marrow leads the way across the hall. the others check out the furnishings as they pass.
-- then almost silence. we pull back from the children's faces on the doors of the great hall to reveal the vast room standing in darkness. covens of strange shapes consort in the shadows, things that in the day would be lamps, the stuff of life. but now, at the very deepest limit of human hearing, it is as if something exhales.
marrow steps into the dark, vast room, his glasses glinting. the faint outline of the fireplace on the far wall looms in the darkness.
luke and theo drag nell down the stairs into the great hall. marrow brings up the rear. they retreat for the entry as luke puts his jacket over nell's shoulders. marrow stops, looks back up the stairs.
marrow, theo and luke barge into the great hall.
nell, marrow and theo reach the bottom of the stairs and pause. luke is halfway across the room, looking back to make sure they're with him --
luke looks at them helplessly. an awful, impending beat. without warning, the huge persian carpet he's standing on jerks out from under him. luke falls on his stomach.