Winterhouse

by Ben Guterson

  The crowd began to clap and cheer, and Kiona Falls waved feebly to everyone while Lena Falls sat without moving or altering her expression.

  “Lena’s deaf and mute,” Freddy whispered. “They live in a room together and they never come out. Except for Christmas, I guess.”

  “Kiona’s almost one hundred,” Elizabeth whispered.

  Freddy lowered his voice as much as was possible for a whisper. “And the plot thickens!”

  The applause faded, and Norbridge nodded to Kiona and Lena and then continued to speak.

  “Christmas Eve is a magical time,” he said. “It is one of the few nights of the year—perhaps the only night of the year—when the spirit of love and peace seems to settle on everyone, regardless of who they are or where they live or what circumstances they find themselves in. It is as though the spirit of the evening folds everyone inside itself, making it impossible to feel scared or alone.”

  Norbridge looked around the room, smiled. And then he stared down at the podium for a long moment before returning his gaze to the assembled guests. “Oh, enough talking, eh?” he said. He lifted his hands above his head, and a curtain of heavy snow began to fall all around him. The crowd let out a loud gasp of amazement—and it truly was amazing. Elizabeth peered intently but could not figure out from where or by what means the flakes of snow were tumbling around Norbridge.

  “How is that possible?” she said.

  Freddy was squinting. “It looks like real snow.”

  Norbridge clapped his hands together, and the flakes disappeared. He yelled out, “Bravo! Magnifico! Fantastico!” The crowd cheered madly. Norbridge pointed to the row of waiters against the wall who held trays of filled champagne glasses. “If you don’t yet have a glass to toast with,” Norbridge called out, “please take one now. Sparkling cider for the young ones!” he added, and everyone laughed. He took a glass from a nearby waiter, lifted it, and said, “May we hold tonight’s spirit in our hearts every day of the year!”

  A resounding “Hear! Hear!” came from the crowd, and then a huge shout as everyone drank from their glasses and music began to play. Norbridge lifted both hands above his head and a flurry of confetti rained down from the ceiling. The room was alive with laughter and singing, hugs and toasts. Elizabeth moved into the crowd.

  “Found any interesting books?” someone said behind her.

  Elizabeth turned. Marcus Q. Hiems, dressed as always in his black suit, stood looking at her, his hands behind his back. Selena was beside him.

  “You surprised me!” Elizabeth said, her heart racing.

  Marcus looked apologetic—sincerely so, which surprised Elizabeth as much as the shock of seeing him and his wife. “We were not trying to surprise you,” he said, gesturing around the room. “We were just enjoying the Christmas festivities and noticed you here. We wanted to say hello and see how you were doing.”

  Elizabeth wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.

  Selena leaned forward. “Yes, apologies if we startled you.” Her expression was contrite, even—although this seemed hard to believe—friendly. Maybe, Elizabeth thought, Marcus and Selena Hiems were as caught up in the good spirit of the celebration as everyone else.

  “Well, it’s okay,” Elizabeth said. “I’m fine, thanks.” She didn’t really know what to say to these two. Freddy had disappeared, and she started looking for him by way of making her escape.

  “It’s a wonderful party, isn’t it?” Selena said.

  “It’s incredible,” Elizabeth said, not certain what more to say. The Hiemses were being unusually friendly, but there was something so off about the whole thing, Elizabeth felt disoriented.

  “You know,” Marcus said, “it’s been so busy here at Winterhouse, we’ve hardly seen you. But I’m wondering if you’ve given any thought to the request I made of you when we bumped into each other that day.”

  Elizabeth was hoping Norbridge or Freddy would appear and get her away from the couple. She was about to dismiss herself.

  “I’ve been super busy,” she said. “But if I think of anything, I’ll let you know.”

  “Please do,” Selena said. “That would be so good of you. And, truly, what we wanted to say is it would be so delightful to get to know you better.”

  Elizabeth was about to let her know she doubted they would be seeing much of each other, when Marcus leaned forward.

