Ghosts of Averoigne

Though his words were calm and measured, they still raised the hair along the back of Kara’s neck. Jeremy looked uncomfortable too. Logan was uncharacteristically silent.

“I know you’re all going to the third floor,” Jonathan went on. “And that’s your business. But I’ll tell you right now, tread lightly. Don’t take anything for granted… and don’t believe everything you see.”

The warning was well-meant, but still ominous. Kara kept an eye on Logan, ready to kick him if he tried to say anything else.

“And be respectful,” the janitor finished. He nodded again, as if agreeing with himself. “Yes, respectful. That’s the best advice I can give you.”

His eyes shifted over to Kara. He tipped his hat with one hand, and flipped the machine back on with the other. It whirred instantly to life, drowning out anything else anyone might’ve said.

Kara clutched her coffee a little tighter as they headed for the grand staircase.

Twenty-Five

Access to the third floor hadn’t just been roped off, the entire thing had been blocked. A wall had been built — and painted to match the surrounding decor — so that the grand staircase didn’t continue its upward climb.

“Damn,” said Logan. “I wouldn’t even have noticed the stairs continue at all, if not for the door.”

In the center of the makeshift wall was a door to apparently nowhere. It looked like every other door in the upstairs hallway, only the brass plate where the room number should be was blank.

Kara inserted Jonathan’s skeleton key. The knob turned, and the door creaked open.

“Ladies first,” she said.

She got only a half step when Jeremy stopped her with a hand on her arm. She looked annoyed.

“What, you don’t think I should go firs—”

“No, not at all,” he cut her off. “You’re just gonna need this.”

He handed her a heavy black flashlight — one of those unnecessarily long ones that security guards always carried that could double as a nice, hefty club. She noticed he carried one too.

“There’s no lighting on the third floor,” he said. “They cut the electricity decades ago.”

Kara blinked. Logan’s brows came together.

“And you were going to tell us this… when?”

“Just found out,” said Jeremy. “Radcliffe handed me this flashlight when you guys were still—”

“Can’t he just switch it back on?” Kara cut in quickly. “I mean, if it’s only the matter of a few circuit breakers…”

Jeremy shook his head. “Too dangerous. Something about installing a new panel back in the 80’s. The top floor still has aluminum wiring. Fire hazard.”

Kara sighed and stepped through the door. On the other side, the big staircase continued upward in all its splendor. It looked every bit as grand as the one they’d just climbed, only this one was shrouded in shadow. And covered in dust.

“We’re going to need respirators up here,” she lamented. “No kidding.”

“Don’t worry,” Jeremy winked. “I’ll clean you off again later.”

They climbed.

Somehow this staircase seemed steeper, each step feeling taller than the last. By the time they arrived at the third-floor landing Kara felt uncharacteristically tired. All three of them were huffing and puffing, and not just from the dust.

Kara and Jeremy clicked on their flashlights. Logan, who apparently hadn’t gotten an invite to the flashlight party, was using his phone.

“That’s creepy.”

The hallway extended in both directions, with wings off to their left and right. It was a carbon copy of the same hallways on the second floor, only these were pitch dark and spooky-looking. The carpets beneath their feet were dirty. Everywhere the beams of the flashlights went, they cut through swirls of dust.