Ricori raised the gun for a second blow. Before it could fall the doll-maker had leaped to her feet,
overturning her chair. A whispering ran over the cabinets like a thin veil of sound. The dolls seemed to
bend, to lean forward…
The doll-maker's eyes were on us now. They seemed to take in each and all of us at once. And they
were like flaming black suns in which danced tiny crimson flames.
Her will swept out and overwhelmed us. It was like a wave, tangible. I felt it strike me as though it were a
material thing. A numbness began to creep through me. I saw the hand of Ricori that clutched the pistol
twitch and whiten. I knew that same numbness was gripping him as it gripped McCann and the others…
Once more the doll-maker had trapped us!
I whispered: "Don't look at her, Ricori…don't look in her eyes…"