Free Awoken by Timothy Miller Page A

leave my room like this. I’d better clean that up right now.”
    Barbara clucked her tongue and smiled. “I’ll help you,” she said. “But next time you’re camping in your room, try to be more careful.”
    “I’ll clean up myself, Mrs. Wiffle.” Taking her by the arm, Michael ushered her to the door. “I’m the one who broke the lamp.”
    “Well, if you’re sure.” Barbara sounded uncertain, but didn’t resist as he pushed her into the hall. “Just make certain you pick up all the glass. You wouldn’t want to cut your foot.”
    “No problem, Mrs. Wiffle. I’ll get all the glass.”
    “Barbara, dear.”
    “No problem, Mrs. Barbara,” he said hastily. He started to shut the door, but Barbara held it open. “Is that plaster on the floor?”
    Michael’s heart jumped. “No. I don’t think so.”
    “I think it is.” Barbara squinted at the white powder on the floor. “Now, where did that come from?” Her gaze began to lift toward the ceiling.
    The doorbell rang.
    “There’s someone at the door!” Karl called from downstairs.
    Barbara rolled her eyes. “Would it kill him to get up and answer the door himself?”
    “Barb!”
    “I’m coming, you old goat,” she muttered. “I had better get that before Karl gives himself an aneurism. Make sure you clean up all the glass, dear.”
    Saved by the bell, literally .
    “No problem, Mrs. Wiffle.”
    Barbara nodded and started down the hall, and he shut the door.
    Lina and the dollman dropped to the floor as gracefully as cats. Above them, deep finger holes marked where they had dug into the plaster to maintain their precarious grip, where they’d clung, using only the strength of their arms to support the weight of their entire bodies as they clung to the ceiling.
    “That was close,” Lina said.
    “No kidding,” Michael said. “How did you do that?”
    Before Lina could answer, the dollman seized Michael’s pants leg and, with an incredible display of strength, began dragging him toward the window.
    “Hey!” Michael struggled to keep his balance, hopping on one leg behind the dollman. “Knock it off.”
    “We must flee, Awoken,” the dollman said. “The Ven are near. This one will show you the way.”
    “Don’t blow a blood vessel, Sméagol,” Michael said. The dollman didn’t look much like the pathetic ring-obsessed creature from Lord of the Rings , but he certainly seemed as single-minded. “I’m on my way out already. So let go of my leg.”
    The dollman released him. “The People flee?”
    Michael nodded as he brushed down his rumpled jeans. “That’s what I’ve been saying. I was making a rope so I could get out the window when everyone decided to stop by for a visit and…wait a minute. Did you say Ven?”
    The dollman bobbed his head. “The other name of the Fallen, Awoken. The People must flee.”
    Lina snorted. “Dollman, waystone, stonesong, and now Ven? I’ve been hanging out with you two less than an hour, and already I feel like I need a dictionary. Are you just making these words up as you go along?”
    “I wish,” said Michael. He turned to the dollman. “How close are they? I mean, how much time do we have?”
    The doorbell rang again, followed by a hard knock.
    The dollman glanced fearfully at the door. “The People have no time, Awoken. The Fallen have come. The Ven are here.”

16
Out of Time
    The knocking grew louder.
    “No. No. No.” Michael combed his fingers through his tangled hair, and tried to think. This was too soon. “This is all wrong. I was supposed to be gone before they came.”
    “What’s the big deal?” Lina asked. “And what’s a Ven, anyway?”
    “Crows and talking cats with funny eyes, and maybe a couple of psychos in sunglasses, but I’m not actually sure about that part,” Michael answered. He pressed his ear to the door. He could hear Barbara starting down the stairs. “Whatever they are, they scare the daylights out of the dollmen. And a friend of mine warned me