The Guests on South Battery (Tradd Street #5)(115)

MOM SICK. I must have said it out loud, because Jack looked at me. “It was a message from Hasell. She was trying to tell us that her mother was sick.”

The house shuddered around us like a giant awakening, the air inside suddenly electrified.

“That’s when the lights went out,” Jack continued. “A pair of hands shoved me out the hidden door and it slammed shut behind me. Jayne told me not to worry, that she knew how to fight Anna. It was pitch-dark and I couldn’t see her, and she didn’t answer when I called her name. I went to the kitchen to call you, and on the way back up the stairs I thought I heard a child asking for help, and it seemed to be coming from this bedroom. When I didn’t see anyone, I stepped inside the bathroom and the door slammed shut behind me.”

“Did you see Anna?” I whispered.

“No. But before I went into the bathroom, I did see that.” He directed my hand to turn the flashlight beam across the room to the rocking chair and the talking doll that sat staring at us, its eyes dark and glassy. I stepped back as the whirring mechanical sounds began, screeching and scratching louder and louder. “Now I lay me down to sleep.” It stopped abruptly, which was a good thing because I would have thrown it against a wall to make it stop. Or asked Jack to do it because I didn’t think I could have touched it.

The cat jumped off the bed and looked up at us. “I think the cat wants us to follow it again,” I said.

“What cat?” Jack asked, staring at the exact spot where I’d trained the flashlight.

“The black one standing right in front of us,” I said, wiggling the flashlight. I noticed that the cat’s fur appeared completely dry despite having been outside in the pouring rain. And there hadn’t been any wet paw prints on the floor, either.

“I can’t see it.” He looked at me with confusion.

Ginette moved closer. “It’s right here,” she said, pointing a gloved finger at the cat, sitting in the middle of the circle of light.

“No, it’s not,” Jack insisted.

I opened my mouth to argue but shut it as memories and impressions began to shift in my head, of all the times I’d spotted the cat on the property, and who I’d been with. My mother and I saw the cat, and so did Rich Kobylt. Even General Lee. But Sophie and the other workmen hadn’t seen it, and neither had Jack. But Jayne did. Every time I’d been here, and seen the cat, she’d seen it, too.

My mother’s eyes met mine, but before she could say anything, the cat took off, pausing at the door as if to make sure we were following, then ran toward the attic door, neatly disappearing through the wood just as we reached it.

I pounded on the attic door with the flat of my hand. “Jayne? Are you in there?” I turned to Jack, frantic. “We’ve got to get her out of there. If Anna knows who she is, she’s in terrible danger.”

Ginette pulled on my arm. “What do you mean? Who is Jayne?”

I banged on the door, searching for some reassurance that Jayne was in the attic, and that we weren’t too late. “Jayne? Are you in there?”

My mother jerked harder on my arm, pulling me to face her. “Mellie, who is Jayne?”

Jack placed a hand on her shoulder. “She’s your daughter, Ginette. The one you gave birth to at the lake house, and believed died.”

She paced her gloved hand over her mouth. “How did you . . . ?”

Jack spoke quickly. “I’ll tell you more later, but it’s all in the album. The pictures of you pregnant, and then the pictures of the baby. The housekeeper told me everything.”

I held her elbow as she began to sink, but she straightened on her own. “She can’t be alone with Anna. Not if she knows that Jayne is Sumter’s daughter.” She pushed forward and began hammering on the door. “Open the door, Anna. Open the door!” She tried the doorknob, then pushed on the door several more times before stopping.

“I’ll go see if I can open the hidden door from the butler’s pantry—Rich Kobylt showed me the little button in the wainscoting,” Jack said. “I couldn’t open it before, but that might not mean anything. You two stay here. You’re stronger together. And if Anna is distracted, that might give you the chance to get through this door and find Jayne.”

“And if we have Jayne, we’ll be unbeatable,” my mother said as she grasped my hand.

Four loud crashes vibrated the attic floor above us as my mother tightened her grasp. “Snow globes,” I whispered.

My mother nodded. “Hasell’s up there. She must know they’re half sisters.” Her voice held an edge of surprise. “She’ll protect Jayne, but she’s not as strong as Anna. Hurry—we must hurry!”

I handed Jack my phone so he’d have a flashlight, then gave him a fast kiss before he ran down the hallway, his footsteps echoing on the stairway long after his shadow disappeared.

The storm continued to batter the roof and structure of the old mansion, matching the barometric pressure dropping inside, the walls creaking and swelling with the stress. An unholy tremor shook the foundation, shoving me into my mother’s side. I pretended it was an accident so she wouldn’t know how petrified I was.

I swallowed, trying to gain control of my voice. “I hope that means Jack managed to open the door. Let’s trust he was right about the diversion.” I turned the knob and watched with surprise as the attic door easily opened inward, but I resisted moving forward. “Why can’t ghosts hide out in bright sunrooms in the middle of the day?”