Creeeeeaaak!
A chill shot down my spine.
“Fuck,” I said, just as he said, “Shit.”
The wind was getting stronger, and another rumble of thunder shuddered through the house.
I had a hunch. Or maybe it was a ghostly compulsion. Almost as if I was being drawn there by an unseen hand, I headed for the dimly lit corridor beyond the stairs and made my way to the library.
Landon caught up with me at the door, which was a lot more cooperative now. It was amazing what oiling and frequent use could accomplish. He gave me a funny look, and then he pushed it open.
The fake candelabras were still on, and the teetering stacks of books were on their sides, deactivated. There was nothing particularly spooky about the room.
Except … that sound!
It was the creak, the sigh, the tinkling. And an old sconce on the wall, one the electrician hadn’t gotten to, flickered.
“Did you see that?” I asked Landon.
“Oh, I saw it.”
I looked around at the bookshelves, the grand windows, the beautiful fireplace. The library table and the strange, old furniture. The hidden closet.
We exchanged a look.
“Why would someone lock up a hidden closet and only put a few old ledgers in it?” I asked Landon. It was the question I’d been chewing on ever since we found it.
“Because it wasn’t just hiding old books.” He sounded excited now, and Landon hardly ever sounded excited.
Lightning flashed outside the windows, and thunder crashed on its heels. The storm was closer. The wind gusted again, and the noises returned.
I fumbled in my pocket for my keychain, where the skeleton key still hung. Landon threw his tie on the library table, unbuttoned a few buttons, rolled up his sleeves and pushed back the secret wall panel.
“We need a light,” I said as I turned the key in the lock of the inner door, my hands shaking, I was so nervous.
“I have my phone. It’ll have to do.” Landon flicked on his phone’s little white light.
I pushed the inner door open. “Look up top, since I can’t see up there. I’ll look down here.”
While Landon felt around on the shelf, I checked the corners again, seeing nothing obvious, just the rough, old boards that made up the walls.
But then there was … a breath.
A breath of air, and it camethroughthe wall.
“Landon!”
“Did you find something?” He bent over to my level, shooting the light into my eyes.
“Damn it, don’t blind me!” I waved the beam away.
“Sorry.” He shone it around the walls instead. “What is it?”
“I felt something. Like a breeze. Like air coming through the wall.”
“Where?” He sounded excited again.
Together, we looked around where I’d felt the strange breath of air. Landon pressed on the boards. I eyed the floorboards.