  “And to that end,” he said, “and by way of demonstrating how deeply we regret any prior misunderstandings, we would like to extend this invitation to you.” From his pocket he removed a small, sealed envelope and handed it to Elizabeth.

  “With our very best regards,” Selena said, her face a mask of kindness. “We do so hope you will accept.”

  Elizabeth couldn’t gather her thoughts enough even to stammer. She examined the small violet card in her hand and then gazed at Marcus and Selena Hiems.

  “And remember,” Marcus said, speaking in an earnest whisper, as if telling her something extremely important, “if there is a book you find in the library that you feel you just have to have, please do let me know. My business depends on learning just what sorts of books fascinate young people nowadays.”

  “I really don’t think I’m going to be much help to you,” Elizabeth said. She put the letter in the pocket of her dress.

  “No matter,” Selena said, waving this off with an odd giggle. “We will be delighted to have your company.”

  To have my company? Elizabeth thought. What is she talking about?

  She spotted Freddy off to one side of the crowd. “I’d better go,” she said, as she turned fully to Freddy and waved. She glanced back, but Marcus and Selena Hiems had disappeared.

  CHAPTER 23

  THREE TIMES IS THE CHARM

  TILES

  FILES

  FILLS

  FALLS

  CALLS

  Four hours later, after the big celebration in Grace Hall had wound down and most everyone had returned to their rooms for the night, Elizabeth sat with Freddy on the floor in front of the stage and let the excitement of the evening settle into her. She had danced almost to exhaustion, eaten too much cake and drunk too much punch, and now she realized just how tired she was.

  She pointed to Freddy. “Best. Christmas. Ever,” she said slowly. “I mean ever ever. It’s like A Christmas Carol times a thousand.”

  Freddy, who’d even danced a bit himself all while eating and drinking at least as much as Elizabeth had, gave her a thumbs-up. “I will not disagree with you on that one,” he said. He let out a loud yawn. “I need to get to my room and crash or I’ll fall asleep right here.”

  “‘Asleep’ or ‘please’?” Elizabeth said.

  “I’m too tired to think of another anagram, but I have to admit that one’s pretty good.”

  Elizabeth remembered the note Marcus and Selena Hiems had given her just after dinner. The encounter with them had been so perplexing, she’d decided not to mention the letter to Freddy earlier and—with the excitement and commotion of the party—she’d forgotten all about it until this moment. Now she took it from her pocket and displayed it.

  “The Hiemses gave me something,” she said.

  Freddy peered at the violet envelope. “Tonight?”

  “Right when all the music and everything started up. It was really strange. They were so … nice. I don’t get it.”

  Freddy scooted closer to her. “So open it up.”

  Elizabeth tore the edge of the envelope and removed an unadorned white card that looked like this:

  * * *

  Dear Elizabeth Somers,

  It would be our sincere and surpassing pleasure if you would join us for an afternoon of tea and conversation, commencing at 4:00 p.m. on December 26th in our accommodations (Room 808).

  We do so very much hope you will accept this invitation. It will be a grand afternoon, filled with refreshments, good company, gifts, and surprises.

  Please do us the honor of an RSVP at your convenience.
<
br />   Yours very truly,

  Marcus and Selena Hiems

  * * *

  “What in the world?” Freddy said. “Why would they invite you to tea?”

  Elizabeth stared at the card and wondered if she was reading it correctly. “I have no idea,” she said, studying the words. “This is the weirdest thing.” She squinted at Freddy; the invitation made absolutely no sense to her.

  “Like you’d even go,” he said. “Like you’d go anywhere near them!”

  “I know,” Elizabeth said, laughing lightly as she examined the card again. A part of her, though, felt intrigued by the invitation. Why had Marcus and Selena Hiems reached out to her, and why had they been so unaccountably cordial?

  “Gifts?” she said. “Surprises? What do they mean by that?”

  “Forget about it,” Freddy said. “They’re wacko. It’s some joke or something.”

