I walk her closer to the fire and start to unbutton her raincoat. “What were you doing out there? How did you even find the solarium?”
“I…” Her teeth chatter. “I was following your brother.”
“Lucas?”
“I saw him from my window.”
“Lucas was at the solarium?”
“No. I don’t know.” She shakes her head, and I can’t tell if the sudden shiver is from cold or fear. “Can we go to the house? I don’t want to be out here.”
“I’ve got you.”
“I’m scared, Damian.”
I take her shoulders and squeeze. She’s not only scared. She’s terrified. “I’m here. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Her forehead wrinkles, but her shoulders relax, and she finally nods.
“Now tell me where my brother went.”
“I don’t know where he went. I only saw him going into the woods then coming back out of them.”
“He left you out there alone?”
“He never saw me.”
“I doubt that.”
She looks at me with a confused expression on her face.
I peel off her coat, taking care not to hurt her. Her shirt’s wet, too, and her jeans. “You’re soaked through. Do you know how long you’ve been out here?”
She shakes her head. “I couldn’t find my way back.”
“And that’s why you won’t go into the woods alone again.”
“I don’t ever want to go back there.”
“Why? What happened? Apart from your fall.”
Her forehead creases as she studies the fire. “It’s just creepy. There was a doll, God, it was the scariest thing when I saw it.”
“You got scared of a doll?”
She looks up at me. “It was old. Maybe an antique or something. When I’d bent to pick up the broken tea things, there it was, staring up at me from a tangle of weeds.”
“Hmm.”
“It was creepy, Damian. That whole place is creepy. I just…I felt like someone was watching me.”
“No one was out there. We have soldiers, so no one would have gotten through.”
But the way she looks at me, I know what she’s thinking. Not a person. At least not a living one.
“You were going the wrong way, by the way,” I say, moving off the topic of ghosts.
“How did you find me?”
I take the phone out of her coat pocket. “Location.”
“Oh.”
I’m about to set it aside when I feel something else inside the pocket. I take that out, too, momentarily confused when I see the switchblade.
When I turn to her, she looks from the knife up to me like she’d forgotten it was there. And she looks guilty as sin. Like she did the other night.
I recognize it, of course. The intricately carved hilt. Pushing the button, I open it.
She jumps when I do.
I touch the blade—sharp as ever—and when I turn it to read the initials on the handle, I shake my head.
That’s what my sister was up to that night.
I set both phone and knife on the mantel and turn to her.
She meets my gaze, shivering as rain taps on the tin roof.
“You’ll explain that later. We need to get you warm and get that glass out first.”
“It hurts.”
“I can’t clean them until you stop shivering so we need to warm you up.”
She doesn’t fight me as I take off her wet clothes. Only when she’s in her underwear and bra does she seem to notice and try to wrap her arms around herself.
“Here. Sit down.” I take off my coat and put it over her shoulders. I make her sit down on the chair closest to the fireplace before taking off her wet boots and socks. Her feet are freezing. She must have been outside for some time. If my brother saw her and left her to wander out there, I’m going to fucking kill him.
Grabbing the bottle of whiskey from the nearby bench, I bring it to her.
“Here.”
“No, no more of that.”
“Just a sip. It’ll warm you up.”
Bringing the bottle to her lips, I tilt it back so she can swallow a sip. I, on the other hand, take a big swig before setting it on the mantel.
After adjusting logs on the growing fire, I get the first-aid kit. She’s lucky I’ve always kept a well-stocked one out here. Mom’s rules when she was alive. I’ve just kept it up for some reason although I’ve never needed to use it.
“What is this place?” she asks. She’s taking in the large space as I return to her. I wonder what she makes of the covered furniture along all the