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“Where do you think they could be?” she whispers, bringing me back to the situation at hand. I’d berate myself for getting distracted by her if I knew it would change anything, but it won’t. Dying with Addie on my mind is the only way I want to go out anyway.

I shake my head. “I don’t know. But if there are people in the house, that means they’re most likely still in the house, too.”

Addie walks to the bed, pressing her hand into the sheets. “It’s cold, so they’ve been gone for a minute.” Turning to me, she decides with resignation and dread, “I think we need to check the basement.” Her body is stiff, and her shoulders tense.

“What’s wrong with the basement?”

She shrugs a shoulder. “It’s creepy down there?” she says, though it sounds like a question.

“You like creepy.”

She seems to pause on that thought, and then relaxes, nodding her head. “Yeah, you’re right. I do like creepy. Let’s go.”

Sibby emerges from one of the rooms just as we exit her parents’ bedroom, appearing more frustrated.

“No one is up here. I busted in every room,” she says with disappointment.

“Basement,” I clip. “They might be down there.”

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Addie leads us back down the stairs and towards the basement door in the dining room.

“If they are down there, they’ll hear our footsteps and know we’re coming,” I murmur, once more pushing Addie behind me. It’s better if I’m the one getting shot at so she can handle her parents.

The door creaks open, and it’s like looking into a massive black hole in the ground.

“How big is the basement?”

“Pretty big. It’s not finished,” she answers on a whisper. “There are rooms down there, too.”

Slowly, I descend the stairs, and my sight is completely robbed. There’s a cold chill and another heavy weight of dread down here, like an evil goddess beckoning me into her lair. Such a warm fucking welcome.

In the far back corner of the basement, a tiny sliver of light shines from the depths of what looks to be a hallway.

That pit of dread yawns, consuming my insides until all I feel is doom.

Addie and Sibby flank either side of me, and though I can’t see their faces, I can feel their restlessness.

“We’re in the family room, down that hallway is the unfinished side,” Addie informs me, her voice barely above a whisper.

Just as I take a step, the glow extinguishes as if they cut the lights out. I freeze, my eyes beginning to adjust.

They didn’t cut the lights out. Someone is standing at the entrance of the hallway. They’re unmoving, but I feel their eyes boring into where we stand. My hand tightens around my gun, and I slowly raise it, preparing for them to attack. Then, they slowly step back and disappear down the hallway again, the glow taking their place once more.

My heart pumps wildly in my chest. Shit, that’s freaky. Even I can admit that.

Sibby scoffs. “I spent too much time in haunted houses—no one is creepier than me. Let me go first.”

I shrug, deciding Sibby fucking with them wouldn’t hurt.

“Have fun,” I mumble, dropping my weapon an inch, though I refuse to relax. There could be more lurking around down here.

She giggles loudly, the sound sinister, before she softly sings a lullaby as she heads for the hallway. I can’t be sure, but if I know Sibby, then I’m positive she’s skipping there.

I grab Addie’s hand, leading her to where the little doll now stands in the entrance, her tiny body highlighted by the light.

Her pink knife is in her hand, and she stabs the tip into the wall beside her. Then, with her lullaby growing louder, she slowly walks down the hallway, dragging her knife as she goes.