  Elizabeth thought about the large crate the Hiemses had brought to Winterhouse, how it must be sitting in their room right now. And she thought about how the cleaning lady had told her no one had been allowed into the Hiemses’ room. Maybe, she thought, if she went for just a few minutes and then told them she had to leave …

  “Don’t you think so?” Freddy said, interrupting her thoughts.

  “Huh?” Elizabeth said. “Oh, no doubt. It’s some kind of joke.” She tapped the note back into the envelope and returned it to her pocket. “Right, like I’d really go see them.”

  They left Grace Hall and headed to Elizabeth’s room, but as they got closer, Elizabeth was restless, felt she didn’t want the evening to end. It was strange, because just a few minutes earlier—before she’d read the note from the Hiemses—she had felt nearly as tired as Freddy.

  “Hey, I have an idea,” she said. “Before we go to sleep, let’s go down to the library for a little bit, just for fun.” When she thought back to it later, she couldn’t figure out why she had made this suggestion, but at the moment it seemed like just the right thing to do after the long party and before they each settled into their rooms for the night.

  Freddy looked at her suspiciously. “That actually doesn’t sound like much fun at all,” he said. “And I’m really tired.”

  “Come on!” Elizabeth said. “No one will be there and we can just goof around. It will be fun!”

  Freddy looked at her again, this time even more suspiciously. “Fun how?”

  “I don’t know,” Elizabeth said. She suddenly felt that she had to convince Freddy to join her—that they had to go to the library—and she had no intention of backing down. “Hey, I’ll grab that book and we can take it back, okay?”

  “I guess. Five minutes.”

  * * *

  Elizabeth retrieved The Book from its hiding place in her drawer, and when she and Freddy arrived at the library, the doors were unlocked. The two of them slipped inside and found it just as dark and silent and still as they would have guessed. For a moment, when they first stepped in, Elizabeth thought the library seemed unusually quiet—even gloomy—but she told herself it was only because the past few hours of celebration had been so loud and exciting. She held A Guide for Children tightly to her chest.

  “I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” Freddy whispered. They could see almost nothing; the only light in the entire space came from the tiny lamp beside the card catalog.

  “It’s Christmas Eve,” Elizabeth whispered back. “Nothing’s going to happen.” She took a few steps forward, felt the immense black silence of the library all around her, and wondered why it was she had wanted to come here.

  “Why don’t you just set that book down and we can get going?” Freddy said quietly.

  “I got it up there.” She pointed to the top level. “That’s where we should put it back.”

  Freddy gave her a look of baffled panic. “I don’t want to go up the stairs!”

  “Don’t be a chicken!”

  “I’m not being a chicken. I just don’t want to go up the stairs.”

  It seemed to Elizabeth that about the last thing she wanted to do now was break the silence. But she also wanted to appear brave to Freddy and lighten the mood, and so she put a hand to her mouth and called—not too loudly, “WonderLog! WonderLog!”

  The sound bounced back and forth in the high chamber above them and then quickly died. Elizabeth stood frozen in place, listening.

  “Okay, seriously, why don’t you just drop that book on any old shelf here and we can go?” Freddy whispered.

  Elizabeth wasn’t sure why she’d yelled. She only knew she had some indescribable energy inside herself, something—when she looked back on it—that felt impulsive. She felt as though she wanted to impress Freddy with how daring she could be.

  The midnight chimes began to toll slowly, deliberately, like the sound of some distant foghorn.

  “Hey,” Elizabeth said, “what was it you said about saying Norbridge’s sister’s name three times?”

  “Gracella?”

  “Yeah, you said if it was midnight and someone said her name, she would appear. Something like that, right?”

  “But that’s just a superstitious story to scare people,” Freddy said.

  Elizabeth stared at him. The chimes were halfway through their count. “What if I tried it?”

  “I really wish you wouldn’t—” Freddy began, but before he could finish his sentence, Elizabeth cupped a hand to her mouth and shouted, “Gracella, Gracella, Gracella!” into the dark expanse of the library.

  The chiming stopped. The library went silent. Elizabeth gave Freddy a shrug.

  “Nothing,” she said.

