“My father worked in here,” said Connie. Steering clear of these portraits, she wandered to a small bookshelf along one wall. “He was a painter, and he achieved great success at a very young age. But he had help,” she added. She scanned the shelves as if looking for a particular book. “Father belonged to a secretive men’s club in New York City.” She faced Jason, a serious look on her face. “These were bad men. They believed in monsters and acted as their guardians.”

“Monsters?” Jason repeated, unsure he’d heard her correctly.

She nodded. “It was these men who told my father which parcel of land to buy in Greencliffe and where exactly to build the house. They knew of the creature who haunted those grounds, of the rewards it would give in return for a little … sacrifice. They taught Father how to make a pact. They taught him … a lot of things.” Connie clenched her jaw and stared into the distance for a few seconds, collecting her emotions. Jason imagined that if her father were to appear—here and now—she’d have some not very nice words to say to him. Turning back to the bookshelves, her eyes grew bright. “Ah … here it is!” She pointed to the spine of one particular book. Burned into its leather was a symbol—a circle with lines inside that looked like overlapping letters … or maybe even a skull.

Jason was confused. “Is this like the markings that my sister and the other kids were talking about earlier? The ones they noticed on their objects?”

Connie nodded. “The members of my father’s secret club would send him notes and drawings. Sometimes they’d send him handwritten books. This ledger is one of them.”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “It came from your dad’s secret society?”

“Society,” Connie echoed, as if tasting the word. “Yes, that’s what they’d called it. The Shadow Society.”

“So what does it say?” Jason asked. He reached out to grab the book from the shelf, but his hand seemed to bounce off it. There was a barrier between them and the objects inside the house. It must be the reason Connie used the mirrors to travel from room to room. His skin grew cold at the thought. “There’s no way to look inside it?” he asked hopelessly.

Connie raised an eyebrow and faced the mirror a few steps away. “I’ve discovered a method. Stand back.”