Page 122 of Black Curtain

Now we reached the upper landing, and I saw only two doors.

We all looked at one another, then without a word, Dex and I approached the first door together, flinging it open.

I felt along the walls, looking for a light switch.

Jax ran down to the second door, and opened that one, as well.

Dex and I wandered around the room.

Like a lot of the rooms in this monster of a house, it was unclear exactly what it had been used for. It might have been a recreation room, a guest bedroom, a playroom for the kids, or even storage. An old rocking horse sat in there now, covered in dust and cobwebs. A standing mirror had a sheet over it. I saw dolls sitting on small chairs, like something from a children’s tea set, wooden blocks, a filthy rug and couch. Paintings were stacked against the wall, and I recognized some of them from the virtual recording we’d seen of rooms downstairs.

I walked around, looking behind the mirror, looking for hidden nooks.

I wished I had a flashlight, but luckily my seer’s vision was a little better than a human’s. I could see in most of the dim spaces, and I walked through the darker, more shadowed spots, knocking on walls. I found a storage cupboard in the back and looked around in there.

There was no light, but I couldn’t see anything but stacked boxes.

“KIKO!” I yelled. “KIKO! ARE YOU IN HERE?”

I used my seer’s sight to examine the space, but I felt nothing.

Well, I felt nothing human. There were rats. Mice. Birds. Squirrels.

I felt what might have been bats, maybe a dead owl.

No people.

No Kiko.

I withdrew my head, frowning.

Dexter had left this room, presumably to follow Jax.

I did the same, crawling out of the door of the cupboard and pulling myself back to standing with an old coatrack. I walked swiftly back to the landing, leaving the door wide open. When I jogged down the corridor, I found Dexter standing there, alone.

“There’s another virtual thing,” Dex said, pointing.

I glanced inside the room long enough to see the male out of the couple, Denis, holding a baby in his arms. He was pacing back and forth, gripping the baby tightly, a grim look on his face. Through the window outside, it appeared to be sunset.

His long, wood-brown hair hung in a low ponytail as he watched the sky change colors through the framed windows.

I looked at Dexter.

“Where’s Jax?”

Dex didn’t take his eyes off the man in the brown waistcoat and white shirt. “He went downstairs. He couldn’t feel her up here anywhere… I don’t think he could handle standing still long enough to watch one of Brick’s home movies, doc.”

I frowned, but only nodded.

I was trying really hard not to freak out.

Where thefuckcould Kiko have gone?

Was there someone else in here with us?

My eyes returned to the virtual human.

When I spoke to him, my voice came out in a bark.

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