Grasping Beth’s hand, Tracy pulled her inside the building, closing the door behind them.
The faint chirping sounds of the summer night disappeared, and silence closed around the two girls. It was as if they’d stepped into another world, a strange dead world that reached out to enclose them, drawing them to its cold bosom.
They started slowly across the floor, unconsciously avoiding the spiderweb shadow cast by the skylight, as if by touching it they could become entangled, to be held prisoner for whatever strange creature might lurk in the shadowy reaches, waiting for its prey.
In the distance, seemingly unreachable, lay the stairs to the basement, and Tracy wanted to run to them, wanted to be away from the strange light and terrifying shadows.
As in a nightmare, her feet seemed mired in mud, each step a terrible effort.
But finally they were there, staring down into the pitch blackness below.
Tracy knelt, set the lantern carefully on the floor, then lifted its chimney off. She struck a match, cupped it in her hands for a moment, then held it to the wick.
The wick sputtered, then caught, the flame spreading quickly along its length. When it was burning brightly, Tracy replaced the chimney, then adjusted the wick. The flame’s intensity increased, but still the light was all but lost in the vastness of the building around them.
“Come on,” Tracy whispered, getting to her feet once more and picking up the lantern.
But Beth hung back, staring fearfully into the darkness below. In her mind, she began to remember the hellish vision she’d seen last time she had been in the little room behind the stairs. “M-maybe we shouldn’t—” she breathed.
But Tracy reached out with her free hand and grasped her wrist once more. “She’s your friend, remember?” Tracy hissed, letting her anger begin to show for the first time since Beth had come back to live at Hilltop. “You can’t chicken out now. I won’t let you!”
She started down the stairs, holding the lantern high. Beth resisted for only a moment, but as Tracy’s grip tightened on her wrist, she gave in. Her heart beginning to pound, she reluctantly followed Tracy into the basement.
The yawning blackness seemed to open before them, welcoming them.
26
Carolyn rolled over in her sleep, then slowly began to wake up. At first she resisted it, rolling over once more, and keeping her eyes resolutely closed.
It did no good. In a moment she was fully awake, and she sat up, listening, trying to decide what had disturbed her sleep. But there was nothing. The sounds of the crickets and frogs were drifting through the window as they always did, and the faint creaking of the old mansion still complained softly in the background. She glanced at the clock.
One A.M.
She flopped back down on the bed, and felt Phillip stir beside her at the unexpected motion. Once more she tried to go back to sleep. Once more she failed.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, a strange feeling began to grow in her. An uneasy feeling that something was wrong.
The house felt incomplete.
Abigail, she told herself. It’s just that Abigail isn’t here anymore.
But it was more than that, and she knew it.
She got out of bed, slipped into a robe, then stepped out into the corridor and turned on the lights.
Halfway down the long hall, Beth’s door stood open.
Beth’s door, she knew, was never open at night.
Frowning, she hurried down the hall, and switched the light on in Beth’s room.
She saw the covers piled at the foot of the empty bed.
Even though all her instincts told her it, too, would be empty, Carolyn crossed the bedroom and checked the bathroom. There was no sign of Beth.
She felt the first flickerings of panic beginning to build inside her, and firmly put them down. Beth might only have gone down to the kitchen to raid the refrigerator. She left the room, and started toward the stairs, but instead of going down them, she went past them, stopping at Tracy’s closed door. She hesitated, then turned the knob and pushed the door open just far enough to see inside.
Tracy’s bed, too, was empty.
Now Carolyn hurried down the stairs, and searched the house, finally coming to Hannah’s bedroom off the kitchen. She rapped softly on the door, then harder. At last there was a stirring from inside the room, the door opened a crack, and Hannah peered out at her, her eyes still red with sleepiness.
“Hannah, I need your help. Something’s happened to the girls.”
“Our girls?” the old servant asked, opening the door wider, and wrapping her robe tightly around herself. “What do you mean, something’s happened to them?”
“They’re not here,” Carolyn replied. “They’re not in their rooms, and they’re not down here, either.”
Hannah’s head shook, and she made a soft clucking sound. “Well, I’m sure they’re here somewhere,” she said.
“They’re not,” Carolyn insisted. “I’d better get Phillip. Will you look downstairs?”
Hannah nodded, saying nothing as she started shuffling toward the basement stairs.
Less than a minute later, Carolyn was back in her bedroom, shaking Phillip awake.
*
Tracy stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and looked around. The lantern’s faint glow was quickly swallowed up by the maze of pillars supporting the main floor, and her mind began to play tricks on her as she gazed into the darkness beyond the lantern’s reach. There could be all manner of things lurking there in the darkness.
She could almost feel eyes on her, watching her.
Tendrils of fear reached out to her, brushing against her so that her skin began to crawl. When she heard Beth’s voice, she turned quickly away from the threatening darkness.
It’s back here,” Beth was whispering. “Behind the stairs.”
Tracy held the lantern up once more, and its orangish glow spread out in front of her. She saw a large metal door, hung from a rail, standing partly open. And beyond that was the room where Beth was so certain that a ghost dwelt.
To Tracy, the room looked perfectly ordinary. It was empty, and its walls were blackened as if there had been a fire here sometime long ago. In fact, she thought as she stepped inside, she could still almost smell it. There was something in the air, a faint smokiness, that made her wrinkle her nose.
“Where is she?” she asked, still whispering despite the fact that they were alone.
“She’s here,” Beth said. “I always just came down here and waited. And after a while, she sort of — well, she just sort of came to me.”
Tracy set the lantern on the floor, then looked up at Beth.
In the light of the lantern, Beth could see Tracy smiling at her. The way the light struck her face, the smile looked mocking, and Tracy’s eyes seemed to have the cruel glint in them that Beth hadn’t seen for months.
But that was silly.
Tracy was her friend now.
And then Tracy spoke.
“You really
Beth’s breath caught in her throat. “Crazy?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper. “I thought — I thought
