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The second hand ticks forward, and then ticks back.
“Holy fuck.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” I tell Lily.
There are only two other doors to open on this floor. One of them leads to a tiny bathroom. The other leads to a narrow staircase. I squeeze myself up there for the sense of completion.
The attic has more bedrooms.
“What the fuck.”
It feels more lived-in, somehow, but everything about the attic is worse. Mattresses on the floor. Thin-ass walls between bedrooms barely wider than the mattresses. One of the rooms has a closet in it. When I snap the door open, a breath of air floats out that smells like lilacs.
Lily makes a noise.
“There’s nothing in there.”
“It smells like there wereflowersin there. Like…tons of flowers. That wassostrong.”
Personally, I thought it was more of a hint of lilac, but I’m not going to argue the point.
She finds a scrap of paper that looks like it was torn out of a notebook sticking out from under the mattress and holds it up for my phone-light.
“It’s a list.”
18th - 2
19th - 1
20th - 4
21st - 1
22nd - 1
23rd - 2
24th - Cronos came for Christmas, 6
25th - 3 overnight, did not wake up
Lily shivers. “I don’t want to know what this means.”
“There’s definitely no kids in here.”
We leave the farmhouse by silent agreement. Lily lifts her chin and makes a beeline for the cottage by the trees. I’m right behind her.
I choose not to mention that I’m pretty sure one of the greenhouse plants moved like it had a head and it was watching us.
The cottage is unlocked, just like the farmhouse. It has a small living area in the front. Lily leads the way across to a small bedroom.
“There’s just…” She shivers again. “There’s nodusthere. There was dust in the barn. But there’s no dust here. Like they just left.”
“If theyjustleft, we would have seen them on the way in. Or we’d have seen a car.”
Lily moves to the bedside table, where there’s a tipped-over picture frame.
