Suddenly Psychic (Glimmer Lake #1)(70)

The air in the attic smelled of must and earth. Robin stepped inside, and everything was immediately muffled. Her footsteps fell flat on the hardwood planks of the floor. It was as if the darkness in the room absorbed sound, light, and warmth. There was one window in the room, but the light was fading, and the room was drenched in shadows.

As she stepped farther into the room, a pull chain hit her forehead, startling a gasp from her.

“Robin?” Mark was right behind her.

“I’m okay. There’s a light.” She pulled on the chain, but nothing happened. “Never mind.” She swept her flashlight around the room.

“Let me…” Mark pushed past her and searched the baseboards for an electrical socket. “We need light,” he muttered as Robin walked farther into the room.

She could hear Monica and Val behind her, but every sound was muffled. The energy wasn’t warm or cold.

“Robin?” Monica called. “Are you getting anything?”

Boxes lined the walls, and furniture was covered in white sheets. “I don’t feel anything. It’s like a vacuum.”

“This feels weird.” Val held her hands out and pulled off her gloves, but she was careful not to touch anything. “Agreed. It feels like there’s some kind of barrier.”

The feel of the room reminded Robin of the hearing loss after a concert. You could hear, but everything was muffled. Only in the attic, it wasn’t only her hearing; all her senses were muffled. Shadows and light blended together. The air smelled of old musty corners and also the earth and the outside. Sound was swallowed by the corners of the room.

“Mark, do you have the light?”

“Just found an outlet,” he said. “Let’s hope it’s connected to something.”

Robin heard a clicking sound, and suddenly the dark room was flooded with light.

Monica gasped.

Robin spun around. “What it is?”

She was staring above the window and pointing. “There. It’s the stained glass window I saw in my dream.”

“I’d forgotten that was even here,” Robin said.

There was a single odd dormer built onto the back of the house that looked away from the lake and into the woods. At the top of the window was a spreading shell of Tiffany-style stained glass, the colors dull in the fading light.

Mark stood from plugging in the work lights. The bright yellow lights reflected off the sloped ceiling, illuminating the attic. “That’s better.” He put his hands on his hips. “What window?”

“That one.” Monica pointed again. “I saw it in a dream, along with a bloody knife.” She spun around. “But I don’t see a knife. In my dream, there was a bloody knife.”

“But in your other dream, you saw me and Billy walking by the cabin in the woods,” Robin said. “And we didn’t actually do that. So I think the knife is here. We just need to find it.”

Mark said, “Didn’t your dad say there was hunting stuff?”

“Yeah.” Robin scanned the large attic. It was larger than the master bedroom, and boxes were stacked along every wall. “I don’t see much labeled, so I think we’re doing this the hard way.”

Val walked to the other wall. “Four walls. Four of us. Let’s start or we’ll never finish.”

Box after box lined the walls. The furniture was evident from each tented outline. There was a draped table. A dresser. An armoire. Several chairs were stacked in the corner with a plastic tarp thrown over them.

“I don’t get the smell.” Val walked around the room. “It smells like fresh dirt. But there’s no dirt in here. There’s not even much dust.”

It was the truth. Though there was a fine layer of dust over the surfaces, there were no cobwebs. No dust bunnies. The dirt smell was a mystery.

The creeping sense of dread that Robin felt when she first entered the attic hadn’t left, but she focused on each box as she opened it. “This looks like holiday decorations.” She moved to the next. “School records.”

Monica was across the room. “This looks like business stuff related to the lumber company.”

“Skip,” Mark said. “Jack told me all that stuff is electronic now.”

Val said, “This looks more promising. Maybe scrapbooks from when your mom and her brother were little?” Val grabbed a heavy book and brought it to a table covered in a sheet. “This looks like your mom.”

Robin walked over and looked at the album. “We should bring that down. Mom and Grandma might actually enjoy that one. Val, you keeping your gloves on?”

“While we do this? Definitely.” She looked tired. “If and when we find something incriminating, I’ll take them off.”

Robin walked over and hugged her. “Thank you.”

“You owe me a bottle of my favorite whiskey,” Val said, hugging her back. “Maybe two.”

“I’ll do you one better. I’ll come over and help you fold laundry while we drink the whiskey.”

Mark said, “I could probably help fold laundry if you gave me whiskey.”

Val smiled. “If only I could offer whiskey as bribes to my boys. Maybe then they’d clean their rooms.”

“Guys!” Monica’s voice cut through the laughter. “I think I found something.” She was digging through a box filled with dingy clothes.