Jean looked up as the door to the bedroom was pushed open. The Owl was standing in the doorway. In his arms he was carrying a slender figure, dressed in the dark gray uniform of a West Point cadet. With a satisfied smile he walked across the room and lay Meredith at Jean's feet. "Behold, your daughter!" he said triumphantly. "Look into her face. See the features that must be familiar to you. Isn't she beautiful? Aren't you proud?"
Reed, Jean thought, it's Reed! Lily is Reed incarnate! The narrow aquiline nose, the wide-set eyes, the high cheekbones, the pale golden hair. Oh, my God, has he killed her? No, no-she's breathing!
"Don't hurt her! Don't you dare hurt her!" she cried. When she tried to shout, her voice became muffled. From the bed she could hear Laura's frightened sobs.
"I'm not going to hurt her, Jeannie. But I am going to kill her, and you are going to watch. Then it will be Laura's turn. Then yours. By then I think I'll be doing you a favor. I can't imagine you would want to live after watching your daughter die, will you?"
At a deliberately slow pace, The Owl walked across the room, removed the hanger with the plastic bag on which he had written "Lily/Meredith," and carried it back. He knelt beside Meredith's unconscious form and slid the hanger out of the bag. "Do you want to pray, Jean?" he asked. "I think the Twenty-third Psalm is appropriate for you to recite at this time. Go ahead-'The Lord is my shepherd
Stunned and horrified, Jean watched as The Owl began to slide the plastic over Lily's head.
"No, no, no…" Before the plastic reached Lily's nostrils, she tipped the chair, falling forward, protecting her child with her body. The chair hit The Owl on his arm and pinned it. He screeched with pain. As he struggled to pull it loose, he could hear from downstairs the sound of the front door being smashed open.