Nathan and Julia stood about ten feet away. Unlike any time in history, they looked to be about the same age. Nathan was wearing the red, old-fashioned swimsuit Emily recognized, but unlike the svelte, tanned body he’d had that fateful afternoon when he was drowned, he was so white now he could have been bleached. His hair was wet, plastered to his head, his mustache moist with water. His eyes, however, were the most disconcerting thing about him. Rather than the piercing blue they’d been in life, they were so bloodshot the whites were entirely red, and both eyes bulged from their sockets. Julia was likewise altered from what she’d been in life. Like Nathan, she was grossly pale. She wore the sack-like dress Emily had seen her in before, but it was wet and stained pink at the bottom. She too was soaking wet, her hair falling in damp snarls around her face. Two jagged, open cuts ran the length of her forearms, so deep Emily was certain she could see bone.
Nathan and Julia had come to them as they were in death, or, at least, at the moment of their deaths. Seeing him as he was now, Nathan appeared to have drowned moments ago. Julia likewise looked as if she had recently cut her wrists. Neither of them said a word—they simply stared at her. During a long, quiet pause, the tension was so biting she could barely breathe.
Finally, she made herself get to her feet and take a hesitant step toward them. “I’m sorry. For what happened to you. I’m sorry she killed you, Nathan, and I’m sorry she blamed you for it, Julia.”
Neither of them reacted.
Emily gave June a quick glance and then took another step toward them. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you move on. I’ll let people know the truth. I swear it, even if it takes the rest of my life to prove it. Everyone will know what Margot did to you.”
These words had a greater effect on Nathan and Julia than her previous statement. They moved for the first time, looking at each other and then back at her. After a long moment, Julia nodded slightly, her eyes fixed on Emily. Nathan, however, took a step toward her, putting out a hand as if to touch her face, but Julia moved forward and grabbed his other one, pulling it frantically before he got too close. He looked back at his sister, appearing troubled, but eventually his expression calmed, and he put his arm down and stepped back to Julia’s side.
The two of them continued to stare at Emily, Nathan’s eyes searching, his brow furrowed. Finally, his expression cleared, and he took Julia’s hand. They turned around and walked away. About ten feet from where they’d stood, they took on a strange, faded translucence, and a few feet later, they disappeared entirely.
June gave a startled cry, and Emily turned to join her, crouching on the floor again. They embraced, and a feeling of absolute joy and relief swept through her like a warm wind. June clutched her, as if she’d felt it too, and they drew back far enough to kiss, deeply.
Suddenly Harry was coughing, and they immediately moved apart. A moment later, he’d gotten himself up on his elbows and was looking around. He spotted them and smiled, and June laughed with loud, sweet joy.
“God, am I glad to be out of there,” he said. His voice was hoarse, almost broken, but it sounded steady and calm, nonetheless.
Emily moved next to him and took his wrist again to check his pulse. Not only was it beating more strongly, but warmth had come back into his skin.
She was about to suggest that she and June help him to one of the lounge chairs so she could go get help, when the door opened. Jim stumbled in a moment later, almost falling. He spun around wildly, and then, spotting them, his body relaxed and his hands went to his eyes.
It took a moment to realize he was sobbing.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Seattle did more good for Emily than she’d thought possible. After everything that had happened, June had insisted on a break from Gnarled Hollow, and Emily was unwilling to let her go alone—unwilling, really, to let her out of her sight. The thought of being apart, even for a few days, was too much to bear after almost losing her. June had been relieved when Emily agreed to go.
They spent the first two days in June’s apartment, alone with her cats or walking to get drinks or dinner nearby. June lived in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, close enough to walk to campus. Emily had been in the city once before at a conference, but she was still impressed by its beauty, especially in the summer. She’d never spent much time by the water, and the salty bay air kept them cool, even in early July.
On Wednesday, they finally went to campus, ostensibly the reason they’d come to Seattle in the first place. June had some paperwork to file for a grant and some interlibrary books to pick up and return. She could probably have done all her errands via snail mail or phone calls, but June had insisted that she needed to go there in person, and they had needed it, but for other reasons. Spending time together outside of the house reassured both of them that what they had wasn’t simply a product of close quarters and terrifying events. They liked being together, and the time alone also allowed them to talk, for once, about themselves and not their work or the house.
June introduced Emily to a friend in the English department, and by the next day, this friend had managed to help her line up a position as an adjunct instructor for the fall semester. She would teach composition and the occasional sophomore literature class, which she’d done many times. The pay was dismal, and she would receive no benefits to speak of, but she thought she might squeak by and pay what bills she had, at least for now, especially as she wouldn’t have any rent while staying with June. She could use the upcoming school year to find something more permanent.
On Thursday, she met several of June’s friends at a bar, including an ex-boyfriend and two ex-girlfriends. June had prepared her beforehand, but Emily still found the experience unnerving. The exes were all incredibly attractive, like June, and all of them seemed to be staring at her as if they didn’t see the appeal. If she was aware of this reaction, June didn’t let on, holding Emily’s hand and touching her back frequently, almost proprietarily. By the end of the night, the exes didn’t bother her anymore, and she couldn’t help but feel a strange, smug satisfaction as she and June left together, hands linked.
