The Curse of Magic Mansion: Part 1

The Curse of Magic Mansion
by BD Long
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It was a dark and stormy night….

But that’s skipping ahead. The day had actually been quite pleasant. The Wilder family’s station wagon was parked on the side of the road, and Howard took a knee by the passenger-side wheel. “Yep,” he said. “Definitely a flat.”

“Howard, we’re in the middle of nowhere,” his wife Donna said, leaning her head out the window.

“Forget that,” said Jane, their younger daughter, who leaned against the hood of the car on the driver’s side. “If we were in the middle, at least we’d have some idea where we are.” Typical teenage sass. Howard told himself that he’d become jaded to it, but it still made his nose itch.

“Oh, now, don’t you worry about a thing,” he said. “In fact, I brought along a full-size spare. You never know, on trips like this. Hon, why don’t you take the kids and go set up the picnic here while I get this fixed. Should only be a moment.”

“A picnic? Here?” Jane asked.

“Sure!” Howard said. “Why not? I mean look at the view!” He stood and gestured widely to the expanse of lush forest stretching to the horizon.

Donna gazed out into the forest and noticed a sapphire blue glimmer. “And maybe we can find a way down to that lake and go swimming later.”

Jane looked out on the same expanse. She knew her parents were former ‘flower children,’ whatever that meant, but she had serious concerns that they might still be a bit off. When she looked out over the landscape, all she saw was a mass of snarled trees, burned like matchsticks. The lake her mother mentioned, opaque and greenish-brown, had more in common with a pustulant boil than a pristine swimming hole. “Yeah,” she said. “It’s… uh… super.” She walked off to join her siblings, who had gathered at the edge of what turned out to be a witheringly steep incline. She had never been good with heights, and looking down made her stomach turn.

“Are we stopping?” asked her brother, Dan. The siblings were a year apart in age, and as the middle child, Dan had developed a weird zen-like personality that shielded him from the kind of breathtaking weirdness involved in having two sisters. His calm demeanor was reflected in his loose-fitting, natural colored clothes. His hair wasn’t overly long, and was actually the kind of bed-head look that Jane liked on boys, but it was less a style and more a staunch refusal to comb it with anything but his fingers.

“Uh huh,” Jane said.

“Here?” Tina, her older sister asked. Tina was, for a lack of a better description, mousy. To Jane, the rebel sibling, her older sister was the quintessential bookworm. Thin and with long legs and arms, she could be cast as a librarian in a sitcom, that is if she could overcome her crushing social anxiety. She had nice, slightly wavy brown hair, but she never did anything interesting with it. Granted, Jane’s idea of interesting involved dying her own hair candy-apple red, which drove their mother mad.

To the older girl, Jane had always seemed so at ease in her own body. She never was particularly athletic in any organized sense, but Tina regularly glimpsed her climbing a tree or fence, usually on the way to cause trouble somewhere. While Tina hid her thin figure under baggy sweaters and jeans or long, flowing skirts, Jane wore dangerously short cut-offs and a t-shirt that, while not skin tight, made the most of her young curves. Too many times for comfort, Tina had caught herself tracing the younger girl’s round edges with her eyes. There was something about the girl’s overt sexuality that gave the older sister a funny feeling in her belly, but she dismissed it as jealousy. “We’re going to eat here?” Tina asked.

“So you see it, too?” Jane said.

“It’s a wasteland,” Dan said.

“Like out of a book,” Tina said.

“I know,” Jane said. “Dad seemed to think it looks like paradise.”

“Well,” Dan said, “just try not to bring it up, ok?”

“Well…”

“Please?” Tina said. “We’re on vacation. Can we not fight? I just want everyone to be happy.”

“Fine,” Jane said. “But as soon as we get home, I’m asking them what they’re on.”

“Who’s on what?” Donna said, walking up behind them with the picnic basket.

“Uh…” Tina said, trying to cover for her sister.

