The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall

 

Penitence stood to her full height, which I’d never actually seen—she’d always been hunched over like an old woman, but she was half a head taller than me. “Maria, we’ll never be apart again. I’ll always be here with you. Is … is that all right?”

 

Maria nodded.

 

“Then let’s go,” Penitence said. “We must go downstairs.”

 

And then, with Maria clutching her mother’s skirts like a security blanket, we made our way back to the second floor.

 

“What will you do now?” Penitence asked, as Maria ran happy circles around the day room. “I—I can’t help but feel that I owe you.”

 

“You don’t owe me anything,” I said. “Stay here with Maria. If I do what I hope I’m about to do, I want you two to be together when it all goes down.”

 

 

 

 

 

Mom and Dad had dragged the sofa to the center of the room and flipped it like an animal carcass. They seemed to be trying to disassemble it, with Dad’s car keys as their only tools.

 

In the main hall, Janie had calmed herself enough to walk around, testing the walls and looking for a way out. She’d peeled away huge sections of the wallpaper, to no avail. She tried the remaining doors that lined the hall, but they were all locked.

 

Suddenly, she cut short her inspection and turned around.

 

“I know someone’s here,” she whispered. “You’re trying to help me, aren’t you?”

 

I nearly fell through the wall.

 

“Who are you?” she asked.

 

Collecting myself, I walked past her to the far side of the rug, and in one quick motion, I pulled the corner up—just enough to reveal my name scratched into the floor.

 

DELIA.

 

The rug flumped back down disapprovingly.

 

My sister was quiet for a long time.

 

“I knew it was you,” she said at last. “Can you help me get out of here?”

 

I could, actually. In fact, I needed her to come with me—it was part of the plan. Passing through the wall, I unlocked the door that would lead her to the service hallway and down to the basement.

 

Janie heard the click and pushed the door open, wonder and wariness in her eyes.

 

She followed me through, trailing a few feet behind, waiting as I unlocked and carefully opened each subsequent door. We passed Rosie and Posie, staring as always, and I paused.

 

“Thanks for stealing all their stuff, guys,” I said. “Really helpful.”

 

The one on the right blushed, and the one on the left scowled.

 

“Have you ever thought of maybe using your powers for good instead of annoyingness?” I asked. “Never mind. I have to go.”

 

Then I opened the one that led down into the basement.

 

“What are you doing down there?” the girl who had blushed asked.

 

“Trying to save us all,” I said. “You can thank me later.”

 

The girls vanished.

 

Janie hesitated at the top of the steps, and I didn’t blame her. The basement smelled like a dead skunk had been rotting in there for a year. The dead shadow creature, its smoky form significantly paler than before, was piled near the center of the room. And then there was Florence, still trapped.

 

Not much of a welcome wagon.

 

“You!” Florence struck at the barrier between us, but she was helpless to escape. “I’ll kill her! I’ll tear you both to shreds!”

 

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead and try,” I said.

 

She snarled and filled up with light, but she was powerless against the six-inch-wide pile of salt. Still, her manic, evil energy added a heavy feeling to the air, and I could tell by the way Janie’s shoulders hunched closer to her ears that it was having an effect on her.

 

Careful not to draw my sister’s attention in Florence’s direction, I knocked over a few small objects on my way to the back of the room, to indicate that she should follow me.

 

Janie stopped, considering a scratched-up metal box attached to the pillar at the bottom of the stairs. Finally, she popped it open and flipped a switch inside. Dim light spilled from the old bulbs hanging from the ceiling at random intervals.

 

“Probably should have looked for that last time,” she said.

 

Then she followed me.

 

The old incinerator room, walled-off with bricks and guarded by a barred metal door, was off to the right, positioned perfectly so that its leaking chimneys would permit the evil fog to penetrate the rooms at the front of the house. I took a few steps toward it before noticing that my sister wasn’t behind me. I turned to look for her, and saw that she was frozen in place.

 

There was something wrong with this room, and she sensed it.

 

But I couldn’t afford to lose her trust now.

 

“Delia, is it really you?” she asked into the air. “Can you find some way to tell me it’s you? Knock twice?”

 

I reached for the nearest hard object, an old crate, and tried to knock on it. But my knuckles passed silently through the wood.

 

Janie was asking for a specific message. I couldn’t do that.