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"What about cloud storage?" Rhett asks.

"I don't trust it anymore."

He smiles faintly.

"Good."

"I've mirrored everything onto local drives."

I hand him one.

"You carry this."

He slips it into his jacket. I hand Sayer another.

"If anything happens to me..."

His expression immediately hardens.

"It won't."

"If it does..."

He reluctantly takes it.

"...someone has to remember."

The room grows quiet. Rhett steps toward the dining table.

"I've updated my tracking system."

He opens one of his rugged field tablets.

"Our locations will sync in real time."

"As long as the interference allows."

"Exactly."

I connect my phone. Then Sayer's. Green icons appear across the screen. Three dots. Three heartbeats. Three members of the same family. Nobody says it. Nobody has to.

The technology finishes syncing.

"Done."

Rhett pockets the tablet. I sling my bag over my shoulder. Outside, church bells begin ringing across Sleepy Hollow. The sound mingles with cheerful festival music drifting from downtown. Children laugh somewhere beyond the trees. A costumed Headless Horseman rides past on horseback, posing for photographs beneath a banner proclaiming:

SIX DAYS UNTIL HALLOWEEN.

The real nightmare isn't waiting for Halloween. It's waiting for us.

I lock the front door behind us. Not because I expect to come home safely. Because I intend to.

Rhett checks the tree line. Satisfied, he nods. Sayer looks toward the forest.

"I can feel it."

"The pull?"