Page 206 of Nanny and the Beast

I follow his gaze. My heart drops.

The girl in the white dress stands at the threshold, watching us. I see her in the flesh for the first time. The veil still hides her face, but I can see her more clearly now. There are scars all over her body. The skin over her face is uneven, as if she had received multiple skin grafts. And she’s staring right at me with those hollow eyes.

“Miss Turner?” James says softly.

I turn to look at him.

“Can we go now?” he asks.

I glance back at the door to see that the woman is gone. It’s like she was never even there. I would think I imagined the whole thing, but James wears that haunted expression, too.

A loud crash echoes downstairs, making me refocus on getting the kids to safety. This is all that matters right now.

“Alright, come on,” I say, taking the kids’ hands in mine.

I force myself to be brave because I know they’re watching me. If I let myself panic now, their little minds will do the same.

I quickly scan the corridor before rushing to my grandmother’s room. I wake her up and quickly explain what’s happening. She gets out of bed and puts on her robe.

As we rush toward the emergency stairs, Itry to ignore the way the heat smarts my skin. It feels like I’m inside an oven.

When I glance over my shoulder, I see that the fire has climbed up thegrand foyer wall, licking at the high ceilings. The chandelier I saw earlier now drips molten crystal and embers, its golden frame twisted by heat. The smoke is thick in the air, and the acrid fumes make it hard to breathe.

The four of us take the emergency stairs that lead to the backyard.

Once we’re out in the open, it gets easier to breathe. There’s no smoke here. In fact, there’s not a single sign of the fire. It almost feels like everything we saw inside was just a bad dream.

We’re also the only people in sight.

“Why didn’t the fire alarm go off?” Rosalie asks quietly.

I look at the little girl. I was wondering that myself.

“I need to go back inside,” I say.

“It’s not safe, Emma,” my grandmother says, clasping my wrist.

“I have to,” I say. “I think Helena is still inside the mansion.”

“There’s something about this fire,” my grandmother says, shaking her head. She glances over at the kids and then back at me.

She leaves the rest of her thoughts unsaid.

She believes that someone intentionally set the fire.

My heart jumps in my chest as I think about the woman in the wedding dress. I was creeped out by her presence, but I don’t think she was there to harm me. It felt like the opposite, if anything.

“Please watch over the children, Grandma,” I say.

I tug my arm away and run back inside the mansion. I hear my grandmother calling out my name, but I don’t let myself glance back.

I step inside the house again.

The smoke is even thicker now. I lift my shirt to my nose, breathing through the cotton. Helena’s room is located on the ground floor, so I don’t need to take the staircase.

I do a quick scan of the open space, making sure I know all the areas to steer clear of.

I’m about to head toward Helena’s bedroom when the hairs on the back of my neck rise. Someone’s watching me.

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