Free Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror by Jennifer Finney Boylan

suddenly thrown against the wall. Falcon heard the many pieces of the shattered chair rolling around the floor.
    Then the room fell silent, or nearly. Falcon was still sitting up in his bed. The thing was breathing heavily, the vicious, snarling exhalations coming one after the other.
    Then it growled. It took a step toward the bed. There was another growl, deeper and crueler this time.
    Falcon did not understand whatever language it was this thing was speaking in, but he did know this much: whatever this thing was, it was now aware that it was not alone.
    He wondered whether he ought to make a run for it. It might be possible to get to the door before this giant, horrendous thing got there. On the other hand, the one thing Falcon knew about dealing with hostile creatures was, Don’t run. If you remain still and calm, eventually the creature will decide that you’re not an enemy and go away.
    Right.
    Falcon counted to three, then ran as fast as he couldtoward the door, through the pitch-black of his room in the Tower of Aberrations.
    Unfortunately the entity was standing directly in his path, and Falcon managed to plow directly into its chest.
    The creature roared and screamed as Falcon ran into it. Falcon bounced off its chest and fell backward onto the floor.
    Falcon hit his head as he fell, and for a moment he felt like his skull was a large bell that had just been struck loudly with a mallet. Then he sat up on his elbows, looking for the door. He wondered once again whether it might be possible to make a run for it.
    The moon came out from behind a cloud at this moment, and in the dim light, Falcon could now discern the monster’s features. It was like a bear, only it seemed larger and more hideous than any bear Falcon had seen. Its fur was thick and greasy, and there appeared to be bits of earth or mud clinging to it as well. The four huge legs were tipped with paws the size of catcher’s mitts, with a spiky claw at the point of each toe. Worst of all was its enormous head, which seemed to consist almost entirely of an appalling mouth filled with huge, yellow, sharp teeth. Two dull, pitiless eyes looked at Falcon, and in them he could see his own pale reflection even as the creature jumped on Falcon and pinned him to the floor.
    The creature put its malicious forepaws on Falcon’stwo shoulders and drew its face closer to his. Falcon could feel its hot, horrible breath on his neck now, a breath that smelled of blood and worms and things ripped from the hot belly of the earth. The monster growled again. A long string of saliva fell from its quivery black lips and dripped onto Falcon’s cheek.
    â€œPlease,” Falcon whispered. “Please?”
    Then the thing seemed to take a deep breath. It paused for a second. And then it exhaled into Falcon’s face. The last thing he saw was a pale gray cloud coming from the creature’s mouth.
    Falcon closed his eyes and imagined himself sinking through the cold, black waters of Carrabec Pond. He had a last fleeting memory of Gamm, and of his home in Cold River—its windows shuttered, its doors closed up forever.

7
J ONNY F RANKENSTEIN AND THE W EREBEAR
    F alcon opened his eyes. “Gamm?” he said.
    He looked around his dorm room. There were great, hideous claw marks on the walls. Pieces of a broken chair were all over the floor. The curtains on the window had been shredded, and the stuffing from a pillow seemed to have been scattered in every direction. Falcon’s backpack was torn up into five ragged pieces, and his schoolbooks and his coat had also been destroyed, along with the chemistry set and some of the old science equipment.
    From the bunk over his head, Falcon heard the sound of someone snoring.
    Oh my god, Falcon thought. It’s asleep.
    Quietly he put his feet on the floor, then stood up slowly. The bedsprings creaked. He took a tiny step away from the bed, and the floor groaned beneath his foot. He took another step,