Nigel moved to stand behind him. “Neither can I.”
“Yeah, you can shove your money where the sun don’t shine.” Chris joined them, along with Tina, who said, “I know it’s going to come as a surprise to you, but not everyone can be bought.”
Despite everything, Oscar felt his heart swell against his ribs. Whatever happened next, they’d face it together.
“I’ll destroy you,” Montague promised.
“That doesn’t change my decision.” He’d come from a long line of mediums, and he would do his ancestors proud. “I have a duty to the dead as well as the living. And I’m afraid my duty to the people in that mass grave outweighs anything I owe you.”
“Exactly,” Dr. Lawson said. “So give me the damned box, and let’s find somewhere safer than in here to take cover!”
She reached for the Devil’s Toy Box, but Montague tried to pull it back. For a moment, the two women struggled, each trying to wrest the box from the other. Then one, or perhaps both, slipped.
The box went flying through the air. Time seemed to slow as Oscar watched its arc. He tried to intercept it, but the dining room chairs were in the way, and he’d never been the fastest player on the field.
The box hit the floor with the sound of smashing mirrors. The lid flew open—and darkness boiled free.
CHAPTER
FIFTY-FOUR
Nigel flung up his hands instinctively as a black mist seemed to pour from the broken box. For a moment, it hovered in the air—then dove for the VCR.
The VCR that was still switched on and connected to the generator.
“Salt—salt!” he yelled. “Ullman is feeding on the electricity!”
“Seth Ullman!” Oscar’s commanding tone cut through the roar of the wind. “Leave?—”
An unseen force hurled the TV at Oscar’s head. Oscar barely ducked out of the way; it sailed past and shattered against the wall.
The temperature in the room dropped by twenty degrees. Nigel’s ears popped as the pressure shifted along with it.
A whirlwind of darkness formed as the generator coughed and sputtered outside, Ullman draining every drop of energy he could get his hands on. Shards of glass from the TV and mirror box rose into the air and began to circle, just as the toys had whirled around Andy on the first tape they’d seen.
Except broken glass was a hell of a lot more deadly.
The camping lantern they’d been using for light went out, plunging them into darkness. “Get out of the dining room!” Oscar yelled.
Of course—the salt would keep Ullman trapped. If they could get out without scuffing the lines.
Thanks to the storm, not a sliver of moon or starlight could reach them. The blackness was as utter as anything he’d ever experienced. Nigel tried to grope his way toward the hallway and shield his face from flying glass at the same time. His foot caught on something, and he went sprawling to the floor.
A light switched on—Ethan had been outside the circle. “Ms. Montague?” he called frantically. “This way! Ms. Montague?”
Nigel lunged in the direction of the flashlight, but Ethan was swinging the beam around wildly, making it difficult to pick out obstacles. Even so, he’d almost reached the hallway when he realized the shards were no longer whizzing past his head and ripping into his clothing.
They fell to the floor, some bouncing, others breaking even further. Had Ullman expended so much energy so fast? Or…
Ethan’s flashlight pointed toward the floor, revealing scuff marks scattering the salt. In the chaos and dark, someone had accidentally broken the line.
Ullman was free.
Another flashlight switched on. Chris seemed to have dug it out of their backpack, which had been left near the door when they retreated from the storm. “Fuck—where did he go?”
Blood trickled from a shallow cut on Oscar’s forehead. “Up—I can feel up him heading up. I think Ms. Montague was right, and he’s going for Gloria. She’s been opposing him for over a century, and now he might have the energy to finish her off once and for all.”
“Where is she, though?” Ethan demanded. “Where’s Ms. Montague?”
