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The Second Staircase

I see you, Lore thought. Horrified and entranced. Fearful, yes—

But something else, too. Hope. Mad, alien, deranged hope.

The staircase had no house around it: It stood alone, a beast of thirteen steps. Dark wood was its material; it stood tall and crooked. The baluster and handrail looked freshly oiled. The steps themselves were ragged at the edges and uneven, forming not right angles but rather off-angles, as if the stairs did not entirely fit together. Trees sometimes bent toward the sun, but here they seemed to be bending away from the staircase, as if in fear, trying not to be caught in its trap. Other greenery, too, refused to get near it—nothing grew at its margins, and though all around the forest was alive with ivy and bittersweet and honeysuckle, none of it dared to climb the staircase. The staircase ascended up, up, up, its steps leading to nothing but open air. But Lore knew that wasn’t really true, was it?

A wind swept through, swirling dead leaves and a shimmer of pollen up those steps. Or was it drawn there, by the staircase itself?

Lore felt herself drawn closer, even as she rooted her feet to the ground.

She looked to Owen, who stood horror-struck. His mouth formed words but made no utterances.

Lore said the words out loud:

“There’s no campsite, is there?”

Nick shook his head. “Nope.”

“Fuck,” Hamish said quietly, but then yelled it out again so loud that birds stirred in the trees above and took flight: “ Fuck! ” He dropped to a crouch and buried his face in his hands, growling into his palms before taking one hand and punching the ground once, twice, three times.

Owen bent over and vomited.

Nick, for his part, walked out in front of them, his arms wide like a carnival barker or a used car salesman.

“It’s time to repair an error,” he said, and the tone in his voice reminded Lore of something else, and now their old friend’s posture made even more sense. Because it called to mind an old-timey preacher. A pastor or pardoner making you an offer. A one-way ticket to confession, restoration, and salvation. “I brought you here because we fucked up. We broke the Covenant. And now we have the chance to fix it.”