It wasn’t a person. The...thing...was hard to look at head-on. It seemed to jump in her vision, made up of some dark matter that writhed and swirled within a form that was vaguely humanoid, but that kept changing shape, bulging huge one moment, limbs going thin and wispy with too many joints the next. It stepped forward on two legs, wobbly like it wasn’t used to walking, arms out for balance like a toddler taking its first shaky steps.

Cherie gripped Liam’s arm harder and pushed him a few halting paces toward the far wall of the subway car, her eyes never leaving the creature in front of her. Liam was making a panicked sound in the back of his throat and pulling at her grip like he wanted to bolt, but every instinct she had was telling her that you never run from a predator, because it wants to chase. She had to get him low down and out of sight and quiet him down somehow.

The black thing tottered another step, then it seemed to give up on its humanoid form and pushed forward in a dark wave aimed at the seats where Cherie, Liam, and the man in the gray coat were crouched. Cherie covered Aiden’s head with her arms and braced for impact.

But impact never came. She heard a bizarre sound, like a squelching noise echoing in a huge, empty room. She looked up.

The giant man had caught the thing around its formless middle and was holding it in what looked almost like a wrestling grip. His arms were locked around it, and he threw it to the ground, going down with it to hold it in place against the floor—the thing changed shape and struggled wildly.

Something under the huge man’s clothes was glowing with white light in long geometric patterns up and down his limbs, across his shoulder blades and down his back. It was clearest on his uncovered hands, but the light was strong enough that it shone through the heavy material of his coat and pants.

The thing’s struggling lessened, and for a moment it looked like the giant had subdued it. But then it jerked, hard, and with one huge lurch threw the massive man down the subway car. The man only narrowly missed crashing into an elderly woman who’d just been put back in her wheelchair, did crash into a man with a stubbly beard and a teal ski jacket, and was sent flying, tangled up with the other guy, toward the rear window.

The huge man seemed to twist in the air, barely making contact with the floor but still changing direction with incredible speed. He caught the stubbly bearded man and threw him out of the dangerous trajectory he’d been on—about to smash face-first into a metal seat—and somehow used that momentum to fling himself back toward the monster. His feet barely touched the ground as he took one, two, three bounding steps and crashed into the dark figure once more, sending them both rolling toward the front, a few more passengers jumping up onto the seats to get out of their way as they crashed like a pinball through the car.

The monster landed on top this time and slashed at the huge man’s chest—Cherie couldn’t tell what part of the smokelike form was sharp enough to cut someone, but she saw a spurt of blood and heard the man grunt in pain. A woman screamed as the monster got near her, but it ignored the other passengers and made its way back toward Cherie. It was in humanoid form again, walking more surely now but still moving much slower than it did when it was formless. She shrank back and pushed Liam fully under the seat behind her, then started pulling at the clasps of Aiden’s baby carrier to hand him off to his brother, but her hands were shaking too hard to undo them. She scrabbled at them uselessly as the creature came closer and closer.

There were tendrils of black smoke radiating off the monster, and one curled off its strange body and lightly brushed the back of her hand.

Cherie jerked back in shock—the spot where it touched felt like it was freezing and electrocuted at the same time, icy bolts shooting up her arm. She let out a strangled scream and scrambled over the seats behind her to put the seat backs between her and the creature. A blueish burn mark bubbled up on her skin.

“Pretty sure you’re looking for me.”

The man in the gray coat stepped in front of her, blocking her from the thing’s view. When he spoke, he didn’t sound scared—a little annoyed, maybe, but there was also a smirk in his voice. His arms were limp at his sides, and he made no move to fight the thing, but he did take a few steps to the side, drawing its attention into the center of the subway car and away from Cherie.

The monster’s smoky arm reached for him, and the freezing tendrils touched his face. He didn’t react at all as it reached out to embrace—or engulf—him.

But instead of grabbing him, the creature was shoved to one side and crashed down again—the huge man had gotten back up somehow and tackled it back to the floor. He lifted it up and slammed it back down, once, twice, three times, and the creature grew more formless, more like a puddle of ooze, with each hit.

After the fourth time, the big man let go of the creature and let it slump to the ground. The thing had stopped moving, though it was still smoking slightly.

“That one almost got you,” the man in the gray coat said to his companion. “I think you’re slipping.”

The huge man scoffed as he got back to his feet. “I had it under control—”

“Sure, buddy. Of course you did.”

Cherie was still on the ground, shaking and clutching both kids to her. The man in the gray coat turned to her and smiled down gently, though he didn’t meet her eyes.

“Hey, rough day, huh? Sorry about that. Don’t worry, they’ll take care of this soon.” He got a hand under her elbow and helped her awkwardly to her feet.

All around the subway car, people were stirring, standing up if they’d been knocked down, checking on their companions. Someone was crying quietly. Cherie could see the mail carrier step cautiously toward the puddle of monster on the floor, her sneaker inching closer like she wanted to prod it. Another guy, the man in the suit she’d seen get on earlier, stomped up to the huge man on noticeably shaky legs.

“Wh-what do you people think you’re doing?! Is this a prank? E-explain yourself!”

The huge guy ignored him, instead turning to the man in the gray coat. “We should clean up.”

“Yeah, yeah.” The man in the gray coat was still supporting Cherie’s weight, but he turned to face her. “Look at me, would you? I want to make sure you don’t have a concussion.”

She hesitated for a moment, nervous to meet the man’s eyes again, but...what a stupid thing to be nervous about. The bizarre feeling she’d experienced twice now had to be in her head, right?

