by P. J. Night
Cora threaded her way through the animals until she reached a long hallway. The lights weren’t up all the way, but she could see four closed doors on each side. A smallish stone lion was poised to spring outside the first door on the right.
Cora knocked on the heavy door.
“Evan?”
There was no answer. She knocked again, then pushed the door open.
The room was dark and empty. Evan wasn’t there.
Maybe he was just late? But no, he’d left that note for her. Maybe he was in the garden. Cora didn’t love the idea of going out there at dusk, but waiting in this empty room might be worse. She could hear slow footsteps overhead. Was one of Evan’s bosses coming downstairs?
It’s okay for me to be here, Cora reminded herself. Still, she didn’t feel like meeting either of the Metaxas sisters without Evan.
Well, she had come to see Evan, and she was going to see Evan! Squaring her shoulders, Cora walked briskly down the hall and out the front door.
It wasn’t dark out yet, but the day was winding down. The statues in the garden looked pale and ghostly in the half dusk. Cora was glad there was a flashlight on her phone if she needed it. If it got dark, she didn’t want to be passing by those silent stone figures alone.
Standing by the entrance gate, she called Evan’s name. The garden was silent except for the song of one drowsy bird somewhere.
Cora tried again. “Evan?”
Wherever he was, he didn’t answer. So Cora took a deep breath and walked into the garden.
It was a quiet, windless evening—but all around her Cora could hear rustling and what sounded like murmurs. It’s just birds going to bed, she told herself firmly. Or squirrels.
Or the statues coming to life.
Stop, Cora ordered herself. If she wasn’t careful, she’d start thinking she was surrounded by giant spiders. Everything was fine!
No one’s hand had grazed her shoulder just then. No one was breathing. No one was whispering. No one suddenly stopped whispering when she walked by.
“Evan?” Cora called in what she hoped were clear, ringing tones.
There was still no answer. But when Cora turned the corner, there he was.
He was sitting cross-legged on the ground, staring with dull eyes at the empty pedestal where the Perseus statue had been.
“Evan! I’ve been looking everywhere for you! How could you not have heard me?”
Evan gave a start and jumped to his feet. “Hey, Cora! Where’d you come from?”
“From the museum,” Cora said. “You weren’t in the conference room, so I thought you might be out here. And so . . . here you are,” she finished lamely.
Evan rubbed his eyes. “What time is it?”
Cora checked her phone. “Quarter after six.”
“Wow. I’m really sorry! I—uh—it was getting stuffy inside, so I came out for some fresh air. I guess I must’ve dozed off.”
“Dozed off? Sitting up with your eyes open?”
Even chuckled weakly. “I don’t know. I was thinking about a lot of things.”
“I guess so,” said Cora. “I called your name three times and you didn’t answer.”
Evan gave himself a little shake as if to pull himself together. “Can I get a do-over? I’ll go inside and wait for you. Then you can come in and find me.”
Cora couldn’t help laughing. “That’s okay,” she said. “I don’t mind going in together.”
“I’m sorry. And I’m also starving. Let’s heat up the pizza before we do anything else,” Evan said as they crossed the lawn. “It’s in the office kitchen. So I got one thing right, anyway.”
Cora was relieved to see that the little kitchen was delightfully normal-looking—not sparkling clean, but at least it wasn’t filled with stone alligators. Evan had already put the pizza on a baking sheet. Now all he had to do was put it into the oven and get two sodas from the refrigerator. Then they sat down to wait for the few minutes it would take the pizza to heat through.
“I have kind of a weird question,” Cora said. “You didn’t, um, come to my school on Thursday, did you?”
Evan looked surprised. “Of course not. Why?”
“It’s just that I thought I saw you looking in the door of my English class.”
“What? That’s impossible. I have geometry class then. Anyway, why would I do that?”
“I don’t know! I said it was a weird question.”
“Maybe you dozed off,” Evan suggested teasingly.
That was probably what had happened, Cora knew, especially with how little sleep she’d been getting lately. But now something else was nagging at her. What was it? Something Evan had just said. Cora tried to retrace her thoughts. Weird question . . . dozing off . . . English class . . . geometry—geometry! That was it. I have geometry class then, Evan had said. She hadn’t told him that her English class was first period. How could he have known that it took place at the same time as his geometry class?
“Evan,” she began, “how did—”
But just then the timer went off. “Pizza!” said Evan happily. He pulled the pan out of the oven and set it on top of the stove with a flourish. “May I offer you a slice? And a paper towel? We don’t have any plates. I don’t think we have a knife, either. We’re going to have to pull this pizza apart with our bare hands, like cavemen.”
In all the finger burning and ouching that followed, Cora forgot what she’d wanted to ask.
“Here are our supersecret, superimportant documents,” Evan announced. He and Cora had finished eating; now they were back in the conference room. “Well, not documents, and not secret. Just invitations to the unveiling. How about if I fold them and you put them in the envelopes?”
“Sounds good.”
Cora and Evan had had so few actual conversations that she felt self-conscious at first. But somehow it was easier to talk when her hands were busy. The two of them chatted for an hour without a single awkward pause. At one point Cora heard the footsteps overhead again. “Is that one of the sisters—I mean, one of your bosses?” she asked.
