But tonight was different.
Tonight wasn’t a game. That much Kara knew.
“You need to stay here and wait for me to come back.”
“No!”
“Just for a little while.”
Kara shook her head. “I want Mama.”
“I know, but I already told you that’s not going to happen.”
“Why?” Panic welled in her heart. “You’re not leaving me here alone.”
“Just for a little while.”
“No!”
“Kara—”
“I’m not staying here. Why would you even say that?” Kara demanded.
“I just have to make sure it’s safe, okay—？”
“No, it’s not okay.”
“Then I’ll come get you. I promise.”
“Safe from what?” Kara cried, freaking. Anytime her siblings added an “I promise,” it was because they weren’t telling the truth. “You said there were bad people here. Who?”
“I-I don’t really know.”
“What’re they doing?”
“I’m not . . . I don’t . . . I’m not sure, but I know this, there’s something . . . something really bad, Kara.”
“What . . . what’s bad?”
“I don’t know.”
“And it’s here.”
“I . . . yes . . . please, just do as I say.”
Kara suspected her sister was dodging the truth. “Where’re Mama and Daddy?”
A beat. “Out.”
“Liar.” Why was Marlie lying to her?
“Kara—”
“What about Jonas and Sam and Donner?” Kara asked frantically. Her older half brothers. They’d all been here earlier. She’d seen them at dinner and after. Donner and Sam had been listening to music and playing video games, maybe even drinking, and Jonas, the loner, had been in his room practicing his ninja moves or whatever it was he always did. Sam had kidded him, calling him Jonas Joe-Judo. Which Jonas hated.
Marlie said, “Everyone’s gone.”
“Gone?” On Christmas Eve? That didn’t seem right. “Then what’re you afraid of?”
Marlie licked her nips nervously. Her voice was the merest of whispers. “As I said, there’s someone here. Someone else. Someone bad.”
“Who? How do you know?” This was crazy. “But you just said everyone was ‘out’ and now . . . You’re scaring me.”
“Good.”
“I want Mama.”
“I told you she’s not here!” Marlie’s voice was still a whisper, but there was an edge to it. Like Mama’s when she got mad or frustrated with Kara’s brothers. “Just listen to me, okay? You’re going to stay here for a little while, until it’s safe, and then I’ll come back and—”
“No!” Marlie was going to leave her here, in the middle of the night, all alone?
“Just for a while,” Marlie was saying again, but Kara was violently shaking her head.
“No, no! You can’t. Don’t leave me!” Frantic, Kara clawed wildly at her sister. Why was Marlie doing this? Why? At seven, she didn’t understand why she was being left. Alone. Here in this dark, horrid attic that smelled like mold and was covered in dust and probably home to spiders and rats and wasps and every other gross thing in the world. “I’m not staying up here alone, Mar—”
“Shh. Keep quiet!” Marlie’s hands tightened over Kara’s forearms.
“Please—”
“Listen!” Marlie’s voice was sharp. A whisper like the warning hiss of a snake.
She gave Kara a shake. Her fingers dug through the long sleeves of Kara’s pajamas.
“Ow!”
“Don’t say a word, Kara-Bear. Keep quiet. You hear me? I’m serious.”
“But you can’t leave me here.” Not in this cold, drafty space situated under the eaves of the cabin’s peaked roof. “I’ll freeze!”
“You won’t.”
This wasn’t right. Kara might be almost eight years old, but she knew this was wrong. All wrong. “You’re lying!”
Marlie gripped her forearm so hard Kara dropped the flashlight and it rolled down the steps. Marlie’s fingernails dug through Kara’s pajamas and pinched her flesh. “Damn it,” she swore. “For once, Kara, just do as you’re told.” And then she was gone, nearly tripping over the flashlight as she fled down the stairs.