The day the sun vanished 2

The real Andy—or at least the one claiming to be real—stood beside a battered blue car at the end of the road.

"GRIM! RUN!"

Grim ran faster.

Then Andy's expression changed.

His eyes widened.

"BEHIND YOU!"

Grim glanced over his shoulder.

The creature was gaining on him.

Its limbs unfolded with every stride, stretching longer and longer until its hands scraped the pavement. Its legs bent in directions human legs weren't supposed to bend.

Grim pushed himself harder.

He had never run this fast in his life.

The creature was still faster.

"COME ON!" Andy shouted.

Grim was only a few feet away.

Five.

Four.

Three—

Something caught his ankle.

He hit the pavement and slid forward, scraping his hands against the road.

Andy grabbed his arm.

For one wonderful second, Grim thought he was safe.

Then the creature pulled.

Andy held on.

"GRIM, DON'T LET GO!"

Grim clutched Andy's wrist with both hands.

The thing behind him leaned forward.

Its face hovered inches above his own.

And Grim saw something that made his blood turn cold.

The creature had no reflection in its eyes.

Instead, he saw a tiny, perfectly clear image of the sun.

Burning.

Black.

And surrounded by thousands of tiny moving figures.

The creature whispered something only Grim could hear.

"You're the reason we're here."

Then it pulled him into the darkness beneath the road.

Andy's fingers slipped from Grim's wrist.

"GRIM!"

The pavement closed.

Silence.

No blood.

No broken ground.

No sign that anyone had ever been there.

Andy fell backward into the street, staring at the empty pavement.

For several seconds, he couldn't breathe.

Then he started pounding the road with his fists.

"NO! NO, NO, NO!"

He searched every inch of the street, screaming Grim's name until his voice cracked.

Nothing answered.

Except his phone.

It buzzed in his pocket.

A new message had arrived.

GRIM:

Andy?

Andy froze.

Another message appeared.

I'm scared.

His fingers trembled as he typed.

Where are you?

The reply came immediately.

Underneath you.

Andy dropped the phone.

A faint scratching sound came from below the pavement.

Three scratches.

A pause.

Three more.

Then Grim's voice rose from somewhere beneath the street.

"Andy?"

It sounded exactly like him.

"Andy, please."

Andy backed away.

"Help me."

A crack appeared in the pavement.

Something pale pressed against it from underneath.

A single human finger.

Then a second.

The fingers slowly curled around the edges of the crack.

Andy's phone buzzed again.

This time, the message wasn't from Grim.

It was from Travon.

Where are you guys?

Andy stared at the screen.

He couldn't tell Travon what had happened.

He couldn't explain how Grim had disappeared into solid pavement.

He couldn't even explain why the scratching beneath his feet sounded like someone trying to climb out of a coffin.

So he did the only thing he could think of.

He ran.

7:41 A.M. — Bellweather High School

Travon and Billy were barricading the school's front entrance when Andy came sprinting around the corner.

He slammed into the doors, gasping for air.

"Open it! OPEN IT!"

Billy shoved a desk aside and dragged Andy inside.

"What happened to you?"

Andy stumbled into the hallway.

"Grim."

Travon grabbed his shoulders.

"Where is he?"

Andy opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

"Andy," Travon said, more quietly. "Where's Grim?"

"He—"

Andy swallowed.

"He got taken."

Billy stared at him.

"Taken where?"

Andy looked down at the floor.

"Under the street."

Nobody spoke.

Somewhere in the building, a locker slammed shut.

Then another.

Then another.

The sound moved down the hallway toward them.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

Billy slowly turned toward the lockers.

"Please tell me those things are just doing that by themselves."

A voice came from inside the nearest locker.

"Guys?"

Travon went completely still.

It was Grim's voice.

"Guys, it's dark in here."

Andy covered his ears.

"No."

"Please open it."

Billy stepped forward.

Andy grabbed his jacket.

"Don't."

"But that's Grim!"

"THAT ISN'T GRIM!"

The locker rattled violently.

"ANDY!"

The voice sounded desperate now.

"PLEASE!"

Travon stared at the locker.

He wanted to believe it.

He wanted to believe that Grim was trapped inside, frightened and waiting for them to save him.

Then something inside the locker whispered:

"I can see you."

The hallway lights went out.

In the darkness, every locker door opened at once.

Hundreds of pale faces stared out at them.

Every face belonged to Grim.

And every single one was smiling.

Billy screamed.

Travon grabbed Andy's arm.

"RUN!"

The three boys sprinted toward the gymnasium as the creatures poured from the lockers behind them.

They ran past classrooms, overturned chairs, and abandoned backpacks. Hands reached through doorways. Long fingers scraped the walls. Their own voices echoed from every direction, begging them to stop.

Billy reached the gym doors first and threw himself inside.

Travon shoved Andy through.

They slammed the doors shut and dragged a basketball rack against them.

Something struck the other side.

Once.

Twice.

Then silence.

The boys stood in the middle of the gym, shaking.

Andy slid down the wall.

"He was right there," he whispered. "I was holding his hand."

Travon sat beside him.

For once, he had nothing clever to say.

Billy stared at the doors.

"Are we sure he's dead?"

Andy looked up.

"I don't know."

A long pause followed.

Then Andy's phone lit up.

One final message appeared on the screen.

GRIM:

Don't let me out.

The phone went black.

From somewhere beneath the gym floor came a single, distant knock.

And then another.

And then a third.

END OF CHAPTER 2

Grim is gone. His disappearance marks the first major death in the novel, but the mystery surrounding him remains unresolved. Andy, Billy, and Travon now have to survive without their friend—and they have no way of knowing whether the thing beneath Bellweather has actually finished with him.

End of chapter one.