Page 30 of The Silence of Hell

Jinx’s gaze widened, and he mimed walking with his fingers. Concerned, I nodded as I clutched the bedsheets. We both flinched as someone ran across the wooden floor, and a door banged.

“What’s happening?” Emory demanded, wandering in. The students slept next door.

“I’m not sure. Was everyone in there with you?” I whispered.

“They’re still asleep, but I sleep lightly.”

We all jumped as we heard footsteps again. Emory worked it out, and her eyes went wide.

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“Stay here,” Jinx said. “Give me the keys.”

I rummaged around in the table next to my bed and pulled out the correct bunch.

“Pull Chance up in your contacts. If I’m not back in ten minutes, phone him. Meanwhile, lock yourselves in,” Jinx ordered. He held my gaze. “Lavender, do you remember my knock?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll use it again. If it is any different, call Chance,” Jinx demanded and left the room. I hurried over and secured the door.

“Emory, is your door locked?”

“I’ll go check,” she said and disappeared. She returned moments later.

“It’s secure.”

“Good.”

We both sat on my bed and kept our eyes raised. The creak announced the door opening, and then we heard Jinx’s footsteps. Seconds later, the door shut again, and we both looked towards mine. Jinx did his knock, and we let him back in.

“No one up there. And there’s no room to swing a cat,” Jinx explained.

“The Manoris nothaunted. There have never been reports of hauntings here amongst the family,” I declared.

“Lavender, no offence, but how much history do you know about Ravenberry Manor and the Bloodsworth lineage? There could have been ghosts and nobody told you,” Jinx mused. I scowled and wanted to argue that, but I couldn’t.

“Let’s go to sleep. There’s nothing else we can do,” I suggested finally.

They nodded, and I climbed back into bed.

What was going on?

???

To say I was grouchy was a severe understatement. The weird thing with the widow’s tower and then the strange happenings last night meant I’d not had a lot of rest. I was currently nursing a coffee and glaring at anyone who dared talk to me. Which seemed only Harriet was brave enough.

“Lavender. While takeouts are great, we’d like some home-cooked food, and the kitchen has nothing. We don’t even have cereal or bread and butter. We need to do some grocery shopping,” Harriet said with a glance at everybody.

“And we’ve scheduled a day for everyone to cook, including you, and left one night free for a takeout,” Heidi added.

Without a word, I slipped my card from the back of my phone and tossed it at them.

“Budget?” Harriet asked, and my eyes narrowed.

“How about we just buy everything we need?” Heidi chirped.

I agreed.

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