Free Hallow House - Part Two by Jane Toombs

hadn't gotten around to improving. When she opened the door to the third floor staircase she reached in to switch on that light. Nothing happened when she did. The bulb must be burned out, she have to tell Jose in the morning.
     
    Samara felt her way up the steps in the dark. Since the switch controlled the landing light as well, she was forced to grope for the knob of the south tower door. She'd started to turn it when the high pitched whistling sound began again, even eerier in the dark. This time, though, she could tell exactly where it came from--the room behind the black door. Impossible! The black door had been locked for years-- ever since Sergei died--and the lock on the door was new. No one could possibly be inside the room. Yet the sound continued.
     
    She wanted nothing more than to flee to the safety of her room but her feet seemed glued to the landing. She couldn't move or even think clearly. Huddled against the closed door of the south tower, she stared into the darkness.
     
    Fragments of remembered horror snaked into her mind. Sergei with his black candles--four because that was the devil's number. His strange chants, her fear of him and her helplessness to free herself of his domination.
     
    "Look at the candle flame, Samara, and listen to me. You're tired, you want to sleep, your eyes are heavy..." Sergei's voice in her mind, hypnotic, pervasive.
     
    No! He's dead, the dead don't return. The noise behind the black door is not Sergei's stolen skull talking to him. But still she couldn't move. Trembling in fear, she stood waiting with a dreadful anticipation.
     
    The darkness surrounding her seemed steeped with ancient evil, Sergei's darkness here with her again, unwelcome and loathsome. She shut her eyes to shut out the feeling of insidious invitation but she couldn't close her ears to the thin ribbon of sound.
     
    Who was behind the black door? Were the candles lit, was someone burning the unknown powders, chanting the alien words? She'd been inside only once, nothing Sergei could do could force her into that room again. Even hypnotism hadn't worked. Samara would stop on the threshold, in control of herself again, able to flee down the stairs.
     
    "You hypnotized yourself, the doctor had told her, the doctor Vera had insisted her father send her to. "Your brother only helped you along."
     
    Was that what she was doing now, hypnotizing herself into believing Sergei could be behind the black door waiting for her? To end her fear, Samara took a deep breath, then another and another. She forced herself to reach toward the black door, forced her fingers to grope for the knob, to try to turn it.
     
    The door was locked. As she backed away, she noticed the sound had ceased. Did that mean someone would come out of the room? Was there actually anyone inside or was she slipping into...?
     
    No, she was not mad. The doctor had reiterated his conviction she was not tainted with Sergei's insanity. The knob of the south tower door pressed against her back, so she turned, opened that door and slid into the room, leaving the door ajar.
     
    The moon was a thin sliver "holding water in the cusp" as Aunt Adele always said, so the south tower room was illuminated only by its faint light. It crossed Samara's mind that she'd been neglecting the two old ladies, but this was no time to worry about that. She peered out into the deeper dark of the landing. She had to know if the black door opened.
     
    She waited, fear urging her to flee to safety. She knew, though, if she didn't see this through, she'd never sleep well again.
     
    Was that a click? In her imagination she could see Sergei's hand turning the brass key in the lock... No, it wasn't the same lock, the key would be different. And Sergei was dead. Someone else had to be inside the room, using the new key, turning the knob.
     
    After a few moments though she could see nothing, she felt someone was now standing on the landing. She hardly dared breathe. What if