“But, Papa, why did you bury her north to south? Surely it wasn’t because—”
“I didn’t want her facing those mountains,” he said harshly.
I caught my breath. “You felt it, too.” The wind, the dankness. That awful howling.
“Yes, I felt it. So did your mother when we lived there. So did Tilly.”
His gaze moved to the angels. “It was there when you were born. It was with you on the other side. Tilly sensed it that night. There was a terrible struggle, she said.”
I thought of that day in the cemetery when she had tugged me out of the briar patch.
“You fought hard, Amelia. You battled your way back, but even as you drew your first breath, Tilly knew it wasn’t over. She was afraid for you. Afraid it would come for you. She knew she had to get you out of Asher Falls. She thought you would be safe with me.”
I hugged my knees. “Why did you shut me out, Papa? Why did you turn away when I needed you the most?”
He looked old and defeated, indescribably weary. “I was afraid the ghost we saw that day had been sent to watch over you. I was afraid the evil had found you and it would use my devotion to you—my weakness—to somehow get to you.”
I couldn’t stop shaking. Angus sensed my agitation and whimpered. “All this just because I came back from the other side?”
“And because the power it could wield through you on this side would be very, very strong.”
“Why?”
“You are the last of the Ashers,” he said.
I buried my face in my arms, succumbing to a storm of emotions. “Who is my father?” I asked fearfully.
“Edward Asher.”
“Was he evil? Was he in league like the others?”
“I don’t know. But his blood runs through your veins, so your ties to that place are strong. That’s why you were lured back there.”
“But why now?”
“The rules kept you safe,” Papa said. “But you broke them, and now that the door has been opened, you’re vulnerable. Those closest to you are the most dangerous because it will try to use them to weaken you. It will lie and trick and deceive you. You mustn’t let it. And you must never, ever return to Asher Falls.”
I lifted my head. “If it fears me, then there must be a way to defeat it. I can’t live like this, Papa. I can’t live with the loneliness. Sometimes I think I’d be better off dead.”
“Don’t say that! Don’t even think it.”
“Then help me destroy it.”
“You still don’t understand, do you?” He turned away quickly, but not before I’d seen that same look of pity and regret in his eyes.
Angus and I returned to Asher Falls that afternoon. I didn’t tell Papa because I didn’t want to worry him. But I had to go back. I had to find a way to protect myself. I had to close that terrible door, and if it could be done at all, it would be in the place where I had been born on the other side.
A weight descended the moment we entered the foothills. It was raining, and I wondered if it had poured the whole time we were away. The lake looked swollen, and the ditches were overflowing. The deluge subsided as we drove off the ferry, but the sky remained gray and bleak. For the first time, Angus turned away from the window and settled down in the front seat, resting his snout on the console. I put my hand on his head and felt the bristle of his hair.
“I know,” I murmured. “I feel it, too.”
The oppression. The weight of those mountains bearing down on us.
I heard a crack and looked up to see a boulder crashing toward us. It hit the highway directly in front of the car, releasing a shower of rocks and gravel that pelted my hood and windshield. I was so startled, I swerved too sharply and almost lost control of the wheel on the wet pavement. Righting the vehicle, I pulled to the side of the road to catch my breath and settle my nerves.
The boulder had been close. Too close. A very dark omen.
I wanted to believe it was just bad timing, but I had a feeling it was more than that. I had been warned.
“It’s coming,” I whispered and Angus whimpered.
I had decided on the drive back that if anyone could help me, it would be Tilly. I headed straight for her house, but the dirt road through the woods had washed out, and I had to park my car and hike most of the way on foot. Halfway there it started to rain again, and I was soaked and miserable by the time I stepped up on her porch. She didn’t answer my knock, so I went around back to see if she might be working with the birds. The feeders and houses were empty, the trees disturbingly silent. I might have taken the quiet for another omen if I hadn’t realized the bad weather had chased the birds away.
Angus huddled under the porch as I climbed the steps and opened the screen door. “Tilly?”
No answer.
I moved across the porch and tried the back door. It opened silently, and I stuck my head in, calling out her name.
Still no answer.
I pushed open the door and moved into the kitchen. “Tilly? Are you in here? It’s me, Amelia.”
I stopped just inside the door and looked around. Nothing seemed out of place, but I’d only been inside the house once before. I might not notice if a chair had been moved or a cupboard rearranged. Something was different, though. I could feel it. Sense it.
“Tilly?” The echo of her name in that silent house was eerie and foreboding. I made myself move out of the kitchen and into the living room. Nothing out of place in there, either, except for a pair of muddy boots at the front door where Tilly had undoubtedly left them.
I walked down the tiny hallway. The front bedroom door was open and I peaked inside. It was small and sparsely furnished with an iron bedstead and an oak dresser. I saw myself in the mirror, face pale and drawn, eyes wide with fright. Yes, I was frightened. Fear had an icy grip on my spine as I inched deeper into the house.
In the bathroom, I found blood splotches in the sink and bits of glass on the floor.
My every instinct screamed for me to get out of the house, quickly, the same way I’d come in. But I couldn’t. Not until I found Tilly. She could be lying hurt somewhere. She could be—
A sound froze me in my tracks. My hand flew to my chest as if I could quell the panic that accelerated my heartbeat and drove the air from my lungs.
Someone was in the house, and I didn’t think it was Tilly. She would have answered me when I called out.
The wood floor creaked as someone slipped down the hallway toward me. I didn’t dare move for fear of giving myself away. But I couldn’t just stand there. I needed to find a place to hide.
The creaking stopped. Not as if the footsteps had moved away but as if someone had paused in midstride because they’d heard a sound or sensed a presence. And now they waited with suspended breath on the other side of the wall.
I lifted a foot, and the screech of the floorboard drew a cringe. Out in the hallway, a shadow crept along the wall.
A moment later, Catrice appeared in the doorway, and we both screamed.
“Amelia!” She clutched her sweater around her.
I stood there trembling. “What are you doing here?”
“I was in town. I saw you drive through and I followed you.” She glanced around anxiously. “Tilly isn’t
