“It says it should be right here,” she murmured with agitation.
“Maybe it’s invisible?” Phoebe proposed, completely serious. The two Sons laughed, but tried to cover it up once she shot them a severe look. It was more than possible - the entire Fortunate Isle is invisible to those who aren’t worthy to view it.
“Wait, what’s that?” One of the Sons pointed to the left and just over the sand dunes. “It looks like the roof of a house.”
“Looks like?” Carmen scrunched up her nose, “Or is? Because there’s a big difference.”
“See for yourself…” he rebutted and gestured toward the sand dunes.
“Okay, I will,” she countered. We looked on, as she more stomped than maneuvered around one of the larger dunes and disappeared. Only seconds later she returned, gesturing wildly for us to follow. Willow and I duplicated Carmen’s path around the sand dune. Once on the other side, we could see a sandy path that extended down the rest of the dunes; twisting and turning until it hit flat sand. Just beyond it stood a magnificent house that glowed white in the moonlight. A wraparound porch invited us to explore further, but the fact that it wasn’t on stilts made me reconsider. For a house that was directly across from the ocean, that was definitely odd. It appeared to be in good condition, although no personal items were strewn about the porch or yard and the many windows were completely dark.
“I’m going to go see if it’s open,” Carmen declared. She leapt up the wooden steps and tried the door knob, which gave way easily as the front door swung open. She stepped inside. The beach around us was deserted, but wondrous. As if the moon had been replaced by a big round black light, it highlighted anything remotely pale. The foam of the waves, the sand beneath our feet, and the sprawling house before us were brilliant against the dark night. At the same time, I felt extremely vulnerable. The rest of our group climbed over the same dunes and made their way down the path to meet us.
“Anything in there?” Willow whispered loudly enough so that Carmen poked her head back out.
“Completely abandoned!” she called back. We scampered up the steps in relief. Something about the open air felt threatening. The boards of the porch creaked under our steps and a spacious, luxurious house opened up to us as we entered. Crown molding, wainscoting, and wide banisters were offset by the wide plank wood floors; making the space appear even larger. It was immaculate. I could picture a big family spending summer vacations here, with colorful towels drying on the outside railing and the smell of suntan lotion. Despite my vivid imagination, the house was absolutely void of any sign that people had ever lived there.
Surprisingly, nothing felt ‘off’ or wrong about the house. It just seemed…lonely. We walked through each of the rooms, admiring the high ceilings and ornate light fixtures until Carmen found a secret door in one of the floors.
“I’m not so sure that’s such a good idea,” I warned. “No secret door leading into the bottom of a house leads to anything good.”
“There could be something else down there, though,” Willow advised. “The rest of the house is pretty empty.”
One of the Sons unhooked the latch and pulled it open with no fear whatsoever. A draft swirled up that smelled of stagnant water and concrete. Carmen kneeled down and stuck her head down in the hole as I held my breath.
“There’s a little ladder!” she cried with excitement. We helped her spin around backwards, before easing down into the hole and onto the rungs of the ladder. She climbed down and the sound of her feet hitting solid ground made me jump.
“Come on down, guys! There’s plenty of room!” she called up to us. One by one, we crawled down the surprisingly sturdy ladder into the underground room. The walls were made of stone and the floor was one long slab of concrete. Dim lights hung from the ceiling at ten foot intervals, allowing just enough light for us not to trip over each other. We followed a wide hallway until we saw openings that led to other doors and hallways.
“It’s like a labyrinth!” Phoebe bellowed from one of the hallways. “Oh! I think I found something! Stasia come look at this!”
“Coming!” I answered. Leaving the others to keep exploring, I followed the sound of Phoebe’s voice. The hallway became skinnier with each step and was unequivocally darker. It twisted to the right, but then abruptly ended at a smooth concrete wall. There were no doors or other rooms off of it, just a random, pointless hallway. With no Phoebe in it.
Deciding that I needed to get my hearing checked, I could only assume it had been the wrong hallway. I made my way back out to the main hall in hopes of finding her.
“Phoebe?” My voice came back to me three times louder as it echoed off of the stone walls and raced through the empty hallways. I listened closely for a reply, and my heart hurdled into my throat when I heard no one else’s footsteps. No talking. Not even any breathing. I had an awful feeling something was wrong. I was completely alone.
Chapter 37
“Where’d ya’ll go?” I shouted in response to the deafening silence. The only answer I heard was my own echo once again. “Hello?”
My heart kicked into overdrive and a cold sweat broke out on my brow as I continued down the long hallway, peeking into different rooms for any sign of them. They couldn’t have just vanished - they had to be here somewhere! I noticed that the light at the end of the main hallway was steadily growing brighter as I forged ahead. I forced myself to stop walking and took a deep breath.
There was no reason to panic. I was more powerful than almost all of the people that could possibly be lurking down here. ‘ Almost’ my mind reminded me. If there was anyone else down here, I had no doubt that they’d be able to hear my heart pounding against my chest. I shook out my hands, which were beginning to tingle and swell from the increase of blood flow. I spun in a circle, once again listening for any sound whatsoever. Silence. I decided that the best idea would be to go back to where we came in and get the hell out of there. There was a good possibility that everyone else had gone back upstairs, and I just didn’t hear them calling me. I listened for any footsteps above my head. Silence.
I pivoted on my heel to begin walking back when something lying on the ground up ahead made me pause. It was about two feet long, but skinny. I waited for it to bark, meow or slither away, but it did none of those things. I slowly crept towards it, ready to run away screaming at the slightest twitch. No need to be the hero here. The closer I got, the more the shadow cast by the dim lights above thinned next to the object. I could tell it was a black….flower? A rose?
My thoughts reverted to the twelve black roses Finn had given me at the Cimmerian Ball, what seemed like a lifetime ago. Was somebody trying to trick me? Lure me in by presenting me with flowers? I stood over it for at least three minutes in an effort to figure out what a black rose was doing lying on the concrete floor in the basement of an abandoned house. I knelt down and stretched my arm out to pick it up, but stopped. The risk was too great - enchanted petals, poisonous thorns, morphing into an evil ghost…the deadly options were endless, and Nadia would surely try them all. I looked farther down the hall and spotted another dark something lying on the floor up ahead.
Leaving the rose where it was I scanned the area for any evil, or even darkness, but found neither. As I walked up to the next one I realized it wasn’t just one black rose, but two. I watched the ceiling in anticipation of a net falling on me and trapping me down there. I checked the stone walls for anything suspect. And then I spotted the next couple of roses about ten paces ahead. What was going on?