Pure (Book 1, Pure Series) (25 page)

           
He took my hand in a firm grip and ran with me up the stairs.
 
When we reached the top landing, he released me.

           
"Go to her and bring her out quickly.
 
I will go down stairs to guard your exit."

           
I switched on the light and hurried down the hall.
 
I flung GM's bedroom door open.
 
I stumbled across the dim room to my grandmother's bed.
 
I could just make out her sleeping form.
 
Though GM liked to keep late hours, when she did sleep, she slept deeply.
 
I could hear the commotion downstairs, and I marveled incredulously at her ability to sleep through it.

           
"GM, wake up," I said, panic rising in my voice.
 
"GM, we have to get out of the house."

           
GM did not stir.

           
For one brief moment, I feared that somehow the creature below had already gotten to her and that she was dead.
 
I forced my fear away and shook her by the shoulder.

           
To my relief, GM woke up and blinked, shading her eyes against the light in the hall.

           
"Katie, what's wrong?"

           
"GM, you have to get up," I said.
 
"We have to leave the house right now."

           
I tried to keep the trembling out of my voice.

           
GM sat up.
 
"What?
 
Why?"

           
I didn't have time to be diplomatic.
 
"Because if we don't we're going to die."

           
"Solnyshko," GM said with concern, "what is wrong with you?"

           
"GM, someone's downstairs trying to get in," I said.
 
"It's the same person who took all the people from school.
 
He's come for us now."

           
GM's eyes widened with horror.
 
She hastily shoved her feet into a pair of shoes by the bed.
 
"I'm coming.
 
I'm coming.
 
Solnyshko, grab some shoes and a coat to wear."

           
I hurried to my room to comply.

           
Soon, GM and I ran out into the hall in coats, shoes, and nightclothes.

           
As I reached the ground floor, I could hear a horrible splintering noise.

           
"He's coming in," William cried from the kitchen.

           
"I'll get your purse, GM," I shouted.
 
"Just run for the front door."

           
I grabbed the purse and turned to look for GM.
 
Instead of running, she was standing in the hall, staring toward the back of the house.

           
There was another splintering sound, followed by a crazed gibbering.
 
The gibbering was punctuated by screams.

           
"What is that?" GM asked, her eyes wide.
 
"What is going on?"

           
"He's ready to strike," William shouted.
 
"Both of you need to get out of here.
 
Now!"

           
I looked for William.
 
All I could see was his dark outline in the kitchen.

           
"We'll go to the police," GM said.

           
"No!" William shouted sharply.

           
Anger flickered in GM's eyes.

           
The gibbering and screaming escalated.
 
There was a loud crash.

           
"Why not?" GM demanded.

           
"That's one of the first places he'll look when he finds you're gone.
 
And the police can't stop him.
 
Get out of this town.
 
Go – run!
 
If I survive I'll find the two of you wherever you are."

           
I felt a sharp stab of terror run through me.
 
"
If
you survive?"

           
"Yes, 'if'!" William shouted.
 
"If not, then you'll have to keep running."

           
An even louder crash shook the house, and I heard a triumphant shriek.
 
Luminous white smoke swirled into the kitchen.
 
Over William's shoulder, I could see a massive, dark shape moving in the kitchen.
 
The shape charged into the hall and I caught sight of a face – ghastly, pale, and bloated – a face from a nightmare.

           
I was rooted to the spot in horror.

           
"Come!" GM cried.
 
She grabbed my hand and dragged me out through the broken front door.

           
I risked one last look back.
 
William turned, and his eyes met mine for just a moment.
 
My own eyes filled with tears as GM dragged me away.

Chapter 11.

We ran to the car, and GM sped off into the night.

           
"GM, where's your phone?" I asked urgently.
 
"Do you have your phone?"

           
"It's in my purse, Solnyshko," GM said, turning a corner sharply.
 
"It fell to the floor by your feet."

           
Of course it was – I was the one who had dropped it.
 
Fear was clouding my thinking.
 
I found the purse and then fumbled with the clasp.
 
I managed to get it open, and I searched frantically for the phone.

           
"Who are you calling?" GM asked.

           
"The police," I said.
 
I felt panic rising in me as I continued to look for the phone.

           
"He told us not to go to the police, Solnyshko."

           
"I know," I said.
 
"I'm not calling for us.
 
I'm calling for him.
 
The police should go out to the house to help him.
 
Maybe they can scare the creature off."

           
I found the phone, and I dialed 911 with trembling fingers.
 
A woman with a reassuring voice answered, and I told her that our house was being broken into.
 
Then I gave her the address.

           
She told me help was on the way.