Her eyes flicked up and met his.

Once again, she felt like she was being turned inside out. The man’s eyes were dark brown with little flecks of amber around the edges, and they seemed to grow and fill her entire vision. She was frozen, everything that made her her on display, every memory, every feeling, every secret...

But then, her vision grew cloudy around the edges. She felt tired, and almost...peaceful. Her body went slack and she released her grip on Liam—a spike of nerves shook her out of it for an instant as she tried to grab him again, but the soothing feeling intensified, and her arm fell limp to her side.

“Shhh...it’ll be okay,” she could hear him saying in a soothing voice. “It’ll all be fine soon.”

She could sense the events of the day getting foggier in her mind. She remembered vividly the image of the monster approaching her, its tendrils of fog caressing her hand with electric fire...but that was nonsense, wasn’t it? They’d been in an accident, and she’d gotten a bit banged up and...burned her hand, somehow...but monsters weren’t real. Obviously. She’d been tired and stressed and her mind had invented some weird fear-based nightmare...better to just forget.

Let it slip away…

A sickening squelch, and Cherie snapped back to reality. She was still staring the man in the eyes, but their mesmerizing power was replaced with a look of shock, mouth gaping in surprise. His body spasmed, and whatever strange link he’d built between them was broken.

Cherie looked down to see a dark, swirling tendril spearing him right through the chest. A red stain was spreading quickly across his coat.

The man slumped forward. Cherie caught him on instinct and went to the ground with him, slowing his fall a little and trying to keep his limp body from crushing Aiden.

“Dom!” From over the man’s (Dom’s?) shoulder, Cherie could see the giant guy rushing toward them, but he was blocked by more writhing tendrils of darkness—the monster had sprung back to life and was attacking furiously. The giant man tried to get ahold of it in another wrestling grip, but it flung him back, and this time she could hear a horrible crunch of metal and bone as he crashed into the subway seats.

Dom gasped in her arms, and she looked back to him. The tendril that had skewered him had been yanked back out, and the oozing blood was gushing now. She pulled off her scarf and wadded it up to staunch the flow, pressing down hard.

In only a few seconds, it was soaked through.

She could hear a battle going on nearby—the giant man roared and she heard the squelch of him grappling the monster again—but she couldn’t spare any attention. The man in the gray—red—coat seemed like he was trying to speak to her, but he couldn’t get the words out, couldn’t do anything but gasp wordlessly.

“Shh, shh, it’ll be okay,” she murmured absently, like he’d said to her just a few minutes ago, like she’d soothe her own kids when they were upset. Aiden was fussing and squirming in the carrier now, jostling her as she tried frantically to stop the bleeding, but she couldn’t spare any attention for him.

She just hoped he was too young to remember any of this.

Dom gasped again, and blood dribbled out of the corner of his mouth. That couldn’t be good, but there was nothing else she could think to do. She heard another slam as the giant was thrown down again.

The bleeding man’s arm twitched, and he reached out for her with a weak, shaking hand. It landed right on Aiden’s back. I really hope he’s too young to remember this, she thought as blood smeared on the baby’s clothes.

His dark eyes locked with hers once more. This time, she didn’t feel anything strange—she just saw a scared, hurt person who wanted it to stop.

An instant later, he burst into nothing.

He was there one moment, gone the next—no blood or guts, just an incredibly brief flash of light and his body exploded outward so fast she could hardly follow it. The hand she’d had on his chest to hold his blood in went right through the void where his body had been, sending her falling forward. She scrabbled at the floor for a moment, unable to process what she’d just seen, unsure if he was gone or somehow invisible.

All he’d left behind were bloodstains on the floor and her clothes, and tiny, glowing bits of something that sparkled in the air like dust in a sunbeam.

Cherie looked around frantically, remembering that they were still under attack. Only ten feet away, she could see the giant man struggling against the monster, but he was pinned underneath it this time—she saw one of the other passengers throw a backpack at it, but the object missed it entirely, or maybe it passed right through.

The thing slammed the huge man into the floor, almost like a parody of the move the giant had used just a few minutes ago, and he lay still.

As she watched, though, the tiny motes of light spread throughout the subway car. They’d seemed harmless as they surrounded her body and filled the air around her, but as they touched the creature, it jerked away as if burned. It attacked wildly and randomly, coming disturbingly close to hitting a few other passengers who scrambled out of its way, but it didn’t seem to be aiming for them at all.

The terrifying figure changed shape as it flailed, now human shaped, now a bulging slug, now all elbows and knees, always made out of the same swirling nothingness. But as she watched it, frozen in place, she saw that it was being diminished bit by bit. It was no longer fighting the huge man—he lay unmoving (dead?) on the floor—but something was destroying it a little at a time. It didn’t try to attack anyone, just whipped around wildly while bits and pieces of it dissolved, hissing and dissipating into the air.

A few moments later it was the size of a golden retriever, then a house cat. The other passengers were frozen just as she was, glued to the spot as they watched, no idea what they should do or if getting any closer was dangerous.

The thing shrunk smaller and smaller until only a tiny wisp of smoke remained. A moment later, that wisp was blown away, leaving nothing behind but a torn-up subway car and a too-still man.

Silence descended, the onlookers all stunned into stillness.

A long moment passed. Cherie heard the other passengers start to move around, talking in hushed voices, but she let them get on with it without her. She sat back heavily on the floor of the subway car, held her boys close, and waited for rescue.