Prologue
It was Rhett’s idea that caused all the trouble.
All seven of us—the kids who’d been brought to Wildercliff Manor for the first week of summer vacation—were sprawled on the rug on his bedroom floor, the glow of a single bedside lamp casting long shadows that danced with every movement.
A pile of pillows and blankets created a makeshift fort against the darkness, and in front of us lay a mountain of snacks that the boys had stolen from the kitchen earlier in the night.
“So, this one’s like… a ghost that can make you hear all these crazy whispers,” Jake said, frowning deeply in an attempt to seem spooky. His face made me giggle instead. I’d known him since last summer, and he was too nice to be scary, no matter how hard he tried.
Samantha rolled her eyes, a chocolate chip cookie crumbling in her hand. “Ugh, that’s so lame,” she said.
“Yeah,” Rhett said stiffly. “I’m sick of ghost stories.”
“Me too,” Ari added, leaning forward to grab a candy bar from the haul in the middle of the rug.
“Well, what else can we do?” Benji chimed in, stretching his skinny legs out in front of him as he leaned back against the pillows. “It’s soooo boring here at night.”
“Honestly, it gets pretty boring during the day too,” Merritt said, raising a brow.
At eleven and a half, she was the oldest here, so I always listened to everything she said.
She was really cool, too. Not a snob like Samantha.
“The internet doesn't work, so I can’t watch anything on my iPad or play any games. And we already watched all the good movies here.”
“I know.” Samantha sighed. “Why do our parents make us do this every year?”
“It’s not that bad,” Jake said. He sounded annoyed. “It’s only for a week, and then we always go somewhere else really cool. Like the Bahamas last year.”
“But why can’t we just go straight to the cool place?” Samantha said, voice turning even shriller and whinier. “Why do we always have to come here first?”
“Wildercliff is cool!” Jake insisted, glancing at me. I could tell from his expression that he wanted me to back him up.
I hesitated, not quite knowing what to say.
I wasn’t from the same group as these kids—I was only here because my father worked for Jake’s father—so I wasn’t used to flying all over the world and visiting exotic places like the rest of them.
I definitely wouldn’t see a visit to this gigantic mansion as a boring, annoying thing that I desperately wanted to get over and done with, either.
It was one of the coolest things I’d ever experienced, and it was also the first time in my life that I’d visited the East Coast.
Actually… it was the first time I’d visited any coast.
I didn’t want to say any of that, though. The other kids would probably all think I was the biggest loser on the planet.
I shrugged in what I hoped looked like a casual way. “I guess the beach is pretty nice,” I said lightly, as if I didn’t really care all that much.
Samantha smiled sweetly at me, but there was something sharp behind it. “You live in St. Louis, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You’re so lucky,” she said. “There’s no real beach there, so it probably feels so cool for you to visit one. Not boring like it is for us. I mean, back at home we have our own private beach, and it just gets so old, you know?”
Benji nodded. “Yeah. It’s like, when you see something all the time, you just get used to it, I guess.”
I swallowed hard, knowing exactly what Samantha meant when she said I was ‘lucky’. It was code for ‘poor’, given all the other stuff she’d said over the last few days.
I didn’t like how she looked down on me that way, because I knew from school how people liked to pick on kids with less stuff, and I could always tell how horrible those kids felt about it.
It was stupid, anyway. My family wasn’t even poor.
My dad was the head engineer at his own company, and my mother used to be a doctor before she got sick last year.
We had a big two-story house on a big block of land.
We even had a swimming pool, and at my school, I was considered to be one of the ‘rich’ ones.
But compared to the kids around me now, my life back home felt small and inadequate. They all lived in mansions on huge estates with their own staff. One of the boys—Rhett—even had a private jet. His family could take it wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
As for Jake… this enormous, sprawling mansion was just a vacation home for him. That was probably why he got so defensive over it—because his family owned it. He didn’t need to, though. Anyone with eyes, apart from Samantha, would be envious of such a big, beautiful house.
“Maybe you can swap lives with Everly, then,” Rhett piped up, dark eyes narrowed on Samantha. “Seeing as you’re so jealous of her living in Missouri. I’ll even lend you the jet to take you there.”
The rest of the boys snorted with laughter, and Merritt giggled. Samantha pouted, but she didn’t say anything.
Up until this exact moment, I’d never liked Rhett very much.
