Page 12 of The Haunting
“Let’s hunt, and then we can go home to the children,” he said, and I nodded. That would be wonderful.
Rosie
Calamity was almost plastered to my back as we exited the bedroom and met everyone gathered in the hall. None of us wished to separate, and we’d decided that there was safety in numbers. Hell, I was spooked, and I knew I wasn’t alone. Sabine remained pale while Vladimir and Lucian appeared poised for battle.
I shook myself. Battle ready? That was dramatic.
“Eden mentioned there was a kitchen below with food. I hate to say it, but I’m starving,” Nanci said.
“Let’s go find it. Can anyone remember where it was?” Inglorious asked.
“Yes. I took note, come,” Vladimir replied.
We made our way down the dark hallway. Even this was creepy as fuck. Cobwebs hung here, and portraits of those long-forgotten hung on the walls. There was a musty smell here that had a slightly rank tinge to it. The walls felt like they were closing in, and I was relieved when we hit the landing with the main staircase.
Vladimir took the lead, and we followed him down and through another short passageway, which opened into a large kitchen.
“Interesting,” Lucian murmured, looking around.
“Let’s hope they’ve got sandwich fillings, because I don’t know how to cook with this!” Phoe stated as her nose wrinkled up.
Maggie grinned. “Good job I do. But we’ll need to clean here; we can’t possibly prepare food here.”
Maggie wasn’t far wrong. The now-requisite cobwebs hung low, dust covered every area, and grime and an oily-looking substance stained the worktops.
“Here, I found cleaning items,” Kate announced, opening a tall cupboard. She yanked out some supplies and placed them on a work surface.
“If we all muck in, this will be clean in no time,” Phoe said, rolling up the sleeves of her sweater.
“Did you bring the wrong suitcase?” Drake asked Lucian as he studied the man’s old-fashioned garments.
“No, this is my usual attire,” Lucian replied. He held Drake’s gaze with a haughty stare.
“Each to their own,” Drake muttered, and I giggled slightly.
Drake wasn’t wrong. Daniel, Sabine, Lucian, and Maggie all dressed in clothing belonging to a bygone era.
“Are those Regency?” I inquired.
“No. Georgian. An era I much miss…” Lucian smirked. “I read a lot and prefer their lifestyle to the modern one today.”
“Okay,” James replied, and like me, I guessed he didn’t understand.
Phoe had recognised them as nobility and addressed them by titles, but they didn’t seem bothered by having to roll up their sleeves and clean the kitchen. Within the hour, it was done, and Maggie was pulling food from the fridge.
“Someone chop the vegetables, and I’ll dice the meat,” she said.
I stepped up and grabbed the bag of potatoes she’d placed down. Phoe was rummaging through drawers and handed me a potato peeler. Sabine opened the carrots and began peeling them as Nanci discovered some loaves of bread, freshly baked, judging by the smell.
“Save them for tonight; they’ll go well with dinner,” Maggie said. Nanci nodded and rummaged through another cupboard, giving a triumphant hiss when she pulled several sliced loaves of bread out, too.
“What are we making?” I asked Maggie.
“Stew. Give it a couple of hours, and it’ll be ready. I suppose we could make sandwiches for now and eat dinner later. Sadly, the stew won’t have time to soak in the flavours, but it will be filling and plentiful,” she replied.
“Well, I can do sandwiches!” Nanci said. Inglorious headed to the fridge and began pulling out sandwich meat and cheese.
“How do you know how to cook if you’re a countess?”
