Without thinking, Sven pulled her into his arms. At first, he wasn’t sure if it would work, but it did. He could touch her and he adored it. Her soft small body pressed against him. He knew the moment wouldn’t last, so he just enjoyed being able to hold her again. She buried her face in his chest, trembling.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “They can’t find you here.”
“What if they find that lever and they open the door?”
“All they’ll see is me standing here hugging myself.”
Flo giggled softly. “Right.”
He ran his hand over her back, reveling in the softness of her. He’d missed this. He’d dreamt about this time and time again. It was hard to believe she was here and back in his arms once more.
“It leads to nowhere,” Mrs. Sullivan stated. “That’s disappointing, but kind of cool they have secret rooms. I wonder what this was used for?”
“Who knows,” Mr. Sullivan responded. “Let’s go back, Sandy. We have a long drive to the next monster town tomorrow.”
“Right.”
Sven listened as the footsteps receded up the stone hall and then waited a few moments more before he was sure the coast was clear.
“They’re gone,” he murmured, not wanting to let go of Flo.
“That’s good. I’m glad. It scared me.” Her fingers were gripping his shirt, but she didn’t let go or relax. She just clung to him.
“We do have a slight problem,” he said, not really wanting to interrupt this moment, but knowing that he would have to eventually, especially if bits and pieces of him started to fall off because he was completely trapped by this iron room.
“What’s that?” Flo asked, raising her head off of his chest.
“I have no way out. This room traps ghouls too and if I stay here much longer, I might start falling to pieces, literally.”
Flo gasped. “Oh no. Should I go find Mercedes?”
Sven nodded, reluctantly. “Probably for the best. Are you okay that she knows your secret hideout?”
“Yes. It’s fine. You, Mercedes, and Magnus are okay. Even the other spirits are okay, but they never come down here. I just don’t want others to know.”
“Fair enough.” He let go of Flo and she began to shimmer and ripple.
“I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be here. Waiting.”
Flo dissipated and he assumed she moved through the walls. He was alone, trapped under the funeral home. He lifted up the rug, looking for a trap door and there was one, but it was made of iron too and he could not budge it. He couldn’t help but wonder where it ran to. The old funeral home was fairly close to the river. Maybe there was a tunnel and that’s how they ran the gin up? He would have to go looking with Phineas later.
Except you just promised Flo no outsiders.
Sven set the rug back down and waited for Mercedes and Magnus to rescue him. He just hoped that nothing rotted off him in the time it took them to come here, because he was worried it would upset Flo.
And since she was trusting him, scaring her was the last thing he wanted to do, which seemed kind of ironic considering he was a ghoul after all.
Chapter
Four
Ihave to find Mercedes. I have to find her.
Flo kept repeating that mantra in her head as she floated from her safe space and through the dead-and-breakfast. She did it so she didn’t forget what she was doing, because she didn’t want Sven to be trapped in there forever. Over the years, she’d heard him talk about his curse and she’d overheard what happened to Magnus when he was too far from Harmony Glen for too long. The funny thing was, her safe space was inside Harmony Glen, but the iron-imbued magic of the room that stopped ghosts from coming in had obviously trapped Sven as if he were outside the boundary of town.
If it was her father who sent for witches to put this curse on her, what kind of magic had been woven into this place?
