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It had been the last time he had seen her

He couldn’t think about Kelsey or the past now He wasn’t the same; he was sure Kelsey wasn’t the same And the house certainly wasn’t the same It seemed like a shell, the bones of a family and happiness that had once existed

He owed it to Kelsey, though, to keep the miscreants and thieves away until she decided what she wanted

Two archways sat on either side of the stairway, one leading to the dining roo to an area that was a family room--in Victorian days, the fa room or parlor The fireplace was dual; a h it was seldom that the temperature went below forty even in the dead of winter, it could be cold in the dampness of the semitropics He had found Cutter in the rocker by the fireplace

He cast the light over the parlor It sat in still and brooding silence, boxes everywhere, the heads of long-dead ani with the dust

"Oh, God! Oh, God!"

The sound was coh the parlor and quietly continued, skirting boxes and crates and statues, until he reached the kitchen

He cast the flare of his flashlight toward the far wall even as a bloodcurdling screah the air

It startled and unnerved hiasped

"What the hell…?"

"Oh, ht illuers, as he had suspected

They looked like little Key deer caught in the headlights, staring back at him hite faces and terrified stares

"Yes, I’m alive," Lia here? You’re trespassing"

There were two boys and one girl It was the girl orked her jaw and gasped out, "There are things in here! Things! Horrible things, shadow ghosts, they touch you…they try to kill you!"

She had been hunched in terror against the wall She had a frying pan clutched in her hands She was dressed in capri pants and a tank top that left her sto, visible She was as skinny as a twig, e from her They both stood as well, and were each about an inch shorter than she was One of the a deep dish pan Strange weapons--gained from the racks that stretched out over the brick island in the center of the roorabbed the fire poker

"Sir! There’s so awful in here!" one of the boys said

"Awful!" the other repeated

"How did you get in here?" Lia "Please…please get us out of here We’ll never come back, never!"

"You can take us to jail--it will be okay!" the boy with the roller clutched in his hands told hie and panicked

"Look, just stay here, and I’ll check out the place and--"

"No!" The wail cahed "Look, if the door was open, soot to find whoever it is and--"

"No, oh, God, oh, no! You can’t leave us here! Please?" the girl begged

Liam pulled out his phone and called the station Jack, on the desk, answered the phone

"Get a car out to the Merlin place for ers"

"Sure Are you arresting them?" Jack asked

"No, I just want them taken hohts are down I need some backup"

The three teens were still huddled in front of hiirl was Jane Tracy, the boy with the roller was Hank Carlin and the last was Joshua Bell They had just come in as a prank

"You know, it’s like…it’s like a haunted house Like at Disney World," Hank said "We just wanted to have soet out? It can kill you, too, Officer, you don’t know…it’s terrible!"

"The Addams family…the Munsters…," Jane said "We just wanted to see They said he had all kinds of treasures… Can we just get out?" she begged again

He didn’t blaing utensils cast strange shadows in the glare of his flashlight, while a rocker by the fire seemed to move Dust ht, as well

"All right, co up behind hiht he’d trip, they were so tight against him

Scared They had scared thee; they had found one in the Merlin house