CHAPTER 1 — THE GIRL IN THE WINDOW

Claire backed away from the glass so fast she nearly tripped over the edge of the rug. "Ethan! There’s an adult in there with her!"

Ethan sprinted to the window, his face pale. He cupped his hands around his eyes to block out the reflection of their own bedroom light. "Where? I don't see them."

"Right behind her!" Claire demanded, pointing a trembling finger. "Look! In the dark corner of the upper room!"

Ethan stared intently across the gap. The rain was falling in thick, grey sheets now, obscuring the detail, but the outline of the abandoned structure was clear enough. The lower half of the house was completely engulfed by muddy water reaching up to the porch roof. The second floor remained dry, its rotting wood shingles glistening in the wet atmosphere.

"It’s empty, Claire," Ethan said after a long moment. "There's nobody behind her. It's just shadows cast by the moving branches outside."

"I know what I saw, Ethan!" Claire’s heart slammed against her ribs like a trapped bird. "Someone was standing behind that girl. A man. Tall, broad shoulders. He was watching us!"

"Mommy, don't scream," Lily said softly. She sat down on the hardwood floor, crossing her legs, and began smoothing down the lavender ear of her stuffed rabbit. "The girl told me not to scream."

Claire dropped to her knees in front of her daughter, grabbing her small shoulders. "What do you mean, Lily? How did she tell you that?"

"She didn't speak with her mouth," Lily explained, looking up with wide, innocent brown eyes. "She just looked at me. In my head, I heard her. She said the water brought the truth back."

"Ethan, this is getting dangerous," Claire said, panic sharp in her tone. "Our daughter is getting traumatized. We have to do something."

"What do you want me to do?" Ethan barked, his own terror turning into defensive anger. "Swim across an eight-foot torrent of freezing, contaminated floodwater? The current down there would sweep a grown man away in five seconds! If I jump into that water, I’ll be washed down into the main river channel before I reach their driveway!"

"We have the inflatable kayak in the garage," Claire insisted. "The one we bought for the lake last summer!"

"The garage is under four feet of water right now!" Ethan snapped back. "Everything on the ground floor is destroyed, Claire. We are trapped up here until the city opens the spillway gates."

He paced back and forth across the floor, his boots squeaking against the polished wood.

Suddenly, a dull THUD echoed from downstairs.

Both Claire and Ethan froze.

The sound hadn't come from the storm outside. It had come from inside their own house—from the submerged first floor directly beneath their feet.

THUD. THUD. BANG.

"What is that?" Claire whispered, her hand instinctively flying to cover Lily’s ears. "Is the foundation giving way?"

"No," Ethan whispered, his gaze locked on the floorboards. "That’s not the structure moving. Something... something is floating against the stairs. Or someone is trying to climb up."

Ethan walked over to the closet near the door and pulled out a heavy aluminum flashlight and a crowbar he had brought up earlier when preparing for the storm.

"Stay here," he ordered. "Lock the bedroom door behind me."

"Ethan, no! Don't go down there!" Claire begged.

"I have to check the stairwell, Claire. If the water level is rising inside the house faster than outside, we could lose the second floor entirely. Lock the door."

He stepped out into the dark hallway. The house smelled of damp earth, old rain, and river silt. Claire immediately turned the lock, hearing the heavy deadbolt slide into place.

She stood with her back against the wooden door, listening to Ethan’s heavy footsteps echo down the carpeted hallway toward the main staircase.

Splash.

She heard him reach the water level at the bottom of the upper flight.

"Ethan?" she called out, keeping her voice low.

Silence.

"Ethan! Answer me!"