done. That’s the part I keep forgetting. It doesn’t matter if Brandon locks me in my room. Hell, he could chain me to his bed and it would be a better fate than the one waiting back home.
Someone must have found the bodies by now. The big one, the small one.
Take them a while to identify me though, won’t it, little mouse?
I stop on a small landing and glare at the convergence of passages. Stairs lead up, a corridor leads east and west.
Was this landing here the first time I came down, or have I gotten myself even more turned around? Is this the second floor, or am I on my way to the attic? Which means a doorway down one of these halls could belong to Brandon…or the locked room I was forbidden from entering.
My breath comes quick and hot. My hand is sweating so much, it’s becoming difficult to hold onto the piece of wood that I’m using as a torch. When I try to move it to the other hand, I fumble it.
It shouldn’t have, but for some reason the impact snuffs out the flame. There’s a moment when I can clearly see that splint of wood laying there on the cold stone before darkness swoops in and takes my eyes.
Shit.
Swallowing hard, I hold out a hand and move forward until my fingers brush stone. I can’t dare to take the stairs now — it will have to be left or right. Hopefully, one of the doors on this level is unlocked.
Relief floods me when the first door I touch opens under my hand. A few yards away stands a ladder that can move all the way around the ceiling-height bookshelves lining the wall. More shelves form rows, angled so I can’t see to the end.
The only illumination comes from a light source hidden from view by a nearby bookshelf. But from what I can make out, someone’s gone through this place without any apparent sense or reason. Books lie everywhere, stacked haphazardly as if someone was attempting to construct a labyrinth between the shelves. How strange for this room to be in such disarray. Brandon doesn’t strike me as a person who would allow any clutter, especially in a place like this and Mrs. Potter keeps a very clean house.
A bout of laughter draws me from the hidden passage. The door swings closed on silent hinges, and my legs nearly melt out from under me at the thought that I may have stranded myself in this room, unable to get back to my room. At least, not without Mrs. Potter finding out I’d escaped in the first place.
I creep forward, hugging myself as cool air stirs over my exposed flesh.
Why hadn’t I slung a shawl over my shoulders? Oh yes — my room had been piping hot when I’d decided to go on my little adventure and catching a chill had been the last thing on my mind.
I peer out from behind one of the three pillars supporting the domed ceiling. A little way off, a dark shape moves strangely around in the shadows. My muscles lock as my heart begins pounding.
Are my eyes deceiving me?
I blink hard and strain in an effort to discern shape from shadow. A tall lamp placed a few feet away from a hatstand creates a frame for the bedsheet draped between them.
The figure I saw moving about is in fact a shadow cast on that tightly drawn fabric. There must be a lamp behind the man prancing around like a loon.
Another laugh. This one makes my stomach turn cold.
“Why good evening, Mizz Goodwin.”
Ice water runs through my veins. If my throat hadn’t been so tight, I might have let out a squeak of surprise, perhaps even an excuse for why I’m creeping around in the dark. The shape straightens, suddenly a tall man with a big chest and broad shoulders.
“So good of you to come.” Snickers interrupt the performer until he can get himself under control. “If it weren’t for you, my little girl would have starved!”
The person on the other side of the cloth shrinks down, becoming a fat, waddling child.
“Dada! Dada! Gimme milk, Dada.”
If I could have moved, I’d have been running. Screaming even. Instead, my terrified body holds me hostage, forcing me to watch this hair-raising play to its finale.
The performer jumps up and twists to the side. His silhouette becomes that of a curvy woman. “Ooh, Baron, I shall nurse your baby! These big tits of