9
The house was waiting, and I don’t say that lightly. A great, soaring construct of dark stone and heavy wood, bristling with turrets and chimneys and begrimed windows, it crouched there like a spider awaiting the approach of dinner.
I felt watched by a hundred eyes.
Zareen halted first. And if the Scary Lady’s too intimidated to proceed, then the rest of us sure as hell aren’t going anywhere. We stopped as a group, and stared up at the place with collective unease.
Finally, Zareen shook her head. ‘Nope,’ she said. ‘This is all too obvious.’
‘Too… obvious?’ Jay echoed.
‘Look at it.’ She made a dramatic, disgusted gesture at the terrible house. ‘It could have been taken from a textbook on haunted houses. Even the Addams Family had more subtlety than this.’
‘You do have a point, exce