  Freddy shook his head. “I really wish you hadn’t done that,” he said. “I know it’s just a story, but still.”

  “You’re always so afraid of everything,” Elizabeth said.

  “No, I’m not!” For the first time, Elizabeth heard true annoyance in Freddy’s voice.

  A noise sounded from way up on the top level of the library, a sound like a book falling from a high shelf onto the carpeted floor.

  “What was that?” Freddy said.

  Elizabeth looked to the staircase. She and Freddy stood perfectly still. Another thump came from the third level, a dull, muffled sound that echoed for a split second and then left behind only silence. A faint throb of crimson light radiated from what seemed to be the Reference Room high above. And then a small dot of red light like a crimson firefly shot across the arc of the atrium’s ceiling to a row of high windows, disappeared momentarily, and then streaked away in a flash beyond the windows out into the frozen blackness. The small crimson light was gone. A third small boom came from the top level of the library.

  Freddy turned to the library doors and began to run. Elizabeth was right behind him, A Guide for Children in her hand. Almost before they were aware of it, the two of them were in the hallway, slamming the library doors behind them and racing down the corridor. Neither of them looked back until they rounded the three turns in the hallway and came to the door for Room 213.

  They stopped, both panting heavily, and gazed in the direction from where they’d come.

  Elizabeth leaned against the wall, putting a hand to her chest to calm her breathing.

  “What was that?” she said, looking to Freddy.

  He was standing across the hallway from her, pushing his hair from his forehead. And then, to Elizabeth’s astonishment, Freddy’s face twisted in rage and he said—not loudly enough to disturb anyone asleep at this late hour, but fiercely enough that Elizabeth practically felt the anger radiating from him—“I thought you were done doing things like that!”

  “Freddy!” she said, astonished.

  He pointed to the book in her hands. “And you still have that book!”

  He turned brusquely, stalked down the hallway, and left Elizabeth alone beside the door to her room. After several long minutes of waiting for him to return, she went inside and, without turning on the lights, sat on her bed. She couldn’t make sense of what had happened i
n the library, and she felt awful about Freddy. His anger had shocked her.

  Why did I insist on going to the library? she thought. And why was I so bossy to him?

  She stood and went to the window, looked out at Lake Luna, which appeared as smooth and white in the moonlight as cream poured on a vast table. Elizabeth studied the lake for a long while. And then she looked to her left, to the west—and she thought she could see, barely, a faint crimson glow in the sky from that direction. She stared, but after a long moment the sky was black, and she couldn’t be sure if she had really seen anything at all.

  What did I just do? she thought. What did I do?

  PART THREE

  BETWEEN TWO HOLIDAYS—AND THE MOON GROWS FULL

  FILL

  TILL

  TOLL

  TOOL

  TOOK

  BOOK

  CHAPTER 24

  A DARK CHRISTMAS

  PARK

  PART

  PANT

  WANT

  WAIT

  The terrifying dream returned that night. Once again, Elizabeth was running, scared and alone, through a strange library until the same dark woman and the two others confronted her, reached for her and—

  Elizabeth woke with a start, sat upright, and gasped into her darkened room. She put her fists to her ears to try to make the traces of the dream disappear, and then she looked at the clock on the table beside her bed: 3:17. She’d hardly slept at all. Even worse, she was in the middle of an awful night after the best Christmas Eve of her life. She lay back down and, after tossing and turning for many long minutes, finally fell asleep again. When morning came, she left A Guide for Children in the drawer where she’d re-hidden it the night before and told herself she would leave it alone, at least until later in the day. Her promise to return it—and Freddy’s anger over the matter—bit into her thoughts.

  Elizabeth tried to enjoy that day—Christmas Day. Norbridge gave her a book called Inkheart, a story about a young girl and a magical book, which she was eager to read, and she did a little bit of sledding by herself in the morning and went ice skating in the afternoon. But the memory of the strange events in the library and Freddy’s displeasure soured everything for her. She looked for him at breakfast and lunch, even went by his shop to see if she could find him, but he didn’t seem to be anywhere.