Chalet Shadow Play by Gardner Claire

Author:Gardner, Claire
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty-eight

The Approach

Only forty minutes had passed, but for Honorio and Vivien it was an eternity. Honorio was living up to his role as one sick feline.

When they got out of the car, Hilde asked Tomas to come back for them in two hours.

“We’ll have a lot of begging and praying to do,” Hilde said. “Il gatto è molto innamorato—the cat is very lovesick,” Hilde explained.

“Ah, yes, that. Almost forgot.” “Meowa!” Honorio said.

When he received the cold wind on his face and his whiskers felt its touch, he sensed his soul return to his body. The worst part, the drive, was over.

They waited for the car to disappear and walked along a path to the Hermitage Chalet.

Vivien and Honorio took the lead. Vivien carried his purple spangled crate and Honorio walked.

Hilde helped Emma from time to time, supporting her when the surface became rougher.

On the way there, only one house seemed to be inhabited. There was another building near the chapel, but all of its lights were off. In the house with lights on, they noticed a stationary silhouette behind the curtains. Someone seemed to be watching them.

As they continued walking, the weather kept changing. One moment the sun would shine brightly, and the next it would hide and it would become gray and cold.

It took more like thirty minutes to travel the trail. Finally, they saw the terrace of the Hermitage Chalet, where Honorio had seen the shadow.

“I must not be frightened. Ghosts do not exist,” he said to himself.

Just then the sky clouded over, and they felt a cold breeze. The tall pine trees bent and swayed.

They all closed their coats. Until that moment they’d not felt cold. They heard the loud, raucous call of a bird.

“This place is so mysterious,” Emma said. “I can understand why Magda wanted to live here. If she wanted the perfect setting to give free rein to her ghostly ‘other self,’ this would be it.”

“How are we going to get in?” Hilde asked. “The police must have sealed the place off.”

“We’ll find a way,” replied Vivien.

“Easy-peasy,” thought Honorio as he bounded forward.

They went around the building and arrived at the front door. It was locked. They peeked through the windows. The curtains were drawn so they couldn’t look in.

“I have an idea,” Emma said. Maybe they forgot to close the French door to the terrace. I sometimes forget to close my own.”

But all the entrances were secured. Suddenly they were startled by a noise from inside.

They stood there silently, expectantly.

Then they realized it was only the clock chiming.

Honorio stepped away from the group and walked around the building. He was using his feline instincts to look for a place to sneak in.

“It’s not so hard to get in if you’re a skillful cat like me,” he said to himself.

Then he saw a possibility—the kitchen window.

“Maybe if I tapped on the glass, I could vibrate the lock and jiggle it open.”

If he managed to open the window enough, he could reach in, unlock it, then open the latch on the terrace door.

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.