“Where are you?” I whispered into the receiver.

“We’re in the main gallery, moving toward the west wing,” Marcus replied. “But the snow is drifting through the broken door. We’ve lost visual on his tracks inside the house.”

I stood up, my eyes darting to the door that connected Sophie’s room to Emma and Lily’s room.

“I’m going to get the others,” I whispered to Sophie. “Stay under the bed. Do not make a sound, no matter what you hear.”

She nodded, pulling Grace down with her onto the thick carpet.

I slipped through the connecting door into the older girls’ room.

Emma was standing by the window, her silhouette framed by the swirling white vortex outside.

“Elena,” Emma said, turning around quickly. “The security lights on the fence just went dark.”

“I know,” I said, grabbing her arm gently. “We need to get away from the windows.”

Suddenly, a loud metallic thud echoed from the hallway just outside their door.

It wasn’t a footstep.

It sounded like a heavy iron bar striking the door frame.

I froze, my hand still holding Emma’s arm.