phone as Helena Henbane’s white SUV pulled away. Seven more notifications popped up on his screen from a certain dating app, and he smirked as he flipped through their profiles. Maybe the options in the middle of nowhere weren’t as slim as he’d thought.
“I hope she doesn’t expect me to read this whole binder,” Mat said, lifting the tote bag and eyeing the artistic aerial rendition of Henbane Hollow.
Demetri popped open the trunk to his SUV. “If you have questions about it, let me know. I know that thing like the back of my hand, since many people, including myself, aren’t fans of what the HOA is trying to do.” He fished around in his pocket and held up a ring of keys. “There are two other sets that I’ll send you tomorrow. Most of the keys are marked. Like this one is for the gate, this one will unlock your front door, this one does the greenhouse, shed, cellar, and so on.”
Frankie let out a laugh as he stared at the ring of at least thirty keys. “Who needs that many keys?”
Demetri shrugged. “The Mandrakes kept most of their dealings to themselves. There are plenty of nooks and crannies where you might come across a locked door.”
August shoved Frankie’s shoulder and said to Demetri, “He’s just being an ass. Ignore him.”
“Hey, rude,” Frankie said, rubbing his shoulder. “I’m just saying, if I need to carry around a big ass ring of keys, then I might need to change my wardrobe.”
Mat took the keys and tossed them up in the air. “Play nice.” He pulled the first box out of the SUV and asked Demetri, “Did you want to come—”
“No,” Demetri said as he shot up his hand. “That’s alright. You all need to settle in. I can help you bring stuff to the porch, though.”
Frankie raised an eyebrow. “Why can’t you just—”
“It’s bad luck!” Demetri said. He paused and cleared his throat. “Around here, you don’t invite anyone over on your first night. You also don’t just invite anyone over without getting to know them first. It’s a silly custom.”
August shrugged and brushed past him to the boxes. “Alright, whatever floats your boat, dude.”
Mat paused and kicked his feet. “Oh. Um, okay. Maybe another time, then?”
Frankie patted Mat’s shoulder and whispered. “It’s okay, lover boy. That just means more wine for the rest of us.” His phone dinged again as he picked up a box.
Mat smirked. “Well, it sounds like you aren’t completely out of options up here.”
“That’s true,” Frankie said. “But you know what that means?”
“What?” August asked as they all started toward the gate.
Frankie puffed out his chest. “It means, what better way to spend our first night in a new place than a game of sip and swipe?”
Mat set his box down at his feet and fumbled with the gate lock.
“Sip and swipe?” Demetri asked.
August groaned. “It’s a game catty queers play back in Chicago when they have nothing better to do.”
Frankie bumped shoulders with August. “Aw, come on. Don’t you want to get to know some of your rainbow neighbors from their taste in photos before actually meeting them? You can learn a lot from what profile picture they share. Like, for example, the classic bare chest pic.” He shot a grin at Demetri.
Demetri’s eyes widened. “I . . . Uh . . . How’s that lock coming along?”
Metal clinked, and the gates to Mandrake Manor swung open. “Got it,” Mat said.
Demetri brushed past him, tripping over an overgrown fern on his way up to the porch. He set down his box and raced back to his car to grab more.
Frankie watched him pass by and said, “Well, someone’s in a rush.”
“Yeah, because you keep scaring him off,” Mat hissed.
“Me?” Frankie said as they reached the porch. “He’s the one that doesn’t want to come inside.” His eyes trailed to the front door, which was flaked forest green with a brass handle and a stained-glass window that depicted several colorful flowers.
Demetri raced by them and set down the third and final box from the SUV. “That should be the last of it. I’ll swing by tomorrow with the keys and the contact details for someone who can help with the repairs.”
Mat set his box down and held out his hand. “Thank you. For everything. I-I, uh, I hope to see you tomorrow?”
Demetri grabbed Mat’s hand with both of his. “Thank you for taking the risk and coming to Henbane Hollow. I think the three of you will settle in just fine. Have a good night, Mr. Mandrake.”
Demetri turned and passed through the gate, leaving Mat in a daze, staring at him as he left.
Frankie rolled his eyes. “Okay, I know he’s your Ryan Gosling and all, but can we get into the fucking house already?”
Mat shook his head. “Let me have my moment.”
August set their box down on the porch and tested the porch swing. It groaned underneath them but held, creaking back and forth. “I could sit here all day.”
Frankie leaned up against the house and watched the red taillights trail off into the night. “Okay little Miss Allie Hamilton, you good?”
Mat turned around and headed to the door. “Yeah, whatever.”
He set down his box and held up his keys. After flipping through a handful, he stopped on one key that fit into the lock.
It turned, and the door groaned open. A gust of wind trailed in from behind them, as if the house took in a long-awaited breath.
