Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Phoenix ran in just as Vansi began to examine the back of Darcie’s head. “Head wound,” she said in a clipped, professional tone. “Vitals are steady. Bleeding seems to have stopped.”
Phoenix came down beside her, the two of them speaking quietly to each other as they checked Darcie over. Not knowing what else to do, I went and found a clean towel to place under Darcie’s head, while Grace went upstairs to bring down a blanket.
“It doesn’t look too serious,” Vansi said after she got to her feet, Darcie now resting under the blanket. “Hopefully, she’s just stunned and will come out of it soon.”
“You sure?” Ash’s voice was sandpaper, his face white. “We don’t know how long she was in there. If it was since she left Luna . . .”
Phoenix, his hands on his hips, glanced between us. “Where exactly did you locate her?”
After we laid it out, he frowned. “Could she have locked herself in there by accident?”
“And what?” Ash demanded. “Knocked herself on the head, too?”
Phoenix was unflustered, his tone that of the doctor who dealt with countless injured patients and stressed relatives day after day. “The site of the injury suggests it could’ve been sustained if she fell against the wall or onto the floor at the wrong angle.”
“I think I saw another door in the room.” I wasn’t sure I trusted my vision, but I couldn’t hide something that might offer an insight into what Darcie had been doing there. “What if that door leads to a shortcut through the house?” It’d explain why she’d told me to wait; she hadn’t wanted to share the route outside the family.
“A secret passageway!” Grace’s eyes rounded. “We should go check it out, answer the question so we can stop thinking one of us tried to hurt Darcie on purpose—because if she decided to go in there, the accident theory makes the most sense.”
Stomach churning, I nodded. “Yes, that’s a good idea.”
Aaron and Grace came with me, the others staying put in the living area—though Kaea caught my gaze as I exited. He mouthed, Be careful. His hair was mussed up, five-o’clock shadow heavy on his face, and his whiskey abandoned on the table beside him.
I promised myself I’d give him a full update once we were back.
“It’s not the fun reunion we all expected, huh?” Aaron said softly after we were out of earshot of the others. “Sorry, Gracie. I promised you a great time.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” she murmured, squeezing his arm as she leaned against him.
It struck me then that Grace was the unknown here, the one person whose motives we couldn’t hope to guess at—we didn’t know her well enough. Wouldn’t that be easy? Just blame the newcomer in our midst like we were in some incestuous backwoods settlement that went around kidnapping hitchhikers.
I rolled my eyes at myself, because the truth of it was that poor Grace had no horse in this race. She was just an innocent bystander caught in the currents that tied the seven of us together.
“It’s not your fault,” she continued now. “It’s this house. Bad juju all around.”
“I’m beginning to agree with you.” All the tiny hairs on my body were standing up, taut and alert. “It’s as if it’s holding on to all the bad energy from the past.” I thought of Clara’s tight script, the painstaking work she’d done to hide the ugly reality of her life.
I knew deep in my gut that she’d shared none of that with her family back in England. It would’ve only hurt them—they were helpless to do anything for her. And so she’d dealt alone with this life of whispering madness that could well have led to murder.
A glimpse of the eerie family portrait up ahead.
“This is it.” Turning consciously away from that unnerving piece of art, I pointed out the tapestry that covered the now broken door.
Pulling it aside, Aaron turned on his flashlight. “Wow, apologies, Lu, but I almost didn’t believe you on the secret room.”
“I saw it and I still hardly believe it.” I entered with him, while Grace hovered outside.
“You can wait there, Gracie,” Aaron said with his customary gentleness, then mouthed “afraid of the dark” to me.
Bile burned my throat, but I just nodded. If only I could stand outside the dark, too, but the dark was coming for me.
There would never be any escape.
“No.” Grace’s shoulders rose, her face set. “I’m more frightened standing out here by myself. Especially if we do think someone did that to Darcie. Do we?”
“It was an accident.” Aaron took her hand with a smile of encouragement. “It’s only us eight in the house, remember?”
That was exactly the problem, though, wasn’t it? It was only the eight of us in this house. And unlike Aaron, I wasn’t so sure that I could trust all of my friends. Poor Grace. She didn’t even know most of us that well, and she was now stuck with us in a house straight out of a gothic novel.