"They come out of the--oh, rats," she answers in a rush, her free hand digging in the pockets of her skirt and finally producing a small black shape--a scarab, carved out of obsidian. She shoves it into Penny's hands, her eyes frantic with fear, and continues to hurry them both down the stairs. "Take this. Don't let go of it, it'll--it wards off the undead, don't let go of it, they can't grab you if you have it."

One might wonder, in a less panicked moment, how the amulet can truly be said to work if Rosella had it herself and yet still ended up grabbed, but nightmare or not, this is her dream, and the certainty with which she says it makes it clear that it will work for Penny, perhaps because it didn't work for Rosella herself.

"They'll be everywhere," she adds after a moment, which isn't really an answer, but more of a vague prediction--even as the shadows begin to creep at the edges of the stairs.