CHAPTER 101

As her vision acclimated, she realized that the light seemed to be seeping in from below the edges of the walls. Kisa crouched down in front of her and moved her fingers along the wall. Every few moments, she thought she heard a voice. It might have been Reggie's, but it was too faint to be sure.

"I don't see a door," Beth whispered. The two of them searched, though Beth wasn't very helpful. There was enough light to make out very large objects, but that was it.

The wooden slats of the wall were relatively smooth. She ran her hands along it carefully, worried about getting a nasty splinter. What was even up here? Dark shadows loomed over her, and they were all covered in protective blankets.

Nearly on the opposite side of the light source, she found an odd seam in the wood and felt around it. It was a square shape not much bigger than a dog door. When she pressed on the middle, she heard a soft click.

The wall sprang open, and she found herself looking into a dark tunnel. A similar light illuminated the opposite end.

"Good job," whispered Kisa, which nearly made Beth scream in fright. "I'll go first."

Kisa fit easily down the tunnel, but Beth did not. Her hips smacked against the edges of the tunnel, and she had to crawl on her belly to get through. She tried to get on her hands and knees, but it made her butt bump against the ceiling.

Big ass, indeed. She scowled and continued forward. Her knees ached from contact on the hard floor, and she banged her knee more than once. The tunnel took a ninety-degree turn, and she found herself staring into what looked like a child's playroom.

This is how I and my big ass die, she thought as she moved into the space.

Kisa was crouched nearby, and she was holding a finger to her lips again.

It was cold, and the dust made her want to sneeze. The walls had been decorated with stick figure drawings that she almost immediately recognized as people who lived in the house. Boxes had been stacked to make a maze, and Kisa led her through it. She heard someone speaking, and immediately recognized Reggie's voice.

"I don't think that's how it's supposed to work," he said. There was a clacking sound, followed by something hitting the wall. "That isn't very lady-like."

What the fuck? Beth moved behind Kisa, who was peering around the corner. The room they were in was tall enough to stand, but something about the attic had Beth fully paranoid about discovery.

A small tea table and chairs had been set up. Reggie sat across from Jenny. In the other seats were the dolls that had once filled the house. Beth remembered that there had been plenty of them, and had wondered where they all went. It was eerie seeing them sitting there, almost as if the room was a small gladiator arena.

Along the opposite wall, Reggie's King's Guard of rats had spread out. Half of them were napping while the others watched. On the table, a board game had been set up. The room was lit with an electric lantern that hovered in the air over the table.

"Reggie?" Beth stood and moved around the corner. When the rat king turned to look at her, she noticed one of the pieces on the game board move while he wasn't looking. It was an old chess set, and the pieces looked like they were made of marble.

"Ah, Lady Beth, hello." He turned back around and gestured at the table. "We are just having a friendly game of chess." His nose and whiskers twitched, and he reached out and pushed the piece that had moved, a rook, back to where it had been.

The rook wiggled and then shot from the table. It bounced off of a stuffed bear, which clapped its hands excitedly.

"Doesn't look friendly." Beth crouched down next to them. Jenny was sitting on the other side of the table, her doll unmoving. "How are you supposed to win if she just removes the pieces?"

"Neither of us is playing to win." He let out a long sigh. "Jenny brought me up here when she discovered how down I was. Thought it might do me some good to get away for a bit. This room is where she used to hide back before she was welcome downstairs, so there are many toys and games to play with."

"It looks like a child lived here." As a rule, children's rooms hidden in attics were generally bad news, Beth thought. Especially in scary movies.

"Indeed." Reggie moved a pawn forward, putting Jenny's queen in jeopardy. Apparently, Jenny didn't like that move, because his pawn slid the rest of the way across the table and then fired through the air and bounced off the wall. "Jenny was once a child's toy, you know. She doesn't talk about it, and I know better than to ask."

"Your people should be safe," Beth told him. "We found out that the house has been locked away from the real world. It's what was happening when Murray was yelling out front."

Reggie watched as Jenny's knight moved five squares forward to take his bishop. He picked up the bishop and the knight and put them back where they had started, then turned back to Beth. "Do you really believe my people are safe?"

"I have every reason to think so."

Reggie let out a sigh that sounded more like a squeak. "This is good news, indeed."

"There's more, though." Beth filled him on everything else that had happened. While he listened intently, he paused every few seconds to look at the board and undo Jenny's attempts to cheat. Once Beth was finished, he contemplated her for several moments.

"These are dangerous times," he said, then turned back toward Jenny. He tipped over his king and held out a paw toward the doll. "I yield. You have won this day."