The Dollkeeper

the long version

Old Emma Prescott had a way with children. She showed them how to find books in the library and she let them sit in a circle around her while she read them stories. Center Hollow sure was lucky to have a librarian like her. Especially when nearly a dozen kids had been reported missing over the last few months, and you just didn't know who you could trust anymore... Miss Prescott had a way with dolls, too. She had a whole collection of them that looked exactly like the town's children. They almost looked alive -- with eyes that gleamed as they stared, and skin so real that blood seemed to flow just beneath the surface. Unlike the missing children, who were looking -- well, rather dead. At least, no matter how many of Center Hollow's precious darlings disappeared, her dolls would never leave her. And they would never tell on her...