“What road we’re on,” Jane said seamlessly.

“Oh,” Donna said. “The same one we’ve been on for the last few hours, I suppose. Why?”

“No reason,” Jane said. “Just wondering where we actually are.”

“I’m sure your father has it all on the map.”

“Nice view, huh?” asked Dan.

“Sure is!” their mother said. Dan gave his sisters a knowing look, but then shrugged it off. As Howard replaced the car tire, the rest of the Wilder family spread out the blanket and drew their picnic out of the wicker basket Donna had brought. Jane began to dig in, but her mother stopped her. “Wait for your father, Jane.”

For a second, mother and daughter locked eyes, and Tina felt her heart begin to race, but then Jane said, “Fine,” and leaned back on her elbows and looked out into the smoking wasteland. Tina felt a wave of relief hit her. As much as he hated the friction between her little sister and their parents, she secretly admired the girl and her blazing, demonically red hair. Jane may have been a constant source of bad noise in their house, but Tina wished that she herself had the willpower to break out of her shell.

Dan, on the other hand, thought the whole dynamic was humorous, and took pleasure every day in witnessing the fallout from whatever misadventure Jane had embarked on. He never wasted a moment worrying about his little sister, though. Whatever happened, however many times her plans crashed and burned, he had the sense that she would somehow stagger away from the wreckage a little singed, but none the worse for wear. What did worry him at this very moment was his parents inability to recognize the hell pit that sprawled below them—or, even more discouragingly, the distinct possibility that it was he and his sisters who were unable to recognize what they saw.

When Howard finally joined his family, he found them sitting silently, all looking out over the picture perfect landscape. He knew Jane was a city girl through and through, and figured her sassiness was just her way of expressing her displeasure with having to brave the outdoors for a week. Dan and Tina seemed unhappy, too, which bothered him. Typically, Tina would be off cataloging flora and fauna with a pencil and notebook, and Dan would be out scouting with the bowie knife Howard’s grandfather had given him when he’d entered the Scouts. Perhaps scouting wasn’t the best term for his son’s hikes. A year ago, the boy’s personality had shifted. Initially, Howard had attributed this to the death of Howard’s father, the man who had been Dan’s mentor, but there was something about the change that didn’t fit—something Howard couldn’t put a finger on. On his solitary walks, Dan would wander the wilderness with the knife unsheathed, but calm, like some sort of warrior monk. Although it was certainly odd, at least the interest was still there. But not today. None of the kids seemed interested at all in the natural beauty spread out before them. Thankfully, the longer he looked out onto the expanse, the less he seemed to mind.

Jane finally dug into the pile of sandwiches, calming her grumbling stomach. Nothing, however, could calm her mind. The feeling was an itch she couldn’t scratch, and she saw the same expression of anxiety and dread on the faces of her siblings. And the longer she sat looking out into the festering wasteland, the more she wanted to leave and never, ever come back. To this effect, she ate as much as she could, as quickly as she could, noticing that Dan and Tina were doing the same.

In no time, it seemed that they had eaten everything, and despite their parents’ protestations, packed up the picnic and returned to the car. “Well, that was a quick meal!” Howard said. “Everybody ready to hit the road?”

“Absolutely!” Tina said before Jane could say anything cutting. But it soon dawned on her that she couldn’t remember why they were on the road in the first place. As the car pulled off the shoulder and began again down the winding road through increasingly blackened trees, Tina leaned over to her brother and sister, and whispered, “Where are we going again?”

“You can’t remember, either?” Dan asked. Tina shook her head.

Jane also made a gesture of agreement. “It’s getting worse, too, the farther we go,” she said. Her siblings nodded. It was certainly getting harder to concentrate on anything but the feeling of unease in the pit of her stomach.

“We need to turn back.” Tina leaned forward to address their parents.

“Oh, dear,” Donna said. “Did you leave something at the last stop?”

