Page 65 of Into the Dark

It took Oscar a confused moment to realize the curtain consisted of human hair.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-FOUR

“Shit!”he flinched back in shock, and the hair whisked upward, vanishing into the hopper. One of the chutes groaned, as if settling under a sudden weight.

“What?” Zeek exclaimed. Flashlights traced wild arcs as everyone searched for whatever had startled Oscar.

His heartbeat slowing, Oscar took a step closer to the hopper and chutes. “Ruby? Is that you?”

Knock, knock.

Thank god. It was good to see a friendly…not face. Head of hair, even if it belonged to a ghost. “Has anyone else come through here tonight? Anyone alive, I mean?”

Knock.

“Damn it,” Dr. Lawson muttered.

If Nigel hadn’t come this way, if they were down here for nothing…

Trying to ignore his rising panic, Oscar said, “Thank you, Ruby. You’ve been a great help.”

“What now?” Chris asked. “If Nigel isn’t down here, should we go back up?”

“No,” Dr. Lawson said firmly. “If he came or was brought down here using the elevator, he wouldn’t necessarily have entered this room. We need to keep looking.”

The next door opened into a huge room that mimicked the size of the administration floor above. Strangely, the door opposite stood open—and a low bank of fog was rolling in through it.

“That’s not right,” Chris said, shining their light on the fog.

“It certainly isn’t.” Oscar scanned the room with his own flashlight. Machinery dominated much of it: an enormous boiler, an industrial-sized hot water tank, control panels, and more. The more modern additions were jammed in wherever they would fit, and pipes crisscrossed the space above. Toward the back of the room, the elevator shaft came to rest beside what was no doubt the motor powering the lift.

“Um, guys?” Zeek said uneasily. “Wasn’t the elevator on the first floor earlier?”

Oscar’s skin felt as if a thousand ants crawled across it. Despite the cold motor that hadn’t turned in decades, the elevator car had somehow come to rest in the basement.

Doors open. Inviting them in.

Zeek took a few steps in its direction, the fog swirling around his feet now. Chris grabbed his arm. “Dude! Don’t go in the scary elevator.”

“I was just taking a closer look,” Zeek protested. Then his expression grew chagrined. “But you’re right, we should probably stay over here.”

“We don’t have a choice but to go farther in.” Dr. Lawson stepped past them, shining her flashlight between pieces of equipment, making the shadows jump. “There are too many hidey-holes in here—we have to make sure Taylor isn’t lying unconscious in one of them.”

She was right. Oscar could feel invisible eyes on them, the air tense as though holding its breath. And that fog…

“Keep your salt ready,” he warned. “And stay close together.”

They fanned out, shining the beams of their flashlights into every crevice they could find. Some shadows were too deep to pierce, and the thickening fog formed a haze across the floor that the light struggled to penetrate.

Chris peered into the open door of the old boiler. “Too bad Tina isn’t here—she’d love this,” they said.

A pair of arms shot out of the opening and grabbed their wrist.

Chris yelled and dropped their flashlight, which instantly went out. They managed to brace their feet against the outside of the boiler, even as whatever lurked within struggled to haul them in with it.

“Salt!” Oscar shouted, and ran toward them.

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