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her grandmother, the flickering engulfed her again. “Keep holding on, Nana.”
    â€œCan’t . . .” Nana said. Her legs fluttered, as though she were clinging to the wing of an airplane instead of a door frame.
    Toria grabbed one end of the ladder her brother Xander had used to mount the camera above the doorway to the landing. It was heavy and awkward, but she managed to drag it back to the antechamber. She laid it lengthwise on the floor across the opening. It was something, anyway.
    She returned to Nana. She knelt at her feet, pushed the bottoms of them. They wobbled under her palms, as though she were trying to connect two magnets.
    Crack!
    Nana’s feet shoved Toria back six inches. A piece of the door frame had snapped away. Nana was holding it, uselessly. Her other hand gripped the opposite side of the opening. Nana released the length of wood, stretched, and reclaimed a grip on the edge.
    Toria shifted over her grandmother to the landing. She clutched both hands on Nana’s wrist, put her feet against the wall, and pulled.
    â€œI got you,” Toria said. “But don’t let go.” Movement at the bottom of the stairs caught her eye. “Jesse! Je—”
    Not Jesse.
    Taksidian stood staring up at her. The man who wanted them out of the house, who had chased David, who had gotten the town to try to evict them. Cloaked in shadows, his face caught the flickering light, flashing like a skull in a haunted house. Toria screamed.
    Taksidian shook his head, the strobing light making it look like he was snapping his face back and forth. “I got you ,” he said, mocking Toria’s words to her grandmother.
    His shoe clicked down the first step, and he rose toward her.

CHAPTER

five
    â€œDoesn’t look so bad,” David whispered.
    â€œIf you think sticking your head in a garbage disposal isn’t bad,” Xander said.
    Crawling on their bellies, they had just reached the top of the hill. Below them, the creatures were mingling around the boulder-sized clumps of concrete, wrecked cars, and other refuse. Many were squatting down in small groups, as though discussing something. Earlier, when the creatures had come after them, David had not recognized any words, but he guessed they must have some way to communicate, some sort of language.
    â€œLooks like a lot of them are leaving,” he pointed out. Scores of them were picking their way through the rough terrain of trash toward the ruins of the city.
    â€œProbably heading out to forage for food,” Dad said.
    Keal slid backward, away from the crest. David, Dad, and Xander followed. When they were far enough down the hill to kneel without being seen, they huddled together.
    â€œWhy would Jesse send us here?” Xander asked Dad through clenched teethed. “To such a dangerous place?”
    â€œHe didn’t send ‘us,’ ” Dad reminded him. “You and David followed Keal and me on your own.”
    David could tell his brother was trying not to look guilty.
    Dad continued: “Besides, he was trying to explain what we’d find here when Keal fell through the portal.”
    Xander waved his hand over his head. “But this has nothing to do with finding Mom .”
    Their mother had been kidnapped into one of the worlds, and ever since then their lives had been consumed by trying to rescue her.
    â€œJesse wanted us to see the destroyed city, the future,” David said glumly. “To know how bad it gets . . . if we don’t stop it.”
    â€œStop it?” Xander said. “How?”
    â€œWorry about that later,” Keal said, glancing up toward the ridge. “We gotta get out of here.” He looked at each of them. “Ready?”
    â€œNo,” Xander snapped.
    Dad gripped Xander’s shoulder and spoke to Keal. “You go first. Keep your cap and blanket in front of you. Follow their pull. David, you grab Keal’s belt. Don’t let go.