Saige didn’t want to go down there. The passage to the hidden chamber was dark, like a rabbit hole that descended to nowhere but madness, or a gateway to the fiery depths of hell. Her flashlight did a poor job of revealing anything. The walls were uneven and damp, slick with mould and something that resembled black tar. It dripped in horrible fat drops. Saige stepped away, certain she was looking at blood.
Is the house… bleeding?
Again, she sensed the manor was alive. The chamber was its beating heart, the halls and passages its veins. Every room was a network, a part of something that was alert and aware. She had an image of herself as a piece of meat, slowly devoured by the house over time. Were she and her family really just… a food source?
My God, Theodosia. What has your curse done to this place?
Saige focused on the passage again. The walls seemed to close in before her, the light intermittent. She realised her hand was trembling.
Stay calm.
She willed her heart to stop its palpitations.
I can do this. I have to do this.
She stepped into the passage, her shoulders snagging the tight walls. Warm liquid pressed against her arms. Saige was reminded of the blood and had to press her lips together to keep from gagging. Her panic escalated. She desperately needed to throw up. Cobwebs clung to her face and hair. She sensed tiny legs scrambling all over her scalp.
Turn back. Turn back!
Her flashlight went out.
A spike of chills ricocheted through her bones. She clambered backward, but the hall wasn’t there. Had she somehow lost her sense of direction? Was she, in fact, going deeper into the passage?
Panic consumed her.
Get out! Get out!
But she couldn’t tell which direction was which. She couldn’t see where she was going. Saige put one foot in front of the other, sliding forward. Her legs felt as stable as water, the floor seeming to shift under her boots. She clung to the walls, her fingers scraping through blood and bone.
The house… it really is flesh.
She could feel hot chunks of meat between her fingers.
Saige couldn’t help it. She screamed. Her cries echoed off the walls, rebounding back into her head. She saw nothing but twisted shadows. She was in an abyss. A black hole. A deep, empty pit where the walls were too hard to climb.
Terror choked her heart. She couldn’t breathe. Saige welcomed the dizziness that pulled her down. Anything to get her away from the impenetrable dark.
Her knees buckled.
Yes, sweet mercy. Take me away.
Hands latched on to her waist, stopping her from hitting the hard floor.
Saige blinked against the sudden light.
Recognition slammed into her hard.
She was in the hallway.
But… how is this possible?
I was in the passage that led to the torture chamber.
Her skin was dampened by sweat. Cool air soaked through her clothes. There wasn’t a trace of blood on her hands. She gazed back at the passage. It was empty. The walls were simple, jagged, uneven stone. No blood. No oozing flesh. The passage seemed to watch her with mock calmness.
“Saige! Saige can you hear me?”
Someone tapped her cheek. No. They were slapping her.
“Wake up! Saige, wake up!”
She tilted forward, fighting to gain strength back in her body. The person holding her helped her to her feet. They never let go, their hands like gauntlets around her arms. Clarity spun into focus when she looked at his face. Hot tears tumbled down her cheeks, the panic inside her deflating. She made a whimpering sound of relief and sagged into Jasper’s embrace.
“Holy shit, Saige.” He drew in a rocky breath. “You were in some sort of trance. Your eyes had rolled back. I thought you were about to have a fit.”
Saige’s heart couldn’t carry a steady rhythm. “It was Theodosia. Some kind of mind trick. She made me think I was in there.”
She pointed to the passage. She refused to look at it again. If she did, the horror would come tearing its way back to her.
Jasper stroked her arms, either for comfort or to keep her warm. “Why were you even up here?”
“I thought you were in the chamber.”
He laughed. “Saige, that is literally the last place I would hide.”
“I thought… I thought Theodosia had taken you,” she admitted with a sob.
Jasper’s face turned the colour of cornstarch. “Why would she come after me?”
Saige didn’t say anything. She couldn’t admit it. Not to Jasper. Not to herself.
Theodosia already knows anyway. It’s why she was messing with your head.
But Saige knew saying those three little words out loud would put Jasper in more danger.
She tried to pull free, but he held her tighter. “Saige, why would Theodosia come after me?”
Her silence was speaking more than her words ever could. She wanted to stay in his embrace, ignore the feeling of terror she sensed coming for them from every direction, but in the end she turned away, every step painful.
I will not put Jasper in any more danger than I already have.
But he had other ideas. He reached for her hand and reeled her back in, tightening his arms protectively around her, the space between them closing in.
Saige stood there, scarcely breathing, second-guessing herself and all her decisions. Her heart accelerated, beating wildly.
All her inner turmoil scattered away as Jasper’s lips grazed hers, soft and unsure at first, then hungry and powerful. Saige lost herself in the sheer sensation of their mouths pressed together. The ground spun beneath her in the best way. She forgot about the danger. Forgot about the fear. All that mattered was her and Jasper. She deepened the kiss, pulling him closer and absorbing the heat from his body. She could feel his mouth smiling against hers. Memories of a happier time returned to her mind, filling her with hope and desire and love. She realised this was where she’d wanted to be for a long time. This was where Jasper had wanted her to be.
A rumble of thunder reeled above the house. The walls shuddered. Lightning burned through all the windows. Saige was jerked to the present. She broke the kiss, startled by the strange atmosphere that amassed in the house. Jasper’s fingers wrapped around her own. His eyes darted frantically from wall to wall, as though he expected something to jump out at them at any moment.
Saige opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by a terrible scream. It pierced through the entire manor, full of pain, anguish, and sorrow. It came from above. But there was something else too. Something Saige wished she didn’t recognise.
Rage.
“Jasper.” She shook so badly she couldn’t make her voice clear. “I think that was the lady in the attic. I think that was… Theodosia.”
She’d never actually seen the ghost she’d dubbed “the lady in the attic,” but that scream was definitely Theodosia’s. They were one and the same.
All the doors in the hallway slammed shut with impossible speed. She felt Jasper jump beside her, her own heart thrashing against her ribs. Doors banged closed downstairs, followed by upstairs.
Saige passed a stricken look at Jasper. She stared at their interlocked hands.
What have I done?
She’d angered Theodosia.
Saige reluctantly let go of Jasper’s hand, but he refused to let her step away.
Tormented defiance lit in his eyes. “It’s too late, Saige. We’ve nowhere to run. I love you. And you love me. She knows. The only thing we can do now is face her together.”
Saige knew it was the truth. There was no way they could flee the house and escape through the woods. The storm would kill them. The flooded roads would kill them.
The house could very well kill us too.
She nodded, unable to control the quiver in her lower lip.
It wasn’t just Jasper in danger. It was her family too.
She had to confront Theodosia. She had to try and end this.
Pay the sins of the father. A life for a life.
She really hoped she could achieve whatever that meant.
Saige was stuck in a daze, one triggered by fear. She sensed her feet moving beneath her, one step in front of the other, farther and farther down the hall, Jasper right at her side.
His mouth quirked into a brief smile. He squeezed her hand. “We can do this.”
That was another thing about Jasper that Saige had forgotten. How his optimism had the ability to take away all her common sense, because for the briefest moment, she did think everything would be all right.
But she also knew they faced an obstacle neither of them understood. Saige compared herself and Jasper to a dream.
And at some point, all happy dreams had to end.