Sadie’s POV
A fûcking growl.
Low. Deep. Originating from somewhere outside the building – from the courtyard, from the parking lot, from the tree line beyond the playing fields. It wasn't a dog. It wasn't a thunderstorm. It was something primal and resonant that I felt in my sternum before I heard it with my ears, a vibration that rattled the windows in their frames and made the water glass on Mrs. Castellan's desk tremble.
Mrs. Castellan dropped the phone. Lily's grip on my shirt
tightened.
"Mommy," she whispered. "It's him."
Chloe's composure cracked. Just slightly – a widening of the eyes, a tightening around the mouth – but I saw it. She heard it too. And whatever she heard, it meant something different to her than it did to me.
The growl faded. In its place, footsteps. Heavy