The visit overall was incredibly restful and restorative. She hadn’t slept so well or eaten so much in weeks. Still, by the time they left Seattle, she was impatient to get back to Gnarled Hollow. They had a lot of loose ends to tie up before they could take a longer break and had left somewhat abruptly. The fall semester would begin in only six weeks, and her desire to finish her work was creating an increased sense of urgency.
June, on the other hand, was reluctant to return. By the time they’d retrieved her car at the airport and started driving back, she had nearly shut down. Two hours later, closer to the estate, she still wasn’t speaking, and the few times Emily saw her hold something, a coffee or a snack, her hands were shaking.
“You could have stayed there, you know,” Emily finally said. “In Seattle, I mean. You already have a lot to work with. Maybe a break would do some good. You could always come back in January, or next summer.”
June gave her a long look and then turned away, staring out the passenger window. “I couldn’t do that.” Her voice was so quiet, Emily almost didn’t hear her.
“Why not?”
June shook her head. “I couldn’t let you…” She shook her head again, and Emily was alarmed to see tears in her eyes. She flipped on the turn signal and pulled over onto the side of the road. No one was out here on this road in the woods, but she put on the hazards anyway.
They sat there for a long time, June quietly crying and refusing to meet her eyes. Emily had turned in her seat toward her, and she waited, patiently, for June to stop. Finally, she did, and Emily saw a deep, abject terror in her eyes.
June clasped Emily’s hands, desperately. “I couldn’t let you go there on your own. I just couldn’t. I-I never want you to be alone there. It isn’t safe for you.”
“Mark and Jim are still there. I wouldn’t be alone.”
June shook her head. “That isn’t e
nough. That house…wants you, I think. It wants you to stay there. Forever.”
Emily sat for a while in silence. She’d never had this impression, but on the other hand, everyone kept telling her that she was different from the others somehow, singled out from them, and sometimes she could see that herself. During the séance, Julia had revealed some of the mysteries of the house to her and her alone. Also, only she had been capable of crossing that divide between time periods on her own. But why?
She squeezed June’s hands. “Listen to me. Nothing’s going to happen. I don’t know why I’m different from the rest of you, but I am. What you said proves it. I think…I think it does want me, the house, I mean, but I think it wants to use me, not hurt me. It wants the real story to come out, and I’m the one to do it.”
The violence of June’s reply startled her. June launched herself at her, squeezing her, sobbing. “Why? Why does it have to be you?”
Having asked herself that question, she had no reply, and she hugged June back just as fiercely. Eventually, they pulled apart, June looking sheepish and embarrassed. They sat there staring at each other for a long time before Emily spoke again.
“I don’t know why it has to be me, June, but it does. We all know that.” She hesitated. She didn’t like to bring up the vision they’d shared of Nathan and Julia in the pool house. June always seemed terrified when she mentioned it, but she had to now. “I promised them, June. I swore I’d share their real story.”
June continued to stare at her, her expression grave. Finally, she let out a long sigh and turned in her seat to face the front. “Okay. Let’s finish this, then.”
Emily started the car, and June was silent for the remainder of the trip. Emily could sense June was still upset, angry even, but none of them, Emily included, would be able to move on until this was finished, until the world knew what had happened at Gnarled Hollow.
When they arrived at the estate, they drove directly to the garage. They’d brought only backpacks, so they had no reason to unload at the front door. By the time they approached the house, Mark and Jim had come outside and were waiting for them. Seeing their faces, Emily knew something had happened.
Jim was grinning wildly, almost maniacally. He seemed to have recovered some of his vitality. The scratches on his face were almost gone, and his color was normal again. He looked, in fact, as if he’d been tanning, his skin golden and healthy. Mark’s face was likewise altered. The rings around his eyes had disappeared, the lines on his face were a little less severe, and he seemed to be standing taller again, as if a weight had been taken off his shoulders.
Everyone hugged hello, and seconds later, Jim, clearly impatient, said, “You’re never going to believe it.”
“What?” Emily asked.
Jim shook his head. “It’s too much to go in to here. But first of all, Lara and Ruth are on their way. They should be here in a couple of hours.”
Emily stopped walking. “Both of them? Why?”
Jim laughed, a deep belly laugh, throwing his head back. “That’s part of it, but I’ll let them tell you. Lara wanted to call you right away when she found out, but I told her it would be better in person, so she waited.”
Emily looked back and forth between them, seeing nearly identical grins of mischievous joy, then at June. June was smiling, vaguely, clearly lost herself, but enjoying the men’s cheerful excitement.
She raised her shoulders at Emily and then spoke to Jim. “Okay—we can wait. What else is new? What’s the other part?”
He laughed again and shook his head. “You have to see it.”
Mark was grinning. “He’s right—you really need to see.”
Still confused, but game, Emily followed them into the house through the door to the kitchen. Immediately upon stepping inside, she knew something had changed. She and June shared a puzzled look and peered around the room. Everything appeared to be in the right spot, nothing had obviously changed or moved, but something in the room was wrong somehow. Jim and Mark were watching them, grinning like children.
