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“It’s just part of the haunting,” he reassured me. “It can’t hurt us.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him. I turned back to our friends and gestured for them to follow. “Come on. Let’s look for clues.”
Chloe wrapped her arms around herself, and her eyes wandered the foyer. “Very creepy. I like it.”
Mandy took careful steps. “It’s a bit much for me. If people weren’t dying, my ass would be hightailing it in another direction.”
“You and me both, sister,” Miles agreed.
We took another timid step inside—
Bang!
I nearly jumped out of my skin. We whirled around in unison to see that the front doors had slammed shut. The click of a lock met my ears.
“I take it that wasn’t the storm,” Grant said in a shaky tone.
Miles yanked on the doors, but they didn’t budge. “Um, doesn’t the legend say no one gets out of here alive?”
“Someone had to,” Mandy pointed out. “They’ve salvaged antiques from this place.”
“But they apparently left the bodies,” Chloe said in a hollow tone. She peeked down a hallway, and I followed to get a good look. My stomach twisted when I saw a skeleton lying against the wall. The body had decomposed, but I could still make out the decaying fabric of the woman’s dress.
“Of course they left them,” Miles said sadly. “You can sell the antiques for a pretty penny. All you’re going to get from taking these bones is a vengeful spirit.”
“The spirits are trapped in the music box, so we should be safe,” Lucas said. “We’ve been here before and got out then. We can do it again. Once we find out how to banish the demon, we’ll find another exit and help the spirits cross over. Let’s get moving.”
We passed by endless doorways. Some were closed, and others hung off their hinges. Various windows had been smashed, and debris lay everywhere. The further we walked, the more chilling the air became. Lightning flashed from outside, followed by a roll of thunder.
“Wait,” Talia said, stopping dead in her tracks. She was still wrapped in Grant’s arms, but she had a confident look on her face. She pointed down a nearby hall. “There’s something down there. I can’t make out the memories, but it’s strong.”
Lucas stepped in front of everyone else. “Let’s check it out.”
I followed behind him, and the floorboards creaked under my weight. We passed by a few empty rooms before Talia pointed to the door at the end of the hall.
“Something happened in there,” she stated.
We approached the room slowly. I held my breath as Lucas reached for the door. In one swift motion, he flung it open.
I didn’t know what I expected to find—maybe ghosts—but the room was empty. We stepped into a huge bedroom with a ceiling that stretched up two stories. A big four-poster bed sat along one wall, surrounded by a bunch of other furniture. The whole room was in disarray. One of the posts had been ripped off the bed, and the blankets lay in a heap on the ground. Glass littered the floor beneath a frame that used to be a mirror.
“Can you tell what happened here, Tal?” Grant asked.
Talia began walking around the room, running her fingers along the furniture. “There are a lot of memories here,” she said. “It’s hard to separate them.”
Miles looked under an old lamp shade. “What exactly is it we’re looking for?”
I touched the windowsill. “It could be anything—”
A scream cut me off. Everyone froze in place as the sound of footsteps came sprinting down the hall. The door slammed into the wall and shuttered as two ghostly forms raced into the room. My friends scattered as they ran to hide from the vengeful spirits. As the ghosts entered the room, the scene around us changed. The mirror that had been shattered was whole again, and the post on the bed that had been broken stood upright.
An older woman, who had to be around seventy years old, ran into the room. She stumbled against a dresser, and several items scattered onto the floor. A music box like Talia’s rattled across the top of the dresser. The woman kept running, heading straight toward me. I grabbed a handful of salt from my bag and threw it at her, but nothing happened.
Lucas grabbed me and yanked me out of the way. She kept running like she never saw me. The woman threw open the window, and the strong breeze from the incoming storm swept through the room.
A man followed her. He was around the same age, and he wore a suit and carried a knife. He didn’t run after her, but walked briskly with confidence, like he knew she’d never escape.
“I thought the spirits were trapped in the music box!” Grant cried.
