Page 46 of Whispers of Shadowbrook House

Oliver stepped close to Pearl, and she looked into his eyes. “We need to figure out what’s plaguing Maxwell’s bedroom. There’s something in that room that’s hurting him.”

She hurried up the stairs, and Oliver was quick to follow. He didn’t know what they might be looking for, but he knew he’d search Maxwell’s room until he found whatever it was that might be causing Max harm.

Once he stepped into the boy’s bedroom, he smelled the sharp aroma Pearl always tried to mask with fire and gathered plants. Acid scratched at the back of his throat and stung his eyes.

Pearl stood in the center of the room, looking around. Her voice, when she spoke, was quiet and forlorn. “I don’t know what I’m looking for. I don’t know how to help him.”

Oliver placed an arm around her back. “Everything you do helps him. This is no different from the puzzles you set for Max.”

She gave a humorless laugh. “Except I know the solutions to the puzzles I design.”

Oliver moved across the room to the bed, still speaking to Pearl. “You have clues. How does this room affect him?”

“He comes here when he’s tired, or he becomes tired when he’s here. He’ll sleep during the day if he stays, but if he’s in a different room, he has more energy to play.”

Oliver searched the space beneath Maxwell’s bed. He found a few books tucked in neat piles, a single sock, and very little dust. Someone was careful in the room’s cleaning.

As he went to inspect the small bookcase, he watched Pearl move from the window to the table where Maxwell’s washbasin sat. She stretched her arms as high as she could reach and touched the ugly wallpaper in the corner. She made a sound of disgust and pulled her hands away.

He hurried to her side. A leak from the near-constant rains had dripped onto Maxwell’s wall, and blisters had formed beneath the wallpaper. Oliver pressed against the paper and felt it squish and flatten beneath his fingers.

He glanced at Pearl. “May I?”

She nodded.

Oliver found a corner of the paper, and he pulled.

The paper came away from the wall with an audible squelch, the wet wall beneath it a muddy sludge.

As he pulled further, the same sharp scent that always lingered in the room increased tenfold.

His eyes and nose stung. Oliver turned his face away from the black muck on the wall to catch his breath then turned back and peeled more of the paper away.

Slimy streaks painted the wooden wall behind the paper. Oliver reached for a fireplace poker and levered a corner of the rotting wood away. The board and its nails screeched out in resistance, and Pearl covered her ears with her hands.

Oliver pushed and pulled until the wood tore away. Behind it, the plastered wall ran with black rivulets of acrid-smelling mold.

Pearl picked up a piece of cloth—maybe a small blanket, maybe some piece of Max’s clothing—and scrubbed it against the wall. The cloth came away blackened, but the wall still bore thick streams of the nasty substance.

He saw her throat convulse as if she were about to be sick. “This can’t be good.”

Oliver shook his head. “I don’t think you should touch it.”

“But we have to remove it. What if this slime is somehow hurting Maxwell?”

“It’s certainly not helping him.”

Pearl dropped the fouled cloth into the fireplace. Thick, dark smoke billowed up and rose through the chimney. “We have to get it out of here. All of it. Right now.”

Oliver reached over and took Pearl’s hands. “I don’t think Max should come back into this room.”

She started to protest. “But it’s his favorite space. It’s where he feels comfortable.”

The stench of acrid smoke began to circle through the room, and Pearl’s eyes widened. “I’ve made it worse, haven’t I?”

Oliver led her into the hallway, closing the door behind them. “Whatever that is, Max shouldn’t be near it.”

He saw tears forming in the corners of Pearl’s bright eyes. “It will break his heart to keep him out of there. He loves that room.”

“I’m not so sure the room loves him in return.”

It was a silly thing to say, and not at all helpful, but before Oliver could apologize for speaking flippantly, Pearl grasped both his hands, a frantic sadness in her eyes.

“This room has made his illness worse, and I brought him here every day and every night.” Tears ran down her cheeks. “What if that horror is growing behind all the walls?” She shivered. “I don’t know what to do.”

“None of this is your fault, Pearl.”

“It’s hard for me to believe that. I am responsible for Maxwell’s care.”

“Not you alone.”

Pearl looked up at him with shining eyes. “For so long, I have felt nothing but alone.”

Oliver knew there were far better places for him to speak the words he wished to say, but his heart nearly burst at her statement. “If you wish it, you’ll never need to be alone again. I will be beside you.”

She stepped closer, and Oliver’s arms wrapped tightly around her. They stood in the dim hallway outside Maxwell’s door for several long moments. Oliver felt the beating of Pearl’s heart grow steady and slow.

She spoke into his shoulder. “Will your doctor friends know what we need to do?”

Part of Oliver wished for a continuation of the confidences he’d begun to share, but he was satisfied there would be time. Now they needed to help Maxwell.

