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And I don’t feel a flicker of remorse.
Chapter27
Lucy
My fingers tremble as I pat the wall in search of the light switch, and when I flick it, I’m relieved to find the person sitting in the chair by the window isn’t human. It’s a diving suit propped up, complete with an archaic helmet that nobody has used to dive in a century.
I’ve never been out of New York, but I attended a library conference on Long Island once, so I know it’s perfectly normal for hotel staff to enter guest rooms to clean and replenish bathroom supplies.
But why would a staff member leave me a diving suit when I’ve never expressed an interest in the water sport?
Not that I’d ever try it. I’ve inherited Mom’s fear of the ocean and have never been near it. With Mom never leaving the apartment, I didn’t feel like traveling on my own. That conference was the one and only time I’d been away from her for more than a night and I’d stayed away from the Atlantic despite it almost lapping at the hotel’s back door.
Here, I can hear the ocean if I leave my window open. I did it the first night I arrived and despite my inherent fear of the tides, I found the rhythmic crashing of waves soothing.
That first morning when I’d encountered Spencer, he’d been diving. Is this some prank he’s pulled to reinforce his warning for me to leave this place?
But Spencer has gone to visit family according to Cora and even if he was around, would he do something so freaky?
Daphne seems perfectly normal and had been happy to converse earlier until I mentioned her boss. And the other guests wouldn’t have access to my room.
So that leaves Cora. But what would she gain by spooking me? I’m a paying customer and she doesn’t have a clue why I’m really here.
Whoever it is, they’re messing with the wrong person. I don’t scare easily—unless it involves large bodies of water—and I’ll do anything to solve the mystery of Mom’s attachment to this place.
I approach the diving suit cautiously—with what’s been happening in this place, I half expect it to come alive and leap at me—and draw back the curtains. If I had a phone, I’d call Cora to ask her who did this, but I’m exhausted to my bones and all I want to do right now is lie down.
I down a bottle of water, turn off the light, and slide between the covers, allowing the strange lethargy stealing over me since the end of Cora’s meditation session to take over.
It usually takes me ages to fall asleep, so I don’t know how long I’ve napped for when I finally wake. My eyelids are heavy and I rub my eyes before opening them.
To find the diving suit gone.
Chapter28
Cora
THEN
No one suspects me.They believe Harlan fell down the stairs. Only Ava casts me sideways glances when she thinks I’m not looking, but I can tell she’s more relieved than accusatory. The funeral is low key. It’s no surprise Harlan was so disliked he had zero friends. Now I’m the mistress of Arcania and I’m determined to purge his presence from our home.
But the house has other ideas.
Whenever I sit at his desk, I feel the walls closing in on me. Every room is suffocating, like a blanket of humidity smothers everything. Random items fall from the shelves—books, a candle, a miniature bronze bust—and cold air sweeps over me at the oddest of times.
I don’t believe in ghosts but if I did, I’d swear Harlan is trying to make my life a misery, even more than he did when he was alive.
Then I find his diary.
It’s a small, dog-eared, black leather journal tucked beneath old ledgers in the bottom drawer of his desk. There’s not much in it. A few random entries, mostly about the history of Arcania, but his jottings on the last page prove enlightening.
He believed a legend. Lived it, to the extent everything he did around here was controlled by his belief.
He saw visions in the house’s walls. Visions of his parents, of employees, of a gleaming gold shipwreck.
He heard voices, demanding he assume control of Arcania and all who lived here.
He dived repeatedly because he believed that finding the gold compass was the only way to appease the angry Norse gods.
