Page 11 of On Edge

Though I didn’t sleep a wink after Severin left, not even with a chair shoved against the door.

The storm raged hard until morning like a rave that didn’t want to end. Mrs Oakley wasn’t kidding about the pipes, either. They banged all night long like the house was falling down around me.I could have sworn someone was pulling Grayfleet apart brick by brick. I stayed under the covers and refused to come out until the room was light and the birds started singing. Only then did I fall fast asleep.

When I wake up, it feels late, but without a watch or a phone, I can’t tell. No one has come to get me, yet, so I take my time putting the clothes back on I wore yesterday, thankfully no longer damp from the rain after drying over one of the chairs.

As I fix my appearance in the mirror, taming my wild mane of hair, the girl in its reflection looks haunted, with shadows beneath her eyes, her lips bitten raw, and one hand pressed to her throat as if she’s checking for a pulse. A split second is all it takes for Nell’s ghastly pale face to superimpose over mine.

Don’t you look just like me?Her voice curls through my thoughts, amused and cruel.Except I’m dead and you’re next.

I wondered when she would show up again. She’s been popping in more than usual lately, like a garden robin, bright red with a warning for the winter, only more gruesome.

The first time I saw her was less than a day after she died. Her soft, sweet voice came into my dreams, urging me to wake up. I gasped, bolting upright. And there she was, watching me.

I screamed until she vanished.

The next time I saw her, she stood at the corner of my room, dripping wet, squelching as she stalked toward me. The darkness was suffocating, but her realness clawed at the sanity of my mind and ate away at my bones. After I turned on the light, I didn’t dare close my eyes again.

Now, she haunts me everywhere.

Usually, I don’t mind.

I like that she’s with me. She’s the only sane one in the madness of what my life has become now that I’ve taken her place, stepped into her shoes. But actually seeing her here, where she died, isn’t helping.

I squeeze my eyes shut. Not real. She’s not real.

But her voice won’t go away.

You let him kiss you.

Because he thought I was her. He didn’t even believe me when I said I wasn’t. And why wouldn’t he? Nell and I were practically interchangeable growing up. Until I was ill more often, and then everyone forgot I even existed. Honestly, if there’s a ghost here, at Grayfleet, it’s me.

That seems to placate her, and when I open my eyes, Nell is gone.

A knock at the door snaps me out of it. I stand there for a few seconds, staring at it, my heart thudding like it’s off to the races. I’m too scared to open it in case it’s Severin.

But then I hear Mrs Oakley’s voice, muffled but clear enough through the wooden door. I open it, and she’s there, smiling, though her too-bright, too bushy-tailed mask nearly slips off when she sees what I’m wearing. With her perfectly straight hair and sweeping linen trousers and pressed shirt, I do feel sloppy next to her in the same dress I wore yesterday, but it can’t be helped.

“Let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll take you over to your room. Master Troy asked me to move you to the east wing.”

My heart jumps. “Wasn’t that part of the house that burned down in a fire?”

“It’s mostly the far side of the building that’s still under construction. Your room is safe.”

Safe. The word slips off her tongue like sweet honey. Nothing is safe here, I’m beginning to realize that. First, the demon in the bushes. And then Severin, choking me almost to death in his bed.

Kissing me.

I feel like I’m about to crack wide open. Ineedto get out of this room. I’m not staying here another night.

“Mr. Severin came into his room last night…” I tail off, unsure what to say next. Without thinking, I clutch the pearls around my neck like they can protect me. Nell would laugh ifshe could see me now. She would always say, I wassuch a pearl clutcher.

Mrs. Oakley’s mouth twists, gaze darting down to the necklace and then back up to my eyes. “Yes. Sorry about that. Master Troy came back from his hunting trip early. He never tells me these things. You must have got such a fright?”

I bite at my lip. “I was…startled.”

“Best we get you to your room? So you can settle properly?”

“Okay.” I give a little nod. “I’m ready to go now.” I make a move to collect my things and then hesitate. “Oh, did my suitcase arrive?”