Leaves and sticks crunched under my feet. I stumbled over pieces of wood and what looked like remnants of a chair as a chilled wind blew across my shoulders. The light jacket I’d thrown on couldn’t beat back the stormy fall weather knocking at Sleepy Hollow’s door.
I kicked aside a shard of glass. “There’s a broken window somewhere.”
“Everything is broken around here. I wonder if we should just try to smash in the front door.” Marni stood bundled up, aiming her flashlight at the second floor. “Look up there.”
I followed the beam to the decrepit balcony off what once served as the primary bedroom. A torn piece of curtain poked through the hole in the glass door. “That’s not helpful.”
“It’s either climb or break down a door.” Marni didn’t sound like a fan of either option.
“Wrong.” Hanna didn’t wait for a response. She slammed her elbow into the window in front of us. It shattered on impact, sending glass tumbling inside the room and a few shards pinging at our feet.
Marni gasped. “You could cut yourself.”
Marni had a point. The move tore Hanna’s quilted jacket. I didn’t see blood but that had to sting.
“Don’t care as long as I find Jeremy.” Hanna took a stick andknocked out the rest of the glass. The crash and crinkle rang out in the still night. “Done.”
Yeah. Sure. Done. I glanced around, half waiting for the police or neighbors or Aubrey to descend. “Now what?”
“I crawl in.” Hanna started to do just that.
“Whoa there, Wonder Woman.” I pulled her back and handed her my gloves. “At least wear these. You’re not made of steel.”
“Are you sure she’s not?” Marni asked.
“Thanks.” Hanna mumbled the word as she tugged the gloves on and tightened her hold on that stick.
She slipped one leg inside, then curled tight and small and ducked until her head cleared the window frame. Then her second leg disappeared into the house and so did the rest of her.
“You know if Aubrey shows up Hanna might really strangle her,” Marni said.
I didn’t bother to debate whether that would be a bad thing. “I know I should be sad about that, but...”
The damp air and storm rumbling in the distance started a countdown. We needed to get this hunt done before the deluge forced us to huddle inside this house of horrors.
Nothing happened.
Marni and I stood still, waiting for Hanna to show up again. The lights inside stayed off. The expected sounds of stomping and things being moved never materialized. As each second ticked by the tension rose. A churning ball of anxiety started flipping around in my stomach.
Go after her? Don’t go after her?
“Hanna?”
“Door’s open. Are you coming?” Hanna called out from the front of the house.
She peeked around the corner. I couldn’t see her face in the darkness but knew she wore a frustrated expression. We slowed her down. No question about it.
I didn’t dare say no. “Right.”
“Maybe she really is Wonder Woman,” Marni mumbled between labored breaths.
I looked at her. Took in her stark expression. “Are you okay?”
“This house scares the hell out of me.”
Patrick’s body on the floor. Victoria’s threats. So much of Marni’s hesitant personality made sense now. She commanded her classroom. The dangers of real life terrified her. The mix of anxiety and depression thumped through her, limiting who she thought she could be and what she wanted to accomplish. If we survived this Tanner mess without going to prison or being run out of town, I’d sit down with her. See if I could offer some support.
Hanna held the front door open, then closed it behind us, blocking the uptick in biting wind once we were all inside. The crush of air still made the walls shudder and moan as stray gusts slipped inside, but the remains of the house blocked the worst of the weather.
