65. Echo that shouldn't exist
The corridor lights hummed at a steady, unnatural pitch.
Maximilian stood perfectly still, staring at Eleanor's closed door — a barrier that suddenly felt far too thin against whatever intelligence had crawled through his house.
His jaw flexed once.
Then—
A sound.
Soft.
Familiar.
Impossible.
A lullaby.
Eleanor's lullaby.
The one she used to hum to him when he was a child — soft, soothing, threaded with warmth.
But this version was warped.
Like someone was pulling the notes apart and stitching them back wrong.
Like something had learned the melody… but not the meaning.
Max's breath turned slow, deep, dangerous.
It wasn't Eleanor.
Couldn't be.
She hadn't sung anything in years — not since her health declined.
Kyron froze mid-step, eyes wide.
"Sir… you hear that, right?"
"Loud and clear."
The lullaby drifted beneath the door, curling into the cold air like a silk ribbon dipped in shadow.
Then—
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Three knocks.
But from the inside of Eleanor's room.
Kyron jumped. "Sir, with all due respect—do NOT open that door."
Max didn't move an inch.
He didn't fear what stood behind that wood.
He feared what it might do if he hesitated.
The lullaby stopped.
Silence rang like a blade across the hall.
Then, a whisper — soft, childlike, dripping venom under sweetness:
"Maximilian… let me out."
Kyron's face drained of color.
Max's voice dropped into ice:
"That's not her."
The thing behind the door giggled.
Giggled.
A pure, delighted sound that didn't belong in a human throat.
"You came back home for me."
Kyron took a step back. "Sir—sir—this isn't good. We should reinforce. Seal the room. Bring the priest, the monk, the—literally anyone with holy water—"
Max didn't break eye contact with the door.
"Kyron."
"Yes—yes sir?"
"Get my siblings inside. Now. I want eyes on them every second."
Kyron nodded and bolted.
The whisper behind the door shifted — now pressing closer, the voice slithering through the wooden grain.
"Why are you running from me, Max…?"
---
Chloe and Aiden arrived in a rush, escorted by convoy.
Before Chloe could even step over the threshold, she froze.
Aiden slowed behind her.
Both felt it — that strange pressure, like the house wasn't just silent…
but listening.
Chloe whispered, "Max…"
He appeared at the end of the foyer, sleeves rolled up, expression razor-edged. He looked like a man preparing for war — not meetings.
Chloe rushed to him. "What happened?"
Max didn't sugarcoat it.
Not anymore.
"You felt something at college?"
Chloe nodded. Aiden added, "It touched her neck. And mine. Like a cold wire."
Max's jaw hardened.
"It's getting stronger."
Chloe's breath caught. "Is Mom—?"
"No."
His answer was sharp, immediate.
And then softer, because this was Chloe — not a soldier:
"She's alive. But she's not the one speaking."
Aiden swallowed hard. "Then who is?"
Max looked toward the south wing.
Kyron answered instead, stepping forward with a tablet shaking in his hand:
"The thing that's learning the house."
---
THE HOUSE REACTS --
As if responding to his words, the hallway lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then one bulb burst — a sharp pop echoing through the mansion.
Aiden flinched. Chloe grabbed Max's sleeve.
Kyron whispered, "Sir… it's—reacting."
Max exhaled, slow and deadly calm.
"Good."
Chloe stared. "Good?! Max—"
"Let it react," Max said. His tone was steel, his eyes darker than anything supernatural.
"It wants to play? It has my attention now."
A low rumble vibrated through the floorboards — not enough to shake furniture, but enough that everyone felt the shift.
Chloe's nails dug into his arm.
Aiden whispered, "Bro… that wasn't normal."
Max looked toward Eleanor's wing, eyes narrowing like a predator.
"It wants us afraid. It won't like what happens when I stop pretending."
---
Kyron cleared his throat, voice tight.
"Sir… I enhanced the corrupted footage. There's something you need to see."
He handed Max the tablet.
A frame from the corridor — distorted, grainy — but clear enough:
A shadowy figure, low and crawling, paused outside Eleanor's door…
…but its head was turned.
Facing the camera.
And its face — or what should have been a face — was nothing but darkness.
Yet two white pinpoints glowed inside it, like eyes that were
watching.
Waiting.
Recognizing him.
Chloe gasped. Aiden stepped back.
Kyron whispered:
"Sir… I think it knows you."
Max's response was calm.
Too calm.
"It's welcome to come find me."
---