Carolyn hurried down the stairs, and searched the house, finally coming to Hannah’s bedroom off the kitchen. She rapped softly on the door, then harder. At last there was a stirring from inside the room, the door opened a crack, and Hannah peered out at her, her eyes still red with sleepiness.
“Hannah, I need your help. Something’s happened to the girls.”
“Our girls?” the old servant asked, opening the door wider, and wrapping her robe tightly around herself. “What do you mean, something’s happened to them?”
“They’re not here,” Carolyn replied. “They’re not in their rooms, and they’re not down here, either.”
Hannah’s head shook, and she made a soft clucking sound. “Well, I’m sure they’re here somewhere,” she said.
“They’re not,” Carolyn insisted. “I’d better get Phillip. Will you look downstairs?”
Hannah nodded, saying nothing as she started shuffling toward the basement stairs.
Less than a minute later, Carolyn was back in her bedroom, shaking Phillip awake.
* * *
Tracy stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and looked around. The lantern’s faint glow was quickly swallowed up by the maze of pillars supporting the main floor, and her mind began to play tricks on her as she gazed into the darkness beyond the lantern’s reach. There could be all manner of things lurking there in the darkness.
She could almost feel eyes on her, watching her.
Tendrils of fear reached out to her, brushing against her so that her skin began to crawl. When she heard Beth’s voice, she turned quickly away from the threatening darkness.
It’s back here,” Beth was whispering. “Behind the stairs.”
Tracy held the lantern up once more, and its orangish glow spread out in front of her. She saw a large metal door, hung from a rail, standing partly open. And beyond that was the room where Beth was so certain that a ghost dwelt.
To Tracy, the room looked perfectly ordinary. It was empty, and its walls were blackened as if there had been a fire here sometime long ago. In fact, she thought as she stepped inside, she could still almost smell it. There was something in the air, a faint smokiness, that made her wrinkle her nose.
“Where is she?” she asked, still whispering despite the fact that they were alone.
“She’s here,” Beth said. “I always just came down here and waited. And after a while, she sort of—well, she just sort of came to me.”
Tracy set the lantern on the floor, then looked up at Beth.
In the light of the lantern, Beth could see Tracy smiling at her. The way the light struck her face, the smile looked mocking, and Tracy’s eyes seemed to have the cruel glint in them that Beth hadn’t seen for months.
But that was silly.
Tracy was her friend now.
And then Tracy spoke.
“You really are crazy, aren’t you?” she asked, reaching into her pocket and fumbling with something.
Beth’s breath caught in her throat. “Crazy?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper. “I thought—I thought—”
“You thought I believed you, didn’t you? You thought I was dumb enough to think there was really a ghost down here.”
Beth froze, her heart pounding. As she watched, Tracy pulled the rusty jackknife out of her pocket, and unfolded its blade. “Wh-what are you doing?” Beth whimpered. She started to back away, but then realized that Tracy was between her and the door.
“You killed him, didn’t you?” Tracy asked, her eyes sparkling with hatred now. She moved slowly toward Beth, the knife clutched in her right hand, its blade flashing dully in the light of the lantern. “You killed him just so you could come back and take my father. But I’m not going to let you.”
“No,” Beth whispered. “I didn’t do anything. Amy—it was Amy—”
“There isn’t any Amy!” Suddenly moving with the speed of a cat, Tracy leaped at Beth, the knife flashing out.
A stinging pain shot through Beth’s left arm, and she looked down to see blood oozing out of a long deep cut. She stared at it for a moment, almost unable to believe what she was seeing. And then she felt a movement close by, and looked up. The knife was arcing toward her, and behind it was Tracy’s face, contorted with fury.
“I hate you!” Tracy was screaming. “You’re crazy, and I hate you, and I’m going to kill you!”
Beth ducked, and the knife glanced off her shoulder, then ripped down through her right arm. She tried to twist away, but Tracy’s left hand was tangled in her hair now.
“No!” she screamed, the word almost strangling in her throat. “Please, Tracy!