Countless Haints (Part 9)

She ran.

She didn't know what else to do, and she didn't have much time to think about it.  Even as she pulled herself away from the window, she saw the congregation of torchbearers disbanding.  They scattered in every direction, the light of their fires snapping in the night's gusts, shadows shrinking away from them as if afraid.  The thing crouching in the tree watched them with baleful, glimmering eyes.  Pa—at least she assumed it was her father—loped towards the farmhouse, his steps...