Read The Shadowed Manse for Free Online Page B

triggered Arthur’s memory.
    “I have been here before,” he said.
    The shadow men screeched and beat against the door outside. The hinges rattled — the deadbolts groaned — the timbers bulged and creaked.
    “That door's not going to hold them for long,” Morgan said. “We've got to get out of here. Maybe there's a back door and we can slip away without —”
    “No,” Arthur said with certainty. “We'll be safe here.”
    “But the door,” Morgan argued.
    “It'll hold. The house came here for me.”
    The shrieks grew louder; the door quivered.
    “What makes you say that?” Morgan asked. “And how do you know it’s safe?”
    “I know this place,” he replied.
    There was a picture he kept in a drawer at home. In it, his parents were standing together with him, no older than two or three, perched on his dad's shoulder. A huge smile was plastered on his face. He had always thought the insect head over them was a trick of the light, because the picture was blurry and the colors were off, with everything a bit too green. He had been certain it was a deer's head, nothing more.
    Faint memories bubbled up, scenes that were little more than impressions: the giant fireplaces, the couches, the insect head on the wall, a shield embossed with a sunburst — the same one from the picture with his mother — a library packed with books, a room with toy guns and gleaming swords, a cat so big he could ride it, and a big wolf, too. He turned to the mantel on the right side. Sure enough, there was the shield, and a long, thin sword was mounted beneath it. Was there a room with toy weapons? Was there actually a cat and a wolf here that were so big someone could ride them?
    “I was here when I was little, before I was old enough to start school,” he said, “when my mom was still alive … before my dad left me with my grandparents. I didn't remember it before, but I do now. I think … I think this is my home.”
    A strong pulse thumped three times in his chest, like suddenly an extra heart was beating, a heart three times bigger than normal. The house began to vibrate and hum, as if the earth quaked beneath them. Bright colors swirled throughout the house. A wave of dizziness hit Arthur. He felt as if he were yanked upward, outward, sideward, and every-which-wayward — even into directions that he hadn't known existed until now. 
     

Chapter Five
     
    A Dark Gem Glitters
     
     
    For a few moments, Arthur felt like he was riding an out-of-control tilt-a-whirl at the county fair — but the sensation stopped abruptly, and he stumbled into Morgan.
    She shoved him away. “Get off me!”
    “I didn’t mean to!”
    “That’s twice you’ve run into me now. Do it again and —”
    “And you’ll what?” Arthur snapped. He held up his arm. “Burn me? Cut me? You don’t scare me, Morgan. You’re the least of my problems.”
    Morgan folded her arms and huffed.
    Arthur groaned, and then muttered, “I’m sorry I stumbled into you.”
    She made no reply.
    “Morgan, this is when you’re supposed to tell me you’re sorry for shoving me.”
    “But I’m not,” she countered.
    “I only stumbled into you because I was dizzy. It was like everything was spinning and bouncing. Did you —”
    “I felt it … and then I saw all these colors swirling around me … and then — and then you ran into me — again .”
    “Yeah, and just before all that started, it was like I had a second heart pounding in my chest.”
    She cocked an eyebrow. “Well, I didn’t feel that.”
    Arthur held out his arms as if trying to balance himself and closed his eyes. He pursed his lips, took a few deep breaths, and said, “I can’t tell if we’re still moving.”
    Morgan rolled her gray-blue eyes. “We can’t actually be moving. Houses don’t move, genius.”
    “They aren’t normally bigger on the inside either, are they? Have you noticed the shades aren’t pounding on the door anymore?”
    “Maybe they gave up.”
    “Maybe