Chapter 1

Chapter One

“Wow, look at these woods,” Pauline Lau said as she drove the Alderan Comprehensive Cleaning van down the paved two-lane road. “I didn’t realize Colorado had any forests like this.”

“I didn’t either.” Letisha Baker rode shotgun next to Pauline. Letisha leaned forward to peer through the windshield. “Are you sure you didn’t take a wrong turn at Estes Park and now we’re in a Lord of The Rings movie?”

Pauline threw an exasperated look at Letisha. “If our illustrious boss would buy GPS for the car, we wouldn’t have this problem of maybe getting lost.”

Sitting in the back seat behind Pauline, Sybil Alderan said, “Are you talking about me? You must be talking about me.” Sybil smiled. “When we can afford a new van, then we can get one that has GPS. Until now, we have always been able to navigate our way with this.” Sybil held up her smart phone. She frowned as she looked at the screen. “That is, if this thing wasn’t acting up. The map app is freaking out.”

Letisha laughed. “She’s right. How did anyone find anything before GPS? We’re old school cool. Let me try my phone.”

Sybil shook her head, appreciating her best friend and business partner Letisha’s sense of humor. Sybil breathed in the cool October air flowing into the window she’d cracked open. Sybil perceived a nip in the air, signaling that soon all the beautiful fall colors would disappear, and winter would cover them in pallor.

Pauline took a curve a little too fast, and Sybil winced. She pressed her palms to her jean-clad thighs as tension rose inside her. Her mind went there. The vehicle leaving the road. Driving headfirst into one of the immovable massive tree trunks. Airbags exploding as the front end caved–

Sybil shook her head, reacting to her anxiety. “Stop it.”

Letisha looked back at her. “What?”

Sybil smiled. “I said I can’t wait until we get to the house and eat something. We should’ve stopped in Estes Park. My stomach is eating its way to my backbone.”

Letisha turned around and stared at Sybil. She lifted her eyebrows, her dark brown eyes doubtful. “Right. You’re the one who wanted to keep going.”

Letisha shook her head, and the dark hair piled in an elaborate style on her head barely moved. Letisha braided and twined her hair in a way that Sybil could never imitate, even though Sybil’s black hair was almost as dark and about as thick.

“Okay.” Sybil sighed and rummaged in the bag next to her feet. She pulled out a bag of trail mix. “Guilty. Anyone for trail mix?”

“No!” All their voices chimed in at once.

“You eat the trail mix. You’re wasting away.” Letisha narrowed her eyes as she looked back at Sybil. “Have you lost weight?”

Sybil dug into the zip-lock bag of trail mix and started snacking. “A pound or two. Running this business.”

Maria Pelligrini, sitting to Sybil’s right, looked out her window, her nose nearly pressed against the glass. “Wait. Isn’t this Stephen King country around here?”

“We drove past the Stanley Hotel while you were sleeping,” Pauline said as she took another curve with more enthusiasm than necessary. “That’s Stephen King country.”

“Stephen King country is in Maine,” Sybil said. “He just visited Colorado.”

“Okay, Miss Pedantic,” Letisha said, throwing a smile back at Sybil.

Maria’s green eyes flashed, and she pushed her cloud of fluffy chocolate brown hair out of her face. “I’d love to tour the Stanley.”

“It looks nothing like the hotel in the movie. That was a place in Oregon. The exterior scenes anyway. Rest of it was a set. I think in England.” Sybil knew way more about the movie than some people did.

Maria turned her gaze on Sybil and frowned. “I get that. I still want to see it while we’re in town.”

Sybil experienced the burn way down in her gut. The understanding she’d pushed too hard. It felt like shame. Big shame. Her face heated.

Chill. People don’t want to hear all the useless trivia running around in your head.

“It’ll have to wait,” Pauline said. She tucked a strand of her pixie-cut dyed whitish blonde hair behind one ear. Lavender highlights glinted throughout, making her resemble a cute cartoon sprite or other delicate creature.

Yeah. Right. Sybil knew way too much about Pauline to fall for the illusion of the woman’s innocence.

“I can’t believe we’re even talking about this,” Pauline said, her tone clipped and icy. “We aren’t three years old. We learned a long time ago to go to the bathroom when we have a chance and eat when we should.”

Wow.

