She tried to move past Cody, but the fox snapped at her, fast and quick. Harriet jumped back, pressing herself against the wall.
“Oh!” Qi said. “That doesn’t seem like a very fun game!”
She was going to work it out any second. Harriet grabbed her elbow, guiding her past the snarling fox and down the last few steps to the basement door.
Harriet hesitated, unsure if she could actually do this. Then she caught sight of Norma, watching from the shadows. She mimed a pushing motion at Harriet, a fierce look on her face. Harriet’s hesitation disappeared.
Qi was still looking back over her shoulder at Cody. “Are you—?”
Harriet shoved her through the basement door. There was a flash of light as she passed through the barrier, and Qi made a small, frightened whimper. That was all it took for Harriet to realize that it was a step too far. How could she possibly have been considering sacrificing Qi too? She had to pull her out again.
Harriet reached through the door, but it was too late. The Tricksters were dragging Qi into the depths of the basement. She screamed, writhing to get free.
Harriet backed away, filled with horror, and bumped into Norma.
“Good girl! You’ve done so well for your granny!” Norma hugged Harriet to her chest, ignoring her stiff and unyielding reaction. “We’ll be safe now. You’ve done the right thing!”
This was a mistake. This was all a huge mistake.
FELIX
Kasper was staring at him with some new and determined expression, fingers looped around his wrists. He wasn’t speaking.
“Is everything OK?” Felix asked, wondering if he should go and fetch Rima.
“Felix.” Kasper said Felix’s name like it was a sacred word, savouring it on his tongue.
“What are you – what is—?” Felix said, but before he could make it to the end of a sentence, Kasper kissed him.
Felix let out a tiny, soft noise, and sunk into him, fingers clenching and unclenching against the muscle of his shoulders.
“Is this really happening?” Felix laughed.
“I think I’m finally ready. For this. For us.” Kasper kissed him again. Everything had changed about Kasper. He moved and spoke differently now. He was more alert and confident.
“You’re really ready?” Felix breathed out.
Kasper touched the side of his neck, rubbed his thumb over Felix’s eyebrow. “I am.”
Felix closed his eyes, and let Kasper kiss him. Something had made him brave enough to finally look back at Felix, to take the risk of trying this. He must be really convinced that Harriet was about to destroy them, if he was taking this leap now, of all times. After so many years of pining, he finally had Kasper all to himself. However much torment and pain Harriet had put them through, at least something was finally going right.
HARRIET
Harriet stared at Norma. “I don’t understand any of this. Why are you making me do these horrible things? Even now, after we’re both dead?”
Norma repeated, “I want what’s best for you.”
“No, you don’t. You never have! You just made me condemn someone to death, Gran!”
Norma folded her arms, gaze fixed distractedly on the basement door behind Harriet. She looked completely unconcerned.
A hundred little things twisted in Harriet’s memory, becoming knives instead of needles. Her whole life, her gran had been trying to control and hurt her.
Norma had never cared for her, not really. She didn’t love her like her parents had. Everything Norma did had a purpose. This was what she’d always been like, ever since Harriet was a child.
The time she had forced eight-year-old Harriet to eat peas, which she hated – that hadn’t been because she’d cared about Harriet eating her vegetables. It had been because she liked seeing her cry into her plate.
Refusing to take her to the doctor’s when she was sick.
Feeding her foul, inedible food until her stomach hurt.
Pinching and prodding her until she got her own way.
How had she never noticed that those weren’t things done out of love? Her parents’ love had been simple and kind, not filled with booby traps and trick questions and poison disguised as nectar.
If they hadn’t died, Harriet would only ever have seen Norma at Christmas. For the rest of the year, they would have been out of her reach in America. They’d been so close to getting away. It had been such terrible timing, that they’d died from food poisoning only weeks before leaving Norma behind for good.
It was an odd coincidence, actually. Her parents had usually been so careful with cooking properly. But by chance, on one night at Norma’s house, they hadn’t paid proper attention and had eaten slightly raw meat. By chance, that piece of meat had been product-recalled after a salmonella contamination. By chance, they’d died from it.
It was an awful lot of coincidences, to all happen in her grandmother’s house. Almost like they weren’t coincidences at all.
Harriet stared at Norma, who was still watching the basement door.
Had – could – what if Norma had been trying to make her mum and dad sick on purpose? She could have been desperate to stop them leaving, to keep them in England with her. One final act of control when nothing else had worked.
Had she poisoned them?
“You killed my parents, didn’t you,” Harriet said. It wasn’t really a question.
KASPER
“We should probably go and find the others,” Felix whispered eventually, resting his chin on Kasper’s shoulder. “We’ve got a lot to discuss.”
He spoke the same way he always had, but now it made a shiver run up Kasper’s spine. “Do we have to? I’m not ready to go back to dealing with the Stoker Family Monsters just yet.”
They were silent for a moment. Kasper noticed with satisfaction that they were breathing in sync.
“Are you gay, do you think?” Felix asked, his face still buried in Kasper’s shoulder.
That was the question Kasper had been dreading for years, but for the first time, it didn’t make him panic.
“I think I’m bi.” Kasper had never said that out loud before.
Everything about being bi had been scary to him. He’d been afraid that girls might not like him as much if they knew he wanted to kiss boys as well. He’d been too intimidated by LGBT culture to even start learning about it. He’d been sure that he would do something wrong and offend people, or say stupid things and become a laughing stock. He’d had no idea how to even try to be with a man, after only ever being with women.
He could still see all those reasons to stay in the closet. They made sense to him. But somehow … they didn’t matter as much any more. Who cared if he embarrassed himself, and every other gay ghost in the building disowned him? So what if no girl ever wanted to date him again? It wouldn’t change anything. Inside, he would always feel like this. Being true to himself had to be more important than avoiding those worst-case-scenarios.
He wanted to tell Felix all of that, but he didn’t have the words to explain. “It just felt like the right time to come out.”
“I’m really happy for you. I’m glad that you feel comfortable being who you really are. But – Kasper, there’s no pressure. There are other guys in the building, if you want to experiment. And you know you can come out without dating someone, right?” Felix’s face was still hidden against his shoulder, like he was avoiding eye contact.