Chapter 10: The Threshold of Discovery
We pressed flat against the mahogany paneling, the heavy leather folio wedged awkwardly between Julian's chest and my shoulder. The rain outside seemed to quiet for a fraction of a second, replaced by the slow, deliberate scuff of bare feet approaching along the runner.
Brook stepped out from her bedroom doorway, draped in her shiny gold silk robe, holding a heavy silver candlestick with a flickering taper flame. Her hair was loose, falling in dark, unkempt waves over her shoulders, and her eyes were wide and bloodshot in the candlelight. She stopped dead in the center of the gallery, just ten feet from where we stood in the shadows of the clock.
She turned her head slowly, her nostrils flaring as if she could smell the damp wool of Julian's trench coat through the draft.
"Who's there?" she called out, her voice cutting through the silence with a sharp, brittle edge.
She took two steps forward, the flame dancing frantically as the draft from the open window down the hall caught the wax. Her gaze swept over the bronze bust, the wainscoting, and the brass toggle switch above the study door. She noticed the slight smudge of dried mud on the Persian rug near the baseboard—a dark, unmistakable smear of garden soil that neither I nor Julian had managed to wipe away.
Brook dropped to one knee, touching the damp earth with a manicured fingertip. She looked up slowly, her face twisting into an expression of pure, unadulterated venom.
"Natalie," she whispered into the empty air, though she hadn't seen me yet. "I know you're here. And I know he's with you."
Julian shifted beside me, his muscles coiling like steel cable. He looked down at me, his eyes dark and resolute, communicating a silent choice that brooked no argument. He wasn't going to run this time.
May you like
I took a deep breath, stepped out from the shadows of the grandfather clock into the amber circle of Brook's candlelight, and raised my chin.
"She's right here, Miss Brook," I said clearly, blocking the view of the hallway behind me. "And we aren't going anywhere."
