"What is it?" Almond asked her.
The old woman held her arms tight around herself.
"He called it the Shutter," she said. "He told me about it once. He said every door has to close one day, and he'd made one that knew how."
Big D was already moving.
"Everyone to the west stones," he said. "Anyone who can fight. The rest go east, by the Door. Lily, that means you. Ainen."
"I'm here."
"Keep the pot on. Keep her with you." Big D nodded at the old woman. "And keep your hand on that thread. If the Door starts to go, I want to know."
Ainen put one hand flat on his chest. His face had gone pale.
"It's already thinner," he said.
They saw the Shutter at sunrise.
It came over the western grass like the shadow of a cloud. It was long and flat and wide, dark brown and dull, and it moved without legs.
It slid. It lay close against the ground and rippled forward, the way a cloth moves when someone pulls it across a table.
