Later in the day, the rain let up a little, but clouds still obscured the sun. When Faith finished sweeping and Riley finished cleaning the bathroom, the house looked livable. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to leave too soon. The two of them sat on the floor in the bedroom. Riley had laid out blankets to use as beds.

“Hopefully they won’t find us here too quickly,” Faith said.

Riley nodded.

Faith was about to say something else, but the thought left her mind when her stomach rumbled.

Riley stood. “We should eat.”

“Should we go to the same cafe?” Faith asked, thinking again of Lynnet and Radella.

Riley frowned and seemed to consider this. “The messengers haven’t attacked during the day yet. We won’t stay there long, and they seem to avoid crowded places. We should go past the bed and breakfast, see if…” He didn’t continue.

“See if the police are there,” Faith said.

Riley nodded.

They left the house on foot. Riley seemed to know where he was going, through the maze of narrow roads. Before long, they reached the harbor. The sea was calm, with only a few small waves that could hardly be considered waves. Faith and Riley passed the bed and breakfast. There were no cars outside.

“Maybe no one found them yet,” Faith said.

Faith and Riley went to the cafe and sat in their usual spot near the front window, with their usual sandwiches. Faith’s thoughts wandered back to Suzie. Where was she? Faith glanced at the few other people in the cafe and didn’t see Hew. She hadn’t seen him on the way to the cafe either.

Faith hesitated. “Did anyone find Roy and Eliza?”

Riley frowned. “I haven’t had a chance to pick up a newspaper.” He stared at his half eaten sandwich. “I think we should go inside the bed and breakfast when we’re done here.”

Faith had started to wonder. “You think there’s nothing to find?”

“It would explain why we haven’t heard about strange deaths or murders,” Riley said. “Silverfield was always more aware of how dangerous Gray Lake was. Somewhere like Holden would panic if they found out there’s a monster in the harbor.”

“Or they wouldn’t believe it,” Faith said.

Riley nodded.

They finished eating in silence, then went to the bed and breakfast. There was still no one outside. The door was unlocked. Despite the gloom outside, the lamp on the desk wasn’t on. Lynnet and Radella weren’t there. The window by the desk was closed, and there was no water on the floor or any sign there had been.

Riley tried to turn on the lamp, but nothing happened. “The bulb’s gone. It must have shattered before.”

“I don’t see any glass,” Faith said. The ledger was open on the desk. “Someone’s been here. That wasn’t there last night.”

There were only two names on the ledger, but the pages had been soaked and the ink was too smudged to read.

Riley stared at the ledger. “Hew must have been here. Or the messengers hid the bodies, but they’ve never done something like that before. That we know of.”

Maybe that was what had happened to Roy and Eliza. Faith and Riley checked the kitchen and dining room and didn’t find Lynnet and Radella. Next they went upstairs. The only door that wasn’t locked was number four, the room Faith and Riley had stayed in. There was no one there. The remains of the shattered bulb from the lamp were gone as well.

“Someone was definitely here,” Riley said. “We shouldn’t stay.”

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They left the bed and breakfast, neither of them saying anything more. If Lynnet and Radella’s bodies weren’t found, they would eventually be presumed missing. How many people had gone missing because of beings like Ninivus and Altunei and were actually dead? The sea was more restless now that night was approaching. Faith and Riley went back to Roy’s old house.

“Should we go to the harbor tonight?” Faith asked. It was raining hard again.

“It looks like there’s a storm coming,” Riley said. “We’ll wait and see. It won’t do any good if we can’t reach the harbor.”

Hew would be there if they went to the harbor, and so would the messengers. Faith and Riley were outnumbered. What if they couldn’t put Altunei all the way to sleep before he woke up entirely?

“I’ll see if the phone is working,” Riley said. “I should call Holtby and see how things are in Silverfield.”

Faith went to the bathroom and washed up a little, but she didn’t quite dare take a shower. She removed the bandage on her head. The cut had stopped bleeding and looked better than it had. Thunder rumbled close by. Faith went back to the bedroom and closed the ragged curtain over the window. Lightning struck, the light flashing through the thin cloth of the curtain.

“The phone doesn’t work,” Riley said. He was standing in the kitchen doorway. “At least we have electricity.”

