***BLAKE***

The scream outside didn’t sound human at first.

It ripped through the night like something tearing its way into the world, not out of it.

I didn’t think. I just moved.

My feet slammed against the floorboards as I bolted to the window. The glass was cold against my palms, colder than the darkness outside. And then I saw it—a shadow slipping out of the yard, fast, silent, gone before my eyes could catch a shape. The figure got swallowed by the trees.

My stomach ...