HARDCASTLE: She was out there. She was crying. We went to help her, but she sounded crazy. Babbling nonsense. We started to bring her back and she went along at first, but then she attacked Vanya. She would have killed her if I hadn’t—
KAPOOR: Will. They’re obviously not the same person. I mean, they are, but—
Novak’s hands are shaking, and so is the camera. Sophia whimpers beside her, clearly terrified.
CARREAU: Where did you get that gun, Will?
Hardcastle looks down at the revolver.
HARDCASTLE: I don’t know.
KAPOOR: You said you found it.
HARDCASTLE: I don’t actually remember picking it up. Did you see me pick it up?
Kapoor shakes her head. Hardcastle swears.
HARDCASTLE: What the hell is happening?
NOVAK: I’ll tell you what isn’t happening. No one is shooting anyone else. Put that thing away.
Hardcastle hesitates.
NOVAK: She was with us the whole time, Will.
He grunts. Reluctantly, he tucks the revolver into his belt. Baker lets out a sob of relief, digging her fingers into her hair.
Something bangs against the back wall. Everyone jumps; Baker scurries away from the altar. The bang comes again, and then comes a croaking, groaning voice, each syllable strained and stretched.
[UNKNOWN]: He waits.
Another bang. Another, each at a different point along the wall. The thuds come faster and faster until they’re like hail, striking at the roof and the sides of the building. The wood creaks and cracks. Sophia is screaming. They all draw back, away from the cacophony.
A huge crack spreads across the roof, splitting the mural in two. The walls bulge inward, splinters of wood flying under the unseen onslaught.
KAPOOR: It’s going to come down! We have to get out of here.
Novak reaches for Sophia. Carreau picks her up instead.
CARREAU: I’ve got her. Don’t worry.
The camera dangles by its strap from Novak’s wrist as she helps with the effort to unblock the door. The pew falls to the ground, momentarily drowning out the ferocious noise around them, and they scramble outside.
HARDCASTLE: Jesus Christ.
Novak gets a good distance away before she turns and, with shaking hands, lifts the camera to capture the sight before them. A roiling mass of terns fills the sky. One by one they plunge from the swirling cloud and plummet, striking full-force against the church. Black sludge drips from the walls, the roof, as the birds lose cohesion in death, reverting to that strange liquid.
All at once, the building collapses. The birds cease their assault, but continue to swarm up above. Their silence is somehow obscene.
Lightning flashes in the distance, illuminating a six-winged shadow.
HARDCASTLE: The bunker. We can take shelter in the bunker. Come on. Run!
Baker grabs Novak’s arm to help her, and they flee.
16
MIKHAIL GAVE ME tea, but no more answers. I couldn’t tell whether he’d told me all he knew, or whether he thought he could protect me by staying silent. Either way, I left as soon as my clothes were some semblance of dry.
We were supposed to be at the LARC at seven thirty a.m. My shoes were still soggy, but I shoved them on anyway and jogged for Mrs. Popova’s. I hoped that I could sneak in without being noticed. I went around the back and was relieved to find the door open. That would put me at the end of the hall, and hopefully people were still scraping together breakfast in the kitchen and hadn’t thought to try to rouse me yet.
I crept toward my room, but urgent voices to the right, coming from Abby’s room, stopped me. Abby was saying something I couldn’t make out, and then Liam’s voice cut through.
“Bullshit. We can’t just sit here and do nothing while—”
“Keep your voice down, will you?” Abby hiss-whispered. “Do you want the whole house to hear you? There’s nothing we can do. We don’t know where she is. If she’s even alive.”
I opened the door. They both jumped, Abby reaching for something at her belt—a knife, probably—and while her hand paused when she saw it was me, she didn’t entirely relax.
Liam, though, just about collapsed with relief. He crashed into me with a hug, and if I stiffened up for a moment, it was a brief moment. I hugged him back, taking more pleasure than I cared to admit from holding his slender body, the very boy scent of him. Human and normal and cute and clever and a million things that weren’t monsters in the mist.
“Missed you too,” I said, before the moment could get too intense.
“Where were you?” Liam demanded. “We couldn’t find you anywhere.”