I stand up, trying to sense Abigail. “I don’t know. I can’t tell.”
A cold, suffocating energy invades the room, closing in on me. I shiver, trying to release its grasp.
“Do you feel that?” Wade says, clenching his jaw. “It’s like all the warmth from the room is being squeezed out.”
I nod. “Yeah, I feel it—”
With a soft pop, the two lights on the nightstands go out and the room goes dark. The light from the picture window cascades a dark blue across the space, giving me enough light to walk over to the bed. I pull the chain on the lamp, hoping the light will turn back on, but of course, nothing happens.
“I think we should get outta here. Come with me to my place,” Wade says, suddenly at my side.
I shake my head. “If this is Abigail, I need to know why she’s doing this.”
The hairs on the back of my neck rise as if a hand brushed along them. The next thing I know, a strange, scratching sound permeates the stillness. It starts off low and quiet.
Holding my breath, I spin around as the sound moves from wall to wall, rising upward and falling down toward the floor.
“Where is it?” Wade asks, trying to stand between me and the unseen specter.
“I don’t know,” I breathe. For the second time in a fortnight, I’m afraid to be in my own house. “Abigail—is that you?”
The scratching sound abruptly stops, and I reach out for Wade, grabbing hold of his hand. Before I can make contact with him, I’m slapped across the face. The motion of it makes my head snap back and stars blossom across my vision.
“What in the hell just happened? Are you okay, Autumn?” Wade says, reaching out and pulling me into his protective embrace.
Despite myself, my body trembles as I reach my hand up, covering my cheek. “It slapped me—she slapped me.”
“What in the hell? We need to go…” Wade says, steering me toward the door.
“No, I need to talk to her. We need to figure out why she’s doing this,” I cry out, twisting toward the middle of the room. “She won’t stop until we know why.”
“It’s not safe in here. Who knows what could happen next. We need to think and come up with a better plan.”
“Then, let’s go to the resurrection chamber. It’s a sacred space. She wouldn’t hurt us down there,” I say, twisting in his arms.
The scratching noise resumes, echoing all around us in no particular order. It’s like it’s all around us, and this time, it’s punctuated with a deep knocking sound, like someone dropping something heavy on the floor.
“Get out…” a voice whispers, sending icy chills coursing down my spine.
Wade’s voice rises an octave as he says, “Won’t hurt us? How do you know that? She seems pretty pissed off.”
“She must be confused—or hurting. I don’t think she means to be doing any of this,” I say, releasing myself from his embrace to make my way to the door. “But there’s one way to find out for sure. Let’s go.”
Wade snickers, muttering under his breath. “Just trying to scare us… Yeah, I’d say she’s doing a bang-up job of managing that. Especially after last time.”
“Come on,” I say, grabbing his hand.
Wade clutches my hand tightly but follows right behind me. The closer we get to the doorway leading to the resurrection chamber, the louder the scratching along the walls becomes. Out of the corner of my eye, a shadow moves in the darker recesses of my room, making me freeze.
“Did you see that?” Wade says, twisting toward the shadow.
“Yeah, and I don’t wanna stick around to see how it manifests.” I twist the door handle, opening it and taking the first few steps with Wade in tow. The ordinarily cool air of the basement level rushes up at me, but it’s warmer than my bedroom right now.
Trying to calm my nerves, I reach out to the sacred space of the resurrection chamber, summoning the magical torches on the walls to ignite. However, they refuse to heed my calling.
“Do you have your phone? I can’t get the torches to light,” I say, turning back to Wade.
“Yeah, I think so.” He reaches into his pocket, fumbling with his phone. It drops from his hand, tumbling down a number of steps before sliding between the stairs, presumably landing on the dirt floor below. “Dammit. Sorry, Autumn.”
“It’s okay, I’ll grab it,” I say, dropping his hand and racing down a few stairs.
“Wait. Did you hear that?” Wade reverses his direction, stepping out of the stairway, and back into my bedroom. “Hang on. Someone’s calling your name. I think it’s your dad.”
Turning back around, I walk up a couple of stairs. My heart is racing, and I know we need to summon Abigail in a safer space. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want to bring him into—”
All at once, the large picture window in my bedroom shatters into the room. It peppers Wade as he hunches over, shielding himself from the debris.
“Wade—” I cry out, racing back up the steps. Just as I reach the door, it slams shut, separating the two of us and plunging me into darkness.
Chapter 11
Panic Room
“Autumn!” Wade yells. I can hear him clawing at the other side of the wooden slab separating us. “I can’t—the door handle is missing!”
“What the—?” I sputter, dropping my gaze and reaching for my side of the handle. The light is practically nonexistent from the glass block window on the outer wall, but he’s right. It’s gone. It’s as if it has been magically erased from existence. I spin on the spot, my hands raking through my hair. “Think, Autumn, think…”
“Stand back,” Wade says. “I’ll kick it down.”
“No,” I say, twisting back to the door. “It opens inward, remember? You kicking it won’t help. Let me try.”
Spreading my hands out to either side of
