How can I improve this paragraph?

good job! Here's just some of my thoughts. The first sentence has too many hyphenated adjectives that make it a little awkward. You may want to break down this sentence into 2 sentences: "Shrill cries filled the thick air as a white lace of light rushed through the window, uncovering a deformed face over the staircase, lurking in the distance as the girls groped their way along the damp wall." Lastly, I would change the "and" in the last sentence to "as". Hope this helps.