“It’s a little funny, but there’s a trick that should keep you alive. More or less.” Aubrey moved closer to the bottom of the stairs. “Walk up the far-right edge. Don’t touch the middle of the steps. Don’t run but don’t linger either.”
“Right.” Still sounded like a death trap but now I had a plan.
Balancing on the ball of my foot, I crept from one step to the next. I seesawed between clenching the handrail and being too afraid to touch it. I didn’t breathe until I reached the first landing.
Aubrey clapped. “Well done.”
She did not know when to stop. “You could enjoy this less.”
“Doubt it.” Aubrey turned to Stella and Marni. “You two want to take a turn?”
“Who’s upstairs?” Stella asked.
“Again, no one. Frankly, you ladies have a problem with repetition.” Aubrey’s unreadable expression didn’t give anything away.
“We saw a face in the upstairs window,” Marni said.
Aubrey let out a fake gasp. “How ominous. That sounds like a new Sleepy Hollow legend. You should copyright the story, or whatever you do before the tour operators steal it.”
I was ten seconds away from losing it. The constant churning in my stomach stole the last of my patience. I’d never been one to fight or punch, but that would change if Aubrey didn’t start coughing up real information soon. “Stop being a jackass and answer Marni’s question.”
Aubrey sighed. “Fine. I’ll play along. Which room?”
“Second floor. Far right.” The vision played on repeat in my head. A silhouette. The shift of the curtain.
“Noah’s room.” Aubrey hesitated for a few awkward seconds. “I guarantee you he’s not in there.”
Stella shook her head. “What does that—”
“Quiet.” Noise. A sound. Footsteps above my head.
Jeremy.Finally.
Chapter Forty-Six
Hanna
Panic could wait. The fear of falling through a hole in the steps vanished. If I crashed to my death, fine, so long as I freed Jeremy first. “I knew it!”
“What is it?” Stella asked.
“Jeremy!” I screamed his name as I bounded up the stairs two at a time. The wood creaked and the wobble of the structure beneath me turned into a slight swinging. All I needed was to get up there. I’d figure out how to get back down later.
“Hanna!” Marni kept yelling for me to stop.
A pounding sound echoed around me. Above me. Below me. It wasn’t until Stella popped up at my side that I realized I had reinforcements. A reluctant one, but she followed me. I grabbed on to her hand for a second in gratitude... and for support before gliding down the gloomy hallway.
The lights flickered again as if someone had purposely partially unscrewed the bulbs for effect. A toppled desk blockedmost of the easiest path to the bedroom. The musty smell continued up here. I swear something scurried across the floor and into the bathroom. I blocked out visions of giant spiders and rabies-carrying rats and pushed forward, crawling over the desk and what was once a chair.
“Jeremy!”
A strange sort of haze covered the second-floor hallway. I didn’t smell fire and after the café I’d never forget that acrid punch. This was more like a smoky mist of dust. It made the air feel thick, the hallway almost impassable.
I kept going. Walked straight to the end of the hall and pushed open the partially closed door. Without thinking, I lifted my hand and flipped the switch just inside on the wall. So much blue. A shade that repeated on the comforter and pillows. Shelves lined with trucks and cars. A basketball sitting on the desk.
A space preserved in reverence to a missing boy.
On closer look I noticed the open drawers. Clothes tossed in a pile on the rug. A ripped curtain. A lampshade covered in a thick layer of dust. I opened the door to my left and it nearly came off in my hand. I had to scramble and push to keep it in place as I peeked into the connecting bathroom at the bottles scattered all over the floor. The brown stain in the tub. The steady drips of water, playing an eerie melody in the sink.
