“In a manner of speaking.” His brow furrowed and a deep crease dug into his forehead.
“Damn it, Tyler, I—”
Moving quickly, he settled his lips on mine. The double-talk was confusing, and I still didn’t feel like my brain was working at top speed. None of it made sense. I wasn’t in good enough shape to fuck him or do anything even remotely sexual, but he kissed me anyway. He kept going until I gasped for breath and pushed against his chest. I wasn’t confused that he allowed me to move him because I’d have never gotten him away from me if he didn’t want to go.
“Listen to me tonight and do what I said. I don’t think… I don’t think he would want to damage the house,” he whispered under his breath. “So, just make sure you make the back door impassable.”
“Tyler, you’re really freaking me out,” I whispered. “Who are you talking about?”
“Never mind. I just need you to do as I said. What did I tell you to do?” he asked, his tone taking on such desperation that my heart raced, and I clung to his shirt with my hand.
“Barricade the back door.”
He let out a long breath. “After we get through the next two days, I’ll explain. I’ll sit you down and explain everything. I’ll have to if I want to keep you.” He knocked his forehead against mine and opened his eyes, and even though I was beginning to think I loved him, that sounded scary. But I only nodded.
“How about you let me keep you instead?” I whispered, and he smiled. “Maybe it would be simpler.”
“Deal. I’m yours forever.”
A warm burst of air swirled past us, and I glanced around the room, trying to decide what lucky draft had brought the heat from the fireplace. Laughing at my own overtired dramatics, I snuggled in against him. “You’ll go off and fix this in the morning, and we’ll be back in the city soon,” I whispered, more as a declaration of intention than anything.
He didn’t agree, only held me closer, and I stayed awake long after his eyes were closed, listening to this creepy old house groan in the wind while sparks danced up the chimney. My mind created grotesque reflections on the thick, mirror-like black panes of glass. No matter which window I looked in, a trick of the light made Tyler appear to be a skeleton creature, and I closed my eyes but couldn’t fall asleep. My heart wouldn’t stop pounding. The knock to my head must have been harder than I thought.
10
Noble
My vision wasdark when I tried to open my eyes, and it took me a disoriented second of touching my fingers to the blindfold before I remembered the conversation with Tyler last night. He wanted me to wear it, so he must have slipped it up over my eyes. I hadn’t been able to fall asleep for hours after his soft breathing had filled the room.
“Tyler, are you here?” No answer met my ears except for a distant rumble of thunder. “Tyler?” I waited for several heartbeats but got nothing in return. He would have replied if he was here. I pushed the blindfold up and off my face, but when I glanced toward the windows, the sky outside was nearly night black with a brewing storm. There was no telling what time it could possibly be. Morning, afternoon, or evening—it was simply dark outside, but I was rested enough that I knew it wasn’t still early morning.
Thankfully my mind felt a little clearer today, which made me suspect I’d been right about the concussion. I felt around the goose egg on my head and it seemed smaller—maybe. It was still about the size of a golf ball. I’d slept but was in no way refreshed, and I groaned as I stretched out the kinks from sleeping on the floor. Getting up, I put on my shoes before I went exploring. As I walked, I searched my pockets for my phone, but it was missing. Maybe it had gotten lost in the car crash? Last night, Tyler had said he wanted me to finish barricading the house, and he’d been so serious about it. Sighing, I glanced down at my unhelpful hand and tucked it in my jacket pocket. I’d do what I could.
When I found the kitchen, along with what I thought must be the rear wall of the house, which also had the back door, it was surprisingly clean. The fridge wasn’t humming, so I assumed it didn’t work, but on top of the long wooden table sat several cases of bottled water, and there was a box of shelf-stable foods that didn’t need to be cooked. I picked up a package of Skittles and tucked them in my pocket. Obviously someone stayed here sometimes.Who?Tyler?
Shrugging, I grabbed a bottle of water and tucked it between my arm and side to open it. I sighed as I squeezed some of the water out onto myself but greedily drank it as I stared around the room.
