Chapter 308. Monsters in the Room

Aurora’s POV

“I need you to tell me exactly where you saw it, Riley,” I asked him softly, crouching beside him so we were at eye level. I tried to keep my voice steady, calm, but I could feel the tremble hiding in my bones. My fingers clutched the edge of the nightdress as if it would anchor me.

He looked up at me with those wide eyes, the ones that always made him look younger than he was. His lips parted, hesitated. “Outside the window,” he whispered. “It was just… standing there. Looking in at me.”

A breath left my lungs before I could stop it. I didn’t even realize I was holding it in. The image — that thing outside Riley’s window, watching him — burned itself into my mind like a brand. My spine stiffened, and I shivered, involuntarily.

“Looking at you,” I repeated, almost to myself. “It saw you.”

Riley nodded slowly. “It didn’t move. It just stood there like it was waiting for something. I pulled the blanket over my head and I just… I hoped