“No. I mean we need to go home.”

“Why’s that, sweetie?” Howard asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

“I…” Tina stopped. “I… uh….” Her siblings looked at her with concern. “I can’t remember.”

“Oh,” their father chuckled. “Well, it’s probably nothing. If it was important, I’m certain you’d remember.”

Tina sat back in her seat, defeated. “What the hell’s wrong with you?” Jane said.

“I don’t know,” Tina said. “I tried to… say, you know… but I couldn’t—can’t.”

Jane punched her in the arm. “Get a grip!” she whispered. “All you had to say was that you… did… something.” She put a hand to her lips. “Oh, my god. I can’t either. I can think about… you know…” she gritted her teeth “… about turning around… away from this place.” She panted and gasped for breath. It had taken all her effort to force the words out.

“Something’s trying to stop you from saying anything,” Dan said at normal volume.

“Shh!” Tina said.

“What, are you worried that they’ll think you’re crazy?” her brother said. Tina nodded. “I don’t think you have to worry about that for the moment.” He clicked his fingers next to their mother’s ear. Nothing. Howard and Donna stared forward, completely oblivious.

“Oh, god,” Tina squeaked. “What’s going on? What is this?”

“Calm down,” Jane snapped. “You’re not helping.”

“Hey! I—”

“What she means,” Dan said, “is that there’s clearly nothing any of us can do right now. Whatever this is, it’s taking us farther into the forest. All we can do is remain calm and keep control of our minds.”

“Just sit here and do nothing?” Jane said. “Fuck that.”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” her brother said calmly. “Did you notice how peaceful they seemed to think all this was.” He nodded toward the mesmerized adults in the front seats. “They eased right into it, let it take over.”

“The same might apply to us,” Tina said. “I felt afraid the moment I saw the wasteland. We give into that, and it gets us the same way.”

“Well, I’m not afraid,” Jane said.

“Maybe not,” her brother said. “But whatever it is that’s been gnawing at you, whatever seems easy right now, is what you need to not do.”

Jane opened her mouth to retort, but then shut it again. He was right. She was afraid, but doubted she was afraid in the same way her brother and sister were. She needed to take her own advice and get a grip. “Ok, so what now?”

“I guess we could keep a look out for anything that might give us clues about where we are or where we’re going,” Tina said, digging out her notebook.

“You’re gonna make a field journal?” Jane asked.

“Sure,” her sister said. “Why not? You see anything of note, let me know, and I’ll write it down. When we get wherever we’re going, we’re going to need to know as much about this place as possible. If we forget anything…”

“We’ll have a guidebook or even a map,” Dan said. “Good thinking.”

As they bumped down the road, Dan kept track of their direction and speed, scribbling a crude little map on the inside cover of the notebook, while Tina took notes. Every so often, the younger siblings would point out landmarks, and Tina would jot them down. Soon, the matchstick-like trees gave way to gnarled, more sinister flora, equally as blackened, but more expansive to the point out where the trees seemed to be reaching out for them with sharp, bony fingers. Jane pointed out the window at what they could only describe as a giant spider. It had something large cocooned in ropy spider silk, but the car zipped past before they could get a proper look. “Giant spiders?” Tina pulled her hands out of the sleeves of her oversize sweater and rubbed her face. “What’d we get sucked into someone’s D&D?” Dan snickered, glad for the brief moment of levity.

“Eh?” Jane said.

“It’s a game,” Tina said. “You know: swords and sorcery, might and magic?”

“Oh. How do people usually do giant spiders?” The car went silent again. “That bad, huh?”

“Not really, but usually your characters are magical or are, you know, armed,” Dan said, suddenly wishing he hadn’t left his knife in his luggage.

“So I should learn some magic,” Jane said dryly.

Tina held up a finger. “Well, actually, giant spiders are resistant to magic, so—”

Jane interrupted with a sigh. “Just forget I asked, ok?”

