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Back THE HOUSE Save as PDF
Chapters (42)
  1. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  2. PROLOGUE
  3. PART I
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. PART II
  20. ONE
  21. TWO
  22. THREE
  23. FOUR
  24. FIVE
  25. SIX
  26. SEVEN
  27. EIGHT
  28. NINE
  29. TEN
  30. ELEVEN
  31. TWELVE
  32. THIRTEEN
  33. FOURTEEN
  34. FIFTEEN
  35. SIXTEEN
  36. SEVENTEEN
  37. EIGHTEEN
  38. NINETEEN
  39. TWENTY
  40. TWENTY-ONE
  41. TWENTY-TWO
  42. EPILOGUE

But he was not sure he really wanted to know.

He walked carefully around the nest, examining it, touching it, then looked about him. There were no doors aside from the one he’d come through, and after walking slowly around the perimeter of the open oversized room, he found himself back at the entrance to the den. He returned through it, closing the door behind him.

Apparently Billingham had been telling the truth. The House was definitely on the border, and it probably did keep that border sealed.

But was that good? What he’d seen wasn’t horrible or awful. Maybe some of the things in that world would turn out to be so, but it was clear that it was not all evil.

Maybe the House shouldn’t be manned, he thought. Maybe its occupancy had been allowed to lapse for a reason. Maybe it was time for the borders to come down. He’d only thought that the Other Side was bad because he’d been told it was bad, he’d been told it was wrong. Yes, it was scary to imagine coexisting with the dead, with shapeshifters and ghosts and God knew what else, but that was only because he’d been conditioned to think that way. Maybe this was how things were supposed to be. Maybe this was the natural way of things. Maybe keeping the two worlds apart was what was wrong, and it was the House that was unnatural.

Maybe the House was evil.

He looked back at the closed door. The House had not been exactly saintly, he had to admit. His family had been torn apart. He’d been lied to and was now being held prisoner against his will. And for what? So the House could maintain its power? He shook his head. The end did not justify the means. Evil acts could not be performed for the greater good.

And from where he stood, all of the horrifying, terrible things that had happened so far had been the work of the House.

No, that was not true.

They were the work of Donielle.

The girl was evil.

It was true. Moral relativism might be a safe intellectual refuge when confronted with something like the afterlife, but the girl, in either world, was indeed evil. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did, and all of a sudden he felt the need to get out of the den, to get back to the sitting room or the dining room or someplace close to Billingham.

A chime rang through the House, a light musical sound that had no specific point of origin but seemed to come from everywhere.

The den door opened, and Billingham, in the hallway, poked his head into the room. “Wash up,” he said. “It’s time for dinner.” He smiled. “We have guests.”

FIVE

Laurie

There were other people at the dining-room table.