Page 48

He grunts. Reluctantly, he tucks the revolver into his belt. Baker lets out a sob of relief, digging her fingers into her hair.

Something bangs against the back wall. Everyone jumps; Bakerscurries away from the altar. The bang comes again, and then comes a croaking, groaning voice, each syllable strained and stretched.

[UNKNOWN]: He waits.

Another bang. Another, each at a different point along the wall. The thuds come faster and faster until they’re like hail, striking at the roof and the sides of the building. The wood creaks and cracks. Sophia is screaming. They all draw back, away from the cacophony.

A huge crack spreads across the roof, splitting the mural in two. The walls bulge inward, splinters of wood flying under the unseen onslaught.

KAPOOR: It’s going to come down! We have to get out of here.

Novak reaches for Sophia. Carreau picks her up instead.

CARREAU: I’ve got her. Don’t worry.

The camera dangles by its strap from Novak’s wrist as she helps with the effort to unblock the door. The pew falls to the ground, momentarily drowning out the ferocious noise around them, and they scramble outside.

HARDCASTLE: Jesus Christ.

Novak gets a good distance away before she turns and, with shaking hands, lifts the camera to capture the sight before them. A roiling mass of terns fills the sky. One by one they plunge from the swirling cloud and plummet, striking full-force against the church. Black sludge drips from the walls, the roof, as the birds lose cohesion in death, reverting to that strange liquid.

All at once, the building collapses. The birds cease their assault, but continue to swarm up above. Their silence is somehow obscene.

Lightning flashes in the distance, illuminating a six-winged shadow.

HARDCASTLE: The bunker. We can take shelter in the bunker. Come on. Run!

Baker grabs Novak’s arm to help her, and they flee.

16

MIKHAIL GAVE MEtea, but no more answers. I couldn’t tell whether he’d told me all he knew, or whether he thought he could protect me by staying silent. Either way, I left as soon as my clothes were some semblance of dry.

We were supposed to be at the LARC at seven thirty a.m. My shoes were still soggy, but I shoved them on anyway and jogged for Mrs. Popova’s. I hoped that I could sneak in without being noticed. I went around the back and was relieved to find the door open. That would put me at the end of the hall, and hopefully people were still scraping together breakfast in the kitchen and hadn’t thought to try to rouse me yet.

I crept toward my room, but urgent voices to the right, coming from Abby’s room, stopped me. Abby was saying something I couldn’t make out, and then Liam’s voice cut through.

“Bullshit. We can’t just sit here and do nothing while—”

“Keep your voice down, will you?” Abby hiss-whispered. “Doyou want the whole house to hear you? There’s nothing wecando. We don’t know where she is. If she’s even alive.”

I opened the door. They both jumped, Abby reaching for something at her belt—a knife, probably—and while her hand paused when she saw it was me, she didn’t entirely relax.

Liam, though, just about collapsed with relief. He crashed into me with a hug, and if I stiffened up for a moment, it was a brief moment. I hugged him back, taking more pleasure than I cared to admit from holding his slender body, the veryboyscent of him. Human and normal and cute and clever and a million things that weren’t monsters in the mist.

“Missed you too,” I said, before the moment could get too intense.

“Where were you?” Liam demanded. “We couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“Second verse, same as the first,” I said.

“A little bit louder and a little bit worse?” Abby supplied.

“Pretty much. It was that other place—only it was different this time, and...” I trailed off, gave them a questioning look. “How did you get away from Dr. Kapoor and Dr. Hardcastle?”

Liam’s cheeks flamed. “Uh. We didn’t, exactly. They saw me.”

“How are you not locked in your room for the rest of your natural life?” I asked.