Prologue
Lydia knew immediately that they were in trouble. She could tell by the sounds the people downstairs were making—hissed whispers, shuffling boots, the tinkle of glass breaking. Quite clearly, it wasn’t the Hendersons returning early. Or workmen, come to collect something they’d forgotten.
It had to be intruders.
Though, god, she had no idea how to deal with that. Her first thought wascall the cops,butthe moment the idea occurred she knew it wasn’t possible. There was no landline in here. No computer for her to frantically message anyone.And her own phone was downstairs—shewas sure it was. She’d left it there so the ring would not wake Emily, then fallen asleep next to her on her tiny duck-duvet-covered bed.
So now there was only one option left: escape.
Though god knew how they were going to go about it. On her own, she might have been fast enough to make it to the front door. But carrying a sleeping child? She knew for a stone-cold fact that she had no chance. They probably wouldn’t even make it to the top step before someone stopped them.
And she really didn’t want to think about what might happen then. Whenever she did, she remembered the home invasion over on Pinter Street, and how that had ended.
With everyone stabbed to death, her mind helpfully informed her.
Then suddenly, she was on her feet. She was whispering to Emily to stay quiet, and do exactly as she told her. And to her great relief, Emily obeyed. The kid didn’t even ask any questions or protest being woken up. She just stared with too wide eyes and held out her little arms in a way that almost made Lydia lose her mind.She had to grit her teeth and look at the ceiling to stop the tears from coming.
But her face was still wet by the time she got to the window. Her heart still beat like it wanted to break out of her body. And worst of all, her arms and legs seemed to have lost all their strength and coordination. She tried to shove up the window with one hand and found it completely impossible.
Even though she’d done it a thousand times before.
She had done it only last week.
So, what exactly was going on here?
It was almost like she’d become a completely different person. Just some pathetic weakling, instead of the tough girl she’d always thought she was. That other Lydia—therealLydia—would have easily managed to get them both out onto the porch roof.
But this new one could barely lift a window.
She had to put the kid down and use both hands to do it, and even then, it was incredibly hard. For some reason, she had started shaking uncontrollably. Her palms were slick with sweat and kept slipping on the wood. Twice, she almost whammed her knuckles into the frame.
And there was no relief when she finally succeeded in getting it open.
They were just making way too much noise, she knew. Her breathing alone sounded like a freight train barreling through the house. The kid had started crying loudly—and she cried louder when Lydia tried to get her through the window. “No, not without you,”she said, so desperately Lydia almost changed her mind.
Then she noticed it.
The sudden, tense silence.
Followed by the clatter and thump of boots on the stairs.
They were coming. And they were comingfast. All she really had time to do was hide Emily out of view before they got to the door—but even that was a close thing.
She was still halfway out the window when they burst into the room.
And after that there was nothing else.
There was just them, in the doorway.
Bothtall, very tall, and broad.And clearly experts, rather than simple opportunists. Their clothes were practically uniforms, from their thick canvas jackets to their utilitarian boots. Even their masks were identical—just thin black material that turned every single part of their faces into a sort of featureless hump.
Including their eyes.
For some ungodly reason, they hadn’t cutholes to see out of. There was just a dark blank space where those holes should be, as if two sightless aliens had come here just to silently observe.
Apparently, they wanted to know what panic looked like.
But she was damned if she was going to show it to them.
