2. When was the last time you checked under your bed? Bet you do tonight. Think of a time you were truly terrified. What exactly was that little hair-raising experience? Was your heart beating quickly, were your hands clammy? Oh do tell all.

3. Vocabulary Words Hordes Receding Fathom Edible Derisive

4. Vocabulary Words Hordes - large, moving crowds Receding – moving back Fathom – understand Edible – fit to be eaten Derisive – scornful and ridiculing

5. Characters Narrator – a young man looking for a way to make money for a marriage Le Gleo - the head keeper. He was a Breton (Northern France) Itchoua - a Basque (a region high in a Spanish mountain range) He is 12 or so years older than the other keepers.

6. Foreshadowing A hint of what is to come I did not give the warnings of the old-timers a second thought.

7. Three Skeleton Key, the small rock on which the light stood, bore a bad reputation.

8. Building Suspense Tension within the reader. The reader wants to know what will happen next. The rats did not drown. Not these fellows! They formed ranks in the water, heads lifted, tails stretched out…

9. What’s wrong with her crew? Are they insane?