A Babe in Ghostland by Lisa Cach

Author:Lisa Cach
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2006-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

Eleven

“I’ve seen everything on this floor except for that one room,” Megan said, eyeing the far end of the corridor with a trickle of apprehension. She didn’t want to see Ol’ Hollow Eyes again.

“Then let’s go visit it,” Eric said. “I went in all those rooms earlier, and there wasn’t any activity, but maybe it will be different with you present.”

“Delightful.”

Case put his hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. She turned her head and smiled at him. It was good to have him there; it seemed that nothing would be able to hurt her.

The master suite was just as she remembered, only the strong emotions she’d gotten from it before were muted now. It was often that way for her: the first impression of an object or space was strong, but, like a noise she’d grown accustomed to, the sense of a thing faded into the background on subsequent encounters.

The bedroom with the hideous gold carpet told her nothing new, either.

Somehow she’d become the leader in their small expedition, and she found herself standing in front of the one door she hadn’t opened before, Case and Eric waiting behind her.

“This is when the shadow appeared at the end of the hall,” she said.

Eric jerked a glance over his shoulder, then, seeing Megan watching him, pulled himself up a little straighter and turned, aiming one of his meters down the hall. A moment later, he said, “I’m not reading anything.”

“Small mercies,” Case murmured.

“Amen,” Megan agreed under her breath. She put her hand on the knob but was reluctant to turn it. The room behind the door had taken on unknown horrors in her imagination, all the worse for her not having been brave enough to go into it on her first tour of the house.

It wasn’t going to get less scary for standing there, though, she grumbled to herself, and twisted on the knob.

It refused to turn.

A moment of surprise went through her, then relief. She didn’t have to go in!

She twisted again and rattled the knob, just to be sure. “It’s locked.”

“It can’t be,” Case said.

Megan stepped aside, confident.

Case put his hand to the knob, twisted, and then a clear click was heard and the door swung open. “See? Just a little sticky.”

Megan frowned, then cast a glance at Eric. He raised a brow at her. They’d come across this type of thing before, and it wasn’t always a sticky latch at fault.

Megan followed Case into the room. It was nothing like the kitsch monstrosity next door. It was like stepping back into time, to the world of a hundred years ago.

The walls were covered in faded paper of violets and ribbons. The wood floors were graced with a single large area rug, moth-eaten now. The bed, wardrobe, washstand, and nightstand were all of heavy dark wood, carved with stylized floral patterns. Several framed charcoal drawings and watercolors adorned the walls.

“It’s charming!” Megan said.

“And undamaged except for the usual insect and rodent problems,” Case said. “I saw no reason to clear it out.

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