What the hell is this place?Last night I’d been too out of it to worry about where we were. I’d mostly been happy to be out of the cold. The rumble of thunder got closer. Lightning flashed and sent a shiver down my spine. Seconds later rain began to pelt the house like gunfire and a chill seeped into my bones. It must be cold outside, cold enough that all this rain might shift to snow at some point. Frowning, I went back into the living room and stacked some wood onto the hot coals in the fireplace. I jabbed at the glowing embers until the wood caught fire and I had a blaze going.
I wasn’t sure how to block the back door so… I didn’t. Tyler had told me to do it, but it didn’t make much sense. If someone really wanted to get in here, they probably would. I poked around the downstairs. My first stop was the barricade across the front door. Tyler had dragged an old heavy couch from somewhere and tilted it against the wood. I stared in confusion at the door.Why worry about that so much and not the windows?
Shrugging, I continued my small adventure through the first floor, but the only things on it were the bathroom, sitting room, an empty dining room I’d gone through to find the kitchen, what appeared to be an old laundry room with a washing machine in it that predated the old top-loaders, and another sitting room with shiny silver-and-blue wallpaper and no furniture. I felt like a burglar. The dust trails on the floor in the fancy room made me think Tyler had taken the couch blocking the front door from there.
Up the stairs I went to the second floor and found a couple of bedrooms and another smaller bathroom. In one of the rooms, done in a rose petal theme, the reek of mildew and mothballs assaulted me. It seemed to be the only bedroom to have all the regular furniture, and there were even some wilted roses in a vase on the dresser. I was about to leave when I found a shelf of books almost hidden behind the open door. The titles appeared to be romance and mysteries with nothing newer than 1990. Shrugging, I grabbed two books. Then I noticed a small hardback copy ofSleepy Hollow. Shivering, I glanced at the rain-battered windows, as yet another rumble of thunder shook the house. I’d never get a better chance to read it. Laughing at myself, I took the books back downstairs with me.
For a while I freaked myself out readingSleepy Hollow, my heart hanging out near my throat through the scary parts. It didn’t take me as long to read the book as I thought it might, and by the time I was done, my belly was growling again. I tossed the book down on the couch and stood. My body ached worse than it had when I first woke up, and no amount of stretching was helping. I wandered back out toward the kitchen.
Rubbing at my eyes, which were beginning to burn from reading by firelight, I stopped in front of the table, then eyed up the wooden cupboards with black steel latches. The stuff in the box was mostly junk food, but if there was soup or something in cans, I could probably work out a way to warm it up on the fire. Nodding to myself, I went to the nearest cupboard and opened the door.
Confused, I stared. Three rows of tiny jars—maybe baby-food jars?—were stacked on the first shelf. They appeared to go all the way to the back. Something was suspended in each jar. I leaned forward and studied one for far too long. My mind didn’t want to make sense of what I was seeing. Then, chest heaving and heart hammering, I leaned back and slammed the cupboard door. Thecrackof wood was loud in the quiet house.
There was no way I’d seen what I thought I’d seen. I yanked open the cupboard door to get another peek. There wereeyesfloating in the jars, suspended in some sort of clear liquid. I shut the door again. My vision went blurry and my stomach heaved as I eyed up the closed cupboard door. Were they human? Maybe they weren’t even real?Are they a joke?
My gut churned and I grabbed another bottle of water as I backed out of the kitchen, keeping an eye on that cupboard as if it might grow legs and follow me out into the rest of the house. Back in the living room, a chill slithered through me that even sitting right beside the fire didn’t cure. I grabbed a blanket and wrapped up in it, huddled on the floor in front of the couch, sipping water. I set down the water bottle and gripped the blindfold around my neck with one hand, pulling on the fabric.
Tyler, where are you, what the hell are you doing, and what the fucking fuck is this house?
A gentle rapping on the front door sent my heart into the back of my throat. I whipped around to stare in that direction. Seconds later,knock,knock,knockfilled the front entryway, louder than the last time. I almost choked. I hadn’t checked the back door to see if it was locked. I dropped the blanket and ran directly to it. Once I got there, I scrabbled around on the door, twisting a huge deadbolt. Why hadn’t I done what Tyler said?Because I was thinking maybe he was nuts, that’s why.Groaning, I dragged a chair over and propped it under the door handle, for what little good it would do.
