Page 75 of Loco

I pressed the plasterboard panel gently into place, hands trembling just enough to make the edges bump against the frame. One last look at their faces—Kaida blinking up at me with wide, quiet eyes, Kairo clutching her hand like he was the big brother she needed him to be—and then it clicked into place, sealing them into the narrow, hidden space.

It wasn’t much, but it was enough.

They’d be safe there. Theyhadto be.

I stayed crouched just outside the closet, every sense on high alert, listening to the silence around me. The house felt like it was holding its breath, just like I was. Waiting for whatever came next.

Slowly, I reached into the waistband of my leggings and pulled out my phone, tapping the screen to life. The notifications were still rolling in—motion was detected in the side yard, back porch, and front lawn. There were too many.

I opened a new message and started typing with shaking thumbs.

SAYLA:We’re in Kaida’s room behind the panel you showed me. There’s motion everywhere, but the doors are still closed. I don’t know how many.

I hit send just as the worldexploded.

It wasn’t a gunshot or a door being kicked in, it was something bigger.

The whole houseshooklike it had been lifted off the ground and slammed back down again. A deep, gut-rattling boom cracked through the silence, followed by the rattle of windows and the groan of wood straining against its structure.

I dropped flat to the floor instinctively, my body shielding the kids from the panel, heart hammering so hard I could barely breathe.

What the hell was that?

Dust trickled from the ceiling, and tiny tremors echoed through the floorboards.

My phone buzzed in my hand, but I didn’t look at it immediately because something outside had changed.

There were footsteps inside the house. They were coming, and I was out of time. I positioned myself in front of the kids, protecting them with my rolling pin in one hand and the knife in the other.

Like a cruel joke, my phone started vibrating against the floor.

I’d forgotten I’d dropped it to free up my hand for the knife. Now, it buzzed loudly against the floorboards, the sound amplified like a drumbeat in the silence.

Vvvvt. Vvvvt. Vvvvt.

I snatched it up, fumbling to silence the screen before the vibration could echo again, but the damage was already done.

Because now I could hear footsteps getting closer to where we were. Slow, measured, and heavy enough to mean business.

My heart was pounding in my ears as I slid back against the wall beside the closet, gripping the knife tighter in one hand and the rolling pin in the other. The skillet was behind me, too heavy to wield easily, but I’d throw the damn thing if I had to.

The footsteps paused right outside the room. I didn’t breathe, didn’t blink, didn’t even move.

Then came the soft creak of the floorboard in the hallway—the one I knew always gave itself away, no matter how careful you were.

I couldn’t tell if it was one person or more, if they knew exactly where we were, or if they were just searching. But they were close enough now that I could feel it in my gut.

The kids were behind me, and I was all that stood between them and whatever nightmare had just walked in.

My fingers tightened on the handle of the knife.

If they opened that panel, they weren’t walking out of it.

Chapter 24

Roque

Icouldn’t believe what I was seeing.

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