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CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Ellery

“Hello,” Ianto called out.

Ryker and Tucker both lifted their eyebrows at him. “What are you going to do if someone answers you?” Ryker asked.

“I’m letting them know we’re here; it’s the polite thing to do.”

“Announcing your presence, when we have no idea what’s inside, is also the crazy thing to do. Unless you don’t like your head attached to your body.”

When Ianto scowled, Ryker grinned back at him. Removing his sword from his scabbard, Ryker nudged Callan out of the way and entered the home. I followed him into the gloomy interior of the neat living room.

Beyond the windows, the light had faded to a dim pink that barely lit the residence. With every pulse, more of the room was revealed until the dazzling red erupted again and bathed the home in light.

A thin layer of dust coated the furniture within. The couch was a delicate, yellow thing with spindly legs, and I was sure it would shatter under Ianto if he tried to sit on it.

A matching chair and ottoman sat beside it; both were angled to face the piano in the corner. Scarlet walked over to the instrument and trailed her fingers across its top while examining the keys.

The pulled-out piano bench sat waiting for someone to settle onto it. A heavy air of anticipation hung over the room, but I didn’t know what it expected; I suspected it was music.

It was as if this home had spent thousands of years waiting for someone to fill it with joy and laughter again. I itched to touch the keys but could never produce anything more than awkward noise.

I’d never seen anything quite like the piano. It was the size of a baby grand piano, and instead of being black, it was the bright blue of the house. Yellow keys had replaced the white ones, and the typically black keys were red.

A sideboard near the doorway was covered in plates neatly organized to reveal their contents. If anything was once on those plates, it was gone; all that remained was a faint, black stain.

Scarlet lifted a yellow dress from the bench seat. Something rattled against the bench and piano before settling on the wood floor.

“What was that?” Callan asked.

Scarlet frowned at whatever had fallen from the dress. “I think… I think they’re… ashes.”

Her final word caused the hair on my nape to rise as my uneasy feeling grew. I gulped while glancing around the room again; this time, I took note of another pile of clothes on the sofa and one near the sideboard.

“What?” Tucker asked.

The color had drained from Scarlet’s face when she looked at all of us. “It’s ashes. There was a pile of ashes in the dress… or on the dress… or maybe… under the dress. I don’t know where it was, but it’s on the floor now.”

Her voice held an increasing note of panic that echoed the feeling growing within me. The others all moved toward her, but I remained where I was.

I didn’t have to see them to know those ashes were the remains of whoever once lived here.