“What happened?”
“I do not know. I heard music, so I followed. It called to me and I needed to know who was playing. When I entered, all the candles were lit. When I noticed the piano, I was compelled to play. I cannot explain it otherwise; I just knew that I needed to. I also knew that there was no fear in my music being heard so I allowed my emotions to be free while I played. The more I played the more I needed to, as if…oh, I do not know how to explain it but something came over me. The music…it… touched my soul as no other instrument before. It wasn’t until I missed a key that I glanced down and noticed that my fingers were fading.”
She sniffed and her voice wavered with her tears.
“I immediately got up from the piano and had intended to leave the room for help, but when I tried to cross the threshold, an invisible power held me here. I have not been able to leave. I called out over and over but nobody ever heard me. Eventually each candle burned down and I was left in the dark. I tried to snap my fingers for light, but my powers were gone.”
The more she spoke, the clearer her image became so that Cassian could finally see her as fully as he could also see the piano behind her.
“Cassian, who are you speaking to?” Petra asked as she started to step into the room.
“Stay there! Do not come in here,” he ordered.
Samantha was already stuck in this chamber and he might be as well, which meant they couldn’t allow anyone else to enter just in case.
“Why?” Petra asked standing just in front of the threshold. “And who were you speaking to?”
“Samantha. She is right there.” He pointed.
Petra stuck only her head in the room and looked around then frowned. “There is nobody there, Cassian. Are you well?”
He blew out a sigh. “I am only going to step out for a moment, if I am allowed,” he told Samantha. It was important to know that others could come and go without being stuck before anything else.
With a deep breath he approached the door and stepped out into the corridor, even walked further way to make certain then stopped. “Now you enter,” he told Petra. “Go into the room then return. But I should warn you, Samantha is stuck in there and cannot leave, so if you do not want to risk being stuck, I would understand.”
Petra frowned, eyebrows drawing in as if she was worried about him. “I am not concerned, but I am troubled that you are seeing what is not there.” She then stepped inside and walked to the center. Cassian remained on the outside watching.
Petra did a full turn, looking in every direction and shrugged.
“I am right here,” Samantha cried. “By the settee. Can you not see me?”
Petra turned and left the room without any barrier keeping her inside.
Cassian blew out a sigh that Petra could exit and returned to what he would now call the music room, since it held a piano that apparently had trapped Samantha somehow.
“Cassian, there is nobody in this room,” Petra insisted, her eyes full of apprehension as she studied his.
“I am here,” Samantha cried. “Why can she not see or hear me but you can?”
“Samantha is standing beside the piano. She has faded and apparently, I am the only person who can see or hear her.” It was not like him to yell, but he was growing frustrated and he turned to Samantha. “Is there a sign to prove you are here?”
Samantha bit her bottom lip and looked at the piano. Then with one index finger, she depressed a single key, then drew back her hand as if she’d been burned.
Petra gasped.
“She is here,” he said. “Go get your mother, all the mothers, and your female cousins. Get every witch, wizard and warlock in Nightshade Manor.”
“I will return quickly,” Petra promised as she rushed away.
She had been found!
“How long have you been here?” Cassian asked with concern.
“I left the wedding celebration…it was nearing midnight, I believe…I do not know.”
“That was twelve or thirteen hours ago.”
“It feels like days,” she admitted. “It is hard to tell the passage of time in darkness. What is this room? I had thought maybe it was somewhere the servants relaxed but none of them ever came in here.”
