It was pitch black inside and the air seemed to ring with silence. Thorn felt his way toward the stairs. There, he groped for a light switch, and finding none, proceeded silently upward, until he had reached the landing. He had never seen the house this dark, and realized he must have been outside, lost in thought, for a considerable time. Around him, he could hear the sound of slumbered breathing, and he walked quietly, feeling his way along the wall. His hand hit a light switch and he flicked it, but it did not work; he continued on, turning a bend in the long, angular hall. Ahead he could
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