Page 40 of The Staircase in the Woods

“Hamish, no—”

Hamish, still looking up, said quietly, maybe to Owen, maybe to the others, maybe to the staircase itself:

“We lost more than just Matty that day.”

And then he started to walk up the steps.

One step after the other. Slow steps, as if he wasn’t sure.

Owen begged him. “C’mon, we can talk about this, Hamish.Hamish.” Tears crawled down Owen’s cheeks as Hamish ascended the stairs.

Now at the top, Hamish didn’t jump so much as he took a deep breath and stepped forward. A big, wide step—a long stride to nowhere. The world swallowed him up. One moment, there was Hamish. And in the next? No one. As though he’d never even existed.

The air at the top of the staircase shimmered, like heat waves leaving a house in winter, the door open, the warmth stolen into the cold.

Make your choice, Zuikas.

Remember the Covenant.

The staircase shuddered. He felt the gentle tremble of the ground.

The top of the staircase pulsated.

I can’t do it.

I’m too scared.

They’re gone and I’m alone and—

25

See, I Knew You Could Do It

Owen gave up, gave in, and climbed the stairs. One step at a time. It was all he could do. It pulled at him. His friends were gone. The Covenant was gone, too. Unless. Maybe.Maybe.

At the top, now.

He felt the world shudder.

The darkness, shimmer.

He stepped off the top step.

And then he was gone, just like the others.

Gone from here, at least.

But not from there.

26

Where’s There, Mon Frère?

The crew never understood why Lore hated being at home as a kid. They saw that her mother was always either at work or out with some boyfriend, and they thought,How excellentthat must be. It must be pure, unmitigated freedom, they thought—no oppressive parents, no stupid rules, no vegetables to eat. Microwave some bagel bites, watch someJudge Judy,hell, kick back with something from Mom’s never-actually-locked liquor cabinet. Smoke weed, jill off, look through the medicine cabinet and take whatever was in there.

You basically own the place,Nick said. Hamish wanted to get high in every room. Matty said,Wait, so nobody’s breathing down your neck? Nobody’s telling you to get your homework done or study for this or practice for that? It’s Heaven, Laur!Even Owen didn’t get it, not really.It’s better than my house,he told her once, with a half-hearted shrug, and she of course took that as a challenge, as competition, because what wasn’t?

But what none of them ever understood was the feeling of that house.

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