“No. We’re still inside the dollhouse. You need to find the last of the cursed objects. The creature is inside your head, trying to stop you. You’ve got to tear through the books back in the library to reach the cage.”

“How do I snap out of it?”

The laughter grew louder behind him. He heard footsteps coming toward them. Lou whimpered.

Jason thought about Connie’s abilities—about how he’d found his way back into the house once Marcus had dragged her away. “Close your eyes. Block out the noise. It’s not real.”

“How do you know?”

He squeezed at her fingers and felt the warmth of her skin. “Because I can finally hold your hand. And you feel more real than anything else in this horrible place.”

The roaring halted, and the room went quiet.

They were no longer in the kitchen.

Flames flickered in the library’s fireplace. Connie’s portrait stared down at them from the wall above it. The shelves of books towered overhead.

Lou stumbled backward, returning to her body. She spun, searching for him. Jason tried to take her hand again but the barrier had returned. She zeroed in on Rufus, who was still standing frozen before the bookcase. “Rufus! Wake up!” When he didn’t respond, she shoved at his shoulder.

“Whoa!” he cried out, taking in the room. “What happened? I was just …” He shuddered. Lou hoped he didn’t tell her what he’d seen. She didn’t want more scary images floating around in her head. “Was it a dream?”

Lou nodded. “I was stuck in one too. My brother rescued me. He says the creature wants to distract us. We must be close to getting out of here for good.” Sweeping her arm across one of the shelves, she brought a pile of books crashing to the floor. Rufus looked at her like she’d lost what was left of her mind. “The cage is hidden here. Help me clear all of this away.”

Jason watched as Lou and Rufus pulled the shelves apart, tossing books and searching for the cage.

“There!” Rufus pointed.

A few feet over their heads, resting inside a pocket of the wall, there was a small, red, clothbound sketchbook. It was blocked by the familiar grid of iron bars.

“Can you reach it?” Lou asked.

Rufus climbed the rickety shelves like rungs of a ladder. The shelf creaked, pulling away from the wall.

“Careful.”

He shoved his hand through the bars and grabbed the book. But it was too wide to fit through. “I can’t get it out.”

“There’s got to be a way,” said Lou, stepping back, trying to get a better glimpse of the book. “We were able to reach all the other objects.”

Jason whispered to himself, “Think of it as a puzzle.”

“Think of it as a puzzle,” Lou echoed.

Jason flinched. Had she heard him?