through the house—a single distinct impact, like something hitting the floor above us, hard. I swallowed, forcing my feet to stay planted, my lungs to continue to breathe normally.
“Those weren’t just old house noises,” Addie said, her face white and her knuckles matching it as she gripped the edge of the counter.
“No,” I agreed. Had someone broken in? Maybe the noises I’d heard earlier before Addie arrive had been someone coming inside. Had they been hiding all this time? Waiting for what, exactly?
“So we should . . . “ She looked around the kitchen, as if she might stumble onto a handbook we’d missed: How To Handle Oneself in a Haunted House. There was nothing.
“I guess I could, ah . . .” I trailed off, wishing chivalry was actually dead. “I could go check it out.” I cringed inwardly while trying to look self-assured on the surface. Being in possession of a set of balls didn’t seem like a good reason to have to be the one to investigate any and all terrifying noises. I picked up a cast iron pan that I’d found earlier in a cabinet.
“Um, no.” Addie said, shaking her head. “You can’t go alone. You’ll go up there, and then if something happens to you, I’ll have to go up. Or whatever kills you will know I’m alone and come down looking for me.”
“You think I’m going to die?” I was trying for light, but the question came off dire. There was definitely something up there, maybe it was a real possibility.
“I’ve seen a lot of movies,” she said, looking uncertain about my impending demise. “We shouldn’t split up.”
“Maybe it was nothing,” I suggested, knowing that saying it would not make it true. I was going to have to go up there.
“A nothing that screams and then crashes onto the floor.” Her face was pale and her body looked as if it was completely stiff. No one was sleeping here tonight if we didn’t figure this out.
I sighed, gripping the frying pan tighter and running a hand through my hair, undoubtedly sending it standing on end and pointing in all directions. “Okay. I guess we go up, then?”
She wiped her hands down the front of her jeans, took a deep breath and then met my gaze. “Let’s go.” She turned around quickly and picked up a butter knife. I didn’t comment. But I didn’t think the threat of being buttered was going to frighten even the wariest of intruders.
I turned toward the back stairway, and her arm caught my shoulder. Despite my fear, there was something nice about the way she grabbed me, the idea that she needed me.
“Hey, wait. All the lights are on now, right?”
“Power’s back on, yeah,” I answered.
“Good,” she said, whispering now, like she didn’t want whatever was up there to hear us discussing the house’s utilities. “Maybe we should take the main stairs.”
“You don’t want to surprise the murderous thing that is probably going to kill me?”
“I just . . .” She squeezed my arm, as if pleading with me silently. “It feels safer. The back stairs are so dark and narrow.”
“Sure.” I didn’t think it mattered much one way or the other.
Darkness hovered just outside the streaky windows of the first floor as we moved, and it felt almost like an entity watching us from out there. We moved to the foot of the stairs, the house moaning and complaining around us with each step as I shivered with anticipation and not a little fear. There was really no sneaking through this creaky old place.
Addison’s hand slipped from my shoulder to my elbow as I climbed the first stair, and she set herself right against my side. I turned to look at her, unsure whether to be charmed or annoyed by her appropriation of my arm, but she looked so frightened when she returned my gaze with those huge dark eyes, I just tried for a reassuring smile.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s fine,” I told her, and together, we moved as quietly as we could up the stairs. At the landing, darkness stretched itself down the hallway and crept into each of the four bedrooms. I reached for the switch, but nothing happened when I pressed it. I cursed myself for not trying all the switches earlier.
“Bulbs are out,” I suggested, wishing I felt half as sure as I was acting. Addie pulled her cellphone from her pocket and switched on the flashlight. The hallway was empty. Creepy as hell, but empty.