in?” She had lowered her voice and tried to sound calm considering the noise in her head.
Both sisters shook their heads.
“We’re not allowed inside, dear—”
“We gave our word.”
Jules didn’t get it. “Then where will the two of you hide? This guy isn’t messing around. He’s going to kill me, and he’s going to kill you if he knows you’re here.”
“Oh, don’t worry about us,” said one. “There is a place for us just on down the hall, but ye’ll be safe here.”
“Yes, it won’t take us a moment to hide. But we’ll see ye safe first.”
Great. She’d come to save them and they ended up saving her.
“Fine,” she said. “Let’s move.”
Jules did as ordered—they were a bossy pair—and pulled herself up into the hole. She couldn’t think of it as a tomb and still crawl inside. Once she was out of it, she’d ask questions.
She stuck her head out and watched the pair turn for the door.
“Wait a sec,” she said.
“What is it, dear?” asked one.
“You’re not ghosts, are you?” She pretended she was joking.
They both chuckled. One of them winked in the light from the flashlight shining on her wrinkled face. “Not yet, dear. Not just yet. And don’t forget to plug the hole.”
When she’d first stuck her head inside, Jules had seen a stash of flashlights and candles against one wall. She felt for them now, praying at least one would have live batteries. The first one she tested worked. Then she did what the old chick had done and put the bright end against her shirt. If the guy came looking and found the little room, the last thing she wanted him to see was light shining down through the ceiling.
Oh, she was in a tomb all right, and it took a lot more courage than she thought she had to nudge the plug into the hole with her foot.
But which is better, dead or just temporarily buried?
A room—she’d just think of it as a stone room.
It was oblong. Its walls were black stones of all shapes and sizes that fit perfectly, like a puzzle. The ceiling was high enough to let her stand, as if the guy who built it expected a tall crowd inside.
Jules had read every word on the website, but hadn’t paid much attention to the fairy tale crap. She’d been more interested in the current Lady of Clan Ross, not the marketing aimed at the tourists. Now she wished she’d read it more carefully.
She ran one hand along the wall. The mortar and cobwebs felt old and genuine, not like a recent set design. The air smelled dusty and stale and she hoped it had nothing to do with the decomposed body of some Ross woman who’d been buried alive by her brother. At least the body had been removed. A ghost she could handle. A skeleton? Not so much.
“Joooliet! Come out, come out, wherever ye are.”
The hitter’s sing-song words were muffled and came from her left. He must have been standing in the great hall. No way did he know she was inside unless light was finding its way out some crack, but there was no way she would turn off the flashlight now. What if it didn’t turn back on? Then, he’d know exactly where she was because she’d be out of her friggin’ mind and screaming her head off.
Just the thought of it pushed her heart rate up. Freaking out wasn’t far off, so she bit her lip and breathed through her nose, not trusting herself to keep quiet. Any little sound and he’d start blowing holes in the walls.
The sneeze came upon her so fast she couldn’t do much more than try and muffle it with the sleeve of her jacket. Still, the sharp whisper echoed around her before settling.
Shit!
There was movement against the wall, like rats running up and down it. He’d heard the noise and was looking for a way in! She could imagine him clearly as he felt every stone for weakness. He was thorough, right to left, top to bottom, in sections, twice around the tomb. Rougher sounds followed and she imagined him trying to pry the stones apart. Then she heard the slide of his body on the roof.
He cursed and she braced herself for the blast that would soon follow. Scrunched down in the far end, she shut her eyes and willed herself to become invisible.
But the blast never came. The noises stopped altogether. A hitter wouldn’t just give up, though. He’d