The Guests by Margot Hunt

Author:Margot Hunt [Hunt, Margot]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

* * *

FELIX

Felix was crouched at the top of the staircase, trying to hear what was being said downstairs over the sounds of the storm raging outside. He’d been able to only partially follow the conversation taking place down there. But Felix had figured out enough. He knew that the strangers who’d come to the house that day were holding everyone downstairs hostage. And he knew they were armed. Felix tightened his grip on the handgun he’d retrieved from Lee’s bedside table. He remembered June showing it to him, all those years ago, and was glad that Mr. Davies hadn’t moved it. But the weapon frightened him. He’d never held a gun before, much less shot one. It felt heavy and wrong in his hand, like he was a little kid playing cops and robbers.

Felix was just wondering if he should try to sneak downstairs and find a place closer to the group in the living room—maybe he could make it to Marlowe’s office and hide there?—when the gunshot exploded, followed by terrified screaming. Felix flinched so violently he nearly fell over. He grabbed the wooden balustrade to steady himself.

“No,” he breathed. His heart was racing, and his senses were on high alert. What had happened? Had someone been shot? Was it June? There was the muffled rush of footsteps across the carpeted floor. He heard someone cry out in anguish, and he thought—although couldn’t be sure—that it was Marlowe.

I have to go down there. I have to make sure June’s okay, Felix thought. He stared wildly around, trying to figure out what he should do. He couldn’t just run down into the living room and confront them directly. He might have a gun, but there were more of them, and they were armed too. And unlike him, they probably knew how to shoot.

I need to get help, Felix thought.

Felix’s phone wasn’t working, and anyway, the sheriff’s deputies had told Tom and Zack that they wouldn’t be responding to 911 calls during the storm. But what if he could somehow find a way to tell the police what was happening here in the Davieses’ house? Wouldn’t they have to come if they found out that armed men were holding the family hostage? That they were shooting them?

Think, he told himself. And gradually, the panic clouding his thoughts started to clear.

Celeste had been raging for hours now. The eye of the storm was going to arrive soon, and when it did, the torrential rain and dangerous winds would stop for a period of time. Felix tried to remember how long the eye of a hurricane lasted for. Twenty minutes? Thirty? The police station was only a few miles away, and most of that was a straight stretch of road that cut through the middle of town. Felix was a fast runner, and he’d probably have enough time to make it there on foot. There was the possible danger that the road between the Davieses’ house and the police station could be flooded or blocked by downed trees, but he was going to have to take the risk.

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