He nodded. “Go. I’ll be right behind you.”
I scrambled to my feet and ran after Alice, the pounding of my heart a deafening war drum.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends…
When I entered the foyer, I took in the area with a rapid glance, searching for where Alice had gone. And then I saw her slowly ascending the stairs, her fingertips brushing along the banister, leaving a trail of fire in their wake.
“Oh, shit.”
My stomach sank as I realized what was happening. She was planning to burn down the house like one of her predecessors had done with the first house that had stood on these grounds.
I ran up the stairs behind her, passed her, not stopping until I’d made it to Merilee’s and Netty’s apartment. I was just reaching for the knob, when the door flung open with such force, it tore from the hinges. There was Merilee on the couch, Henry in her lap, now wide awake and crying quietly.
“Henry!” I called, my voice hoarse with emotion.
When he saw me, he tried to leap from Merilee’s lap and run to me, but she easily kept him where he was.
“Mama!” he sobbed, reaching for me with both arms.
I shook with rage and frustration, my thoughts racing as I tried to figure out what to do, how I could kill that fucking bitch without harming Henry.
Then Merilee’s mouth curved into a knowing grin. “Why, Zellie-girl,” she drawled, “you’vechanged.”
“Let him go,” I ground out, my hands balling into fists at my side.
“Or what?” she laughed. “Do you really think you can best me? I’ve lived for over a hundred years, Zellie-girl. You’ve been one of us for, what? Five minutes?”
As I glared at her, trying to figure out which option I was going to choose from the violent ideas I had for tearing her apart, a swirl of white mist began to form behind Merilee, and then another and another until there were too many to count. Within the mist, faces took form. I recognized Susanna and Eliza Dawes, the lady in the wall, and the woman who I’d seen murdered in my dream. But there were many others—nameless, forgotten.
Suddenly, their faces twisted into terrifying death masks, rotten, putrid, screaming with vengeance. I gasped, and stumbled back a few steps, my eyes going wide.
Merilee’s brows twitched together in a confused frown when she saw my reaction. “What the—”
Whatever she’d planned to say was abruptly cut short by a ragged scream as the spirits of the victims of the horrors at Dawes House attacked, tearing into her with ghostly fingers. She released Henry to claw at her skin, ripping off her own flesh in her frenzied attempt to pull her assailants off her.
Henry vaulted from her lap and ran to me. I scooped him up and pivoted to run from the apartment, but caught sight of Ms. Netty, sitting in her wheelchair in the doorway of her bedroom.
Her shoulders sagged, her eyes taking in the scene with detached resignation. She turned her head to me and held my gaze briefly. “Run, girl,” she told me, her voice flat, emotionless. “Go now before it’s too late.”
I’d come back for her, I decided. As soon as I got Henry to safety, I’d come back.
I raced down the servants’ stairs, reaching the foyer as the floors above began to creak and collapse, the flames spreading with unnatural speed. I ran with Henry to June and Earl’s apartment. Finding the door standing open, the doorframe splintered from someone breaking in, I rushed inside, yelling for Addie, but not finding her in her bedroom.
“Addie, honey!” I screamed. “Where are you?”
“Outside, Mama!” Henry told me, bouncing a little in my arms, urging me back toward the doorway.
Not stopping to question his assertion, I hurried out of the house and down the steps. Addie stood at the gate to the yard, holding a little stuffed doll in her arms and sobbing. My heart fluttered with relief at seeing her safe. I rushed to her and dropped to my knees, gathering her close.
“It’s okay, baby,” I assured her. “I’ve got you. It’s okay.”
In the distance, sirens rapidly approached. I looked around, searching for Whit.
“Addie, where’s Whit? Did you see him?”
She nodded, hiccupping as her sobs slowed. “He brought me here. Then he went to look for you and Henry.”
My head snapped back toward the house, now completely engulfed. “No,” I breathed, fear squeezing my heart. “Oh, God, no.”