Evan nodded. “They don’t get out much. Sometimes they’re up all night. They live here, remember.”
“Don’t they ever come downstairs? To the kitchen, for instance?”
Evan shook his head. “Not all that often, actually. Only when they’re in their office down the hall.”
“So will we go upstairs when I meet them?”
“Meet them?” Evan put down the invitation he was folding. “Why would you want to do that?”
Cora didn’t quite know what to answer. “You said they were going to be here, so I guess I assumed I was going to meet them. You work for them—wouldn’t they want to know who you’re bringing in?”
“Not really. They’re busy with other stuff, especially the new statue. They don’t have time to get to know anybody. Not right now, at least.”
“Yes, but—well, it just seems strange—you’d think they would want to meet another kid who’s volunteering for them.”
“They wouldn’t,” said Evan shortly. Head down, he began to fold another invitation.
“But I thought you’d said they’d be ‘glad to see fresh blood’ or whatever.”
“I’m not so sure that’d be best right now.”
“Then why did you ask me here? We can always hang out at the pizza parlor or the movies. I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me—maybe we should . . .”
Now Evan looked up and met her gaze. “I wanted to see you,” he said simply, “and I can’t get out of working here. So this was the best thing I could think of.”
“Evan, what do you mean? You’re a volunteer—you can leave any time you want to!”
But Evan just shook his head. “I can’t, but it’s too hard to explain.” For a second he looked sad, but his face brightened quickly. “Anyway, who wants to talk about work?” he said more cheerfully. “What’s your favorite movie?”
In a few minutes they were talking at full
speed again. The box of invitations emptied out; the box of stuffed envelopes filled up. At about eight o’clock, they were done.
Evan leaned back and stretched. “It feels good to have that done! Thanks for helping. I would’ve been here forever without you.”
“It was fun,” said Cora sincerely. “I almost wish there were more envelopes to fill.”
“I have to put up fliers on Monday,” said Evan. “I’m supposed to put them up at the high school and middle school, plus around the neighborhood there. Want to give me a hand?”
Cora was about to agree immediately, but something held her back. A strange thought had just floated through her mind: Careful! But what could be wrong with hanging out with Evan in broad daylight? “I think I’m free—I’ll let you know,” she said.
“Someone’s picking you up at nine, right? How about a walk in the garden until then?”
“How about a walk not in the garden?” asked Cora. “We’ve been here for a long time. Couldn’t we walk around the neighborhood instead?”
“Sure! I’ll go grab my backpack.”
Alone in the conference room, Cora checked her phone. Nothing major. She remembered that she still hadn’t given Evan her number. Would it seem too pushy if she did—too much as if she was pressuring him to call? She’d have to get Hailey’s opinion on that.
She stood up to stretch and push aside the blind so she could look out the window. No fog tonight. A brilliant moon was rising over the sculpture garden. In its light the statues looked alert, almost on guard, as if they were watching or waiting for something. With a slight shudder, Cora turned away.
She looked back at the empty doorway impatiently. Now what was keeping Evan?
When Cora replayed the last words he’d said to her, she realized that he hadn’t mentioned coming back to the conference room. Had he expected her to meet him by the front door once she gathered her things?
She peeked out into the hall. Evan certainly wasn’t there. Cora sighed. Which would be worse—waiting forever alone or walking through the dark, gloomy house in search of him? Probably waiting.
As soon as she stepped into the hall, Cora heard a strange hissing. It wasn’t terribly loud, but it sounded menacing somehow.
A fly? No, too loud.
Did a gas leak sound like anything? Cora had no idea. She wasn’t even sure what gas leaks were. But she knew they were dangerous. What if Evan had passed out somewhere in this big house?
The doors in the hall were still closed. But at the farthest end Cora could see a crack of light under one of them.
Cora was certain that the hissing was coming from inside that room.
She walked reluctantly down the hall. But when she reached the door, she couldn’t make herself knock. Over the hissing, she could hear what sounded like two women. They had weird accents and a strangely formal way of speaking. They had to be the Metaxas sisters.
Cora didn’t want to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t help overhearing them.
“He must be certain to deliver Andromeda,” one of the women said.
“If not, we can merely put him back. Our people are so easy to keep in line.”
The first speaker let out an ugly cackle. “True, sister. Which is perhaps why they always remain with us.”
Now both women were cackling. At the same time, the hissing was growing louder. Whatever a gas leak was, Cora was pretty sure it wasn’t what she was hearing. Besides, she hadn’t heard Evan’s voice in there. Now that she knew the sisters were on the first floor, did she dare run upstairs?
She took a deep breath to steady herself—and immediately began coughing. Some of the dust that was everywhere must have caught in her throat.
“Who is there?” called one of the women sharply.
Feet were heading heavily toward the other side of the door. Cora turned to run.
But before she had taken more than a couple of steps, a hand from behind clamped hard across her mouth. Someone grabbed her; Cora kicked and twisted, but her assailant was much stronger than she was.
She was being dragged away into the looming darkness of the terrifying old house.
