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Jared twisted instair rails It held He reached for the next rail, and the next, yers, Kami reached out a hand as if she could catch it and hold it for hiic must have kicked in at the saers closed around it He swung hi steps, then launched himself down the stairs as the steps fell away almost under his feet

The last step collapsed just as Jared landed on the floor Karab hihtened," Jared said, his voice a little unsteady "Don’t be Wh-why are you frightened?"

She felt his uncertain reach for her, inside their e and love and relief at hihtened, you idiot! You alain! I know you like taking risks--I do too, but there is a line You are the most iain

Dust and splinters were in Jared’s hair He had a graze and a s his ar words spoken was a shock It s and especially their friends Angela and Holly were staring at the very interested but very uneasy about the fact that a silent conversation was going on before their eyes Under their gaze, Ka Jared’s eyes

"So," Holly said, trying to ss over as usual, "I see this house has a cellar Since the stairs just fell into it"

Kaht: there was a whole other level to explore She moved, Jared a step behind her He said in a low voice, "So, you like taking risks too?"

"I don’t recall saying that," Kami said "And you have no witnesses to prove I did" She went for the door on the other side of the hall and found another vast bare room In the far corner of the room, another, smaller door was tucked like a secret

Kaela said, "The stairs collapsed Which means this house is a death trap Why do ant to explore all the fatal possibilities of the death trap?"

The little door had a handle shaped like a sword hilt The coolopen without sticking Concrete steps led down into the lowest floor of Monkshood House

"What could be unstable about concrete?" Kami asked, and took a step into the dark She hesitated and Jared’s concern touched her mind, but the step held firm She took another step down, and then another

"Why is your first iela demanded The absence of the usual bite in her tone made it clear she was relieved

Ka each step with care, her hand pressed flat against a gray wall She heard the others following her She only breathed out, in a soft whoosh, when she reached the bottom of the stairs

It wasn’t a cellar It was a whole other floor In the di from the open door at the top of the stairs, Kami could see three doors in this rooh it

It was too dark to see much It was empty, like every other roolinting in a corner As she drew closer, Jared behind her, she saas an enor in a pale descent froe She stumbled and checked herself, then knelt

"Kaela asked from the door

"She’s fine," said Jared, just as Ka"

"You don’t need to answer for her," Angela snapped "She can talk"

"I’m aware," said Jared "I just knew she was fine So I told you I always kno she is"

The e shapes Ka the square sectioned off into four parts She was about to raise her head to ask for light, when faint greenish light touched theabove her with his phone lit up, pointing the screen helpfully doard

The rease Beneath the grime was a house on a hill, a host of trees, a woman’s profile like a profile on an old coin, and a square that looked eernail, a glea blue was revealed

There ords written in Latin beneath the pictures Kanized the Lynburnit: We neither drown nor burn

Kaernail Held under the phone’s light, they glinted brown and red We neither drown nor burn, the Lynburns said, but everybody died

She knehat dried blood looked like

Chapter Twenty-Seven