Gradually, the car began to bump as the paved road gave way to a dirt and gravel drive. Up ahead, the siblings saw an end to the menacing archway of trees. Tina took in a deep breath to calm her nerves. When the car cleared the trees, their spirits sank. A house stood up ahead, but as they drew closer they realized it was less a house than a mansion, looming large and dark, leafless brambles scaling its eerily smooth stone walls as if the it were almost a natural feature of the woods.

“Oh, come on!” Jane complained as her father pulled the car to a stop in front. “That’s obviously a haunted castle!”

“Right?” Dan said, sketching the main features as well and quickly as he could.

“This is wrong,” Tina said. “Wrong, wrong, wrong.”

“Oh, now kids,” their father spoke for the first time in what seemed like hours. “I know this hasn’t been ideal, but just look at this place!” He spread his arms out as if the grand beauty of the place was some grand chateau.

“Yeah, Tina,” Jane smirked, slipping on a sweatshirt to battle the chill coming from the creepy forest. “Just look at it.” Tina just shook her head.

“Uh, someone’s coming out,” Dan said, noticing the great, iron doors creak open.

“Oh, good!” Donna said. “It must be the valet.”

To the siblings’ surprise, the man who strode out to greet them was no caped dracula or monosyllabic monster butler, but a man of indeterminate age with a sharply angular, clean-cut face and dressed in an immaculate, black three-piece suit. “Greetings!” he said in a voice that sounded of honey, brandy, and a warm hearth, with a significant upper-crust cadence. But what else was to be expected from someone living in such an estate? Jane saw her brother take a small step back.

“How do you do?” their father greeted the man, shaking his hand.

“Well. Thank you,” the man said. “And you, madame?”

“Very well, thank you for asking,” Donna said, and the man took her hand and placed a gentlemanly kiss on her fingers.

“Charmed,” the man said. Howard turned to unlock the trunk of the car, but the man protested. “Oh, sir. You needn’t bother. I will have the servants take the car around to garage and bring your luggage to your rooms.” He raised his forearm effetely and snapped his fingers. Instantly, a man in a tuxedo materialized from within the house.

As he approached, Tina noticed that this second man, bald and slim, wore a mask, plain and white, with just a hint of gloss. “That’s certainly odd,” she said, futilely hoping that her parents would notice and snap out of whatever trance they seemed to be in.

“Ah, indeed,” the man said. “An ancient tradition, actually, from the old country.”

“What country is that, exactly?” Jane asked.

“I apologize,” Donna said to the man. “Kids today….”

“Oh!” the man dismissed the apology with a wave of his long, slender fingers. “No need to apologize, my dear. Natural curiosity and skepticism is a mark of the young. Indeed, it may be what keeps the human race going.”

Howard gave his daughters a look that told them to be silent. “You’re too kind, mister…”

“Magister d’X,” the man said, pronouncing his name ‘deex.’ “Master of Chateau d’X, at your service.”

“My!” Donna said, holding a hand to her heart. “I didn’t expect such a regal reception.”

“Nonsense,” the man said. “We receive guests rarely, and it is only proper to make sure they feel welcome.”

The servant approached, performed a half bow, and without a word held out a white-gloved hand. Howard placed the car keys in the man’s palm. Without a moment’s delay, the servant climbed behind the wheel of the car and drove away, circling behind the mansion. Monsieur D’X turned gracefully toward the chateau, and Howard and Donna followed. The siblings paused a moment and then Tina, looking over her shoulder and remembering the giant spiders, made the first step. Dan shoved his hands in his pockets and went next. Jane tucked her candy-apple red hair behind her ear and let her eyes drift upward, taking in the castle. She felt eyes on her and searched the windows, but found no one watching. Turning on her heel, she faced the forest and caught only the gnarled trees looming darkly. Walking backward toward the house, she scanned the tree line, but still found nothing. Turning again, she jogged to catch up with her brother.

