House of Secrets

Chapter 16

The wolf raised its head, revealing scarred, matted fur and milky, rabid eyes. It growled, stretching the noise out like a fake smile, exposing double rows of wet, razor-sharp teeth. It took a step toward them.

“Jon!” Alyssa whispered. “What do we do?”

Jon tried to remember what he’d been taught in Boy Scouts about animal attacks—you were supposed to not move, stay quiet, and be calm; the animal wouldn’t bother you if you didn’t bother it—but that seemed irrelevant under the gaze of this creature, which clearly intended to eat them. All he could do was tense his muscles and gulp. The wolf bent its head over Nell. It was six inches taller than her; it looked capable of swallowing her whole. The line of its mouth ran nearly all the way up its triangular head. Spittle gathered where its black lips were subsumed by fur.

The wolf sniffed Nell. Her breath came in tight jerks. Tears streamed down her face. The wolf opened its jaws. She closed her eyes, hyperventilating, smelling its meaty breath—

And the wolf stopped, cocked its head, and ran off behind the house.

Jon couldn’t believe it. He caught Nell as her knees gave out, hugging her with Alyssa, using all his strength to tear off his helmet and kiss her hair.

“What happened?” Nellie asked. “I thought I was gonna die!”

“The wolf must’ve been scared by us.”

“By what, our fierce appearance?” Alyssa said.

“Maybe,” suggested Jon.

“Don’t be stupid. It heard something. Listen.”

They all heard it now, far off in the woods: hoofbeats.

“Horses?” Nell asked hopefully.

The sound grew louder, drumming through the ground into their legs and the pits of their stomachs. “Everyone inside,” Alyssa said.

“But Al,” Nellie began, “I want—”

“Now. Someone’s coming!”

Alyssa rushed to the entrance of Scott House. Jon followed, dragging Nell with him. They slammed the door and turned all the locks. Jon tried to set the house alarm, frantically pressing buttons on the keypad.

“Jon!” said Alyssa. “There’s no electricity!”

“Right, my bad.”

Alyssa led them to a window.

“What do you see?” Nell asked.

“Shh.” The truth was that Alyssa found it difficult to describe what she saw without sounding completely insane.

A band of warriors was riding up to the house on horseback. They were muscular and massive and terrifying, from the glinting helmets on their heads to the knifelike spurs that rattled on their leather boots. They had thick, bristly beards and big shining full-plate armor that made her breastplate look like a toy. They carried swords, axes, and bows. Their boots were caked with dried mud . . . or was it blood?

“How many horses are there?” asked Nell.

“Seven, I think, but Nell, that doesn’t matter—”

“Let me see!” Nell pushed her sister aside. “Oh my gosh!”

Jon crowded her out. “What is this, Lord of the Rings, the reality show?”

The siblings jostled for position, finding a way to all peer out. The warriors dismounted and tied their steeds to trees. They approached the house with caution. The one who was clearly the leader had a maroon feather sticking up from his helmet like a plume of blood. He took off the helmet to reveal pockmarked skin and a scar running from his ear to his chin. When he turned to speak to his men, the Walters saw the glint of his black, suspicious eyes.

“A witches’ den. This was not here yesterday,” he declared.

One of his compatriots, a red-haired, red-bearded man, grabbed his arm. “Slayne, m’lord, could be a trap.”

Slayne (Good name, thought Jon; he looks like he’s slain a lot of people) grinned, twisting his scar like a second smile, baring blackened stumps of teeth. “If there are witches . . . we need to get inside. And quickly kill them all.”

“Um, may I suggest we go to the attic?” whispered Alyssa.

The Walters dashed away from the window.

At the front door, Slayne grabbed the knob, found it locked, and turned to his redheaded number two. “Krom?”

Krom handed him a battle-ax. Slayne swung. The first blow left a gaping hole in the door. The second sent it flying off its hinges.

Slayne and his men entered, on guard.

“A great battle was waged here,” said Slayne. He drew his sword, stabbed it through the remains of Beverly Walter's’s iPad, and lifted it off the ground. “And at least one of the parties was a witch. This appears to be some sort of occult toy for children.”

Slayne led the warriors though the living room and library as the Walkers huddled in the attic. They could hear the warriors’ clomping boots and gruff voices but not their words.

“We can’t just sit here,” Nell said. “We’ve got to find out what they want. Maybe they know where Mom and Dad are!”

“How do you propose to find that out?” Jon asked.

“Watch.” Nell opened the attic door and started down to the second-floor hallway.

“No, Nell!”

“Stop!”

But it was too late. Nell was already opening the door to the dumbwaiter. The warriors were in the kitchen, below her, and sound traveled directly up the hollow shaft. It was like she was in the midst of the warriors as they investigated their alien surroundings.

“This appears to be a witches’ torture chamber,” Slayne said. Nell heard the microwave door pop open. “Possibly a box for shrunken victims.” Nell stifled a laugh.

In the kitchen, Slayne opened the fridge and paused. Here was a pleasant surprise. His men were all hungry, and the power hadn’t been out long. Slayne tossed an apple aside and went for a jar of Hellmann’s Mayonnaise. Behind him, Krom opened a cabinet, found a box of Cap’n Crunch, sniffed it, and started pouring it into his mouth. “It’th good!” Slayne unscrewed the mayo and scooped out a big clump.

Upstairs, Jon and Alyssa poked their heads over the attic steps to get a report from Eleanor.

“They’re eating our food!” Nell said. Then she heard Slayne’s voice through the dumbwaiter.

“This white sauce is mine, men. Touch it under penalty of death. It’s so good, I do believe when we return to Castle Corroway I’ll eat my horse with it. He’s getting on in years; it’s time for a younger steed—”

The men all laughed. That set Nell off.

“He can’t kill a horse!” she said, climbing into the dumbwaiter, gauntlets on, brandishing her barbecue fork.

“Nell, stop! You can’t—” Jon yelled, but she had already closed the door.