Chapter 31 – The House Tightens Its Grip
Nate’s Point of View
The darkness swallowed us whole.
For a split second, there was nothing.
No sound. No air. No sense of time.
Just an overwhelming, suffocating emptiness.
Then—
Emma gasped beside me.
A flicker of movement—shadows shifting in the blackness. The floor creaked, the air thickened, and somewhere—low, quiet—a whisper slithered through the room.
"She belongs to us."
I grabbed Emma’s wrist, pulling her toward me. “Emma—”
A gust of icy air slammed into us, forcing us back. The walls groaned, stretching like the house was breathing.
Then, just as suddenly—
Light.
A single candle flared back to life, flickering wildly on the farthest table. The dim glow revealed Edmund still standing in front of us, his dark eyes unreadable.
