Page 11 of The Curse of Redwood

I jogged around to the back patio, searching the yard but not seeing him anywhere. Vines and thorns snaked around a gazebo, and I stepped toward it, wondering if he was hiding inside. A building to the far right of the yard caught my eye.

My breath caught in my throat when I realized what it was: a stable. As if in a trance, my legs carried me forward and I reached out a shaking hand to place on the wooden fence. The world around me spun, then faded away…

“You’re hopeless,” Ezekiel said with a laugh as I wobbled on top of the horse. We were outside the stables and were about to go on a morning ride. “Remember what I taught you. And try not to fall off.”

“Easy for you to say,” I responded, as the mare walked in a circle. It was hard to control the beast. “You’ve been riding horses since you were six.”

“Five,” he corrected, smirking. The sun shone above us, and I adored the way the rays hit his pale hair. “Shall we race to the spring?”

Without waiting for a response, he used his heels to get the horse to take off in a gallop. I sighed and followed after him, a smile slowly spreading across my face.

The vision faded, and I found myself standing once again in the dark. There was no sun or warmth; only darkness and the ghostly glimmer of a time long since passed.

“What’s going on?” I let go of the fence and stumbled back a step, sharply exhaling to help calm my bubbling anxiety. It was the first time I’d ever had a dream while wide awake.

Was it a dream… or something else?

A cold rush of air hit me from behind. I whipped my head around to see the little boy in front of me. Dark circles surrounded his light-blue eyes and his pale skin appeared even more so under the moonlight. There was no doubt about it; he was a ghost.

I was too stunned to speak.

He leapt forward and grabbed me. “Tag! You’re it!”

I screamed and fell backward. My head smacked against the fence and I landed in the grass, my lids fluttering open and closed as I stared up at the starry sky. Wet trickled from somewhere on my head, and I felt a bit woozy. Sluggish. I heard the boy giggle. Then, my eyes closed. It was too much effort to keep them open.

“William, what have I told you about playing with strangers?” an oddly familiar voice hissed from nearby. “Go to your sister and leave my sight.” A cold sensation touched my temple, like an icy kiss. Arms slipped under my body and lifted me from the grass. “I’ve got you, little dove.”

That heavy, groggy feeling then won over, and the world fell away for a second time that night.

Chapter Three

A burning candle flickered on the table beside the bed.

I stared at the flame, failing to make sense of where I was. A dull throbbing lingered in my head, though the ache had lessened in the time I’d been awake. I touched the sore spot and found some kind of wrapping around it.

Confused, I glanced around the room, seeing shadows flicker on the walls caused from the candle. A large wardrobe stood along the far wall, a high-back chair in the corner, and there was a shelf of old books.

How did I get here?

Where even washere?

Then, like a switch being flipped, I remembered everything—chasing the boy to the backyard, having that weird dream about Z, then being frightened by the ghost boy and hitting my head on something as I’d flung backward.

I was inside Redwood Manor.

The revelation should’ve freaked me out, yet my curiosity weighed greater than fear. Who had carried me inside and put me to bed? They’d even cared for my wound. That uneasy feeling still remained in my chest, but it was smaller than before.

For so long, I had felt nothing but terror when thinking of the mansion… and now I wondered if I’d been wrong.

“H-Hello?” I croaked, then cleared my throat before saying louder, “Is anybody there?”

Silence.

I shifted my gaze to the open doorway. The dark hallway beyond the room made me inwardly shudder. If I stared too long into the dark, I feared what I’d see staring back at me.

I debated on getting out of bed and fleeing the room, but I didn’t know where I was in the mansion. The first floor? The second? During my research, I’d read about how there were twists and turns all throughout the mansion. Like a maze. Someone could easily get lost if they didn’t know their way around.

A creak came from the hall.