There was no response.  As Jude listened, her breaths coming in short, terrified gasps, there was, at first, only the sound of silence, underscored by the coruscations of the coal fire within the iron pot-bellied stove.<br/><br/>And then...there was a faint, very faint shuffling sound, like socks or slippers treading across the floor.  In the stove-lit darkness of the living room, the shadows danced obscenely on the walls.<br/><br/>The shuffling sounds seemed to come closer and closer.  And then, from around the corner of the couch, there appeared a pair of boots.<br/><br/>Just a pair of boots, and nothing more.  They were brown, and leather, the antiquated sort that came halfway up the shin and were tied by means of a simple cord that crossed back and forth from one side to the other.  Jude had attended a Renaissance Faire once, and had seen boots like that there.<br/><br/>They stopped, standing side by side, as if they contained an invisible person who was now studying her intently.