The Mirror - Page 180

“It’s Dobbs.” But Trey began opening doors as he worked his way down the hall. “And we make damn sure.”

“I told them it was some sort of a malfunction and we’re working on it.” As Trey did, Sonya checked rooms on the way to the stairs. “God, Trey, she wouldn’t actually start a fire. She wants the manor.”

“She’s a lunatic. We check.”

“There’s no smoke. Not even her kind.” But Sonya’s heart hammered as they hurried to the third floor.

Her phone played Tom Petty’s “Makin’ Some Noise.”

“That’s right, that’s right, Clover. She’s just making some noise.”

Enough that Sonya wanted to cover her ears.

But she worked her way down the hall with Trey, opening doors, checking rooms.

“The door to the Gold Room’s already open.”

“Yeah, I see it.”

She grabbed his hand. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Too late not to think about it.”

“Stay!” She snapped at the dogs. “And that means you, too.”

“I got it.” Maybe it grated, but he got it. “We decline the invitation.” But he shined his flashlight into the thick, deep dark of the room.

He expected to see her, floating above the floor, arms outstretched, hair blowing, eyes lit. But except for furniture, the room stood empty.

“She’s not in there.” Sonya tightened her grip on Trey’s hand. “She’s somewhere else in the manor. Cleo, Owen.”

“They’re fine. So are we. We finish this floor, then the ballroom, the rest.”

But when they started toward the ballroom, the cold washed over the hallway in an ice floe of air.

The lights they’d turned on snapped off.

Sonya felt it, actually felt it move by her. Like breath on the back of her neck. The dogs let out a growl that turned to a whine as it passed.

In the dark, a shadow darker still flowed down the hall.

A whisper came. “Death lives here.” And a scream followed it.

The Gold Room door slammed; the lights flashed back on.

Silence fell so fast, so complete, Sonya’s ears rang with it.

“Back in her cave,” Trey muttered.

“I felt her. I felt her right behind me.”

“Did she touch you?” Trey shoved the flashlight back in his pocket to run his hands over Sonya.

“No. At least—no. But I felt… Like someone breathing down the back of my neck.”

He spun her around, pushed up her hair. “Nothing. Does anything hurt?”

“No. No. It was just a sensation. And I saw her, or the shadow of her. Did you see that?”