The earthquake left a shiver running through Lyndhurst long after the tremor itself faded. The house had been still for decades, its walls accustomed to silence and secrets—so when the ground shook, it felt less like a natural phenomenon and more like the estate releasing a breath it had been holding for generations.
Nora felt it in her bones.
Demetri felt it like a warning.
Sasha felt it like a challenge.
And none of them were ready for what waited beneath the floor.
---
Abernathy’s flashlight trembled as he aimed it through the ragged break in the west cellar wall.
“Never seen anything like this,” he muttered, though his voice wasn’t entirely steady. The old man had lived through the Thorne scandals, the whispers, the tragedies. But even he sounded shaken.
Dust hung in the cold a
