Her [Esperanza's] smile faded, her chest tightened, and a heavy
blanket of anguish smothered her smallest joy.
What is being compared?

to save the day, harry must get past a scary three-headed guard dog.

martians or other types of aliens represent a unique fear as opposed to zombies. vampires and other types of monsters.   in most sci-fi stories, aliens come from other worlds and have different or more advanced technology.   abductions and experimentation on human bodies that involve these technologies, or the use of these technologies against human beings and the use of unknown "powers", are a type of fear that's different from that of other types of monsters.  

your eyes are the first things that you open

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