The town held its breath for the next few days. There was school, where Penny’s fellow students wandered the halls between classes in subdued groups and pairs. Parents volunteered as hall and playground monitors and herded the children like sheep every moment of the day. No one else from Dogwood disappeared in that time, but two kids, a twin brother and sister, did vanish from their home in Auburn the night before.
“I don’t know why they’re bothering,” Penny heard Katie West say to her small group of friends once, while they all waited for their parents to pick them up and take them home. “Nothing’s going to happen during the day. It doesn’t matter what they do. It’s the dark they should worry about.”
Then she noticed Penny and Zoe standing close enough to hear her conversation, and led
