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Sam crossed quickly to theThe curtain that had been singed was now burning He yanked at it, pulled it down to sto dolls to the floor Saaily painted red nesting dolls The outer doll splintered The doll nestled within rolled free into the flame

Sam stamped it all out

“You have a fire extinguisher?” he asked He was trying to wipe themuch luck “Just to be safe, we should—”

But then, through thehe saw soirl standing across the street She was gazing up at him

She had huge dark eyes, and an abundance of brown hair pulled back into a ponytail

The girl from his dream

Sam ran from the room, tumbled down the steps, and burst out onto the street

The girl was nowhere to be seen

Sam ran back inside to face a terrified Mary and Astrid, who, to his aed her brother

“What in the—” Saan

“They were adapting, Saing as atched the”

She scribbled, wiped tears from her face, and scribbled some more

“What is going on?” Mary Terrafino asked in an abashed, diffident whisper, like she was intruding

Sam turned to her “Mary You don’t talk about this”

“It’s hi at Little Pete, as yawning now and beginning to drift back to sleep “There’s so about him”