Jason followed, closing the storage room door behind him. He checked the knob, making sure it was locked.

He found his father kneeling in the middle of the kitchen floor, his shoulders slumped. One hand covered his face. The other held the phone receiver to his ear. Jason froze, listening to his father’s hitching breath, his heart pumping ice water.

Then his father spoke into the receiver, his voice high and wavering. “Louise? Is it really you?”

CHAPTER 37

LOU RETURNED TO California with their mother a couple of days later.

Aunt Paige and Uncle Gilbert continued to communicate with the authorities in Greencliffe. The search for Marcus expanded into the states between Ohio and New York.

Lou and Jason knew how unlikely it was that they’d locate their cousin, but the two kept that to themselves. Shortly after they’d reunited, they decided not to tell their parents what they’d been through.

The fighting had subsided in the time the family had been apart. Lou and Jason were pretty sure that if they added further tales of the cursed dollhouse into the stew, they’d only make their parents worry. After the dollhouse, they knew that worry and fear were what caused the fighting in the first place.

But they had each other—more so now than they ever had before.

One night before school started, Lou woke from a sound sleep.

She found Jason at her door, knocking softly.

“What is it?” she asked blearily. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to show you something,” he said.

In Jason’s room, the light on his bedside table cast a yellow circle across the floor and onto his mattress. Lifting away his pillow, Jason revealed a dried and flattened purple flower.

“Where’d you get that?” Lou asked, wondering why he’d placed it under his pillow. Or what could be so important about it that he’d wake her up in the middle of the night to show it to her. “Did you bring it home from one of your hikes?”

Jason shook his head. “I was half asleep when my hand brushed against it. At first, I thought it was a giant bug. Thankfully not. Do you know what kind of flower it is?”

“I’ve never seen it before.”

He nodded at his phone. “I just looked it up. It’s called larkspur.”

Lou felt her skin go cold. Like the house? “Throw it away,” she said, backing toward his door.

“I don’t think I should,” he whispered. “I think … it’s a gift.”

“A gift? From who?”

Jason cleared his throat. “From Connie.” Lou stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “The original owner of your dollhouse.”

“I know who she is, Jay.”

He sat on the edge of the bed and stared at her for a few seconds. “There’s something I haven’t told you.”