He released Pearl, but she immediately reached for his hand. They walked down the stairs and into the parlor where Dr. Nichols knelt at Maxwell’s side as the boy reclined on the couch.

Oliver stepped toward Dr. Nichols and gestured toward the upper floor. “We’ve found something awful in the wall.”

As the doctor hurried out of the room, Oliver and Pearl knelt at Maxwell’s side. Uncle Arthur stood nearby, his hand on Maxwell’s shoulder.

In her quiet, gentle voice, Pearl spoke to Max. “You sound so much better. Are you breathing easier? Is there anything you need?”

Max answered in a rough whisper. “Can you stay with me for a while? And Oliver?” He looked from one to the other. He dragged in a breath that seemed to cost him. “I know there are things you need to do, but when you can be with me, I’m glad of it.”

Oliver brought a chair for Pearl and sat on the floor at her feet. Maxwell held Pearl’s hand and closed his eyes. “I’m not sleepy. Only my eyes are tired. I’d like a story.”

Pearl did a remarkable job of sounding unconcerned as she spun a tale for Max. Only the line deepening between her brows showed Oliver the worry she carried.

A few moments into the story, Oliver reached for Pearl’s free hand. She curled her fingers into his. Standing over the reclining boy, Arthur trembled as he drew his fingers along Maxwell’s hairline.

Oliver attempted to stand without interrupting Pearl’s story.

He kept his fingers entwined with hers as he shifted over and placed his free hand on his uncle’s shoulder to close the circle.

Arthur’s eyes flickered to Oliver’s, and he raised his arm to place it on Oliver’s back.

A flash of possibility pulsed before Oliver’s eyes—this family in this home.

Neither were words he’d used before, but maybe the home and the family had been here all the time.

He needed only to see them with different eyes.

They stood together as Pearl continued the story, and when footsteps sounded at the door, all heads turned.

Dr. Nichols stepped to the center of the room. “Mr. Ravens-croft, there is black mold in Maxwell’s bedroom walls.”

In a few careful sentences, Dr. Nichols explained the fairly recent discovery of a fungus that caused dangerous respiratory illness. The weeping section of Maxwell’s wall was bursting with it. The longer he stayed in the room with the diseased walls, the sicker he would become.

“I recommend setting up a new bedroom for Max in the driest section of the house. Let us clear the diseased segments of wall away. If we can eliminate the fungus, we’ll do so. In any case, Oliver, George, and I will make ourselves useful making a new room perfect for Maxwell as he heals.”

Mr. Ravenscroft’s brows lowered in a scowl. His voice trembled as he spoke. “Are you saying the house itself is making the boy ill?”

Oliver stepped between the doctor and his uncle.

“Not the house. Only something growing in the house. But Uncle, there are many things growing in this house. Not the least, a brilliant boy full of wisdom and laughter, games and ideas. If you protect him from the mold and continue to nurture the love developing here, I’m confident Maxwell has as much chance of healing as anyone else. ”

Mr. Ravenscroft turned again to Maxwell. “My dear boy, I fear I’ve smothered you. In trying to prevent anything from hurting you, I pushed you into the very space that wounded you and caused you pain. Can you forgive a foolish old man?”

Oliver didn’t hear Maxwell’s answer. He whispered it into his grandfather’s ear as he clasped his hands around the old man’s neck.

So many questions spun in Oliver’s mind, but the most important ones were answered. There was a reason for Maxwell’s illness, and there was a solution. Max’s suffering would ease.

Pearl’s hands trembled with exhaustion. She caught Oliver’s eye, and he slipped past the others to slide an arm around her back.

He pressed a quick kiss beneath her ear.

He didn’t care if everyone in the house saw, but he thought each person was busy enough not to care much what was happening between the governess and the heir.

Pearl looked up at Oliver and sighed. “That was lovely, what you said to Mr. Ravenscroft. And now Maxwell is going to be all right?” Pearl seemed to need the comfort of an answer. She gazed at the boy, held tight in his grandfather’s arms.

“He will. And he’ll have all our help to heal.”

Her sigh felt like a release of a great weight.

Oliver leaned in close, her breath tickling his neck in the most delicious way. “No one as exhausted as you are has any right to look as beautiful as you do.”

“Mr. Waverley, if that is not a lie, it is certainly a generous extension of the truth.” The smile she sent his way sank itself deep into his heart.

“I would love nothing more than to make myself presentable before you look at me so carefully. You’re bound to discover my flaws, and it’s much too soon in our acquaintance for you to know them all. ”

He shook his head. “I always look this carefully. And if you’ll allow it, I’ll make it a daily habit.”

“Any other habits you intend to develop?” A smile widened across her mouth.

“I have a few ideas.” And he showed her.