Sybil felt the sting again. Was she the only one who found Pauline’s statement a little over-the-top? She glanced at Maria and saw the twenty-something woman’s mouth tighten. Maria hadn’t cared for Pauline’s tone either.

Granted, Maria was younger than the rest of them, but that still didn’t give Pauline the right to treat Maria with disrespect. Sybil took a deep breath and ignored any little interpersonal dramas for the moment. She couldn’t fight everyone’s battles for them, even though bullying of any kind pissed her off.

Sybil’s voice echoed in her head, a memory from the past. Sybil, look what you did now. You are always messing things up. Couldn’t you have just kept your mouth shut?

Sybil frowned and tried to shove back a fresh wave of humiliation. It didn’t work, and the mortification grew, as if Pauline had dissed her. Sybil’s shame mixed with anger. A memory of her mother's harsh words pissed her off, as it had the power to make her rehash old baggage.

The car went quiet, and Sybil lost her appetite. She tossed the trail mix container back in the bag. She looked, instead, to the view of the never-ending forest. Nature would soothe her.

Sybil took in the way the massive tree trunks along both sides of the road rose as high and as far as the human eye could detect. As the vegetation thickened, the sun seemed almost reluctant…afraid to encroach. The trees had the thickest trunks she’d seen in a forest. Old growth. Untouched in a way most forests wouldn’t be. No clear cut. No new log cabins vying for intrusive space and determined to pretend they’d been here for a hundred years. The fact the forest service hadn’t thinned the trees, the fact it hadn’t burned long ago, surprised her. She closed her eyes, taking in what she could feel. Trying to understand the draw she had to this place, and that sense of unease that lingered on the periphery.

This place feels familiar. Why?

She wasn’t sure.

The huge, weird trees did not exactly surprise her. Not really. When she’d looked at a satellite map, she’d zoomed in on the forest around the house that was their destination. She’d become obsessed. They were almost alien trees that scientists studied and yet were unable to explain.

Anticipation mixed with utter dread. Yes. That was it. She listened to what the area was telling her. She heard the whispers.

She knew. These trees, this size…they were so old. So filled with the knowledge of what had been before. The things they’d experienced called to her, and as she watched them go by, it was as if they waved at her. If they could only talk, what tales they’d tell.

Come. Come closer. We have things for you. Mysteries to learn. Things you may have seen but have forgotten. It’s in your DNA. In your very soul.

Of course, she wouldn’t say it out loud. Wouldn’t tell anyone other than Letisha about what she heard in her head. What she knew . No, Sybil knew that opening her mouth too much about that stuff brought odd looks her way and at one time had almost led to a rubber room. Until she’d given up and shut up. Until, once again, she’d complied.

She didn’t even mention these types of thoughts to Letisha anymore. Everyone had their limits, and the fear that even Letisha would abandon her one day…well, she couldn’t bear to think about it.

“There!” Letisha exclaimed a bit loudly. “Turn left!”

Simultaneously, Sybil snapped to attention, almost coming out of her skin.

Pauline slammed on the brakes. The tires shrieked on the pavement as she came to a full stop.

“Jesus, Pauline,” Sybil said under her breath. “What the–”

“Hollow Avenue. We’re here,” Letisha said.

Pauline turned left onto the rudimentary street, such as it was. The rutted, dirt road was barely wide enough for two cars to pass by each other. Their large van took up most of the space, and Sybil was thankful Pauline wasn’t driving down the avenue at the speed she’d reserved for the winding paved road.

Trees grew less thick here. They gave ground to grasses along the edge of the road and made way for more sunlight. Yet today’s mix of gloomy clouds seemed to darken over the trees. The clouds grew more intense, their shade tinged at the bottom with a green reserved for tornado skies. A tornado in October in a pine forest would be highly unusual, but not impossible.

“What is the altitude here?” Maria asked.

Sybil leaned a bit to her right to peer between the seats in front of her. “About 8,500 feet.”

Maria inhaled deeply. “No wonder I can’t breathe.”

As the car bumped along the road, Sybil looked over at Maria. “Are you okay? Is the altitude getting to you?”

The younger woman smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ve read up on high altitude sickness. I don’t have any of those symptoms.”

Sybil nodded, relieved, and glued her attention back to the road. She had grown up in a forest in Colorado near Durango, so high altitudes never bothered her.

