She tilted her head, taking in his word. Nodding, she added, “Brother it shall be.”

“Do you know which way leads back to the house?” he asked.

The veiled woman blinked and sighed. Jason somehow understood that she dreaded this question. She waved for him to follow her along the faded path.

“Can you tell me more about the house?”

“I can,” she replied as she strolled with him. “But should I?” Jason wished she’d walk faster—who knew what was happening to Lou at the moment? “If you learned everything there is to know about Larkspur, you’d turn around and step lively in the opposite direction, whether you’d gathered up your sister or not.”

This only made Jason want to know more. “Did you live there?”

“I was a visitor. I spent one afternoon at the house with my children. Larkspur made certain that I could never return …”

Footsteps were scuffling behind them. Looking back, Jason realized that they weren’t alone. A line of stragglers appeared to be following them. Madame noticed and said, “Don’t mind them. They’re like me. A little lost. A touch forgotten.” Jason paused to look at them. Several yards back was someone wearing an old-fashioned circus clown costume. There was a woman in a red dress suit and a tall man standing beside her, his hair slicked into a sharp part. And a woman in a black-and-white maid’s uniform. And more, fading into the shadow farther along the path. “Most of all, they’re curious about you. We all want you to succeed.”

“Succeed?”

“The house is vulnerable at the moment. Over the decades, it’s found many young victims. It works magic to frighten them, and their fear is what it feeds on. Fear replenishes it, helps it rebuild itself, fortifies its defenses, giving life to the evil within.”

“That is … horrifying.”

“If it has your sister, it will try to destroy her. I don’t tell you this to frighten you. I want you to understand what is at stake. If the house succeeds, it will heal itself. It will continue to do the same to others. But if it fails now … well … it might actually fail forever.”

Jason didn’t need to hear more. “We’d better hurry. How much farther?”

The woman looked down at him, the whites of her eyes standing out against her dark makeup. “Farther than you’d like.”

CHAPTER 13

STANDING IN THE darkness at the edge of the pool, Lou gasped. She ran to the room with the fireplace. It was much dimmer now. The tapers continued to glow from atop the mantel, but the fireplace itself had disappeared below, sealed up by a panel of bricks.

The fire that had been blocking the way was gone. And so was their exit.

“No!” Lou yelled. “It’s not fair!”

“It can change shape,” Sadie said to herself. “The freaking house can change shape.”