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“Looks like a storm’s blowing in,” Dewey noted, lowering his chin to study the ominous clouds that whisked by overhead.

“Oh, that’s just great,” Paige lamented as a few blobs of rain splotched across the windshield.

She fiddled for a moment before the windshield wipers sprang to life and swished away the drizzle.

Within seconds, it turned into a downpour. Thunder boomed again, and lightning tore across the sky as the rain continued to drench the roadway. Paige slowed the car, inching ahead in the pouring rain.

She rolled to a stop as the road took a sharp turn to the left. A smaller road led straight. With her windshield wipers darting back and forth on the fastest setting, she glanced down the dark road before flicking her gaze to the lights. They shone ahead of them, not to the left.

“Which way?”

“The lights are that way,” Dewey said, pointing at the small roadway.

“Okay, I vote we try that way,” Paige said.

“I agree,” Dewey said with an emphatic nod. “There hasn’t been anything on this road for miles.”

Paige let off the brake, and the car drifted onto the small, paved roadway. After a quarter of a mile, two large brick pillars rose on either side. Wrought iron fencing extended on either side.

“Uhhh,” Dewey murmured as they passed them, “is this a private drive or something?”

“Maybe it’s a really fancy gas station,” Paige murmured as they continued, pushing the crossover up the hill.

The pavement leveled before making a sharp curve. Paige guided the car around it before lifting her foot off the gas pedal as the source of the lights came into view.

A massive gothic house stood on the horizon. Vines crept up the gray stone, wrapping around gargoyles perched on the roof. Lights blazed from the windows within. Between the white columns holding the front eave at bay, a single lantern-style light swung in the wind, casting ever-changing shadows around it.

Dewey climbed to his back legs and stared out the windshield at it. “Wow, that’s not creepy at all.”

“Maybe we ought to turn around and just go back the way we came,” Paige said.

“Yep,” Dewey said.

Paige swung the car in a tight arc before throwing the shifter into reverse and backing up to finish the turn.

The house slid from her rearview mirror as she rounded the bend and continued back down the hill.

“Ho-ho, we really dodged a bullet on that one. That house was creepy,” Dewey said with a chuckle as he settled into the seat again.

“You aren’t kidding. Looks like something out of a horror movie. I’m glad to see it in my rearview mirror. I just hope… Oh no!”

Paige hit the brake as Dewey climbed to his feet again.

“What is it?”

A large black gate stretched between the two red brick pillars, blocking their exit.

Dewey smacked his paw against the dash. “That wasn’t there a minute ago!”

Paige blew out a frustrated breath. “Nope. But it is now. Now what?”

“I guess we’re going to have to go up to the house and politely request that they open it. Well, you will. I’ll wait in the car.”

Paige shot him an aggravated glance as she did another three-way turn, aiming back to the gothic house. “Thanks for the help, pal.”

Dewey jabbed a chubby digit at her. “You’re the one worried about explaining me. I’ll hang here while you tell them you accidentally trespassed.”

Paige rolled her eyes as she climbed the hill a second time and swung around the sharp curve. The creepy house rose in front of her. A massive bolt of lightning streaked behind it, limning it in an eerie blue-white light.