"I know."
He glanced at her over his shoulder as he strolled across the room. More footprints marred the old, green carpet. It was tattered and worn with age, and torn straight to the floor in some places. "So don't plan on redoing everything, and don't go too crazy with the cleaning."
Sometimes it was nice to have someone who knew her as well as Ethan did, at other times, he was a pain in her ass. "I wasn't," she muttered as she followed him down the stairs to the basement.
"Liar."
"You're going to have so much fun over here, Issy!" Abby cried enthusiastically.
Isabelle rolled her eyes as she stepped into the basement which was divided by a simple plywood wall. They were standing in the laundry and weight room, both of which were rarely used. Ethan led the way to the door in the simply assembled wall and threw it open. Isabelle stepped in and groaned.
The room was large and plain. The bed was queen size, with a small wood headboard and no footboard. It was stripped completely bare to reveal the old, indented mattress. A TV sat on a rickety-looking metal stand, both gray with dust. A small window was set in the far right wall; a shabby black curtain hung over it to block the sun. The door to the half bath was ajar; Isabelle didn't want to know what it looked like in there. The entire room was damp and reeked of mildew.
"I am cleaning this." Isabelle dropped her suitcase on the dirty cream-colored carpet.
"I wouldn't doubt it," Ethan muttered.
"Ugh, it smells in here." Vicky wrinkled her tiny nose.
Isabelle crossed to the small set of stairs on the left-hand side and shoved the storm doors open. She inhaled the fresh summer air gratefully. "Could you open the window for me?" she called over her shoulder.
Abby quickly threw the curtain back and pulled the tiny window down. She stuck out her nose and inhaled deeply. "Just don't get any ideas about the rest of the house," Ethan told her. "You're going to have a brand new one to decorate, and scrub, soon."
"Yeah, yeah," Isabelle replied distractedly. Her mind was already trying to figure out where to start.
Ethan groaned as he moved across the room. "Just don't have the whole place reeking of flowers or some other girly scent. We're manly men here. Ah crap, we're screwed. I'll see you later."
Isabelle tried not to grin as he shook his head and turned away. He fled swiftly through the storm doors, still muttering to himself as he disappeared.
"Do you want us to help?" Vicky asked.
Isabelle groaned inwardly as she nodded. She may not want it, but she was going to need all the help she could get.
Hours later, she had the walls scrubbed nearly white again, the rug vacuumed and washed, everything dusted, the bed neatly made, and the room smelling wonderfully of fresh air and apple.
Her hair hung in straggly wet strands around her face, and her clothes were dirty and sweaty as they stuck to her. Vicky and Abby looked just as bad. Fortunately, they weren't complaining anymore or rattling on about Stefan. Now, they sat on the bed, too tired to move.
"I'm going to take a shower," Isabelle said.
They nodded as Isabelle gathered her clothes and headed out of the basement and back up the stairs. Making her way through the living room, she went upstairs to the full bath, which was also in desperate need of a good cleaning.
She forced herself not to groan as she took in the absolute mess. Toothpaste and toothbrushes were scattered haphazardly around the sink, and the yellow of the basin was nearly white from the caked-up toothpaste and shaving cream. The floor was filthy, she didn't even want to look at the toilet, and mildew covered the shower.
She forced herself not to think about any of it as she took a quick shower, dressed, and left the room before she started to clean it now. It would be her first project tomorrow. She wondered if she could recruit Vicky and Abby again, but she doubted it. They had only helped her today in the hope of seeing Stefan, but he stayed at the building site with everyone else. She wondered if Jess would be willing to help. She was going to need it.
She entered her new room again and threw her dirty clothes into the hamper. Tomorrow she would make the rounds, gather everyone's dirty laundry, and make sure it was all clean by the end of the day. While she was here, she was going to make sure everyone had plenty of clean clothes and a clean house. She turned her attention back to Vicky and Abby, who looked as if they hadn't moved an inch.
"Would you guys want to help me tomorrow?"
They exchanged quick glances. "Well, we were going to, ah—"
"Don't worry about it," she interrupted with a smile.
"Maybe we'll stop by later in the day," Vicky offered.
"That's okay," Isabelle assured them.
"Isabelle!"
She nearly jumped out of her skin as Willow's head appeared in the doorway of the storm cellar. She didn't even have to ask, the look on Willow's face said it all. "What did you do now?" she mumbled as she leapt up the stairwell.
Willow turned and started to run. Isabelle followed her around the back of the house and toward the woods. Willow ran gracefully down a trail, dodging the tree branches slapping at Isabelle's arms and legs. Cursing and muttering angrily, she wasn't paying any attention to where they were going. Willow pulled up abruptly in a small clearing, if she hadn't grabbed hold of Isabelle, she would have plummeted right over the edge of the pit in the middle of the clearing.
Skidding to a halt, her eyes landed on the hole that was about ten feet in diameter. It looked grotesquely out of place in the middle of the small clearing. "What the—"
"Isabelle!"
Surprise ripped through her as the small voice came