Letisha looked back at them. “Sybil’s vertical limit is a lot higher.”

Pauline asked, “Her what?”

“Vertical limit,” Sybil said with a sigh, not understanding why Letisha had brought it up. “Most humans can’t survive for an extended amount of time above 18,000 feet without oxygen. I did a little mountain climbing when I was a teenager. I discovered that my vertical limit…when I have some altitude sickness…is 13,000 feet.”

“Wow,” Maria said. “What symptoms do you have?”

“Only a headache. So it’s not bad for me. Still, that’s a warning sign.” Sybil said. “As for why Letisha brought it up is anyone’s guess.”

“Sybil and I were crazy when we were kids.” Letisha turned in her seat to look back at them. “Well, I was anyway. I dragged Sybil into this hiking and training course when we were teenagers. Trying to boost her confidence. She hated it, and I loved it. I thought Sybil was going to stroke out when we did some of the mountain climbing stuff.”

Sybil groaned. “I don’t think anyone wants to hear that story.”

Maria smiled. “I do.”

“It’s not important,” Sybil said.

But it is, isn’t it? Sybil, you can’t let go of the past. Can you? Can you?

“Yeah. It is important. Because you saved my life once,” Letisha said, her expression serious. She looked at Maria. “We were on this ledge and our instructor made a mistake with the line that was securing me. Sybil saw it, opened her mouth and told the guy. He didn’t like being corrected, but when we asked another instructor about it, she said the guy had made a serious mistake, and she insisted he fix it, then it worked properly. I could’ve died if Sybil hadn’t detected the problem, because the line wouldn’t have held my weight.”

“Oh, wow,” Maria breathed, her eyes growing wide.

Letisha smiled. “Yep. I’m forever grateful. She’s a good friend.”

“Ah yes, the heroine story we all have to hear when we sign on to work for the company,” Pauline said, her dry tone clearly stating she was sick of it.

Shame blossomed in Sybil. So familiar. So heavy.

Hide it. Just give up any good points about yourself, Sybil. No one gives an actual fuck. Letisha is being nice. She is tired of you. And who wouldn’t be after decades of your shit?

Intellectually, she understood Letisha cared. Emotionally, the nagging and spiteful internal dialogue didn’t stop. Ah, yes. The gift that always kept on giving.

They bumped along at a snail’s pace on the road. Would they ever arrive?

Then the house came into view.

Sybil pointed through the front windshield. “There. Look.”

“Wow,” Maria breathed the word. “This place is sick.”

Pauline whistled. “Suspect is more like it. You have got to be kidding me.”

The structure peeked out between an endless corridor of trees. From this distance, it looked tiny. A doll house. As they drove closer, it grew and grew. And Sybil’s breath became shorter, as if she might be the one having trouble with the altitude. A shiver ran over her skin. It was good to see the house, to absorb the atmosphere of it even before they stepped inside. Conflicting fear and excitement danced around inside her. The place was damned unsettling.

Sybil’s knowledge and interest in old houses made her almost salivate. She could’ve said it was the grandeur and ornamentation that made the Italianate house special. The structure sat in a clearing, long and wide, but from here all Sybil could see was the fact the home was three stories…four if you included the attic. How many square feet had Clarice said? Eight thousand five hundred square feet, not including the basement, which was another thousand square feet. It was amazing that Clarice had lived here all on her own until two years ago.

With its elaborate cornices and tall windows, the vast home looked out at visitors. The low-pitched roof appeared almost plain but for a tower in the middle and the cupolas. A gray facade might seem forbidding to some, and in the dreary, cloudy weather the house looked like a castle. Broadly overhanging eaves acted almost like harsh eyebrows to the windows, a frowning countenance that acted as a warning to anyone who believed they understood the secrets of this house. The place lacked some things Sybil had viewed in other Italianate houses, such as a balcony or loggia. She thought she spied a ground floor terrace on the right side of the home.

“It’s beautiful,” Sybil said under her breath.

“Did I hear you say beautiful?” Pauline asked, a tinge of disparagement in her voice.

“It’s unique. Weird.” Maria said. “But sometimes weird is a good thing.”

Sybil smiled. “I agree.”

When they got closer and the trees parted more, they revealed a somewhat manicured lawn with a gravel driveway that branched out into a parking space across the front. A covered portico near the entrance was large enough to drive under.

