“She’s going to be okay,” the nurse whispered.

“The treatment worked.”

I looked at Mary, her face soft in the light as she held Ethan’s hand.

And then, she looked up at me, her eyes meeting mine over Ethan’s shoulder.

She didn’t smile.

She just shook her head, very slowly, a warning that made my heart freeze.

And the gold key in my pocket felt heavier than ever before.

I reached down to touch the metal, my fingers cold against the gold.

And the phone in my hand began to vibrate once more, the screen glowing bright blue with a single message.

“Look behind you, Evelyn.”

I turned slowly, my eyes finding the dark hallway outside the door.

The corridor was quiet, the yellow lights casting long shadows on the green walls.

But at the end of the hall, near the fire door, a shadow was moving.

A man in a wet overcoat, his collar turned up against the cold.

He held a small black device in his hand, a red light blinking on the screen.

And then, the light in the hallway flickered once and went out, plunging us into absolute darkness.