“Playing with the dollhouse helped me escape from my fears. I would have rather lived there than in my own bedroom. I played with the house every day until … until I couldn’t play with it anymore.”

“Why couldn’t you play with it anymore?” Jason asked. “Did someone steal it? Is that how it ended up at my mom’s house in Greencliffe?”

Connie blinked, unable to look at him. “A fire broke out in my brother’s nursery. It quickly spread through much of the manor. My brother and father survived. But Mother and I … We did not.”

Jason flinched. “You mean …”

“I am not alive.” Connie shifted her weight from foot to foot. Jason blinked slowly. It seemed so obvious now. “Please don’t think I’m a monster,” she implored.

“I don’t think that,” Jason managed to choke out.

“Most of the ghosts I know have no quarrel with the living. I still think of myself only as a girl. A girl who’s learned many tricks in order to stick around this horrible place.

“You see, the thing that lurks here has haunted Larkspur for a long time. It’s tried to banish me over the years, but how can I leave when I know that it lures children? That it scares them so badly they cannot help but become a part of it, like little minions. I won’t rest until I know that the evil is put down.”

Connie stared into Jason’s eyes. “After the previous five children, I thought it would be over. I believed we’d defeated it. But somehow, the creature—the house itself—is still clinging to life.”

“That’s what Madame said back on the path.”

“If we can find a way to help these new victims escape, the creature will have nothing else to feed on. This could finally mean the end of Larkspur. And I would be free to move on and join Mother, wherever her spirit has traveled.”

“I’ll help you however I can,” he whispered. “I promise.”

“Thank you, Jason. That’s sweet of you.” Her expression grew grim, her mouth pursed, her cheeks drained of color.

“I’m not sure exactly how the shadow creature was able to lure these new victims into this darker version—this dream version—of itself. But I have a feeling that if we can figure out the answer, we might also learn how to help them escape. That’s why you must get your sister to see you as yourself. This boy and this girl might be able to help with that. You’ll convince them that we mean well. Then we’ll lead them to the other three, and they’ll convince your sister too.”