THEY SNEAK IN without much difficulty. Well, they don't sneak in. Marzia knows about David. It was remarkable, how easily she believed in Hadley's shoddy cover story for David—parents kicked him out over some argument, nowhere to go—after David offered Marzia a smile full of charm and earnestness. How easily she was swayed once David turned his mouth in the right way.
Still, it feels a lot like sneaking in. Hadley's parents aren't home. As for his sister, he's even not sure if Philippa's here.
Which he's grateful for, in a way. If there's one thing he doesn't want to see today, it's Philippa's face.
"This is the place," Hadley says, his hand resting on the doorknob on the door to his room.
David looks around the corridor. "You know, when we were back in limbo I thought your house wasn't actually as spooky as it was in limbo. I guess I was wrong."
Hadley pats his pockets, pulls out the key to his room. "It's not that bad. It's got its own kind of gothic charm. Or something."
"No wonder you keep having so many nightmares." David shudders. "This whole place is creepy as is."
Hadley unlocks the door. "Like I said, not so bad once you get used to it."
"Would you live anywhere else, if you had the choice?" David asks, lightly knocking on Hadley's door.
"Of course I would," Hadley says, as he opens the door.
"Where would you live? A little cottage in the middle of nowhere? A high-rise in Dubai?"
"Tough question," Hadley says. "How about I don't answer?"
David rolls his eyes.
They enter Hadley's room. He wonders how his room must seem to David, whose own room more or less overflowing with his presence, with color and posters and books and other bric-a-brac. Hadley's room looks like a hotel room—comfortable and neat, but nobody's lived in it. The only decoration he ever put up was some Aivazovsky print over his desk, and the poster—all raging ocean and light caught in the waves and ship about to wreck—adds, somehow, to the vacantness of the room. No comfortable mess here, not like in David's room.
"Make yourself at home," says Hadley. "Only one who comes in here is Marzia, so you should be good."
David's already taken his shoes off and thrown his bag down onto the floor.
"Christ, your closet is big," David says, going around Hadley's room. "I could sleep in here."
"Be my guest," Hadley says.
"I think," David says, "I'll just take the floor. You got extra blankets and pillows in here?"
It takes little time for David to set himself up in Hadley's room. He chooses a spot right next to Hadley's bed, and by the time he's done laying out blankets and pillows, he manages to make the floor look more comfortable than Hadley's own bed.
Hadley thinks it might not be that bad having David around. He's been pleasant so far. Hadley offers David a tour of the house. David accepts. Hadley shows him all the rooms—the library, the study, the foyer, the kitchen, the laundry room, the basement—they spend about half a minute in there—a few of the guest rooms, the living room, the piano room, and finally, the attic.
