We approached the front door. Part of my mind was registering things that were a surprise to me. Mr. Patel wasn’t just a taxi driver. He owned the cab company. And he’d actually gotten out of his cab. Now that I saw him fully on his feet, I was amazed at how tall he was, almost big enough to be a basketball player.

But what pushed all of that into the back of my mind was what I saw as the three of us went up the steps. The front door was slightly ajar, as if someone in a big hurry had just gone inside. My aunt’s key ring was hanging from the door, her key still in the lock.

“Aunt Lyssa,” I yelled. “Aunt Lyssa, get out of there!”

21

SEARCHING

REMEMBER WHAT I said about the way Roger and I criticize the way people act in certain movies? You know, those scenes they seem to have in every single scary film. Like the one where the kids go right in through that open door, when you just know a monster is waiting for them. You know, just so the werewolf or vampire or brain-sucking mutant from outer space can pick them off at its leisure one by one. And everybody goes: “Yeah.”

“Great idea.”

“Cool.”

“Let’s all wander off and get massacred.”

Guess what we did as soon as the three of us saw that open door? Naturally we went right inside and split up, me still loudly calling my aunt’s name. A convenient way to let whatever was lying in wait know that its next dinner course had arrived.

“AUNT LYSSA!” I shouted.

There was no answer. I should add that in her old house, that isn’t unusual. For someone to yell and no one to answer, I mean. The walls are thick, and the way the carpeted hallways turn corners seems to deaden the sound. You can’t hear anyone calling to you even if they’re only two rooms or a floor away. It’s great to be able to play your music as loud as you want and know that no one is going to tell you to turn it down because no one can hear it except you. But it is not so great when you are trying to find someone. You’d be amazed at how often on a normal day Aunt Lyssa and I find ourselves playing involuntary hide-and-seek with each other as we go from room to room calling each other’s names until we finally meet up more or less by accident.