The Siren and the Specter by Jonathan Janz

Author:Jonathan Janz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror fiction, fantasy
Publisher: Flame Tree Publishing
Published: 2018-08-12T21:28:28+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Ten minutes later, David was walking the river path with Jessica. When Shelby had finally told David where their car keys were, David pocketed them, loosed the Shelbys of their fetters, and gotten the hell out of there.

Jessica’s voice was hushed. “Where do you think Ivy is?”

David shook his head, not wanting to give voice to his worst suspicion.

“Mike Jr.’s not so bad once you get to know him,” Jessica said.

“He’s a pain in the ass.”

Jessica smiled quickly at him. “He sort of is, isn’t he?”

David almost smiled too. Then his good humor faded when he heard the distant sounds of voices in the woods, the nighttime search party calling out to Ivy on the off-chance she’d gotten lost in the forest. He had no idea how he knew it, but David was certain Ivy was not in these woods. Tomorrow, a larger search party would be formed, but he suspected it would be fruitless.

He thought of Ivy’s willowy body clinging to his side. Thought of her carrying around a stuffed animal for comfort.

“I’m sorry, David.”

He looked at Jessica. Her eyes were large and liquid in the moonglow.

“You care about her,” she said.

He nodded but didn’t speak. What was there to say?

“There’s a flashlight in my trunk,” he said as they drew nearer his property. “I think there’s another under the sink.”

They’d passed the dock and rounded the edge of the woods when Jessica stopped short, her body rigid. David followed her shocked gaze to the house, and at first could only frown. Other than the way the siding glowed a spectral white in the moonlight, the Alexander House looked the way it always did.

Then he realized what was wrong.

The front door stood wide open.

“David?” she said. “You think?”

“I don’t know,” he said, but he was already hurrying toward the house.

* * *

“Ivy?” he called in the entryway. He rushed into the kitchen, the dining room, flipping on lights as he went.

“Ivy?” Jessica called. She’d headed the other direction, toward the den and master suite. David moved to the hallway and the screened-in porch, hoping against hope he’d discover the girl huddled in a corner, frightened but safe.

The porch was empty.

He met Jessica in the hallway. “Nothing in this part of the house,” she said. “I checked under your bed, the closets….”

David nodded absently and started up the stairs. Jessica followed but didn’t speak. Without thinking he went immediately to the long bedroom, switched on the nearest lamp, and proceeded to fire up the other two lamps, which still didn’t lend adequate light to the murky space. He lowered on his knees and began drawing up the bedclothes to make sure Ivy wasn’t hiding there. Peripherally, he could see Jessica doing the same.

Into the silence, she said, “The room is deeper than it looked in the video.”

With a start he remembered he’d shown her the thermal camera recording, had made her privy to all he knew about the house.

Forgetting Ivy for a moment, he studied Jessica’s face, the nervous way she fiddled with the hem of her black shirt.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.