Rituals (Cainsville 5)

We checked the door first. That was almost incidental, as if we knew it would be pointless. It was. The door wouldn't open, and there was no sign of a lock.

"You're seeing this, right?" I said. "A long hallway with old wallpaper? A wooden door?"

He reached out, peeled off a strip of wallpaper, and rubbed it between his fingers. "Yes."

"That's not normal." I rubbed down the hairs on my neck. "It feels...wrong."

He tried the door again, but even wrenching with all of his not-insubstantial strength didn't budge it.

"I'm overreacting," I said.

"No, something isn't right. We'll get this over with and leave. And then, as much as I'd like that shower, I'm going to suggest we skip it. We'll visit Pamela to see what Seanna told her, and visit Todd to warn him about her. Check on the police investigation. And then return to the cabin and turn off our phones."

"A plan. I like it. Now let's get past stage one."

We started down the hall. After about twelve paces, it opened into a room with a sweeping staircase. Cobwebs festooned the wrought-iron railings. More hung from the chandelier. The stink of must filled the dead air. At a squeak, I turned to see a mouse dive between cracks in the rotted floorboards.

I looked up the stairs. "I believe Miss Havisham will be joining us for tea."

"Hmmm."

I glanced over to see him scanning the stairwell.

"Sensing anything?" I asked.

"I...don't know." He rolled his shoulders as if to shrug off the uncertainty. "There's no clear sense of danger, but..." Another roll. "I can't say."

"Proceed with caution, as always."

"Yes."

We walked around the steps, but there was nothing to see. No other rooms or halls joined this one. I even ran my hands over the semicircular wall behind the stairs, looking for a hidden doorway.

"Serious architectural flaw," I said lightly, but Gabriel didn't even favor me with a nod. This impossible layout told us we weren't in a real house, and that bothered him.

The hairs on my neck prickled again.

"Up, then?" I said.

At the top of the stairs, we reached a landing that stretched in every direction. I took three steps...and the floor disappeared, leaving us on a platform, the stairs behind us, the rest darkness.

"Go back down," Gabriel said. "Quickly."

He hauled me toward the stairs. We made it down one riser and then the rest vanished, the next step a drop into nothingness. Gabriel yanked me back, and his arms wrapped around me as if I'd been about to tumble over the edge. I felt his heart slamming against his ribs, as that sixth sense kicked in, and whatever it detected--

"We need to get out of here," he said. "Now."

I could point out the obvious--that there was no apparent exit. But his pounding heart warned that if I couldn't say something useful, I'd best not say anything at all. When I twisted to look up at him, he was scanning the darkness, every muscle taut.

"Something is wrong," he said. "Something is very wrong. We shouldn't be here."

He took my hand again, his fingers wrapping around mine tight enough to make me wince. Then he stepped carefully toward the edge, leaning, as he turned on his cell phone light.

"I don't see any--"

The floor fell away.

No warning. No time to do more than let out a yelp before I plummeted through darkness, scrabbling for a hold, none to be found. Yet I hit the floor no harder than if I'd slipped on ice.