The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall

 

Then a distant sound caught in my ear, a faraway rumble …

 

I perked up. I knew that sound.

 

It was a car.

 

I ran back to the lobby, where Florence had reappeared on the sofa. She gazed dreamily out at the grounds.

 

“Someone’s here!” I said, racing to the window.

 

“That happens from time to time,” she said, waving her hand languidly.

 

Off in the distance, kicking up snow as it came up the driveway, was a silver SUV.

 

Despite her blasé pretense, Florence came and stood next to me. “Who is it?”

 

“I don’t know,” I said breathlessly. But an impossible hope grew in my heart—

 

It’s my family.

 

I ran through the front door and down the snowy steps just as the car reached the circular drive in front of the house. The glare of the sun on the windshield obscured the faces of the people in the front seat, so I ran around to get a better look at my dad.

 

But when I saw the person behind the wheel, I stopped short.

 

The driver of the car wasn’t my father.

 

It was Landon.

 

 

 

 

 

I stood staring at Landon’s face so intently that it took me a moment to notice who was sitting in the front passenger seat.

 

Nic.

 

“Oh!” I cried, and the word ended in a choked sob.

 

“Who is it?” Theo had materialized next to me. He stared into the car, shading his eyes with one hand.

 

“My best friend,” I said, trying and failing to keep my composure. Tears streamed down my cheeks, though I couldn’t pinpoint which emotion had motivated them. “She came. She didn’t forget me.”

 

Theo frowned in Landon’s direction. “And who’s he?”

 

“That’s … nobody,” I said. “He’s not important.”

 

I ran up to Nic as she got out of the car and threw my arms around her in a bear hug, even though she couldn’t know I was doing it.

 

“Nic, I’m so happy you’re here!” I spoke loudly, as if she were hard of hearing. On the off chance that she could understand me, I was going to make sure I said everything I’d ever wished I could go back and say. “I’ve missed you! I love you! Thank you for not forgetting about me!”

 

But she didn’t seem to hear my words, and she definitely didn’t take comfort from them.

 

She stared up at the house like it was something horrible, a cavern filled with angry dragons, and shrank into her thick winter jacket. Seeing her so miserable took the happy wind right out of my sails.

 

Landon came around the car, looking more than a little uncomfortable. When he touched Nic’s arm to get her attention, she practically jumped out of her skin.

 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked. “You don’t have to.”

 

She swallowed back her tears and wiped her nose with a tissue. For a girl who usually went around looking like a Hollywood starlet, with dark Renaissance-princess hair and perfect white teeth, Nic was the world’s ugliest cryer. Her nose went tomato red, her skin got all splotchy, her eyes squinched up, and her lips pulled back. It was a sight to behold, the perfect representation of who she was—over-the-top, emotional, big, blustery, and completely the most loving and lovable human being on the planet.

 

“I do have to,” she snuffled, a steel rod of resoluteness in her voice. “I do. I owe it to her.”

 

Landon sighed and stuck his hands in the pockets of his preppy navy-blue corduroy peacoat. “All right. But remember, we can leave anytime.”

 

She nodded and went up the stairs toward the entrance.

 

The doors were locked, of course. Nic stood back and paused, then went back down the stairs.

 

For a second, my heart seized—I thought they were going to get back in the car and leave. But then she started around the side of the building. I followed her.

 

“Good-bye, then,” Theo called to me.

 

“Oh, sorry—I’ll see you later!” I replied, forgetting all about him as I jogged after Nic.

 

“Where are you going?” Landon shouted, and for a second I had this brain hiccup where I thought he was talking to me.

 

“There’s supposed to be another door over here,” Nic said over her shoulder, not slowing down. I stayed close behind her, listening to the crunch of her shoes in the snow. “There should be a key under a flowerpot.”

 

“A key?” Landon jogged a little to catch up to us, his breath a faint mist in the cold air.

 

“Yeah,” she said. She stepped onto a slab of concrete and knelt to lift one of the flowerpots, revealing a tarnished key. “Janie said they left a key, in case any lawyers or realtors came by.”

 

Landon was quiet for a second. “Isn’t Janie a little … ?”

 

A little what? I waited to hear what he would say about my sister. I wanted news of my family. I wanted to hear every little detail of their lives.

 

“She gave me the combination to the gate lock,” Nic said. “I think she knows what she’s talking about.”