CHAPTER 1 — THE GIRL IN THE WINDOW

The bright morning sunlight illuminated a changed world.

The floodwaters in the street had dropped significantly, leaving behind three feet of standing water and a neighborhood covered in mud, fallen branches, and stranded vehicles.

A bright orange rescue boat manned by two National Guard soldiers was idling right outside the Carter family’s second-floor window.

"Ma'am! Is anyone in there?" a soldier shouted through a megaphone.

Claire appeared at the window, holding Lily in her arms. Her face was pale, her eyes rimmed with red, her clothes covered in dried mud.

"Yes!" Claire called out, her voice hoarse. "We're here!"

Twenty minutes later, the rescue crew had assisted Claire and Lily down from the second floor via a rescue ladder and onto the flat-bottomed aluminum boat.

As the boat’s motor hummed, turning the vessel around to head toward the emergency shelter set up at the high school, Claire looked back at their home.

The first floor was completely wrecked, the windows blown out by water pressure, silt covering the front porch.

And then Claire looked across the street at House Number 404.

The old, abandoned structure that had stood dark and rotting for thirty years looked... different.

The heavy grey gloom that had hung over its roof was gone. The morning sun lit up the weathered wood. For the first time in three decades, the house didn't look terrifying. It just looked old, tired, and ready to rest.

Claire looked up at the second-floor window of the abandoned house.

There was no one standing there. No ghost girl. No shadow.

"Mommy," Lily said, sitting beside her on the boat bench, holding her white stuffed rabbit.

Claire looked down at her daughter. "Yes, sweetie?"

"Look in my rabbit’s pocket," Lily said quietly.

Claire frowned, looking down at the plush toy. She had never noticed it before, but there was a small, hand-stitched pocket on the back of the stuffed rabbit’s white coat.