The light overhead was dim, but it was better than the light of a candle would be. Especially since they didn’t have any candles. Faith and Riley sat on their blankets, with the knife on the floor between them. Thunder rumbled louder and lightning struck again. Both seemed closer this time. Rain hammered against the window and roof.

The light overhead flickered but didn’t go out. Yet. Faith pushed that thought away. It wouldn’t go out. Thunder shook the window. The light went out, plunging them into darkness. Faith and Riley stood, Riley grabbing the knife. The floor in the living room creaked. Faith and Riley moved against the back wall so they could see the whole room and the doorway. Not that they could see much in the darkness.

Two messengers pulled themselves out of the darkness of the doorway, followed by two more. Faith felt useless without a weapon. Riley ran at the messengers, plunging the knife into their wet darkness. He moved to the side as one reached for him, stabbing another. Two of the messengers were puddles on the floor. He took out the other two, then moved back against the wall with Faith. The puddles on the floor didn’t move.

Thunder shook the house again. Lightning followed, bright as the sun for a moment. There were messengers in the doorway and the dark corners of the room, moving toward Faith and Riley slowly. Others crept along the ceiling. A drop of water landed on Faith’s face from above. Riley pulled her into a corner of the room that wasn’t occupied by messengers.

Water dropped from the ceiling where Faith had been standing, forming a messenger. There were at least ten of them that Faith could see, moving toward her and Riley slowly. Lightning struck again, illuminating more of them. The wyvern blood in the pendant glowed faintly, hot sharp ends going into her chest. Faith moved closer to the messengers. They stopped, and then they backed away. They all became water, rushing away into the living room.

The rain had slowed, and Faith didn’t hear any more thunder. She and Riley stayed in the corner. Faith didn’t look away from the doorway into the living room. That had been too easy. Even with the wyvern blood, they had put up more of a fight the night before. Faith wondered about the storm, but she didn’t want to say it out loud.

The rain stopped. The light came back on, then went out with a sharp pop. For the brief moment the room had been lit, Faith had seen someone standing in the doorway. It hadn’t been a messenger. The person left the doorway, barely visible in the darkness. The silence was worse than the storm.

Faith and Riley moved along the wall. The figure in the darkness moved with them, coming closer. Faith and Riley ran for the living room. Riley closed the bedroom door hard. The living room was bright compared to the bedroom. The front door was open. The storm was gone and moonlight streamed through gaps in the clouds.

There were no messengers in the living room that Faith could see. She and Riley backed away from the bedroom door. The wood creaked, then the door flew from its hinges. Faith and Riley moved out of its path barely in time. The man who stood in the doorway wasn’t Hew, as Faith had first thought. It was the man from the harbor. He looked even worse out of the water, as though he’d just been dug out of his grave.

Parts of him had rotted away to the bone, and the rest was a sickly shade of grayish white. Altunei took a step closer. Riley ran at him, lunging with the knife. Altunei grabbed Riley’s hand and twisted. Riley cried out and dropped the knife. Altunei put a hand on Riley’s neck, over the mark. Riley stopped struggling against him. Altunei let go and Riley fell to his hands and knees. Altunei looked at Faith, coming closer slowly.

Faith took a step back and felt the wall behind her. The knife was next to Riley, but he hadn’t looked up or moved. The blue of the mark seemed brighter than before. Faith tried to run for the knife, but Altunei grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her back against the wall. He pressed a hand hard over the pendant, the other still gripping her shoulder. Faith tried to pull away, but he was strong. Maybe even stronger than Willet and Destiny.

Faith heard the pendant cracking. Altunei stared at her, rage in his light blue eyes. His eyes were the cold blue of the sea at night. The cold blue of the moon. One last crack and the pendant shattered, the glass pushing into her. Something hot rushed over her neck and shoulders, then was gone.

Altunei let go. Faith had no strength left to stand, as though he’d taken it away. Or maybe the wyvern blood had. The floor closed in. Riley was no longer on his hands and knees, having collapsed onto the floor the rest of the way. His eyes were closed. Altunei walked away, toward the door. His bare feet left wet prints on the floor.

The sidewalk out front the house was no longer empty. Hew was waiting out there. His hair was white, his scales and eyes blue as ever. He wasn’t alone. A girl in a gray dress, no older than seven, stood beside him. Darkness closed in all around Faith. Hew followed Altunei away from the house. So did Suzie.