

The scope of my punishment didn’t seem to fit the crime that had inspired it I’d disappeared withthe sort of trauer that sort of behavior They were acting like I’d killed sofor the office, or at the office, or not coht, she stopped co home at all When Mom came ho to eneralities All the while, I paced the house like a caged ani Nathan’s copy of Don’t Go Out Alone over and over again like it was going to teach ed Every tiirl--neither of them with a name, neither of them ever shown fully out of shadow, so that they could have looked like anything, they could have looked like Nathan, or likefor the broken doors Every ti for: eternity in the land of monsters That here the story ended, every ti about their parents, beyond "they chased the an" But wasn’t that what parents were supposed to do? Chasetheir jobs, and yet so their children forever