Free The Girl On Legare Street by Karen White Page B

was my protector, and I navigated the house in peace as long as he was with me. Until I’d made the mistake of mentioning him to my father, who told me it was all in my imagination and that my visits to my grandmother’s would have to be limited if I didn’t stop talking about it.
    Even more than the fear of not seeing my grandmother, I was afraid that something might really be wrong with me. So I stopped seeking out my imaginary friend and instead stayed in the front rooms, ignoring the whispering of my name that called me to the back of the house.
    “I’ll stay here,” I said.
    Sophie appeared in the back hallway that led to the kitchen, rubbing her arms. “Not to ruin a sale or anything, but I think something’s wrong with the heat back here. It’s like twenty degrees colder than the rest of the house.”
    I met my mother’s eyes, then reluctantly followed her back to the kitchen.
    The space had been recently updated and, despite poor color palette and wallpaper choices, the design was solid as were the cherry cabinets and stainless steel appliances.
    “My guess would be that she used a decorator in here,” said my mother.
    Sophie nodded. “I know that for a fact because I remember being consulted on this job by the designer.” She pointed to the far corner of the room where a beautiful fireplace with an Adams mantel had once been and where a wall now stood with the mural of a longhorn cow painted on it.
    “Oh my gosh,” I said. “Even I think that’s sacrilege.”
    Sophie tucked a braid behind her ear. “I told Debbie, the designer, to leave the fireplace and just cover it up without damaging the woodwork. The mantel was kept intact and stored in the attic. But to remove the whole thing really would have been sacrilege. Hiding it was gross stupidity, but happily reversible gross stupidity.”
    My mother walked over to an open door across from the mural. “Let’s take these back stairs to see the upper levels.”
    “No.” The word came out before I could stop it. Both Sophie and my mother looked at me, but only Sophie’s expression held a question.
    “Her grandmother died falling down these stairs,” my mother explained. “But look, Mellie. They have hand railings on both sides now, so it’s safer.”
    I knew Sophie should hear the truth and I would tell her; I just couldn’t seem to get my jaw to work properly. I had never been on that stairwell without my protector, and I’d known either from him telling me or from sensing it myself that I should never attempt it otherwise. There was something up there at the top of the stairs. Something not of this world. Something evil.
    “I’ll stay here.” I started to back away and felt something gritty on the floor under my shoe. I lifted my heel and saw what appeared to be large grains of salt. Like sea salt.
    My mother walked toward me, her eyes searching my face. “You feel it too, don’t you? It’s always been here.” She stopped in front of me. “But it’s about to get stronger.”
    Sophie joined us, but we didn’t break eye contact. “What’s going on?”
    My cell phone rang, making me jump. Thankful for the distraction, I dug into my purse to retrieve it and saw it was Jack’s cell number. “I’ve got to take this. You two go on up and check out the other two floors.”
    Reluctantly, Sophie followed my mother up the stairs and I shuddered as I watched them go.
    “Hello?” I said into the phone.
    “Hi, Mellie. It’s me, Jack.”
    “I know. I saw your name on my screen.”
    I heard the smile in his voice. “So that means you never deleted my numbers from your cell phone.”
    “My bad,” I said, wishing he could see me roll my eyes. “And just because we’re speaking again, doesn’t mean we have to.”
    His tone changed. “I know. But I needed to tell you something important before you read it in the newspaper.”
    I stared at the kitchen floor, seeing what looked like a trail of salt crossing the ceramic tiles. With