floor with a loud crack. Keira flinched at the noise and glanced back at the window. It was impossible to know exactly how close Dane was, but the light was bright enough to tell her she only had seconds.
She raised the trapdoor and slipped her feet inside. Lowering herself blindly into a hole caused small, horrified tremors to run up her spine. Part of her squirmed against the idea that something might be lurking just beyond her toes, waiting for her to move an inch nearer before biting. Instead, her feet touched a solid, cold surface. She tested it, then stretched her foot forward to discover that it was a staircase.
A scraping noise came from outside the window. Dane was climbing the crates. He knew how to get inside the mill.
There was no time to be cautious. Keira slid into the secret passageway, creeping down six steps, then pulled the trapdoor back into place so it was flush with the floor.
A moment later, thin blades of light shot through the cracks between the wood as Dane’s flashlight passed over the room. Then a heavy thud, a grunt, and the creak of footsteps straining the ancient floor told her he was inside.
She could do nothing except close her eyes and hope. Was this secret compartment public knowledge? Had Dane come here as a child, possibly to test his courage and tell scary stories? Did he know the building well enough to search through its darkest corners?
Heavy feet passed overhead. Tiny streams of dust rained over Keira. She pressed a hand to her mouth so it wouldn’t tickle her throat and make her cough.
The footsteps passed on. A door slammed open. More footsteps. Another slam. Then another.
He’s searching the rooms. When he doesn’t find me, will he leave?
Her chest ached from where her heart fluttered. Now that she’d stopped moving, the cold was seeping through her soaked clothing and beginning to gnaw at her core. Her fingers were numb, but she couldn’t risk moving to warm them.
The footsteps came to a halt at the opposite end of the building. For a silent moment, the light skimmed over the floor above her hiding place, then the steps jogged in her direction.
Sudden panic hit Keira. She’d been dripping wet when she entered the mill; she must have left a trail of water leading to the trapdoor. If he looked closely enough, he would surely find the finger hold that had let her pull the boards up.
She considered moving farther down the stairs, but the risk of making noise was too great. Except for the pounding feet and her beating heart, the mill was almost perfectly silent.
Get ready to fight. Her muscles tensed, though she already knew her odds were bad. Dane had not only a height advantage but also a gun. She had a knife, but she would need inhuman speed to avoid the bullet he had prepared for her.
The footsteps were nearly at her hiding space. She could picture the grizzled man running his eyes over the trail leading from the window, then abruptly vanishing. He would see the hole any second…
Something clattered inside one of the offices. Dane froze, and the flashlight’s beam arced away. Then he was running for the room, skidding to a halt…and falling completely silent.
Keira kept her hand over her mouth to muffle her breaths. Was a third person hiding in the mill? It seemed almost too perfect that something would fall to the ground at the exact moment she needed a distraction. But there were no gunshots, no words, and no sound of a struggle. It couldn’t have been a ghost, could it? The only spirits I’ve seen are inaudible and intangible…
She heard nothing for close to ten minutes. Every few seconds, the flashlight passed over the secret trapdoor, sending the thin lines of light over the stone step in front of her face, then continued to scan the rest of the room. The cold was eating her, and she ached from holding the awkward pose, but she didn’t dare move.
At last, Dane spoke. It was a single swear word, frustrated and angry, spat between clenched teeth. The feet stomped past her. She listened to his grunts as he lifted himself back through the window and returned to the outside world.
Don’t be too eager, logic cautioned. He could be trying to trick you into coming out. She allowed herself the relief of shifting into a slightly more comfortable position, then settled in for a long wait.
Without a