Chapter 2

                                                                         The Whisper

Nell didn't sleep her first night at Haven House.

Not because she was afraid. Because she was listening.

Old walls breathe. And the walls of Haven House had lungs.

At two in the morning, footsteps came from the hallway. Soft. Deliberate. Not trying to be quiet  just used to moving in the dark. A door opened somewhere below her. Then another. Voices followed  too low to understand, but the tone was sharp. Angry.

A woman's voice.

Lena's voice.

Then silence.

At three in the morning, Nell heard something else.

A knock. Not on her door. On the floor beneath her. Three slow thumps, like someone hitting a pipe from below.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

She held her breath.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

She slid off the bed and pressed her ear to the cold floorboards.

A whisper came through the cracks. Hoarse. Desperate. A man's voice, rough from disuse.

"Don't trust her."

Nell's heart stopped.

"Don't trust any of them."

Footsteps in the hallway. Faster this time. A door slammed.

The whispering stopped.

Nell lay frozen until dawn bled through her window.

The next morning, Lena served breakfast in the common room.

Oatmeal with honey. Fresh bread. Sliced apples. Rue passed the plates without looking at Nell.

"Here," Rue said, shoving a plate toward her. "Eat."

"Thank you."

Rue snorted. "Don't thank me. It's just food."

Caleb sat across from her. "Did you sleep well?"

Nell thought about the whispering. The knocking. The voice telling her not to trust anyone.

"Yes," she said.

Caleb looked at her. His eyes said he didn't believe her. "Good," he said anyway.

Finn offered her the last piece of bread. "Here, Nell. You look hungry."

"Thank you, Finn." She took it and held it in both hands.

Rue rolled her eyes. "You're going to spoil her."

"She's not a dog, Rue."

"Could've fooled me."

"Rue." Lena's voice was quiet but sharp.

Rue muttered something under her breath and went back to her oatmeal.

Lena watched from the head of the table, stirring her tea, saying nothing.

But Nell noticed something. Lena's eyes kept drifting to the hallway. To the door at the end. The one that led down.

The basement door.

After breakfast, Nell explored.

She wandered the hallways, running her fingers along the cold stone walls. The house was bigger than it looked from the outside. Hallways curved in ways that didn't make sense. Stairs appeared where she hadn't seen them before.

She passed Rue's room. The door was open. Clothes covered the floor. Angry sketches covered the walls  wolves, eyes, cages.

She passed Caleb's room in the attic. Sparse. A bed. A chair. A single book. Like he was ready to leave at any moment.

She passed Finn's room. Stuffed animals. Glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. A small hole in the floor, covered by a rug.

She didn't look under the rug.

She kept walking.

At the end of the east wing, she found a door.

Heavy oak. Iron bands. A new lock.

The basement door.

Nell stopped in front of it. The air was colder here. She pressed her palm to the wood.

Don't trust her.

She tried the lock. Solid. The kind that needed a key.

She pressed her ear to the door.

Nothing.

She waited.

Still nothing.

She was about to walk away when she heard it.

A shift. A scrape. Like chains moving against stone.

Then silence.

Nell stepped back. Her heart pounded.

She walked away.

But she didn't forget.

That afternoon, she found Silas.

He was in the garden, sitting on an overturned bucket near the dead fountain. A small knife in his hand. A piece of wood in the other. He was carving something a bird, she realized. Small and delicate.

She'd met him her first night. He didn't talk. Someone had told her he couldn't. A scar across his throat explained why.

But his eyes were kind.

"Hey," Nell said, sitting on the ground beside him.

Silas looked at her. Nodded once.

She watched him carve for a while. The knife moved with careful precision. Wood shavings fell to the frozen grass.

"Can I ask you something?" she said.

He tilted his head.

"The basement door. At the end of the east wing. What's down there?"

Silas's hands stopped moving. He stared at her for a long moment.

Then he picked up a stick and wrote in the dirt.

Nothing.

"You're lying," Nell said.

He didn't deny it. He just looked at her.

"Why won't anyone tell me?"

Silas brushed away the word and wrote another.

Dangerous.

"The basement is dangerous?"

He shook his head. Then pointed at her.

Asking is dangerous.

Nell sat back. Her hands felt cold.

"Who's down there, Silas?"

He held her gaze for a long moment. Then he picked up his stick and wrote one word.

someone.

Then he stood up and walked back to the house, leaving Nell alone in the garden.

That night, Nell pressed her ear to the floorboards again.

She waited.

The house was silent.

Then …

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"You came back," the voice whispered.

"Who are you?" Nell breathed.

Silence.

"Please. I just want to know who you are."

A long pause. When the voice came again, it was softer. Weaker.

"Someone who's been here too long."

"Why are you down there?"

The chains rattled.

"Because I tried to leave."

"Leave where? Haven House?"

"This isn't a shelter, child. It's a cage."

Nell's blood went cold. "A cage for what?"

Footsteps in the hallway. Fast. Getting closer.

"Go," the voice said. "Quickly."

"Wait …"

"GO."

Nell scrambled back into bed just as the footsteps stopped outside her door.

The door creaked open.

Lena stood in the doorway, a candle in her hand, shadows dancing across her face.

"Nell? I thought I heard talking."

Nell's heart pounded. "Just talking in my sleep. Bad dream."

Lena studied her for a long moment. Then she walked into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. The mattress dipped under her weight.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. I'm fine."

Lena reached out and brushed a strand of hair from Nell's face. Her fingers were warm.

"You know you can trust me, right? Whatever you're feeling. Whatever you're thinking. You can tell me."

Nell looked into Lena's dark brown eyes. Warm. Patient. Motherly.

Don't trust her.

"I know," Nell said. "Thank you."

Lena smiled. She stood and walked to the door. Paused.

"By the way. The basement is off limits. Old wiring. Dangerous."

Nell kept her face still. "I didn't even know there was a basement."

Lena turned. Her eyes flickered gold. Just for a second.

"Now you do."

She left.

Nell lay in the dark, her heart hammering, her mind spinning.

Someone was down there.

Someone who had tried to leave.

Someone who said this place was a cage.

She didn't know who he was. She didn't know why Lena had him locked up.

But she was going to find out.