The Hollow Places

Kara tells Simon she has been clawing at the patched portal in her sleep, and they realize the willows can mentally influence those who have been to their world. To stop her from returning there, Simon secures her to the bed with a Velcro wrist restraint. Despite this, Kara wakes up in the willow world later that night.

The boatman with willow roots for legs attacks her. Simon, who has also begun sleepwalking, appears and helps Kara flee back through the portal. She injures her knee as they scramble out. They brace the opening for the night and go to Simon’s apartment, making a late-night run to the coffee shop to stay awake. In the morning, they return to the museum, where Kara finds the corpse-otter carving on the floor beside the display case. Annoyed, she unlocks the case and throws it inside. She and Simon replace the destroyed drywall with sheet metal and drag the heavy Bigfoot statue in front of the portal to block it. Kara’s cat, Beau, shows no sign of the willows’ influence.