There’s a sound from downstairs: a deep, guttural moaning. It sounds like something giving way. It sounds like a woman’s voice, calling out in pain. It’s stronger than ever now, the pull inside Siobhan, dragging her down, down, down.
“You have to leave,” Siobhan whispers. “Now.”
Zara and Margot rise from the bed, Thomas carried on Margot’s hip, his face pressed into her hair. Together, they walk silently down the old stairs. The noise is getting louder. Siobhan’s flesh is tingling all over – impatient, something surging inside to break free.Not yet, she tells it.Not yet.
At the front door, Margot pulls Siobhan close. She smells like sweat, dirt, unwashed clothes. Her mouth finds Siobhan’s ear, her breath hot and urgent. “Haina only wanted to protect us,” she whispers. “She only ever wanted to be our mother. That’s why she did it.”
“I know,” Siobhan whispers. Margot pulls away, and Zara takes Siobhan’s hand in the doorway.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” she asks. “Maybe we can all leave, together. Maybe Haina’s given up, maybe she’s…”
“I have to stay,” Siobhan whispers. What she doesn’t say is,I killed a man. I can’t go home. This is the only place that’ll have me now.
“Do you need us to go and get help?” Zara is asking.
Siobhan shakes her head again. She makes herself smile. “Just stay at the treeline for a little while,” she says.“Keep the camera recording. You’ll know when to stop.”
Zara stares at her, frowning, but she nods. Siobhan watches as Zara, Margot and Thomas make their way towards the treeline, away from the house. She watches them step over the boundary from garden to forest, and she feels the house cry out, a wrangling screech. The ceiling above her head sags dangerously. There is barely any blood left, no energy to feed it, nothing to keep it standing. Through the gloom of the trees, Siobhan feels Thomas’s eyes on her, staring. Then, she closes the front door, and she is alone. Except, she isn’t – there’s a presence behind the study door, waiting for her. A presence that’s been waiting for her to return since the night she ran from the house. That night returns to her now in achingly clear detail as she makes her way for the final time down the hallway towards Haina’s study.
Haina’s hand on Elly’s back, pushing her down into that awful pit. The horrible seconds after, Haina turning, inexplicably stronger-looking, more vital, eyes like lava. Theo, scrambling at the edge of the pit as if he’d hurl himself right in after Elly.
“She jumped, didn’t you see?” Haina said, hands on her chest. “The people who come to this house are so broken, so fragile, my angel. She sacrificed herself. She did it for us, to feed the house.”
Siobhan hadn’t said anything at all. She was still recording. She couldn’t make herself stop. She was horrified to find that she was relieved, relieved that Haina looked better, that somehow, the house would stay standing.
“Where is she?” Theo screamed, launching himself at Haina. He had her by the shoulders and was shaking herso hard that Haina’s head snapped back and forth. She offered no resistance. “What did you do to her?”
“She’s at peace now, Theo,” is all Haina said. “She’s saved us all.”
Theo’s eyes had widened, as if she’d sent an electric shock through his skin. “You’re sick,” he whispered, and Siobhan had never heard his voice laced with so much venom. “You’re a murderer.”
Haina’s expression changed then, the smile disappearing. Siobhan noticed it before Theo did, the way her eyes were flickering and darkening, the way her fingers were extending into horrible, pointed claws.
“Theo,” she screamed. She flung herself at him and tried to pull him backwards, away from Haina, away from that horrible pit. At first, Haina resisted, but then Siobhan felt her let him go, and they both went stumbling onto the cold stone floor. Haina towered above them, still growing, still changing. Her hex was mightier than any of the other women’s. She was huge, her feathers the colour of fire. She was mesmerising. She was ruination.
“Run, Theo,” Siobhan whispered, pushing him towards the ladder with every ounce of energy she had. Then they were both on their feet and running, pulling each other along. Theo reached the ladder first, started to scramble upwards towards the light. Before Siobhan’s foot hit the first rung, she felt something grab her shoulder, drag her back, spin her around. She stood, face to face with Haina, with her hex, everything Haina had always been, something ancient and unknown and powerful beyond measure, something that had created the house around them through sheer will, something that had fed it yearafter year, done what she needed to do to keep it standing.
She was screeching – an awful, animal screech – but Siobhan could still make out the words.
“Why do you think I brought you here?” When Siobhan didn’t answer, Haina screamed it again. “Think about it, Siobhan. Why are youhere?”
“To make the documentary,” Siobhan said feebly, struggling against Haina’s grip. “To show the world what Hex House is.”
Haina threw her head back, and it took a few seconds for Siobhan to realise that she was laughing. The sound was like nails dragged across metal. When she looked back at Siobhan, her eyes were burning. “You really thought I brought you here to make a fuckingmovie?”
Those words were ice water down her spine. She couldn’t move – couldn’t do anything but stare at Haina, at the monstrosity of her, the majesty. “No. You’re special, Siobhan. Myangel. It had to be you, don’t you see? The itch inside you. The ache. Here is the answer: this house is your home. It can’t go on without you.”
Siobhan looked desperately up the ladder, Theo’s feet disappearing as he reached the study above.
“This house passes hands,” Haina was saying. “It has to, to survive. It wasn’t always mine, do you understand?” Another wrenching cry, then, “Soon, it’ll beyours.”
Siobhan staggered back, every nerve ending burning.No, no no. From the top of the ladder, Theo screamed her name down into the darkness.
“What about Theo?” she asked Haina in a small voice. “Why did you bring him here, if it’s me you want?”
“Well.” A wry flickering across Haina’s face. If she wasstill in her human form, Siobhan would have called it a smile. “I’ve always wanted a pet to play with.”
Then her claw tightened around the camera in Siobhan’s hand, squeezing until the plastic cracked, until the metal innards showed. “It was fun, for a while, watching you make your little film. But surely you knew I’d never let you leave with that footage?” As the broken pieces of camera fell to the ground, Haina brought her mouth down to Siobhan’s ear. “I will keep this house standing for you until you’re ready to come home. And you will keep its secrets. You will make surehedoes, too. If you don’t, I’ll find him. I’ll gut him and leave him for the crows.” Siobhan felt an intense pressure below her belly button, a ripping open, a gushing of blood as Haina dragged her claw against the skin. “Don’t forget.”
