Page 45 of Eldritch

Instinctively, she reached out for a wall. For anything. Fear launched into her throat.

“Sybil?” Doug’s query came from the other part of the basement, around the corner.

She fumbled for her phone in her pocket, but before she could grab it, a light arched around the corner. Doug stood there with his phone acting as a flashlight.

She huffed out a half-laugh filled with that relief. “Wow, it is really dark in here. I wonder if the lights went out upstairs, too.”

“Good question.” He continued her way, his phone sending out the blessed light.

She pulled out her phone and switched on the flashlight. “Let’s see if the lights are on upstairs.”

“Good idea.” Doug led the way back out of the cellar.

She breathed deep and tried to steady her pounding heart. Something down in the cellar wasn’t kosher.

Voices came from the upper floors. The lights appeared to be out in the Great Hall, too. A moment later, they reached the main floor, and her breathing eased.

The lights went back on.

Doug and Sybil went into the Great Hall, and she didn’t know what to say or to think about the last few minutes.

“That was interesting,” he said. “I didn’t have time to finish measuring, so I’m going back down.”

“I’ll stay up here.”

He seemed to take it all in stride and headed back to the cellar. Drawn toward the terrace window, she stood and looked outside at the building clouds. It looked threatening again. She opened the terrace door and went outside for fresh air. The cloud cover made the forest darker. More forbidding.

This house is more than bizarre. Weird. Uncanny. Unsettling.

Each day here became odder. More complicated, and far more than she’d expected when Clarice had hired the company. The situation had quickly turned bizarre, which was unexpected, considering how easy it should have been.

She walked to the edge of the terrace and stared into those woods. Heard them speak to her.

Come here.

Enter us.

We want to see you.

Talk to you.

Feel you.

Touch you.

She drew in a breath and jerked back.

She pulled herself from a fog. A stupor that had come out of nowhere.

She drew in the cool air, and it cleared her head.

The terrace door opened, and she flinched and turned toward it.

Doug came outside and closed the door. “Hey. You okay?”

He seemed to ask her that a lot. She didn’t know whether to appreciate his concern or be worried that she showed signs of things not being okay.

She smiled, well aware she didn’t feel the amusement behind it. “Sure. Why do you ask?”

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