“Stop here,” Sybil said before they could reach the widest part of the driveway or the portico. “I want to take some photos.”

Pauline halted the van. They all stepped out. Sybil used her phone to snap photos. So did Letisha.

Maria whistled. “I can see why you said this was going to be a long-term job. It’s gonna take a while to clean it all.”

Sybil sighed and lowered her phone. “Yeah. I was a little reluctant at first.”

“This is the biggest place we’ve tackled,” Letisha said, continuing to snap photos. “But the paycheck is worth it.”

Pauline snorted. “Damn straight. That’s the only thing I like about it.”

“When was it built again?” Maria asked.

“1896,” Letisha said.

Sybil stood back and took in the house, and even if she hadn’t already understood the structure was Italianate style, she would’ve known in her gut the house had quirks. Victorians weren’t building this style of house in 1896. At least not as often as they did in the 1840s when Italianate first came into fashion. She supposed because the owner was an architect himself, he could do whatever he wanted and unquestionably had the money.

Wind rustled Sybil’s hair and swirled around her body.

Welcome. Welcome.

Sybil took in the immense house. Discomfort prickled along her skin. This place looked alien. She was an astronaut that had ventured out of the spaceship and found a world twisted and disturbingly subversive.

Wrong.

That was the word.

A tingle raced over Sybil’s skin. She shivered in delight. Everything pleased her in a distorted way she couldn’t understand. Twisted and so very interesting.

Pauline took several steps forward. “How many bedrooms does this have again?”

“Six on the second and six on the third floor. Each with their own ensuite bathroom. Those are more recent additions built in the 1970s with renovations in the 90s.” Sybil held up her left hand and ticked off rooms. “Ground floor we have a dining room, kitchen, pantry, cloak room, parlor, office, dining room, and great hall. I think that’s it.”

“And let’s not forget the creepy cellar and attic,” Letisha said as she rolled her gaze in a silly expression.

Maria groaned. “I don’t believe in creepy stuff. It’s all crap.”

Letisha cleared her throat. “You sure? I mean, you read Stephen King.”

Maria’s nose wrinkled. “Reading horror isn’t the same as believing in ghosts. The ghost stuff is entertainment, that’s all.”

“Huh,” Letisha said, which Sybil knew was Letisha speak for when she didn’t agree but didn’t care to belabor the point. “Maria, you should be the first person to clean out the attic tomorrow when we get started. It’ll be infested with spiders, and who knows what kind of nasty stuff. I mean, when is an attic ever filled with good things? But you can handle it.”

Maria puffed up the slightest bit. “Yeah, I’m sure I can.”

Sybil’s memory flashed to the time law enforcement came into her childhood home and searched from top to bottom, including the attic and the basement.

No, there weren’t good things in basements.

Unease trickled through her again, threatening to steal the excitement that strummed in her veins. She took tried to disregard the memory of those tumultuous childhood years.

Better to forget it. No need to go there. None at all. That was a long, long time ago. You’re not there anymore.

On certain days, it didn’t even feel real. The memory had softened; the edges blurred. Still, she knew it had happened, and the fear always seemed to linger in her cells. The trauma seemed to have left a genetic imprint on her forever, making it difficult for her to get over it. Oh, she wanted to forget. On some days, so much she made herself sick. Instead, she drew yet another deep breath. In. Out.

Ground yourself, Sybil.

“Sybil?” Letisha asked.

Sybil snapped back to the present and caught her friend eyeballing her with concern.

“Nope.” Sybil sighed. “Never anything good in an attic or a basement.”

Maria smirked. “Okay, okay. I’m a semi-new girl. I get the nasty jobs first. I can take it.”

“Damn straight. The newest crew receives the crappy jobs,” Pauline said. “We all had to do it. I remember when–”

“Wait.” Sybil held up one hand. “Is this going to be something like when I was a kid I had to walk uphill to school both ways in a blizzard?”

Pauline shifted her feet and threw an impatient look toward Sybil, and Sybil felt it like a punch. Sybil often picked up people’s emotions, sometimes as strong as her own. This time, the emotion was harsh. Judgmental.

You piss people off. That’s why they don’t like you. Who is being judgmental now?

Okay, that could be true.

You are so stupid. Get over it.

