Finch House by Ciera Burch

Author:Ciera Burch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 2023-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

chapter eleven

You’re not dead!” he blurted out.

Micah really hoped not. “I don’t think so.”

“But you—I mean I saw you. You just…” He waved his hands frantically, his interpretation of what she assumed was her disappearance. “And then I thought maybe you just went down, so I went to the door at the bottom of the stairs, but it still wouldn’t open and—”

“Theo.”

“I’ve been looking all over the place. You weren’t anywhere! Your mom even called Renee, but I didn’t know what to tell her and I’m really bad at stalling. It’s like lying but worse—”

“Theo.”

“—so I asked if you could spend the night because, you know, winter break, and also I had no clue if my house had swallowed you or how I would tell your mom that, especially since she did not sound happy. I think maybe you’re grounded now? But she did say you could stay over since you’re moving soon. I didn’t know you were moving, but—”

“Theo!”

Micah had never heard him say so much, and now, when she was trying to figure out how she’d even gotten back, was not the time to deal with his newfound talkative side. “Just give me a second, okay?”

He paused with visible effort, shutting his mouth to look her over. Micah ignored him. Instead, she took a deep breath, slowly looking around as she checked in with herself. There was her jacket, hanging on the hook by the door. There was her heart, slowly returning to its normal rhythm.

And there was Theo, safe in the normal version of his house, still staring at her.

First carefully, then suspiciously. “You’re not a ghost, are you?”

“No,” she said firmly. “I just ran into you.” She decided to leave out the fact that she might have met a few.

The suspicion didn’t leave his face, so when he stuck out a finger to poke her, she let him. They both relaxed when it pressed lightly into her shoulder.

“So, where did you go? What happened?”

Micah shook her head. She didn’t know how to explain it. “How long was I gone?”

He took his phone out of his pocket. “I dunno, maybe twenty minutes?”

“Twenty minutes?”

That was impossible. She’d walked through Finch House twice with Jenn and who knew how many times on her own when she’d been looking for a way out. It felt like it had been days since she’d last seen Theo, not minutes.

“Micah?” Theo pulled her out of her thoughts. “Tell me what happened.”

“I don’t know. We were going downstairs, and then you were gone, and I… I was here, in Finch House, looking for you. And for Poppop.”

“Did you find him?”

She shook her head. “No. We were about to go looking, but everything got all… twisted… and then I was back here.”

She rubbed her eyes. They burned a bit, like she’d been staring at a screen for too long. “Can I have some water?”

Theo nodded, leading her to the kitchen. Everything felt familiar as she watched him move around, grabbing cups from a cabinet and a pitcher from the fridge.

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