I stepped toward him, careful, watching for his wall to fly up. When it didn’t, I put my arms around his neck and rose onto my tiptoes to hug him as tight as I could. “You need to tell Rose,” I whispered.

He stiffened, but only for a moment, and then he nodded against my shoulder and said, “I do.”

When he pulled away, I was ready to step back, but he was only breaking the embrace enough to kiss the top of my head. When something thumped again in the distance, he sighed, softly, the exhalation tickling my hair.

“Yes,” I said. “Back to the terribly inconvenient reality that we’re mysteriously trapped with a monster in the next room waiting to devour us.”

“There is never a monster.”

“True. Just bad plumbing, then.”

Another thump. Another sigh from Gabriel.

We checked the door first. That was almost incidental, as if we knew it would be pointless. It was. The door wouldn’t open, and there was no sign of a lock.

“You’re seeing this, right?” I said. “A long hallway with old wallpaper? A wooden door?”

He reached out, peeled off a strip of wallpaper, and rubbed it between his fingers. “Yes.”

“That’s not normal.” I rubbed down the hairs on my neck. “It feels…wrong.”

He tried the door again, but even wrenching with all of his not-insubstantial strength didn’t budge it.

“I’m overreacting,” I said.

“No, something isn’t right. We’ll get this over with and leave. And then, as much as I’d like that shower, I’m going to suggest we skip it. We’ll visit Pamela to see what Seanna told her, and visit Todd to warn him about her. Check on the police investigation. And then return to the cabin and turn off our phones.”

“A plan. I like it. Now let’s get past stage one.”

We started down the hall. After about twelve paces, it opened into a room with a sweeping staircase. Cobwebs festooned the wrought-iron railings. More hung from the chandelier. The stink of must filled the dead air. At a squeak, I turned to see a mouse dive between cracks in the rotted floorboards.

I looked up the stairs. “I believe Miss Havisham will be joining us for tea.”

“Hmmm.”

I glanced over to see him scanning the stairwell.

“Sensing anything?” I asked.

“I…don’t know.” He rolled his shoulders as if to shrug off the uncertainty. “There’s no clear sense of danger, but…” Another roll. “I can’t say.”

“Proceed with caution, as always.”

“Yes.”

We walked around the steps, but there was nothing to see. No other rooms or halls joined this one. I even ran my hands over the semicircular wall behind the stairs, looking for a hidden doorway.