Rylan had been taking them from the mailbox before I got home.

“Did you hear that?” Pax asked again, his voice rising in panic.

“Pax, stop being paranoid,” Solene said.

“No, seriously,” Pax said. “It sounded like a whisper.”

I froze.

I stopped breathing.

The silence in the hallway was absolute, broken only by the steady tick of the grandfather clock at the far end of the corridor.

“I will go look,” Rylan said.

I heard his chair scrape against the hardwood floor.

The sound was incredibly loud in the quiet house.

My mind raced.

If I ran for the back door, they would hear me.

The mudroom door was heavy and creaked when it opened.

The front door was closer, but I would have to cross the open space of the foyer, right in front of the dining room archway.

“Rylan, don’t bother,” Solene said.

“It is better to be safe,” Rylan said. “I’ll check the perimeter.”

His footsteps started toward the dining room door.

The yellow light from the room began to shift as he approached.

I looked at my phone.