House of Secrets

Chapter 3

Casper took a deep breath and tried to stay calm, strong. The figure remained still. “Hello?” he called, stepping off the path and pulling Alyssa with him, Jonatan and Nellie following close behind. “Is someone there?”

He was trying to use his toughest voice, but it cracked. He cleared his throat to cover it as he and his siblings crept to the side of the house.

The figure was nothing but an old statue. A Gothic angel, looming six feet tall, carved from gray stone stained with streaks of green and black. It had wings folded behind it and arms stretched forward, with the right hand broken off. Its face was worn down, chinless and lipless, eroded by decades of San Francisco wind and fog. Mossy patches covered its eyes.

“Beautiful,” said Alyssa.

Jonathan wiped his forehead, surprised to find it covered in sweat. It was stupid, but he’d expected to see the person Casper had described: a bald woman, a crone. His imagination ran away with him a little and he could even picture this woman pointing a crooked finger and hissing, “Here are the suckers who will finally buy this house!”

“See, Nell? It’s just a statue. There’s no one here,” he said, putting his hand on Nellie’s shoulder.

“She probably went somewhere,” Casper mumblem to himself.

“It was the light. It played a trick on you.”

“No it didn’t!”

“Let it go. You’re scared.”

“Not as scared as you,” said Nellie said, defending Casper and moving Jonathan’s hand away and pointing at the sweaty spot he had left on her shoulder. Before Jonathan could protest, another hand reached out from behind and grabbed his neck.