The inside of the castle was not what Jane had expected. Oak, mahogany and ebony, smooth and polished to an almost metallic sheen, greeted them at every turn—and there were a lot of them. By the time they had passed through the foyer, the main atrium, and into the guest wing, Dan had completely lost track of their path. It certainly wasn’t the most conventional layout. He tried reversing their progress in his head, but couldn’t seem to draw a mental map. He could go for walks in miles of unexplored forest without a map and find his way back to camp, but he doubted he could find the front door to this house. He knew something was still affecting his memory, but even this worried him. He looked forward and noticed that his sister was not looking for the exit, but at the servants, all identical to the first, and who seemed present in every room, waiting upon the whim of their master.

Tina was indeed curious about these masked figures. Some appeared to be awaiting instructions, and others were going about typical kitchen and cleaning duties. Yet there were a few who simply stood like statues, and almost always in front of doors. Her better judgment told her not to ask what lay beyond, so she filed the questions away for later.

Jane found something off-putting about the atmosphere inside the house. At first, there was a general disappointment that the mansion wasn’t nearly as spooky or scary as she’d expected it to be. The servants were weird and the inability to remember the way back to the front door was disconcerting, but given everything else about the place and its surroundings, none of that was surprising. What drew her attention was the lighting. Chandeliers and wall fixtures glowed with electric consistency, but nowhere could she find evidence of wiring or switches. There were no power lines outside, so the question became, what lit the castle?

Eventually, the magister led them to a hallway with one solid wooden door on either side and one at the end. “We each get our own room?” Jane asked, momentarily forgetting that she was in a spooky castle.

“It would simply not do to crowd our guests. However,” he added, “there are only three rooms available. You and your sister can share a room, I trust?” Jane shrugged. “Then, never let it be said that the Master of Chateau d’X was anything less than generous.” He opened the first door. Inside, a hearth, already lit, cast a golden glow onto the two giant suits of armor that flanked the door. The massive bed was seemingly made of onyx, but there was something odd about it, as none of the light from the hearth seemed to reflect off of its polished surfaces. A large blue carpet with gold embroidery and tassels lay across the floor. The bed sat betwixt bookshelves that reached all the way to the ceiling, to the edge of each wall, and to the edge of the hearth. Ladders on wheels ran on tracks, allowing easy access to every book in the room. Tina let out a squeaking breath and stepped in. Dan grabbed the sleeve of her sweater, and when she turned he gave her a concerned eye. “Quite right, young master,” d’X said, having observed the silent exchange. “Why don’t we view our other accommodations?” A servant appeared as if out of the ether, and d’X instructed the masked figure, “Please bring the young lady’s belongings to this room. Fresh candles, as well. I suspect she prefers to while away her late nights immersed in books, given her excitement.” The servant bowed and departed.

Tina blushed and said softly, “Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it,” d’X said. “I believe you will find this library adequately stocked.”

“This library?” Tina said. “You have more than one?.”

D’X simply smiled a pencil thin smile and opened the next door. Dan looked in, and shrugged. A small, simple bed lay in the corner, a squarish chest at its foot. Aside from a bedside table and a dresser with a mirror, the room was devoid of furniture, its only other distinguishing characteristic being a small stone hearth on the wall opposite the door, a small stack of logs next to it. “Sure. Why not?” he said, studying d’X, who simply clicked his fingers and gestured to a servant.

“Absolutely,” said their host, beckoning her forth. “Please, mademoiselle.” She stepped up to the room. Boxy furniture adorned the corners, and a perfectly circular rug sat in the middle, its edges perfectly tangent to the walls. At the far end of the circle sat a smart, economical bed. This was definitely her parents’ style. Her father placed a hand on her shoulder and peered around and in. Stepping in, he looked around and nodded, running his fingertips across the top of a dresser.

“Impressive that you seem to have rooms perfectly suited to each of us,” Dan said. “I mean, what’re the odds?”

