Page 119 of The Staircase in the Woods

Hamish, too, probably.

Then me.

Dead in this place—

Just like Matty—

Except.

No.

The words gushed forth, same as the violence in this room, fast and without warning—

“Matty isn’t dead!”

And like that, the fight stopped for a moment. Just small sounds now—Lore breathing heavily. Hamish, a low growl in the back of his throat. And from Nick, a small, low whine. The whine of an animal in a trap.

As Owen reached for the flashlight that had fallen—

Ta-ting-ting.

The sound of something hitting the ground.

Something like a knife.

Hand around flashlight. Beam up.

Nick stood there, his back pressed against the far wall of the pantry. The look on his face was struck in a chokehold of panic. Lore pulled away, rubbing at her throat—was she cut, had he cut her throat?No, Owen didn’t see any blood. The beam fell to Nick’s face, washing him out, a moon of white, and his eyes flicked toward Owen—staring right into the bright beam, the pupils dilating down to pinpricks. “You can’t know that,” he said, breathless.

“I think I do,” Owen said, slowly pulling himself to standing.

For a moment, nothing. Then Nick opened his mouth to speak—

But Hamish’s fist pushed any words back down. Nick’s head rocked against the wall, and then it wasclick-click,lights out for Nick Lobell.

71

Not Dead Yet

The hit was hard. Nick was out. But he was still alive, at least.

If they had killed him…

Ifhehad killedthem…

Lore couldn’t bear to think about it.

They dragged Nick into the crawlspace.

—

And it was like,whoof,the air of their anger was sucked out of the room. Melted away, a sandcastle under a single wave. They all cooled their heels now in the crawlspace, and Hamish shook his head and said he was sorry. “I just got so mad. I was so mad at everything and everyone. I want to say, you know, that it was strategic, that I was hitting him because I thought he’d go for the knife or because I thought he was tricking us, but that wasn’t it, man, that wasn’t it at all. I hit him because I wanted to hurt him. For the way he hurt us.Shit.”

Owen told them he had wanted to kill them both, too.

Lore just nodded, staring at the wall.

Above their heads, Christmas lights, red and green, twinkled.

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