Page 126 of Black Curtain

It felt like the house itself had a heartbeat.

When I glanced at Jax, he was looking at me almost suspiciously.

“How did you know about the basement?” he asked.

I could tell he was freaking out, so I didn’t take it personally.

Even so I sighed.

I was about to remind him I’d already answered that question, when a different voice broke into my thoughts.

“Where’s Dex?” Nick asked. “Why isn’t he with you?”

I frowned.

Turning my head, I looked up the stairs with the rest of them.

“He was right behind me,” I said.

“When?” Black said.“Whenwas he behind you? Where were you?”

“On the second landing. He was going to look in the bathroom one last time…” I felt my face drain of blood as I realized what I was saying.

We all looked at each other.

Then without saying another word, we all started vaulting up the stairs.

* * *

Like before, Nick got there before the rest of us.

That time, he didn’t walk right up to the door.

He gave the entrance to the bathroom a wide berth, then got down on his hands and knees and began rapping a fist against the wooden floor.

He worked his way through the open bathroom door.

Then he was nearly lying on his side, staring at the tile floor. When I got to him, he was still rapping his knuckles lightly against the surface. He reached out a few times to touch the grout along the lines between tiles. He leaned part of his body deeper into the bathroom, but he still didn’t put his weight on the floor, I noticed.

He was careful to stay to the side of the bathroom door, as well.

“I think there might be a trap door here,” he said, sparing us a grim look when we all crowded around him. He motioned Jax back with a hand. “Stay back, brother. Don’t get too close. You’re right on the edge of it.”

He brought his eyes closer to the tile.

“I think I’ve figured out where it is, but just give me a minute…”

He looked up at Black.

Jerking his head towards the room where the witch had been sitting in the middle of that circle with all the symbols, Nick spoke even as he returned his eyes to the tile.

“There’s some chalk in there. On the windowsill. Furthest from the door. Can you go get it, and bring it to me? The blue one, so we can see it.”

Black disappeared without a word.

He reappeared in seconds with a thick piece of blue chalk in one hand, like what we used to write with on sidewalks when I was a kid.

He tossed it to Nick, who caught it midair.

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