Chapter 1 - THE WALL THAT ANSWERED
Vanessa released Noah’s jaw.
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Lily stood against the wall with tears running silently down her cheeks.
The wine bottle remained in Vanessa’s hand.
And Noah could hear his own heartbeat pounding inside his ears.
Their mother was alive.
Vanessa had said it.
She could deny it later.
She could lie to their father.
She could call Noah unstable and Lily traumatized.
But Noah had heard the truth.
And judging by the sudden change in Vanessa’s face, she knew it too.
“You misunderstood me,” Vanessa said.
Noah stared at her.
“No, I didn’t.”
Vanessa’s smile disappeared.
“You’re a child.”
“I’m fifteen.”
“Exactly.”
She placed the bottle carefully on the table.
The movement was almost worse than if she had thrown it.
Vanessa was calm again.
And Vanessa was always most dangerous when she was calm.
“Take your sister upstairs.”
Noah didn’t move.
“Where is our mother?”
Vanessa walked closer.
“You should think very carefully before asking me that again.”
“Where is she?”
Lily grabbed Noah’s sleeve.
“Noah.”
He looked down.
His sister was shaking.
Not normal fear.
Something worse.
Her pupils looked strange.
Too wide.
Her face had gone pale.
“Lily?”
“I feel funny.”
Noah caught her just before her knees buckled.
“Lily!”
Vanessa didn’t look surprised.
That terrified him.
Noah lowered his sister to the floor.
“What did you give her?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying!”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“The medication Dr. Mercer prescribed is in her system.”
“The medication you keep making her take?”
“She needs it.”
“She needs our mother!”
Lily suddenly whispered something.
Noah leaned closer.
“What?”
Her lips barely moved.
“Three.”
Then her eyes closed.
Noah’s blood went cold.
Three.
The knocking.
He looked toward the wall.
Nothing.
Then—
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Vanessa’s face changed.
Only for a second.
But Noah saw it.
Fear.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
This time it came from behind the paneled wall beside the staircase.
Noah slowly stood.
Vanessa stepped in front of him.
“Take Lily upstairs.”
“What’s behind that wall?”
“Old pipes.”
“Pipes don’t knock in threes.”
“Noah.”
He moved left.
Vanessa blocked him.
He moved right.
She grabbed his arm.
“Enough.”
Noah shoved her away.
He had never put his hands on an adult before.
For half a second, the shock gave him an advantage.
He ran to the wall.
The mansion was more than a hundred years old, filled with carved oak panels and decorative molding.
Noah pressed his ear against the wood.
Silence.
Then a faint sound.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Someone was on the other side.
“Mom?”
Vanessa grabbed him from behind.
Noah twisted free.
“Mom!”
The scratching stopped.
Then came one soft knock.
Noah froze.
His mother used to do that.
One knock on his bedroom door every night before entering.
Always one.
Never two.
Never three.
One.
“Mom?”
A floorboard creaked behind him.
Vanessa was coming.
Noah turned and saw her reaching for her phone.
He didn’t know who she planned to call.
His father.
Dr. Mercer.
Security.
Maybe someone worse.
So he did the only thing he could think of.
He grabbed the wine bottle.
Vanessa stopped.
Noah didn’t point it at her.
He smashed it against the wooden panel.
Glass exploded across the floor.
Lily stirred.
Vanessa screamed.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Noah used the broken neck of the bottle to pry at the molding.
The wood cracked.
Vanessa lunged toward him.
He ripped harder.
A narrow section of paneling suddenly swung inward.
Cold air rushed out.
Behind the wall was darkness.
Not insulation.
Not pipes.
A passage.
Noah stared into it.
Vanessa stopped dead.
That was all the confirmation he needed.
He scooped Lily into his arms.
She was heavier than he expected, but adrenaline carried him.
“Noah, don’t.”
Vanessa’s voice had changed.
For the first time, she wasn’t ordering him.
She was begging.
Noah stepped into the passage.
“Come back!”
He pulled the panel shut behind him.
Darkness swallowed them.
Vanessa pounded on the other side.
“Noah!”
He carried Lily forward.
The passage was narrow and freezing.
Dust covered the floor.
Old electrical wires ran along one wall.
But beneath the dust were footprints.
Fresh footprints.
Adult-sized.
Someone had been using this passage recently.
Lily stirred against his shoulder.
“Noah?”
“I’m here.”
“Where are we?”
“Inside the wall.”
Her fingers tightened around his shirt.
“The knocking place?”
“Yes.”
They kept moving.
Behind them, wood cracked.
Vanessa was forcing the panel open.
Noah moved faster.
The passage divided ahead.
Left.
Right.
Then Lily lifted her head.
“Wait.”
“What?”
She listened.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
From the left.
Lily pointed.
“That way.”
They ran.
The corridor ended at a narrow staircase descending beneath the mansion.
Noah hesitated.
He had lived in this house his entire life.
He knew about the wine cellar.
The storage basement.
The old storm shelter.
But he had never seen these stairs.
They descended far deeper than the basement.
At the bottom was a steel door.
There was a small rectangular window in it.
Noah approached.
The room beyond was dark.
“Mom?”
Nothing.
Then Lily pointed toward the floor.
“Noah.”
An envelope had been pushed beneath the door.
Noah picked it up.
His name was written across the front.
His hands began trembling.
He tore it open.
Inside was a single piece of paper.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
His mother’s.
There were only seven words.
NOAH, DO NOT TRUST YOUR FATHER. RUN.
Behind them, footsteps started descending the stairs.
May you like
And Vanessa’s voice floated through the darkness.
“You should have listened to your mother.”
