She grabbed a towel to protect her hand, but the knob wouldn’t budge. As steam filled the room, something pounded at the door.
As she looked around frantically for a weapon, she saw something written in the mist of the mirror.
leave or die
In the steam-drenched room, the air turned to ice.
At her desk, Sonya heard nothing as she prepared to shut down for the night. While she saved the evening’s work, Yoda stirred under the desk.
And growled.
Scooting back, she reached for him. “What is it, baby?”
In the hearth, the low, simmering fire rose to a roar. Upstairs, the wall screen erupted with the sound of a woman screaming.
The library’s pocket doors slammed shut; the lights went off.
The light from the fire glowed red and eerie, smearing the shadows, burning against the glass of the windows until the room she loved became a hellscape.
Through the screams and the dog’s wild barks, she heard pounding that had the chandelier swaying like a pendulum.
Third floor, she thought. Cleo.
She ran to the doors, tried to drag them open. She managed an inch before they slammed shut again.
“Come on, come on!”
Straining, she widened the opening. Yoda wiggled through before it slammed shut again.
“No, no! Yoda, wait! Goddamn it, don’t you hurt my dog, you bitch!”
Mustering every ounce of strength, fear, fury, she pulled the door apart enough to squeeze through. Calling for Cleo, she ran for the third floor.
Cleo, Yoda bundled in her arms, sprinted down the hallway.
“I couldn’t get out. I couldn’t get out.” Shaking, Cleo huddled against Sonya as the dog lapped at both their faces. “The bathroom. She was in there with me. I saw her.”
“Dobbs?”
“She was in there, then she wasn’t. But she was. Then she turned all the hot water on, and I couldn’t open the door. And I panicked. I freaked. I completely lost my shit.”
“Did she touch you? Did she hurt you?”
“No, no. God. She left me a message on the mirror. Leave or die. Well, fuck you, Hester! Sorry, Son.” Easing back, Cleo swiped at her eyes. “I just fell apart. I always thought when and if I came face-to-face with anything like this, I’d handle it. I’m so pissed at myself.”
“You did handle it. You have handled it, right from the start. That’s why she went at you so hard.”
“You think? Maybe. Hell. She won this round, but that’s it.”
“She hit the library, too. Roared up the fire, blasted the TV, shut off the lights, and slammed the doors. Then I heard the pounding from up here. Let’s go down. Yoda needs to go out, and we could use some fresh air.”
“I need to clean my brushes. I was going to go back for a while. Scratch that now, but I need to clean up.” After expelling three long breaths, Cleo eased back. “I’m not going to let her chase me out of my studio. No more wins for her.”
“We’ll do that, then take the dog out.” Sonya hugged her again and murmured in Cleo’s ear, “And talk outside.”
With a nod, Cleo led the way back to the studio.
“Oh, Cleo! She’s spectacular!”
“Got a ways to go yet.”
“But she’s so clearly glorious. Oh, the globe. I see what you’re doing. That’s magic.”
“I hope so. And Owen better have a really good place for her, because she’s going to deserve it.”
Once she’d set her studio to rights, they walked down to the bathroom.
“Like nothing happened. But it did.”
“It did,” Sonya agreed, and gripped Cleo’s hand. “And we’re still here.”
The house held quiet as they walked down. In the library, the fire simmered low.
Sonya tugged her jacket closer when they walked out in the night air. “I think she saved it up. You know how quiet it’s been for the last few days. I think she needed to, like, store it up so she could pull all this off tonight.”
“Recharging the batteries. It’s energy of one kind or another, so yeah, that makes sense. The fierce and brave Yoda saved me. I heard him barking, and I automatically reached for the door again. The one I couldn’t open before. And it opened. There he was. I just scooped him up and ran.”
“He shoved through the doors when I got them open a few inches. Which scared me more because now I had to worry about both of you. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but do you think your grandmother has something that might block some of this? Or defuse it? Something.”