Page 29 of The Witch

“I heard from Elias Fenn that they are keeping her in the jailhouse next to Town Hall.”

The local jailhouse is small, likely large enough to hold only a few prisoners. Anyone who is imprisoned for longer than a couple of weeks is taken to Boston to await trial. But if they mean to hang Hitty tomorrow, there is no need to send her to Boston.

“Will she be allowed visitors?” I ask.

Molly flashes me a horrified look. “Visitors? Who would want to visit Hitty Atkins?”

“Hitty is innocent.” My eyes well with tears as I speak this truth. “And I will make sure everyone knows it!”

Molly narrows her eyes at me. “Are you sure this is wise, Mistress Caroline? It seems to me that you have enough problems of your own. Perhaps you should not concern yourself with an old witch.” She pauses meaningfully. “People might talk.”

I care not what ugly words people utter about me. I must speak out on Hitty’s behalf. I will never forgive myself if I do not try.

What is the worst that could happen? After all, ’tis not as if they would believe that I am a witch.

21

PRESENT DAY

JULIA

There’s nothing in the hallway.

Of course there’s nothing there. What did I think would be there? An apparition? A glowing image of a seventeenth-century ghost in the hallway of my house?

Well, there isn’t. Not only that, but the crying has stopped. It stopped like it never existed in the first place.

Like I imagined the whole thing, which I probably did.

But then I raise my eyes. There’s a small chandelier up above, which is unlit, but it’s swaying slightly, as if something is making it move. As if something had been in this hallway, and some part of it is still here.

I check the hallway to my left. Those irregular steps leading up to the attic are all the way at the end of the hall, and I’ve been avoiding them like they’re painted with poison. But I notice that there’s a strange glow coming down the steps from something up above.

And then I remember when I was sitting out in my car and I saw that flash of peacock-blue up in the attic window.

My bare feet creak on the wooden floorboards as I walk down the hallway, toward the wonky alternating stairs. I’m going to get a splinter if I don’t put on some slippers, but that’s the least of my worries right now. All I can think about are the attic stairs in front of me, and that mysterious light coming from above.

When I get about halfway down the hallway, I stop. Something is wrong. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. I stand perfectly still, trying to figure out what is amiss. And that’s when I figure it out.

The ticking of the grandfather clock has gone silent again.

The realization is enough to make my blood run cold. I woke up at about 3:30, and Mick told me that the clock stops at 3:41 every night. Tonight is no exception.

I force myself to keep moving.

When I reach the foot of the stairs, I am suddenly hit by a horrible, almost overpowering stench. I didn’t notice it before, but it smells like something died here. And now it’s up in the attic, rotting.

Breathing through my mouth, I raise my eyes to find the source of that ominous glow. I was hoping there was a bulb in the stairwell, but that’s not it. The light is coming from under the attic door, although I could swear it was dark when I went to bed.

The steps are daunting, especially in my bare feet. Thankfully, there’s a railing I can hang on to as I carefully lay my right foot on the rightmost step, then pull my left foot onto the leftmost step. The steps are painfully steep, and if there weren’t a railing, I would almost certainly topple down to my death, but I manage to reach the top in one piece. I guess that proves I’m not a witch.

As I stand by the door, my blood pounds in my ears. I put my ear close to it, listening for crying or any other sounds coming from within. But I can’t hear anything.

It doesn’t sound like there’s anyone inside. Why would there be?

And yet…

I need to check it out. I need to see what’s inside the attic, and when it’s empty, then I can feel reassured that nothing is here. Somebody just left a light on or something.