Craven Manor(6)

The house stood at his back, seeming to watch him. There were so many windows, all black and cold. If someone really did live inside, they could be watching him, hidden in perfect darkness and surrounded by cobwebs and dust.

That thought was ridiculous. No one could live in that place in its current state. But then who sent the letter? Why do they want the garden restored?

The instructions had mentioned a crypt, but Daniel didn’t see it as he struggled to find the way out. The structure was either hidden behind the house, or so tangled in plants that it was invisible. He kept pushing forward and stumbled into a small clearing. Marble statues encircled an empty, cracked birdbath. Layers of water stains ran down the statues, giving Daniel the impression that the stone was bleeding. The sculptures depicted women, centaurs, and minotaurs rising out of cracked pillars. Their heads were cast up towards the sky, and their jaws were open in silent screams. Daniel tried not to stare at them.

He hadn’t passed any sculptures on his way in. He ran his hands through his hair as he tried not to let the growing panic overwhelm him.

A whirring noise made Daniel yelp and stumble into one of the statues. He clutched the stone and recoiled from a dark shape looming above him.

The flock of crows passed overhead. Their wings were loud—louder than a bird had any right to be—but they were gone within seconds. Daniel sucked in a quick gasp and loosened his hold on the statue. He’d clutched at a Grecian woman pouring water out of a vase as her dress slipped down in a show of tasteful nudity. Grime had collected into the statue’s ridges and stained it dark… especially around the eyes. She looked as though she were crying.

As Daniel stepped away from her, his chest painfully tight and his heart throbbing, he caught sight of a tall stone fence between two trees. He followed it to the left, around more thorny bushes and past a dry water feature. The growths were thick, and a metal seat obstructed his path. He climbed over it, heard the metal groan as it was strained, then dropped free onto the other side. The gate came into view, and relief flowed through him, warming his chilled limbs.

He ran the rest of the distance to the gates, leaping over groundcover and not even caring when a dead tree branch snagged his shirt and tore a hole in the sleeve. He reached the metal and shimmied his way through the narrow gap. His bike waited where he’d left it, and he hoisted it over his shoulder without caring about how tired his muscles were.

Daniel threw a final look back at Craven Manor. The trees hid everything except its ragged, dark-slate roof and part of the tower. He knew it had to be his eyes playing tricks on him, but for a second, he imagined something had moved within the tower’s window.



“Hey, I’m back.” Daniel nudged open the apartment door then spent an extra minute scraping dirt off his shoes before entering. He knew he had to look a mess. He could feel leaves in his hair, and his hands were grimy from feeling through the trees. At least his bike had made the trip unharmed. “You won’t believe what happened—”

“Hey.”

A stranger was sitting on the living room couch beside Kyle. His long hair was tied back into a ponytail, and his shirt had sweat stains around the armpits. Both he and Kyle were playing a shooter game, but Kyle paused it as Daniel entered the room.

“Hey, man.” Kyle leaned back in his seat and grinned. He looked like he was holding back laughter. Something in his expression made Daniel feel like he was the butt of the joke. “You took your sweet time getting home. We talked about getting a third roommate, right? Meet Fletch.”

“Hey,” Fletch said again, this time lifting one of his fingers from the controller as a greeting.

“Hi. Uh. Wow.” Daniel managed a laugh. “That was quick.”

Kyle used the controller to scratch an itch on his chin. “Yeah, he split with his girlfriend, so he’ll be staying with us for a while. He’s going to take your room. You’re fine on the couch, aren’t you?”

Daniel opened and closed his mouth several times. Everything seemed to be happening too fast. He was exhausted and hungry, and all he’d wanted to do was get home, have a shower, and crawl into bed. “Actually, I’d really like to keep my room, if that’s all right.”

“No space for a second bed.” Kyle shrugged in a what-can-you-do kind of way. “And Fletch can’t stay out here. The streetlamp shines through the kitchen window and would keep him awake.”

“Insomnia,” Fletch agreed.

“Yeah, so he’s got to have the room. His shift at the fish-and-chips shop starts early, so he needs his sleep.”

“Hang on.” Daniel ran his fingers through his hair, upsetting the leaves, dirt, and a small spider nestled in it. “I thought he was one of your work friends?”

“Yeah, well, I buy lunch from him, don’t I?” Kyle slapped Fletch’s shoulder then rose and rounded the chair to encroach on Daniel’s personal space. “Point is, he’s paying his way, so he gets the room.”

“But—I am, too.” A mixture of desperation and frustration tangled in Daniel’s throat, tightening his voice. “I’ve never been late on a rent payment. Never!”

“But you don’t chip into any of the other stuff. Food, beer, new games. That all costs money. So until you get off your ass and find a job, you’ve got to take what you can get, yeah?”

The injustice burnt. Daniel had never eaten Kyle’s food, not even on days he didn’t have any of his own. But he knew what his cousin meant: Fletch had money to throw at luxuries that Daniel couldn’t afford. Luxuries Kyle would get to partake in.