“Well, that was weird,” August said, pushing themself up off the swing and toward the door.
Mat slowly stepped inside and peered into the dark before flipping a switch.
The house came to life as a crystal fixture bounced light onto the stained-glass door. Cobwebs lined the ceiling, and a fine coating of dust layered the floor.
Frankie frowned. “How long has your great aunt been dead?”
Mat shrugged. “I never asked. I assumed recently.”
Frankie took a step forward, but his foot stopped at the entrance to the house. His intent to enter the house seemed to slip away, and he stood still.
“Uh, you going in?” August asked, stepping up beside him.
Their feet stopped right where Frankie’s were, and both of them stood at the entrance to Mandrake Manor, completely dazed.
Mat turned and looked at them. “What the fuck are you two doing? Get in here.”
Frankie blinked a few times as a tingling sensation washed over him. He stepped forward, over the threshold, and breathed in the stale air.
August followed suit and scratched their head. “Well, that was weird.”
Nearly every inch of the walls was covered in portraits of people who looked vaguely like Mat, or paintings of strange places with high cliffs and stormy skies. Where it wasn’t peeling away, the dark green wallpaper behind those portraits was busy with images of plants of every color intertwining between each other. Although a heavy coating of dust lay on the floor, he could see the dark red wood floor in the footprints that Mat had kicked up.
“I hope the rest of the house looks like this,” Frankie said. He stepped into the room to the left and felt the wall, flipping on a switch as his eyes fell on a massive dining room table with high-backed chairs and a glass cabinet filled with china. The wallpaper in this room still had a green tone to it, but the plants showcased were red. A large chandelier rested above the table, draped in strands of crystal and bands of black iron that held up a circle of candles with flickering LED lights.
“Two for two, I’m sold,” August said, setting down their box on the table.
All three of them finished carrying in the boxes, setting them down on the table and closing the front door.
Frankie pulled out a bottle of wine from one of his boxes and waved it in the air. “How about we pour ourselves a glass and have a little tour of the house?”
Mat eyed the boxes and frowned. “The movers won’t be here until tomorrow. I don’t have our glasses.”
Frankie rolled his eyes and gestured to the cabinets. In his best “elderly museum curator with an English accent,” he said, “Mr. Mandrake, if you look to my left, you’ll see that the Manor comes fully stocked with their own glasses.”
“But those have to be expensive,” Mat said.
“Mr. Mandrake, need I remind you that this house, and everything within its walls, is ours?” Frankie said.
August stepped behind Frankie and pulled open the cabinet, grabbing three wine glasses and blowing out the dust before carefully setting them on the table. “It’s not like we’re having a party. I think we can manage three wine glasses.”
Mat sighed and nodded. “Fine. Did either of you bring a corkscrew?”
Frankie eyed his bottle. “Well, shit. No.”
A loud clang sounded somewhere deep in the house, and they all jumped.
“What the hell was that?” Mat said.
August’s face paled. “Do you think someone else is in here? Should we check?”
“It’s Mat’s house. He should check,” Frankie said.
“Fuck you,” Mat said. “That’s how people die in horror movies.”
Frankie looked at his bottle of wine and sighed. “Well, the wine isn’t going to uncork itself.” He pulled out his phone. “We go together.”
August nodded. “Yeah, that way the killer can’t pick us off one by one.”
Frankie glared at August. “Killer? Really?” Another clang sounded, and Frankie shuddered. “Fuck, I hate this.”
The three of them stepped back into the hallway. Frankie flashed his light into the other room, which appeared to be a spacious living room with a fireplace. “Oh, my god, a fireplace,” he said.
Mat poked him at his side. “Later. Keep going.”
“Fine, Dad,” Frankie said.
They continued down the hall, and another clang sounded. In tandem, both August and Mat screamed and Frankie dropped his phone into the sea of dust.
“Shut the fuck up,” Frankie whispered, brushing the flakes of unknown substance off his phone.
Mat and August looked at each other and laughed.
“That looks disgusting,” Mat said.
“I hate you both,” Frankie said.
They passed through a large room with a staircase that hugged the wall as it spiraled up to the second floor. Another massive chandelier that mimicked the one in the dining room hung in the center of the room. They pressed on, passing through another arch and stepping into a kitchen.
Frankie flashed his light to the walls and found a switch as Mat and August walked by him. Small hexagonal white tiles covered the floor, and larger tiles functioned as a backsplash beneath tall white and black cabinets.
“That’s weird,” Mat said, running a finger along the while marbled countertop.
“What?” Frankie asked.
“There’s no dust in here. Everything looks clean, too,” Mat said.
August nodded to something behind Frankie. “Yeah, and did you see what’s laying out?”
Frankie turned, and on an otherwise empty countertop, lay a corkscrew. He swiped it up off the counter and held it up. “Well, shall we make a toast?”