Page 45 of The Witch

“I shall return at morning’s light to bring you food,” he says. “In the meantime, I suggest you seek slumber.”

With those words, he heads in the direction of the stairwell. The light of his torch disappears up the stairs, as does the sound of his boot steps. The steps grow softer and softer, until finally, they are gone. He is gone.

I am all alone with Jonas Reeve.

33

PRESENT DAY

JULIA

The attic is musty.

Ethel claimed she had lost the key and hadn’t been up there in a long time, and the state of the room doesn’t contradict this. It is, as she warned me, a small and cramped space filled with cardboard boxes that look like they have seen better days. One of the corners of the ceiling has a large cobweb—no, scratch that, all of the corners have large cobwebs.

I’m not sure what I was expecting—a glowing apparition in the middle of the room? A disembodied sheet with holes cut out for the eyes? But there’s no sign of anything supernatural up here. Caroline Eldridge does not appear to be camping out in the attic. At least, not that I can see.

I do feel something though. I don’t know if there’s a crack in the ceiling, but there is a strange breeze going through the room. And even beyond that, there’s a presence in here. It’s the same thing I sensed when I was a little girl, and the same thing I have been feeling since I arrived.

Just because I can’t see it, that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything here.

Then I remember the ghost hunter app that I downloaded yesterday. I don’t hold out much hope for a free iPhone app, but I don’t have any better ideas, so I give it a shot.

My phone reception is terrible, but the app doesn’t seem to need the internet in order to work. I open it up, and a flashing radar appears on the screen. Two numbers flash over and over again at the bottom of the screen in bright red, although there’s no indication what any of these numbers mean.

One of them is “427238.” Another is “13352961.”

Okay…

There’s a second box on the screen titled “communications.” Communications from the dead? The screen is empty, which I suppose is reassuring. I watch the communication screen for a second as a mild breeze blows through the room. Just as I’m about to give up, a word appears in the box:

DRY.

“Dry”? Does that mean something? Is it something the ghost is saying or…or feeling? As I’m contemplating it, another word appears in the communication box:

CARROT

And now there’s an ad playing for some game where you give your avatar a haircut.

Okay, this app sucks.

I shove my phone back in my pocket and look around the attic, having decided that my eyeballs are a better tool than this ridiculous app. Like everything else in the room, the floor is covered in a layer of dust. But as I scan the floor, I notice fresh footprints in the dust, indicating that somebody has been here not too long ago.

But the strangest part is that the footprints don’t come from the door. They seem to appear suddenly and out of nowhere from the center of the attic floor.

I feel a sudden chill come over me. I raise my eyes, checking to see if one of the windows is open, but naturally, they’re all shut tight. I shiver, running hands over my upper arms, which are now covered in goose pimples.

I want to get a better look, but it doesn’t seem like there’s any light up here, which makes me wonder again about that strange glow coming out from under the door. I turn on the flashlight on my phone and hold it close to the floor.

I follow the footprints, which lead to a box near the window. Most of the boxes look like they haven’t been touched in decades, but this one is partially open, with smudges in the dust, which makes it look like it’s been opened more recently.

Gingerly, I open the tabs of the box. And when I see what’s inside, I take a step back.

It’s the peacock-blue dress.

I stare at the dress packed inside the box, my heart pounding. It looks very old—as old as the house itself—all stiff lace and tiny white buttons. Even though I don’t know what she looks like because I’ve never seen a picture of Caroline Eldridge, I imagine her wearing this dress and smiling at her reflection in the mirror. Was this dress one of her favorites when she was the mistress of Pemberton?

Is she still wearing it?