He ended up in another junction of two corridors. He turned left, and now he recognized where he was. This hallway led to the foyer and the front of the House.

A snake slithered across the floor in front of him—a green snake with a pale, barely visible underbelly—and he thought of Laurie. Where were the others now? He wondered. In their own childhood Houses? Going through their own tests and trials and tribulations?

He watched the snake flatten, slide through the thin space under the bathroom door.

It was amazing how quickly he’d fallen back into the rhythm of the House. He was scared—he couldn’t claim to be unaffected by the manifestations thrown at him—but they did not really surprise him, and he did not question them. He accepted their existence, considered them as much a part of the House as the wallpaper and light fixtures.

Just as he had all those decades ago.

He knew now that it was because the House was on the border, that it was the mixing of the material world and the… other world which created these surreal shifts in reality, but this understanding was on a purely intellectual level. As a child, long before he’d been made aware of the purpose of the House, he had adjusted to its wild displays and bizarre juxtapositions, and acceptance had been achieved long before understanding.

There was a noise behind him, a tapping. He turned—

And it was Carole.

Seeing her ghost was almost like seeing an old friend. In life, they hadn’t gotten along particularly well. At least not for the past half decade or so. And after her death, seeing her ghost around their home and last night, especially, had been frightening and disturbing. But his life had taken a 180-degree turn, and here, in this House, he was glad to see her ghost. It was comforting, a pleasant surprise, and he looked at her naked form and found himself smiling. “Carole,” he said.

She did not smile back. “Your family is waiting for you.”

He shook his head as though he had not heard correctly. “What?”

“You need to talk to your family. Your parents. Your brother. Your sisters.”

There was no expression on her face, only a dispassionate blankness, and his own smile had completely disappeared. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to his family. “Why?” he asked.

“That is why you are here.”

“To meet with them?”

The ghost nodded.

“I will,” he said. “Eventually.”

“No you won’t.”

He met her eyes. “Maybe I won’t.”

“You can’t keep avoiding them,” Carole said.

“Watch me.”