           
I considered calling Charisse to tell her we had to leave town and not to worry, but I knew she wouldn't answer.
 
I considered calling Simon, too, but I knew he
would
answer.
 
And he might try to come after us.
 
I didn't want him getting mixed up in this.

           
"Who is he, Solnyshko?" GM asked after I put the phone back.

           
I looked over at her.
 
Though the light was dim, I could see that her face was carefully neutral.
 
It was the face she wore whenever she talked about troubling subjects – like the past.

           
"Who do you mean?" I asked.

           
"The young man at our house," GM replied.
 
"Who was he?"

           
"He broke down the front door," I said.
 
"He came to warn us about the attack.
 
He's the only reason we got out of the house in time."

           
GM was silent.

           
I hoped she wouldn't ask me any further questions about William.
 
I didn't want him to become something that would be off limits.

           
I thought back to the horrible, distorted white face I had seen in the hall back at the house.
 
I felt sick with fear for William.

           
"Have you heard of a creature called a 'kost'?" I asked.

           
"Yes," GM said.
 
"Did the young man say that that's what that was?"

           
"Yes," I replied.
 
"And he gave me this iron cross.
 
He said it would prevent the creature from tracking me."

           
GM fingered her own silver cross – I knew that she usually slept with it on.

           
"Is a kost one of those things that you don't believe in?" I asked.

           
GM simply sighed.

           
"Will he be okay back at the house?" I asked.

           
GM looked over at me then.
 
"I hope so, Solnyshko."

           
I looked out the window.
 
The streets were deserted, and the streetlights flashed across my eyes from time to time, blinding me.
 
William was back at the house with that Gleb creature at this moment.
 
Was it even now tearing him apart?
 
I closed my eyes and felt tears work their way out from under my lids and roll down my cheeks.

           
GM switched on some music, and I heard the opening strains of Mussoursky's
Pictures at an Exhibition
.
 
The piece had been my mother's favorite, and I always found it soothing.
 
GM favored the original arrangement for piano.

           
I listened, and the music worked its usual charm.
 
When we got to
The Great Gate Kiev
, I couldn't help but smile.

           
"Behind the great gate at Kiev," I murmured.
 
"That's what mom always answered whenever I asked where anything was.
 
If I lost a toy or wondered where someone had gone, she always said that what I was looking for was 'behind the great gate at Kiev.'"

           
GM smiled, too.
 
"I remember her saying that.
 
Kiev is actually in the Ukraine, though it was Russia's ancient capital."

           
I sat up straighter in my seat and peered out into the darkness.
 
"We've been driving for a long time.
 
Where are we going?"

           
"The airport," GM replied.

           
"The airport?" I was startled.
 
I could only think of one place that could mean – we only had ties to one other place in the world apart from Elspeth's Grove.
 
"Are we going to Russia?

           
"Ultimately," GM said.
 
"We will fly to Georgia first.
 
Georgia in Europe, of course.
 
Not the Georgia in the U.S."

           
"Georgia?
 
Why?"

           
"We would need a visa to enter Russia from the U.S.
 
We don't have time to obtain one.
 
We do not need a visa to enter Georgia.
 
We'll fly into Georgia and then cross the border."

           
"Illegally?" I asked.

           
"Illegally," GM replied.

           
"Are we going to see Galina and Aleksandr?" I asked.

           
"Yes," GM said.

           
"But you don't believe in their superstitions," I said.

           
GM gave me an uncharacteristically bleak look.
 
"We need to get answers.
 
Nothing is the way it should be."

           
We drove on through the night, and eventually I fell into a light sleep.

           
I was dimly aware of GM calling the airport to inquire about flights to Georgia, but for the most part I passed through troubled dreams that always ended the same way – with a hulking white-faced monster battering down a door to kill me or someone I cared for.

           
I had just started awake for what felt like the hundredth time, when bright lights passed over my face.
 
I sat up in my seat and looked out the window.
 
GM was pulling into a large, well-lit parking lot.

           
"Where are we?" I asked.

           
"We're at a mall not too far from the airport," GM replied.

           
I was puzzled.
 
"A mall?
 
What time is it?"

           
Though the lights were bright in the lot, there were no other cars, and the mall was clearly closed.

           
"It's a little past three in the morning, Solnyshko.
 
The mall will not be open for many hours yet, but luckily our flight does not leave till the afternoon.
 
We were lucky, too, that we will be leaving today.
 
There is only one flight to Georgia from here, and it only leaves every other day."

           
"But why are we at the mall?"

           
"We will need clothes, amongst other things, Solnyshko.
 
Otherwise, we will look very suspicious trying to board a plane in our nightclothes with no luggage.
 
Also, you may need to brush your hair."