a chip barely dabbed with dip nearly to his mouth. Ulric’s eyes widened. Everyone knew what those dolls were capable of. Giving them free run of the house was a nightmare. A literal nightmare.
I closed my eyes, mentally pinpointing the door to their room. Thankfully, it was shut. I’d have to keep checking it vigilantly, just in case. My mother could not be trusted. Neither, it seemed, could Ivy House.
Having apparently ignored my question, my mom fussed with rinsing out the empty Tupperware. While she was otherwise occupied, Mr. Tom recognized his opportunity and grabbed the smaller bowl meant for my dad, then the bag of chips, and hurried out of the room.
“Drat that man.” My mom fumed after him. “He just will not take a break. He’s doing too much, Jessie, he really is. He doesn’t need to wait on us!”
“Mom. Listen to me, those dolls need to stay in that room. That’s their room.”
“Tell that to the rodents you have running through it. Your father and I heard a big one up there. I’d hate for those lovely little dolls to get chewed up. I made sure to move them around the house so they can be enjoyed and stay safe. Your father is going to tackle that rodent problem tomorrow. It’s the least we can do.”
“We do not have rats, madam,” Mr. Tom said on re-entry.
Ulric, Jasper, Austin, Cedric, and I all exchanged anxious glances. None of us wanted those dolls running around the house willy-nilly, able to terrorize us at will.
I connected eyes with Jasper. “Go,” I mouthed. “Put them away.”
“Make sure you shut the door behind you,” Ulric whispered urgently.
Ivy House had better stop animating those dolls for my parents to hear. I didn’t know how I’d retaliate, but I’d think of something.
“Hmm. This is actually really good. Seafood dip is good, who knew,” Austin murmured, reaching for another chip.
“I have very thoroughly checked every inch of this house for rodents and applied the correct defensive measures,” Mr. Tom said, missing the exchange about the dolls. He’d never considered them a problem.
“Well, something up there is knocking around.” My mom patted Mr. Tom on the arm when he was within range. “It’s a big old house—it can be hard to get to every inch, especially with all those stairs. Don’t worry; Pete is an excellent mouser. He’ll help you out. Now.” She glanced around. “Where are the table settings? I’ll just go set the table, will I?”
Mr. Tom hung his head.
“I guess I need to make good on that date finally, huh?” Austin said quietly, still by my side, grabbing his third dip-laden chip. “Your mother said so.”
Nine
A vibrating scream filled my head and tore through my body, jolting me upright in bed. The darkness crowded in around me and pushed against the windows. My heart thudded, but no other sound reached me, the night still. Whatever had awoken me wasn’t auditory—it was magical.
My phone clattered on my nightstand, and I jumped. Austin’s name blinked onto the screen. I’d left the connection between us open to monitor his healing—he must’ve felt me startle awake.
“Hey,” I said when I put it to my ear, breathing heavily. “What’s up?”
“What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Another blast pounded through me, shaking every bone in my body.
The alert! I’d set the tripwire before I’d gone to bed. Someone was out there.
“Something must’ve tripped my magical wire,” I whispered, slinking out of bed and onto the floor.
“Can you see what it is from your window?”
“I don’t feel a presence,” Ivy House said through our magical communication. “It’s not the basajaun. I do not feel whatever is out there. My defenses are blind to it. There is a spell out there, that I do not know, that can have this effect. I thought it would’ve been lost with time…”
Fear trickled through me. That was a huge blind spot. Ivy House had always been able to feel someone stepping onto the property. If she couldn’t feel the danger, neither could I.
I crawled on my hands and knees across the floor, the phone in my hand, Austin saying something that was lost to the distance. Crouching below the window, I put the phone back to my ear. “I’m about to find out.”
I rose oh-so-slowly, conscious that my head would interrupt the plane of the window and hoping the darkness would mask it.
“You can’t feel anything through Ivy House?” I could hear his voice shaking with movement. He was probably jumping out of bed.