The Wings of Poppy Pendleton by Melanie Dobson

Author:Melanie Dobson [Dobson, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Christian / Historical, FICTION / Multiple Timelines
ISBN: 9781496474599
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Published: 2023-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

22Chloe

CHLOE STARED INTO THE DARKNESS as if a dungeon awaited them in the corridor. “I thought you were joking.”

Logan grinned at her like he’d pulled the key out of a top hat. “Nope.”

“How in the world did you figure that out?”

“Sometimes we just need to look at things from a different angle.”

She glanced up at the small knob hidden in the trim. “I’d never have thought to look there.”

“Some builders installed these in older houses to keep their owners from being locked out,” he said. “Makes good sense if you live on an island.”

That must have been how Grandpa Cade had entered the house without a key. He was probably afraid to tell her. Afraid, like Nana, that she might get hurt inside.

She stepped back. “I hope you take some good pictures.”

“Will you go with me?” he asked.

A shiver snaked its way up from her toes until she shuddered. “No, thank you.”

He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms like she was a conundrum in need of resolution. “I think you’re curious.”

“I think you’re crazy!”

“I can’t believe you don’t want to explore this place.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to—”

“What is it then?”

This was the question that had haunted her for most of her life. Something, beyond her grandparents’ warnings, that kept her from entering the castle. She wasn’t afraid of ghosts, was she? That was ridiculous. Nothing lived in here except perhaps mice. “I don’t know.”

A gust made the branches overhead tick like an old clock, the wind taking her back to an earlier day when Nana warned her about the dangers inside the abandoned walls.

“My grandmother kept me out of here by telling stories about the falling roof and flying bats and ghost that haunted the rooms.”

“The ghost of Leslie Pendleton?”

“She never mentioned his name.”

Logan waved her inside. “We’ll ward off any ghosts together.”

Her teeth chattered, and she wondered at the arctic breeze that drifted over her. Where had it come from on this sunny spring day?

Rubbing her arms, weaponry to ward off the chill, she tried to remind herself that she was no longer that kid who was afraid of the dark. No longer afraid of falling or fast vehicles or being alone.

She’d been conquering her fears one at a time over the years. Perhaps it was time to conquer this last monster in her mind.

“Sugar and Maple have to go with us,” she said.

“Of course.”

“But I’m not sure that we’ll go far.” Instead of leading the way, her dogs attached themselves firmly to her heels as she stepped into the hallway.

Logan grinned. “We can just walk until we see the ghosts.”

She ran her hand over the peeling wallpaper, between several clocks on the wall, wishing she’d brought her flashlight from the boat. “I don’t believe in ghosts.”

They crossed through a mudroom with wooden pegs on the walls, the sunlight marking a path through the clock-adorned walls, dust instead of dirt covering the wooden floor. Almost a hundred years ago, servants would have bustled through here to the kitchen gardens and to care for the birds in the aviary.

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