Yeah, yeah, she wanted say just that to her ego. The part of her that insisted on haranguing her regularly and worked hard to bring her back into the fold. Dragging her back into the darkness. Where all the screams lived.

Then there was her father’s voice. And her mother’s. They wouldn’t be silent, either. Always in her head ready with a criticism. Taking a slice off her flesh. Always making sure they sighed and added her name in the most scathing way.

Sybil rubbed her left shoulder, a habit she’d started as a teenager. Self-soothing, someone told her. Not a hug exactly, yet it comforted her.

Maria started walking toward the house. “It really is beautiful. We should take photos and videos of the back side of the house, too.”

“Good idea, Maria. We can use the photos and video for our website,” Sybil said.

Sybil panned the phone over the house, taking in details here and there and certain she’d need Letisha’s video technical skills for editing the final product.

Sybil had almost finished when she saw a curtain parted at one window on the third floor. An indistinct figure stood there peering down at them. She blinked, thinking maybe her eyes were dry. It didn’t clear up the figure.

“What the hell?” Sybil whispered.

“What?” Letisha asked.

Sybil swallowed hard, watching as the figure refused to form clearly. “There’s someone up there.”

“Where?” Pauline asked. “There isn’t supposed to be anyone else here, right?”

Letisha shifted on the gravel. “Nope. Where do you see them, Sybil?”

Sybil didn’t answer, holding the phone away from her face long enough she could touch the screen and expand the view.

She put the camera back up to her right eye. “There…the third floor. Second window on the right. Someone pulled back the curtain, and they’re standing there right now. Can’t you see them?”

“No,” Letisha said.

Pauline placed her hands on her hips. “I don’t either.”

Icy wind ruffled the air with a fresh scent of rain or maybe snow. Sybil shivered, the thin windbreaker jacket she wore suddenly unable to combat the cooler autumn temperatures. She concentrated on the window again and took a video.

The person at the window looked indistinct, the edges almost fuzzy, and Sybil couldn’t say if the interloper was a man or woman. They wore something white and had short dark hair. She zoomed in more.

“It’s…” Sybil started. “I see a person, but they’re wearing a white garment of some kind.”

A moment later, the individual stepped away from the window, and the curtain fell back into place.

Sybil frowned and stopped the video. “There’s someone in the house. Letisha, did Clarice say anything to you about someone else being here today?”

Letisha’s expression creased with concern. “No. We need to call the cops.”

“It’ll take the cops an eternity to get here,” Sybil said. “Clarice said in these parts they aren’t prompt.”

“Let me look at the video,” Pauline said.

Sybil reminded herself that Pauline wasn’t doubting that she’d seen the person in the window, but that she was curious about the figure.

Right. You know better than that. Pauline wants to throw shade.

Sybil handed Pauline the phone, and Pauline played it from the beginning. Letisha leaned in to see the video.

“Shit.” Pauline said. “There is a figure there.”

Letisha made a scoffing noise. “I don’t believe this. They look…I dunno….”

“Indistinct,” Sybil said.

Letisha pointed at Sybil. “Bingo.”

Good. At least they see it. Or you’d be crazy.

Droplets of water fell from the heavy clouds above. Thunder rumbled.

“Crap,” Letisha said. “We’d better go inside. It’s gonna rain.”

Sybil looked up at the clouds behind the house. They were building rapidly. “That’s weird. It’s the wrong time of year for thunderstorms.”

“Well, in Hogwarts, anything is possible, right?” Letisha asked.

“We still need to call the cops. I’m not going in there until we find out if someone is squatting there,” Pauline said.

Sybil asked, “Can someone find Maria? We don’t want her out there alone if there’s someone in the house that isn’t supposed to be here.”

“I’ll go,” Pauline took off at a trot.

Right then, the clouds let loose. Letisha and Sybil hopped back in the van, and Letisha drove it close to the porch overhang. Lightning was followed by instant loud thunder.

Sybil didn’t hesitate. She grabbed the key out of her waist pack and exited the van. She headed for the big double wooden doors. She reached for the doorknob and inserted the key.

“Wait.” Letisha stepped up close. “I thought you said we aren’t going in there?”

“You can stay here. I’ll go in.”

“Are you crazy?”

Sybil threw her a smile. “So it’s been said.”

With that, Sybil inserted the key and opened the door.