Page 31 of Strangers She Knows

Kellen lifted the covers.

Rae scooted in. The child was shivering, clutching her tattered blankie and stuffed llama, in the grips of some shadowy dread.

Kellen pulled her close, trying to warm her.

Rae whispered, “Can Luna come up, too?” Which the dog wasn’t supposed to do, not on the family bed. Max didn’t approve.

But… “Sure.” Why not? What was a queen-size bed for, but to accommodate parents, child and animals, stuffed and real? Kellen patted the bottom of the bed.

Luna leaped up and stretched out on their feet.

Not exactly what Kellen had planned, but bonus points to the dog for bringing Rae through the shadowy corridor and into their bedroom. “Did the nightlight in your room help?”

“No. That’s why I saw the lady!”

“What lady?”

“An old lady with silver hair. I dreamed someone was standing over me—”

“I know that feeling.”

“—and I was scared. But I remembered what you said about facing my nightmares and I opened my eyes to look at her. She was supposed to disappear, and she was still there! She put her finger to her lips for me to be quiet, then she touched my forehead, then she went into the wall and vanished!”

“She touched your forehead? Like how?”

“Like you do when you kiss me goodnight.”

“So it was a nice touch.”

“Yes. But she was real.” Rae curled into a tighter ball, still shivering.

“That sounds like a pretty good dream to me.”

“She disappeared into thewall.”

“That’s kind of spooky,” Kellen acknowledged. “What did Luna do?”

“Nothing.”

“She didn’t bark? She didn’t growl?”

“No, she lifted her head and stared at the lady.”

“You know if Luna thought you were threatened, she would protect you. That’s her job, and she takes it seriously.”

“I know,” Rae said in a small voice.

“You’ve had a lot of nightmares since we left Yearning Sands.”

“Because of the dead man with no hands.”

Kellen went on alert. “How did you hear about that?”

“From Chloe, and Maverick and Rayleigh.” In a return to her snotty tone, Rae said, “Before you took my phone away.”

Kellen chose to ignore the snottiness. “Pretty awful story, isn’t it?”

Rae whispered, “Yes.”

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