checked the bolt. She was about to turn back when she hesitated at a shuffling noise from outside. Leaning in, she pulled the small hatch at the top that served as the spy hole. A large red eye as big as a saucer glared right back and a low guttural growl reverberated off the outside wall.

“Ahhh!” they all screamed, and Madam Dimbleby backed away from the entry. “Run, children, run!” she shouted. At that moment a tremendous thud shook the door on its hinges.

Ian grabbed Theo’s hand and bolted up the steps, nearly lifting her off the ground. Carl raced past him and crested the landing first. The three then ran down the hallway and yanked the door to the east tower open. “Go!” Ian said to Carl and Theo, looking over his shoulder for his headmistress, whom he refused to leave behind. “I’ll wait for Madam!”

Below, Ian heard another tremendous thud rattling the door. It was followed by the sound of splintering wood. Just as Carl and Theo disappeared up the stone steps, Madam Dimbleby topped the landing, one hand on her heart and the other on the banister, her face flushed from fear and exertion. Ian rushed back down the hallway toward her, afraid she might collapse under the strain. He reached her as a third thud came from the door, and more wood splintered. They heard the groan of metal hinges coming out of the rock.

“Hurry, Madam!” he said as he tugged at her arm to get her down the hallway. “You’re almost there!”

The two reached the entrance to the east tower as one final thud shook the walls of the keep. This was immediately followed by a tremendous crash, and Ian knew that the beast had gained access to their home. Impatient to get the headmistress to safety, he indelicately pushed Madam through the doorway and followed her, slamming the door from the hallway behind him. But unlike on the door to the west tower, there was no latch to lock them securely in. Years before, Landis had removed it when several children who wandered into this section of the keep kept reporting that the door had mysteriously locked on them and they’d been unable to unlock it. It opened outward into the hall, making it difficult for a four-legged beast to pull it open. But this offered Ian little comfort, as he knew that if the beast could blast its way in through the front door, the thin door leading to the east tower was no match for it, and there was no second door at the top of the staircase like the one in the west tower either.

“Up you go, Madam,” Ian said as he trotted next to her, pulling her by the arm up the wide circular staircase. He thought of the other children in the west tower and knew they’d be safer with both of their locked doors and the long, narrow, circular staircase. The east tower had a shorter, much wider one.

Ian doubted that the giant beast would be able to squirm up those west tower steps to reach the other orphans, and he gulped as he thought about the limited challenges it would encounter if it tried to pursue his small band. In fact, he knew that if the beast breached the door at the bottom of the stairs, they’d all be trapped, and as sure as dead.

“Hurry!” he urged as they neared the landing. “We’ve got to reach the tower room and find a place to hide!”

Madam crested the landing, huffing and puffing. Ian eased his grip on her arm. He knew she couldn’t go on much longer like this. Her face was bright red and glistening with sweat, and she looked as if she was going to faint at any moment. While she wheezed and leaned against the wooden bench where he’d hidden his treasure box, Ian looked about the circular room, spotting Carl and Theo crouched down on the opposite side of the room, near one of the many windows that lined the perimeter of the tower.

“The beast is inside,” Ian announced.

Theo let out a sob, her face an oval of fear. Carl reached over and put his arm over her shoulders. “There, there, Theo,” he said kindly. “We’ll have to hide you someplace safe, is all.”

Madam Dimbleby was still trying to catch her breath. The poor woman was bent double with her palms on the bench and sweat dripping from her forehead. Ian rubbed her back