Page 92 of Eldritch

Sybil stared Pauline down. “You have to admit it’s not only strange we’ve all had nightmares, but that they have similar themes. It isn’t normal.”

“She’s right,” Maria said defensively as she turned her attention to Pauline.” Maria turned an apologetic expression on Sybil. “Letisha explained that you found her in the cellar, too.”

Letisha sighed as she scrubbed a hand through her hair. “God, what do we do? I want to finish doing this job but…”

Sybil knew she couldn’t hesitate any longer to tell the other women about her dream.

Sybil stood and went to the fireplace, wishing that right now it had a cheerful fire in it that could warm away the iciness in her heart. “I had a dream about the cellar as well. In this case, I wasn’t sleepwalking. But still…it seems everyone, but Pauline has had a weird dream or sleeping walking incident dealing with that cellar.”

Pauline’s mouth popped open. “You, too? You guys are jerking me around, right?”

Letisha snapped, “No. We aren’t.”

Sybil described her dream, and they looked dumbfounded. Silence grew.

“Holy crap.” Pauline let out a laugh, but there was no humor in it. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

Letisha’s normally calm demeanor slipped. She rubbed her hands together as if they were freezing. “Whatever is going on, it isn’t normal.”

“Do you think it’s the ghosts we’ve seen?” Maria asked. “Could they be doing all this?”

Sybil shook her head. “In my experience most ghosts are harmless.” As soon as the words exited her mouth, Sybil said, “Maybe it’s the box in the basement.”

No one asked her which box. They had to know which one she meant.

Maria settled back on the couch. “Then I’m not insane.”

Letisha sighed, her gaze finding Sybil’s. “Apparently not. What are we going to do?”

“I don’t want to give up on this place, but with everything that’s happening, mainly Taggert stalking us, we can’t sit around waiting for something bad to happen.” Sybil looked at Letisha. “I say we get out of here as soon as the weather clears a bit. We can try contacting Clarice again and tell her what’s happening. Once things are handled with Taggert then maybe we can return and still finish work at the house. It won’t be a deal breaker.”

Pauline shifted on the couch, her mouth a straight line of defiance. “I think this is going overboard.”

“I realize that you don’t understand,” Sybil said. “You haven’t had the dream or been sleepwalking. I don’t know why that is. But this has all gotten too weird. And Taggert is a real and present danger, even if the dreams weren’t happening.”

“We can’t ignore it,” Letisha said. “It’s not every day I wake up in almost pitch black in the cellar and I don’t know how I got there.”

“What do we do, then? Leave now?” Maria asked.

Letisha wandered toward the terrace windows. “The wind has picked up a lot just in the time since Sybil got back. Looks like there’s almost two feet of snow out there. We’ve got snow tires on. We could make a run for it now, but last thing I want to do is get stuck in a snowbank and freeze to death.”

Sybil supplied the only reasonable solution she could think of. “We could buddy up in our rooms so that none of us are alone for tonight.”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Letisha said with a sigh. “I say we keep our clothes on in case we have to…I dunno. Make a run for the van and escape storm or no storm.”

The reality of that scenario sent a chill through Sybil. To throw away any caution with the weather. Instead she said, “Good idea. Let’s do a first-floor window and door check and then try to sleep.”

After they checked the windows and doors and found them secure, Maria and Pauline headed off to Maria’s room, and Letisha decided to bunk in Sybil’s room. Sybil offered Letisha the bed because of her fibromyalgia but Letisha insisted on flopping on the settee across the room with an extra pillow and blankets from the closet.

“This is the craziest shit ever,” Letisha said, her tone annoyed.

Sybil tried a smile as she sat on the bed and started to take off her shoes. “You mean the settee? I told you that you could have the bed.”

“No. This situation. The dreams. The weather keeping us from leaving.”

“I think we’ll be okay. The security system is online, and the windows and doors secure. It’s making me nervous, too, but it should be fine.”

“You really don’t want to leave here, do you?” Letisha asked.

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