“So Dagmar is still out there,” she said to herself. “Wandering.”

“There were others too. I think … I think they might have been ghosts.”

Connie made her eyes go wide. “Ghosts?” she echoed, a smile on her lips. “Sounds scary.”

Jason shook his head. “They helped me. I would have ended up lost if I hadn’t met them.” Connie only nodded. “We’ve got to go back inside. My sister needs to know not to be scared. I tried to talk to her through the movie screen, but she took it the wrong way. She didn’t see me. She saw the monster. I need to get her to trust me again so she’ll listen.”

Connie nodded again. “A difficult task. However, there are others in the house who your sister hasn’t encountered yet.” She pointed at the two figures who were in an upper part of the house. One was the boy with the round face and black cowboy shirt. The other was the girl with the polka-dot rockabilly dress. The two appeared to be having a disagreement. The girl’s arms were crossed, and she wouldn’t face the boy, no matter how many times he circled her and tried to capture her attention. “Get them to trust you. Bring them to your sister’s group. They could help you win her favor.”

“I still won’t be able to talk to them,” said Jason. “How am I supposed to—”

Connie cut him off. “There are ways. I’ll show you.” She held out her hand again.

“You don’t think I’m a … a mistake anymore?” he asked.

Connie considered him. “You’ve learned your lesson,” she whispered with a small grin.

She clasped his fingers, and they were suddenly back inside the dollhouse. Jason didn’t recognize the room. Why hadn’t Connie brought him directly to the pair of kids they had just been watching?

She must have noticed his concern, because she whispered, “There are some things you should know before we go any further. Things about the house. And things about me.” Jason found himself frozen, afraid of what she might say next. “Don’t worry. It’s nothing bad. Just … a bit of information that might prove useful to you.”

“You already told me the dollhouse used to be yours.” Jason raised an eyebrow. “But that must have been … ages ago.”

“Ages?” Connie sniffed. “I suppose it was. Larkspur House was once a grand residence of the Hudson Valley. My father commissioned one of his friends from New York City to build a dollhouse replica of the estate. He gave it to me after my baby brother was born. I loved the dollhouse with all my heart. For a long while, I’d seen and heard things inside the real Larkspur that I couldn’t explain. Things that frightened me and Mother. Things that would make Cyrus cry uncontrollably in his cradle.