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I sunk back behind the door. Was that what knocked them out? Where did she get it?
Muriel crossed the room. She paused at the piano, placing the needle down on top of the pile of piano books on the corner of the bench and then proceeded to the bed. She stood there, hovering over Victor’s form.
“Don’t worry,” she said, the sound of her voice familiar, but the tone was wrong. It was stronger now, not the weak, diminutive sound I’d heard before. “He promised to come for us soon. He said everything will be okay.” She reached down, her fingers curling over Victor’s face in a way that made my skin crawl. “We’ll get out of here, find a place where no one will find us. That little leech won’t get to you anymore.”
My heart stopped, the realization of what Muriel had been up to coming together. It was why the pictures didn’t register with Volto, because he hadn’t been the one who had sent them.
Suddenly everything pieced itself together. We’d been chasing two different ghosts, assuming there was only one. Muriel sent a warning via the phone before, but it wasn’t to the boys. It was to me, to stay away from Victor.
But who was the “he” she promised would come? Was there someone else she worked with? Was that where she got the syringe?
Muriel lowered herself to the bed. She snuggled up against Victor, stretching her leg over where I thought his hips were. She laid her hand on his chest. She brought her lips to his cheek.
I glanced around wildly, not wanting her to touch him, not having a weapon or an idea of how to get to her if she had a needle ready and I didn’t know what it could do. Where were Luke and Gabriel? Where was Mr. Blackbourne?
“Mrrm.” Victor’s mumbling sounded.
“I’m here,” Muriel said in a soft voice. “It’s okay. I’ve got you now. You’re safe.”
More mumbles came, and at first I couldn’t recognize anything he said. Muriel cooed at him, but in between mumbles, he repeated something distinctive.
“What was that?” Muriel asked.
Another few mumbles, but it soon came out clear.
“Sang,” he said. He moaned it. Over and over.
I forced my heart to still. Victor was calling to me in his sleep.
Muriel grumbled. “She’s not here,” she said. Her hand splayed out and she smacked him sharply across the cheek. “Stop talking about her.” She hit him again on his chest, hard enough that I could hear the smack of her flesh against his.
I forced myself out into the room. I didn’t have a plan. I just couldn’t take it anymore. “Stop it.”
Muriel turned to me, shock and disbelief etching into her otherwise plain face.
“Let him go,” I said.
She regained herself quickly, anger contorting her features.
I pounced forward toward the piano bench. She moved, too, but I was faster, knowing what I wanted. I grabbed the syringe, pushed down on the plunger to empty it, and then tossed it into the mess, wanting it to disappear.
Muriel turned, temporarily distracted. “No!” She stepped over to the pile of clothes, scanning the surface.
I turned on my heels, no longer caring to be silent. I headed toward the stairs. If I couldn’t stop her physically, I could at least play cat and mouse with her, leading her away from Victor.
I fled down the hallway nearly tripping along the back stairs, but caught myself. Muriel was quick to follow. She knew the house better than I did. I hoped she didn’t find another needle.
When I got to the second floor, I didn’t stop. I darted down the hallway. There was another staircase somewhere else, I knew. I wanted to run for it. I’d make a circle. I’d keep her busy if I had to.
“Get out of his house!” Muriel shouted behind me. “I’ll call the cops.”
“Go ahead,” I shouted back, eager to let Luke or Gabriel know where I was, hoping they’d find us. Where were they?
I zipped down the hallway, forced to a sudden stop as the darkness drew heavier around me.
But if my eyes weren’t adjusting, hers weren’t either. I quieted, stepping aside hoping to hit a wall to guide me, but no luck. I was out in the open.
Muriel was a few feet behind me. I could make out her shadowed figure as she came around the corner, but I lost her quickly as she ducked into the heavier shadows. Now what?
I inched back, trying to do it quietly. Unfortunately, she had a better advantage from knowing the layout.
My foot caught on a carpet runner. I tripped, landing on the rail to the front staircase.
I turned, trying to use the rail to steady myself.
Hands found my shirt. She gripped it, yanking me from behind.
I gagged as the material jammed into my neck. Instinct took over as I reached up, tucking my fingers into the collar of my shirt to stop the choking. I struggled, pulling myself against her wrenching hands.
That’s when I saw them on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. The light from the front windows shone on their bodies. Luke was on his back, sprawled out. Gabriel was on top of him. Both unconscious.
How was she able to get to them? Not wanting to find out, I swung my leg back, striking her in the thigh.
Muriel yelped, yanking hard at my shirt. I spiraled back. If I couldn’t get away, I wasn’t going to let her take me down like she did the boys.
I lunged, striking out again with my fist. I connected with something, an arm I thought.
At the same time, I felt a jolt surging through my body. It started in my arm, spiraling into my brain. An electric current, strong enough to make my brain freeze and bolt my feet to the floor. The shock took over every part of my being. My breath left me. My heart stopped. All I could feel was the electricity running through me.
The jolt stopped. It felt like a hundred years and a second all at once. I forced my lungs to work.
Muriel lifted a black device away from my shoulder. Blue electricity zapped from it; it was a stun gun. Is that how she took down the boys? Don’t those things knock people out? I’d never been shocked before and it terrified me. But did it somehow not work like it was supposed to? How was I still standing?
I lifted my leg, trying for a solid kick.
I struck something soft. Muriel cried out. There was a loud thud, like something fell. The blue zapping light was gone, so I must have knocked it out of her hands.
I tried to kick again, but I flailed, hitting only air. In the darkness, I couldn't see where she was.
Suddenly, I was hit in the gut, and fell back, the wind knocked out of me. My legs and butt landed on the floor, but my upper half was leaning over the start of a staircase. It took a lot
of strength to hold myself up from sliding backwards and tumbling down.
Muriel landed on top of me, crushing me against the floor. My hands flew up protectively. She pushed me harder. She was going to try to shove me down the stairs.
I struck out, hitting at her face and arms, but she was bigger, and used her weight to pin me down.
Through our ragged breathing and Muriel’s cries, a ringing sounded. At first, I wasn’t paying attention, but Muriel slowed, looking down at my chest, which caught my attention and I looked.
The phone in my bra was ringing to life. The illuminated screen displayed an unknown number.
Muriel screamed at me, shoved, and at the same time, ripped at my shirt, clawing to get the phone. I had a hard enough time trying to stay on the landing and not go down the stairs, that I was willing to give her anything. I found the phone myself, throwing it at her.
Muriel pushed me once more, hard enough that I toppled backward, falling a few steps down. My cheek banged hard against the step, making me instantly dizzy. My legs and arm splayed out, but I caught one of the posts on the rail before I could fall any further.
Muriel’s voice drifted to me. “Where are you? How did she get this phone?”
I tried to pick myself up, getting my body to sit on the stair. I swayed. My head spun. I needed to get away. I needed to get to Victor. Mr. Blackbourne said to get to Victor.
“You promised!” she screamed at the phone. “You said you’d help us. I’ll do it myself. He’ll go with me.”
In a fury, I launched myself at her voice.
Muriel threw the phone at me before I caught her around the waist. I tried pushing her over.
“Get off of me!” she screamed. “Don’t touch me.”
I held on. If she was going to take me down, I wanted her with me. I didn’t want her to go back to Victor. I didn't know what she had planned for the guys, but she’d have to get past me first.
Muriel pulled my hair. I cried out. She dragged me back toward the staircase.
“Wait,” Victor’s voice called to us. “Muriel wait a second.”
Muriel stopped, but still held my hair tight in her hands. “Victor?” she said, her wild, angry voice restrained now, but it sounded forced. Like she was used to addressing him in a certain way.
