I ran straight north through the woods. The cold stung my face and my breath came out in thick white puffs. I bumped into trees and stumbled over rocks and roots, but I refused to slow down. I had no idea what I'd do once I got back to the house, but that didn't matter. I'd figure something out. I just needed to get there first. I needed to find my brother.
When I came out of the woods, the house loomed ahead of me. The moon shined down on it, giving it an eerie glow. I ran up the sidewalk and threw open the front door.
I could see the others at the dining table. "Where's Boy?" I yelled to them. "Where's my brother? Has anyone seen him?"
Some of them stared. Some of them looked down at their plates or hands. Kit ran down the hall to me.
"What happened, Words?" she asked.
"There's no time!" I said. "Did you see him?"
"He . . ." She looked at the entryway closet door.
I lunged and grabbed for the entryway closet's doorknob, but Kit jumped in my way.
"Words, no! He's still in there! The Voice won't like you trying to get in!"
"Get away from me!" I pushed her aside and grabbed the handle. I expected resistance, but it twisted easily and the door opened.
Kit gasped from behind me. I fell to my knees.
The closet was empty.
"You saw him go in here?" I asked.
She didn't answer.
I yelled down the hallway down to the others. "He went in here? He didn't come out?"
Silence.
"Answer me!"
"Yes!" Kit said. "He was . . . pulled in there. He didn't come out. He was only in there a minute before you got here."
I could hardly breathe. I couldn't lose my brother. I had to find him—to protect him. "He can't be gone."
"Words! Don't!"
It was too late. I'd stumbled inside the entryway closet and pulled the door shut behind me. As soon as the door was closed, all was perfectly silent except for my own hard breathing.
"Where's my brother?" I asked. I turned in a circle even though I couldn't see a thing. I reached out and swung my arms in every direction, feeling for him. "Boy? Are you here?"
I'd never gone into the entryway closet without being Compelled. I had no idea what would happen. Would The Voice even talk to me? Would I not come out, either?
I ran my hands along the wall. I circled all the way around the closet until I came back to the door handle.
"Where is my brother? Tell me!"
Something hit me in the face and I fell backwards into the wall.
"Tell me!" I said.
A force threw me to the right. My face and shoulder slammed into a wall. I bounced off the wall and landed on the floor just as something grabbed my ankles and pulled upward. I flipped upside down and was pulled into the air. I hung for a second and then was dropped. My head banged against the floor.
"You will learn to show me some respect!" The Voice said. "This is my house! My house!"
A throb of pain threatened to split my head open. "Please," I said. I was ready to beg if I had to. I was desperate. I'd do anything. "Please, don't hurt my brother."
"Hurt your brother?" The Voice sounded shocked. "Is that what you think I do? Hurt you children?"
"He's just scared. He's a good kid," I said. I sat up and back into a wall, my head and shoulder throbbing. "He didn't mean to break the House Rules."
"He purposefully broke a House Rule," The Voice said. "And he will be disciplined accordingly."
"He's just a kid—"
"Which is all the more reason that he be disciplined properly! But do not be mistaken. I do not 'hurt' any of you," The Voice said. "When you say 'hurt' you imply that what was done was motivated out of spite. A punishment, however, is the rational consequence for willful disobedience."
"But the punishments are too much!"
The Voice laughed. "Silly child. It would not be much of a punishment if it were easy to bear!"
I felt sick. "What did you do with him?" Part of me didn't want to know.
"I do not see how that is any of your concern."
"I'm supposed to keep him safe!"
"And what has led you to believe that he is not safe?" The Voice asked.
"Please," I said, "just punish me instead of him. You can punish me and I'll do anything you want me to do after."
The Voice laughed. "You have no idea for what you are volunteering."
"I don't care! Just, please, don't punish Boy."
"As touching as this is," The Voice sounded bored, "I must ask you to stop graveling. You are only embarrassing yourself."
There was nothing I could do. It hit me like a bowling ball in the ribs. I felt weak, useless. Why had Boy done that? He knew the House Rules. He'd been punished before. What could he have been thinking?
"Stop worrying yourself about him," The Voice said. "You will see your brother again."
"When?"
"As soon as his punishment is over."
I couldn't just sit around and wait for him to come back. I would go crazy worrying about him.
"You cannot possibly be aware of this, but you are the first occupant of 407 West Marshall Street to have ever voluntarily come to speak with me." The Voice sounded impressed.
The way he said that made me pause. He made it sound like there had been tons of other occupants before me. Did he mean that we weren't the only ones? There had been others?
"Go now. Stop bothering me or you will make me angry."
The door swung open.
"Words!" Kit rushed forward, but she didn't step into the closet. "What happened? Where's Boy?"
I closed my eyes and leaned against the back wall.
"Come on out of there," she said. "Tell me what happened."
The world started fading away. I was exhausted. I needed to sleep, if only to get rid of the stabbing pain in my head.
"Come out of there, Words!"
I would just go to sleep. I would just shut it all out and go to sleep forever.
"Words!"
Her voice was slipping further and further away.
And then a jet of warm water sprayed me in the face. I gagged and coughed and I thrashed to get away. Hands grabbed onto me and I was dragged from the entryway closet. I heard the door close.
When I looked up, D-rip and Kit stood over me.
"Snap out of it," D-rip said.
The world spun around me. My head ached. I didn't care. Let the pain and spinning finish me off. It'd be better than losing another sibling. The Voice said he'd be back, but how much could you trust what The Voice said?
Another jet of water—this one with even more force—hit me in the face. I scooted away, but the jet followed me. I jumped to my feet and swung my fists through the water. One fist connected with something.
"Ow!" The spray stopped.
I shook the water out of my eyes and saw D-rip holding the side of his face. Good, I thought. He deserved it.
"I'm sorry about Boy and all, but you guys have to calm down and listen to me," D-rip said. "Something crazy's just happened?"
My heart skipped a beat. "What? Is it about Boy?"
He shook his head with a sorry look on his face. "It's not Boy. It's Face and Tang. They came up."
"What?" Kit said. She looked terrified.
D-rip nodded.
Fury met panic. The two twisted and raged inside of me like a tornado.
This had to be a joke. A badly-timed joke. But then we heard footsteps and when we turned towards the kitchen. Face and Tang were there. My skin crawled and the aches from my last encounter with them shivered in my body like ghosts.
"This is the last thing I ever wanted," Face said, "but we need your help."