The magister simply laughed. “Indeed! They are quite slim. These are my elemental rooms. The four classical elements. Air: simple, light, and yet not entirely symmetrical. Always in motion,” he said gesturing to the room their parents had chosen. “Water and fire,” he motioned across the hall. “Knowledge: dynamic, fluid, suits whatever container it fills, but not without weight. Passion: fire, action, heat, life, entropy.” He motioned again to Dan’s room. “Earth: solid, slow to change, unforgiving, but not malicious. The rocks and the trees, but the wolves, bears and spiders, too.”

“Mister d’X,” she said, stepping into the room and turning, the suits of armor making her look insignificant. The magister turned back toward her, apparently not expecting a reprise. “Entropy?”

“A force to which most of us are subject,” he said, flicking his wrist wistfully as a servant slid past, depositing her and her sister’s belongings at the foot of the onyx bed. And then d’X turned to her family. “Please make yourselves at home. Dinner will be announced, but drinks and conversation will commence one hour from now. That is,” he interrupted himself, bowing slightly to their parents, “if our ways are permissible.”

Howard and Donna eyed each other, and Donna covered her mouth to disguise an embarrassed blush. “Well,” their mother said. “I… I suppose it would be rude to decline such gracious hospitality. But,” she said to Dan, Tina and Jane, “tomorrow is a busy day, and I’m not taking any guff from anyone who all of a sudden doesn’t feel well. Get my drift?” Her eyebrows raised, and Dan rolled his eyes.

Tina’s face scrunched into curiosity. “Wait, so we’re allowed to drink?”

“One glass of wine,” their father said, “with dinner.” Tina’s face brightened. Howard and Donna turned toward their own room, not even giving Jane a second look. D’X instead bowed silently and turned, consulting silently with a servant as they disappeared around the corner.

When they were alone, a circle of violet fire formed around each of the siblings. “What the—” Jane started, but just then, each of them lit up in a starburst of violet sparks. The rings of flames were gone.

“Oh my god,” Tina said. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. This isn’t happening.”

“What isn’t?” Dan said.

“Yeah,” Jane added. “What the hell, Tina?”

Tina paled, and then stammered, “Uh … I think … ok this is going to sound crazy, but I think we just leveled up.”

“We did what?” Jane said.

“Leveled up,” her brother repeated. “Like in role-role playing games.”

“Like sexy nurse?” Jane wrinkled her nose.

“No!” Tina said. “What? Where do you learn that kind of stuff?”

“Like D&D,” Dan said.

“Like giant spiders?” Jane said, her lower eyelid twitching.

“The same,” Dan said.

“Hold on,” Jane said, shaking her head. “That’s bullshit. That’d mean we’re not real. Right, guys? I’m real. You guys are real. We’re not in someone’s weird game.” No answer. “Guys?”

“No,” Tina said. “No, we’re real. You’re right. Remember: magic. I think I … oh, god, I think this is my fault. I was thinking about the game Leroy hosted last weekend. I mean, when we were coming down here, it was my way of keeping my mind. D’X must have read me.”

Jane laughed, turned on her heel, and went into their room. Dan stayed, however. “I believe you,” he said. “At least, I believe you’re certain. At this point, I’m ready to admit that magic is real. Let’s just take it step by step, nice and easy, ok?”

“Ok,” Tina said.

“I left my knife in my bag, so if they took that, no biggie,” he said. “But I have my tools on me.” His tools, Tina knew, were code for his lock picking set. He’d ordered it online, ruined the lock to the shed, much to their father’s chagrin, but had quickly become an expert. Now nothing in the house was a secret. She only had to pray that he had the respect not to pick the lock to her diary.

“Be careful,” she said. “Remember: magic.”

He gave her a wink and turned. She, too, retreated to her room and shut the door.