For the second time since Cora had met him, Evan said, “It’s just me!” But this time he was talking as quietly as he could. “Don’t scream,” he murmured. “I had to make sure they didn’t run into you.” He took his hand off Cora’s mouth. “Are you okay?”
“I will be, when you let go of me!”
“Oops. I didn’t realize—” Evan still had one arm tight around Cora’s waist. Now he let go of her. “The supply closet was the closest place,” he said. “Sorry it’s so dark.”
Cora never imagined that someone could move as fast as Evan, especially when he was pulling her along with him. It wasn’t as if she were a giant, but Evan had dragged her around the corner and into this closet so quickly that it had almost seemed like flying. Now they were standing in the dark. The crack under the door supplied only a dim line of light. But Cora’s eyes were gradually getting used to the dark, and she could see that Evan had his ear pressed to the closed door.
“I don’t hear anything,” he whispered. “They must have gone upstairs. Let’s get out of here. We’ll use the side door.”
In a few seconds they were outside, where even the sculpture garden seemed like a relief. When they reached the steps and sat down, there was a long silence. Finally Cora spoke up.
“What was that all about? Why did you tackle and drag me away instead of letting me meet your bosses?”
“You don’t understand. This wasn’t the right time! They’ve both been in terrible moods all day,” Evan said.
“Evan, are you doing something you shouldn’t by having me here? I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
And I don’t want to get myself in trouble either, Cora thought.
“No! No, no! Really, no,” Evan said. “No way,” he added for emphasis. “Bringing you here is exactly what I should be doing. Because I want to see you as much as I can. It’s lonely on the days you’re not here, when it’s just me and those two—” He gave an exaggerated, cartoony look over his shoulder to make sure the sisters weren’t watching them.
Cora started to feel better. Evan really did like her as much as she liked him. And although the evening had been a little weird, it had still been romantic. Here on the front steps, in the dim glow of an overhead lantern, she was sitting next to someone who might be her boyfriend. . . .
But even in this mood, she remembered that strange hissing noise.
“Before you did your Superman thing and dragged me away, I heard this hissing sound from the room where your bosses were working. Do you have any idea what it was?”
“Hissing?” Evan stared at her. “I don’t know what you mean. Did it sound like a teakettle? They keep a plug-in kettle in their office.”
“This was nothing like a teakettle,” Cora said.
Evan shrugged. “Must have been the radiator, then. Steam heat hisses a lot, especially in old houses. Just another weird thing about this place, I guess.”
Was there anything normal about this place, besides Evan? Cora was almost glad she’d be going home soon. She didn’t want to leave Evan, but she was definitely eager to put some distance between herself and the creepy old house.
Cora woke up early on Sunday so that she could get all her homework done before her friends came over. She had promised to tell them about her evening with Evan, and she didn’t want any assignments looming over her. It was a good thing she had gotten a head start, because Hailey, Amber, and Skye showed up almost an hour early.
“How did it go?” the three girls chorused before she’d even let them into the house.
“And hi to you too!” said Cora. “It was fine, but I wasn’t expecting you yet. Did I get the time wrong?”
“No,” said Hailey, unconcerned. “We just couldn’t wait one more second.”
“Well, you’re going to have to wait for a couple of seconds,” said Cora as the girls tramped into the hous
e. “I have one more page of Spanish homework.”
“Homework!” wailed Amber. “You can’t do your homework when you have headline news!”
“Besides, it will make us feel bad for not having started ours,” put in Skye.
But Cora was firm. “I’m not going to forget about school just because I have a—” She stopped. Evan wasn’t exactly her boyfriend—not yet, anyway. “I’m going to get my Spanish done,” she hurried on, “and then I’ll tell you everything.”
“And that’s everything,” she finished, filling in the girls half an hour later. “Basically we stuffed envelopes and had pizza. And talked a ton.” She had decided not to mention the hissing-and-closet adventure. It was too bizarre to explain, and besides, she didn’t want the girls thinking Evan was some kind of weirdo.
“It’s all about how you stuffed the envelopes,” said Skye. “It could be businesslike.” She squared her shoulders and spoke in the gruffest voice she could manage. “‘Ms. Nicolaides, I need these to be ready by nine p.m.’—like that. Or did he give you big meaningful looks while he was folding the invitations?”
Cora couldn’t help laughing. “No, but he did pass me some paper towels very romantically.”
“Evan wouldn’t talk about how lonely it is without you if he didn’t like you,” Hailey announced. “If he didn’t really like you.”
“And he said he wants to see you as much as he can!” added Amber. “A boy wouldn’t say that if he just wanted to be friends. It would be asking for trouble. So you asked him to the dance, right?”
“Well, not quite. I’m going to, though. . . .”
Amber rolled her eyes. “Cora, don’t waste any more time! Just do it! After what happened at lunch last week, everyone in the eighth grade is expecting to see you at the dance with Evan.”
“What Cora needs is to rehearse,” said Hailey. “Cora, pretend I’m you and you’re Evan.’’ She began talking in a high squeal that sounded nothing like Cora’s voice. “Evan,” she squeaked, “would you like to go to the dance with me?” In her normal voice, she added, “Now you say what you think he’ll answer.”