“Do you see it?” Mark finally asked.
Emily started to shake her head and then stopped. The counter, which went around the length of two of the walls in the kitchen, had changed. Normally a dark, sealed wood, now a few sections of it seemed almost cloudy, the color no longer uniform. She walked over to one part of the changed counter and ran her fingers across it. She held it up for June: dust.
“I don’t get it,” June said, coming closer. She didn’t get near enough to touch it, eyeing the change warily from a few feet away.
“Open the cabinet above that part of the counter,” Mark suggested.
Emily looked up, surprised she hadn’t noticed. The cabinet door, like the counter, was grimy with dust, the wood almost obscured beneath filth. She reached up to open it and heard June’s quick, frightened intake of breath. Her hand on the handle, Emily pulled it open.
The inside of the cabinet was curious. Instead of containing dust and grime, it was completely preserved, identical, perhaps, to the last time it had been opened. The shelves held boxes and cans, and even without getting anything out, Emily could tell that they were old, antiques even. Old cereals, soups, and tin ingredient canisters sat there, neatly arranged, almost as if they’d been put in there recently.
She turned back to the others. June had taken a step back, her expression frightened, but Jim and Mark, still grinning, seemed thrilled. Emily looked around the room, spotting three more places that were dusty and grimed.
She smiled at Mark. “Are you saying…?”
He nodded, vigorously. “It came back.”
“What? What came back?” June asked.
“Everything,” Jim answered.
Mark laughed and grabbed one of June’s hands. “Look. It’s easier to show you, like I said. And it’s more obvious on the other side of the house, and upstairs.”
June let herself be led from the kitchen to the foyer, and Jim and Emily followed. Even here, it was obvious something had changed, but it was difficult to see with the naked eye. June paused, clearly confused, but Mark laughed and pulled her hand again, leading her to the library. When he opened the door, it was suddenly very obvious.
The library had grown.
June screamed and put her hands to her mouth. Mark put an arm around her shoulder. “I’m sorry, June. I thought you understood.”
June spun around, eyes wide and terrified, her hands still on her mouth. Emily stepped forward, and June rushed into her arms, squeezing her so tight it almost hurt. Emily met Jim and Mark’s eyes, both of them troubled, and she ran her hand up and down June’s back.
“Shhhh, June, it’s okay. Don’t you see? The house is back to normal. It came back—all of it. All that lost space.”
June drew back, meeting Emily’s eyes. Something in Emily’s expression must have calmed her a little, as her own expression softened. She stepped away and took a wary look around her, and then, as if the explanation had finally sunk in, she seemed to relax. A moment later, she was peering around, her fright now replaced with curiosity. At least three new sections of bookcases were in here, all of them, like the cabinets, dusty with age.
“How much bigger is it in here?” June asked.
“About two yards on each wall,” Jim replied.
Emily frowned at him. “That’s not enough.”
He grinned. “Exactly. Come see the sitting room. It’s even more obvious in there.”
They followed him in, and a curious thrill of déjà vu swept through Emily. The last time she’d stepped through that door, Margot had been sitting in there waiting for Nathan. Seeing the room as it was now, even with the different furniture, it was difficult to forget she wasn’t in the past.
The room was much longer, the front wall so removed from where it had been, they could have been in a different room altogether. The furniture was the strangest part of what she saw. Rather than sitting, as it had, in the center of the room, it was off-center, much too close
to this end. Yards and yards of empty space stretched beyond the edge of the sofa and chairs. Further, the wallpaper stopped past the edge of the sofa, exactly where the wall used to end. Beyond the edge of the paper, the wall was yellow, the paint peeling with age. There were, however, paintings on the yellow walls, and June gave a startled cry when she saw them, rushing toward them immediately. She looked at them for a moment and then turned back to Emily and the others, eyes wide.
“These paintings are new. I mean—they’re old, but I’ve never seen them before.”
Mark was grinning again.
Emily walked closer so she could see them herself and then took a long moment to view the room. It had seemed much larger when she’d seen it during the séance, and now her suspicion was confirmed: like the library, it had grown.
She smiled at Mark, her heart racing with excitement. “You said it changed upstairs, too?”
“Boy, did it!” Jim said. “You should see your room now, June. It’s almost as big as Emily’s. And my room actually looks like a real nursery, not some closet.”
“What about mine?” Emily asked.
Mark shook his head. “It’s identical. But there is something new right next door.”
Almost racing, the four of them headed upstairs, Emily so curious she had to stop herself from running ahead. Even from the balcony, anyone could see that things had altered dramatically. Emily’s door, which was the farthest from the stairs, looked very far away now. Another obvious change was the new door.
“June,” Mark said, touching her hand, “I think you should go in first.”
Jim was smiling so widely all of his teeth shone. “Yes. It should definitely be June.”
June’s fright had mostly dissipated downstairs, but she looked scared again. Emily took her hand, and the two of them walked to the new door together. They paused, tentative, and Mark made an opening gesture.
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