The other kids had mostly been nice to me this week, apart from the occasional ignorant comments from Samantha, but Rhett wasn’t nice to anyone.
He always seemed angry, even when he was quiet.
Boys like that scared me, so I usually tried to avoid attracting his attention.
I was glad that he’d stuck up for me against Samantha’s comment, but I was also surprised it had happened. It wasn’t like him to defend someone. Then again, he might’ve only done it so he could have an excuse to be mean to Samantha.
He seemed to enjoy that—being mean. Even though he’d never actually said or done anything cruel to me, I’d seen him do it to the other kids a lot this week, so I always felt on edge around him, like I was just waiting for it to happen.
He turned his gaze to me and cocked his head. “Why are you here again? I forgot.”
For a stomach-twisting second, I thought he was asking me the question in a hostile way, like ‘Why are you even here? You aren’t one of us.’ But then he added another question, and I realized he was genuinely curious.
“Wasn’t it something about your mom being sick?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yes. She can’t take care of me right now, but my dad had to come here for work,” I said. “So Jake’s dad said it was okay for him to bring me here while they do… whatever they’re doing.”
“What’s wrong with your mom?”
I swallowed hard. I didn’t like to talk about this much. “Um… I was going to have a baby brother, but then she got sick.”
Rhett’s dark brows rose. “Oh, she’s pregnant?”
“No. She was. But something happened and she’s been sick ever since then,” I mumbled.
None of the other kids responded to that. They just stared at me with looks ranging from confusion to pity.
Finally, Merritt broke the awkward silence. “Okay, guys, no more whining about being bored. We have to cheer up Everly about her mom by doing something really cool. Right?”
The others nodded enthusiastically.
“More ghost stories?” Jake suggested.
Merritt rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, no. No more stupid ghosts!”
“I know what we can do.” Rhett abruptly stood, casting a commanding look over the rest of us. “We’ll sneak out.”
“Where? Down to the beach?” Ari asked.
“No.” Rhett sighed impatiently. “I mean out out. Like past the fence.”
“Our parents said we aren’t allowed to go past the fence when we’re at Wildercliff. Ever. It’s too dangerous,” Benji said, eyes wide.
“But there’s so much to explore out there. You can see it all when you fly in,” Merritt chimed in, folding her arms. “There’s a forest and mountains. More beaches, too.”
Samantha frowned. “How would we even get out? The gate’s locked, and the fences are too high for us to climb. Also, they’re all spiky at the top.”
“I might have an idea,” Jake said. He paused, waiting for every pair of eyes to shoot to him. “There’s old tunnels here. My dad told me about them last summer.”
“What?” Samantha’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“Yup.”
“Why didn’t you tell us there were tunnels?” Rhett asked, eyes flickering with annoyance. “We could’ve spent the whole week exploring out there.”
“Well… Dad told me they’re dangerous. I’m not supposed to go in them.”
“Why did he tell you about them, then?” Merritt asked, tilting her head to one side. “It kind of seems like he secretly wants you to explore them, right?”
“No.” Jake shook his head. “He only told me because he was worried I’d find one of the entrances by myself when I was playing outside. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d probably go in.”
“Do you really think it’s dangerous?” Ari asked.
Jake shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe. But I guess he just doesn’t want us to wander too far away from the estate, because we could get lost.”
“Okay, it’s settled,” Merritt replied, lifting her chin. “You’ll show us one of these tunnels, and we’ll go exploring.”
“Uh… one problem.” Benji waggled a finger. “Our parents might still be awake. They’ll totally see us when we go downstairs.”
Merritt nodded slowly. “Good point. We need to send a spy to check first.” Her brows knitted in a small frown as she hesitated. Then she turned to me. “Everly… it has to be you.”
My eyes widened. “Why?” I asked, voice coming out in a squeak.
“Because you’re only nine. You’re still so small and cute. If the adults see you, you can easily convince them you were just going downstairs for a drink. They’ll probably believe anything you say.”
“Also, you have all that long blonde hair,” Samantha added. “It makes you look like an angel. Totally innocent.”
“Um…” I bit my bottom lip, cheeks flushing hot as I felt the weight of everyone’s expectation pressing down on me. “Okay. I’ll go now.”
Heart beating fast, I opened the bedroom door and peered outside. The hall was dark and empty. I gave one last look to the others, and they all waved or gave me a thumbs-up.
Spurred on by my desire to impress them, I stepped into the hall and began to make my way toward the main staircase.