Finding her self alone with her sister, Tina shut the door to their chambers and joined her sister by the fire. In Dan’s room, wood had been stacked by the hearth, but here nothing seemed to fuel the fire except itself. Still, it was warm, and the forest gave off an unusual chill.

Jane kicked off her shoes and turned toward the bed, which, she noticed for the first time, was not just onyx-black, but seemed to suck the light from the room. The ornate headboard had a figure or scene chiseled into it, but the material reflected no light, so she couldn’t make out the details. She reached out and felt it was warm on contact, but radiated no heat. More puzzling still was the electrical buzzing she felt against and through her skin. Perplexed, she pulled back and regarded her hands. They remained the same as they had always been.

But the electric feeling remained, slowly at first, but increasing in intensity—an itch under the skin, under the muscle, under the bone. But, she asked herself, there’s nothing under the bone, is there? She began to feel heat. “Oh, right,” she said thought to herself, trying to calm her nerves. The hearth glowed like a pulsing heart. “Fire.” She made a note to ask d’X how to turn the heat down in her room. In the meantime, she shed her sweatshirt and leaned back on the bed for a second. Eventually, the itch returned, as did the heat, but this time, it was deeper, more urgent. She felt a slight tingle between her legs, and drew a quick breath. Sex. Of course. Fire, passion, life, sex. Her eyes darted to her sister, but to Jane’s relief the older girl was otherwise occupied. With a frustrated sigh, she went back to the fire. Even if it was too warm in the room, she doubted the fire would send her into heat.

Hardly a heartbeat had passed from the time the door closed behind Tina to her assault on the bookcases. Where to start was the only question, so she chose a ladder at random, climbed to the top and began perusing the library. The titles on the leather spines were none she had ever heard of, and many appeared to be in languages she didn’t understand—and a few she didn’t know even existed. Eventually, she came to one with a title she could understand. “On the Essence of Soul Apparatuses,” she read aloud, drawing an odd look from her sister. Well, no one had accused the place or its owner of being normal. No author was listed, so she gently pulled the book from its space on the shelf and regarded the cover: simple green leather with silver lettering, well worn by time, but in remarkably good shape nonetheless. Still, there was no author name, so she opened to the first page. The instant the cover parted from the paper, an icy chill filled her bones. She shivered, but continued searching for an author, publication date, or any piece of information that might give her a clue as to the origin of the tome. Before long, the cold became unbearable, and Tina climbed down from the ladder and trotted over to sit by the fire.

“Ahhh…” Tina said, leaning back on the carpet. “Much better.”

“Holy crap!” Jane said, hugging herself. “What the hell is that thing?”

“Huh? Oh, a book from the shelf. It started to get chilly in here, so I thought…”

“It’s the book!” Jane said, and then stopped. “Have you forgotten already?”

“Forgotten…?”

“Haunted castle, giant spiders, magical forgetfulness? That chill, it’s the book!”

“Oh!” Tina clapped the book closed. “Oh, my!” And then, “So this guy is a wizard?”

“Let’s go ask him,” Jane said. “We’ll go right up and say, ‘Monsieur Whatsyername, are you planning on turning us into toads or whatnot?’ And then we’ll know, right? Because anyone who’s planning on turning you into a toad—I mean, someone like that wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Listen,” Tina said, ignoring her sister’s manic ranting. “Maybe Monsieur d’X is going to do something evil, or maybe he’s not. If he is, don’t let him know that you know. And if he isn’t, then just relax and enjoy the creepy ambience. I just wanted to know if you’re still, you know, not like our parents.”

Tina saw her sister pause, and as if a veil had lifted, the girl stopped fidgeting, bit her lip and stood. Jane said, “Sorry. It itches. I think I just need to get some air.”

“Wait. What—” but Jane was gone out the door. ‘It itches’? Tina pondered it for a second and then shook her head. Sometimes she just couldn’t figure that girl out. Closing the book, she lay back on the carpet and closed her eyes. Did the room just get warmer?