there’s loose debris on the ground it could injure her paws.’
Ava nodded in agreement as Killian tilted his head back and took a long hard look at the huge building.
‘You’re lucky it was constructed with brick and stone. ‘If she’d been a timber structure, I doubt she’d have lasted this long… you’ve got some broken windowpanes on the second and third floors, it will have exposed the rooms to damage from the wind and rain coming in off the coast. It’s possible the upper floors have deteriorated but we won’t know for sure until we get inside. You got keys?’
‘Yes,’ Ava replied fishing in her pocket for the large bundle of keys the lawyer had given her, ‘but the entire lower floor is boarded up.’
‘Not a problem,’ he reached into the flatbed of his pick-up and rummaged through the tools until he came up with a crowbar.
‘Stay,’ Ava told Bailey, who didn’t look happy but found a patch of sun warmed grass and hunkered down, yawning with a stretch of her tongue and a slight whine before dropping her head on her paws and settling in for a nap.
It took several attempts to find the right key for the padlock but finally the gate scraped open with a groan of protest. Killian was the first to head up the stone steps which still seemed to be perfectly stable and past two small stone lion heads mounted on the wall either side of the bottom step.
By the time she reached Killian he’d already pried off one panel of rotting wood, propping it up against the curve of the rounded tower to the right and was working on the second panel. It finally gave with a loud splintering and cracked in two, showering the ground with chunks of wood.
‘Would you like to do the honors?’ he stepped back.
Ava stared at the old double doors. They were rotten; even she could see they couldn’t be saved and that was fine. A doorway like this needed something brighter. Panels of stained glass which would catch the dying rays of the light reflecting off the ocean and throwing a myriad of colors across the foyer she imagined she would find on the other side.
She fumbled through the keys for the right one and she slid it into the lock, imagining it turning smoothly as she opened the doors and let them romantically glide open, but it didn’t. It was wedged. No matter how hard she tried the lock refused to budge, as if the house was somehow trying to keep them out.
‘Hmm,’ Killian examined the lock, ‘it’s rusted through. It can’t be helped, we’ll have to break in. The doors are past saving anyway.’
Ava nodded and stood back.
There was sharp crack, and the lock gave, splintering off a huge strip of rotted wood.
‘Ready?’ he turned to her and grinned.
‘Yes,’ she replied placing her palm on one of the doors, her belly tensing with a mixture of excitement and nerves.
Killian reached out and placed his palm on the other door and together they pushed them open. There was an almost audible rush of air, as if the house was taking its first breath in over a century.
She lifted one foot and slowly crossed the threshold. As she stepped inside the house it was as if she’d crossed some secret gateway from one world to another. She swayed momentarily; the air pressure was different, heavier somehow, like the oppressive weight of an oncoming storm. Her ears buzzed slightly and for a second, she could’ve sworn she heard a whisper, barely more than a sibilant hiss.
She shifted her weight to step further into the house when she felt Killian grab her upper arm gently and hold her in place.
‘Wait.’ She watched as he leaned down and lifted two heavy flashlights he’d placed beside the doorway. Switching one on, he handed it to her before lifting his own. ‘Better stay close to me just in case; I don’t want any of the flooring giving way under you.’
She nodded and allowed him to step in first. Standing on the threshold while he checked, she studied the strange time capsule. If they were correct this place hadn’t changed in over a hundred years. Although it was a mess, it was a curious glimpse into the past that few were privileged to experience.
They found themselves standing in the darkness of what appeared to be a large foyer, the beams of their flashlights highlighting a large staircase winding upward.
There was a sudden, loud