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Unless they’re busy eating—” She stopped herself then, and her pale face turned even whiter. “Sorry. There, uh, aren’t any Norse monsters that… do that, right?”
    Matt thought of Nidhogg—a giant serpent that gnawed at the roots of the world tree. When Ragnarök came, it would finally break through into the world and… Well, it was called “the corpse eater” for a reason.
    “Maybe the monsters are locked inside alone,” Baldwin said. “Without any people to eat.”
    “The doors
are
locked,” Ray said. “But I do hear people inside. While they aren’t screaming, they don’t exactly sound happy.”
    Matt could hear a girl pleading. Like she was begging for her life.
    “If you guys are going in, someone should stay out here,” Ray said. “I’ll do it.”
    “What?” Reyna said. “Absolutely not.”
    Matt heaved on the door as hard as he could. It wouldn’t budge.
    “Spread out,” Laurie said. “Find another entrance—”
    Matt pulled Mjölnir back and swung it at the glass door. It shattered on impact.
    “Or we could do that,” Laurie said.
    Ray glanced over at him. “Next time, could you give us some warning? So we don’t get sliced and diced?”
    “Glass shatters in the opposite direction of the force applied,” Matt said as he stepped through. “So the shards all land inside.”
    Reyna looked over at him. “Have some experience with breaking windows?”
    “No, I learned it in science class. Now, watch your step.”
    He jumped over the glass, then raced past the abandoned ticket booths and into the main hall. The girl was there. She was about his brother Josh’s age and wore a museum employee uniform.
    “Please,” she said. “Please, please, please. I didn’t mean it. I was just a little kid. It was a mistake. I never meant for anything to happen to you.”
    “Um, where’s the monster?” Baldwin whispered.
    The girl was pleading with thin air. Tears streamed down her face and she wobbled, as if her knees were about to give way. Before Matt could grab her, she screamed and tumbled onto the floor. He lunged to catch her and told her it wasokay, but she crab-scuttled away, her eyes wide with terror as she stared at something—or someone—he couldn’t see.
    “It was a mistake,” she sobbed. “Please believe me. I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to hurt anyone.”
    “It’s mara,” Matt said to the others.
    He looked around sharply, searching for the ugly old crones who were the personification of nightmares. The bringers of nightmares, too. They’d encountered mara before at Baldwin’s house, soon after they’d first met him.
    That was why the lights had gone out. So the mara could come and infect everyone with nightmares. Some people had fled, while others argued with their families or neighbors. But those weren’t really nightmares, just irrational fear and anger. Real nightmares were like this—the girl trapped in the darkest corners of her mind, imagining someone she’d hurt had returned for revenge.
    “The mara are here in the museum,” he said. “This is the epicenter. Their power broadcasts, so it’s not as bad outside.”
    “I didn’t really like the mara,” Reyna said. “I’d prefer trolls.”
    Matt agreed. Trolls were real. Big chunks of rock, nearly impossible to fight, but still solid. Nightmares were a whole other thing.
    “We’ve done it before,” he said. “We can handle it. Owen?”
    The older boy looked over.
    “Can you send your Berserkers out to hunt for mara and people in trouble?”
    “I can.”
    Once Owen had stepped out to speak to his troops, Matt said, “Let’s stick together, see what we can do to make sure no one gets affected.”

    As Matt walked through an exhibit hall, he marveled at how much more difficult everything was in a near-total lack of light. For one thing, you couldn’t see the dinosaurs until you smacked into their leg bones and the skeletons nearly toppled onto your head. For another, plans to