Page 20 of Run to Ground
She followed Sam into the expansive room that bore no resemblance to her apartment’s tiny galley kitchen. There were numerous cupboards, although several of the doors were hanging cockeyed or missing altogether. To her relief, the appliances, as ancient as they appeared, did not require firewood or hand cranking or whatever else century-old appliances had needed to operate. The room was large enough to hold a good-sized table and chairs.
Her attention left the worn counters as she focused on Sam. “We can fix it up.” Pushing away the doubting voices in her head that were screaming at her, telling her that she had no clue how to even start, Jules tried to fake optimism. “A little paint, some…um, nails? It’ll be like…well, maybe notnewexactly, but better. Definitely better.”
“JuJu.” To her surprise, the corners of Sam’s mouth were twitching up again. “It’s p-perfect.”
No amount of fake cheer could keep her forehead from wrinkling in confusion as she glanced around the battered kitchen. “Perfect?”
“Yeah.” His smile grew, loosening the permanent knot in her stomach just a little. “Come on. We’d b-b-better get upst-st-st…up there b-before the kids claim the g-g-good b-bedrooms.”
She couldn’t stop herself. Rushing forward, she caught her brother in a hug. As soon as she felt him stiffen in her hold, she released him. “You’re the best, Sam-I-Am.”
His face flushed, he motioned her toward the hallway. “Yeah, yeah.”
There really were no “good” bedrooms. The upstairs was chopped into oddly shaped spaces with no apparent rhyme or reason. Several had slanted ceilings following the angle of the roof, creating areas where Jules, as petite as she was, couldn’t even stand upright. What they lacked in quality and size, however, they made up for in quantity. She counted six rooms—but no second-floor bathrooms, to her dismay. Sam followed the twins’ voices down the hall, disappearing into one room as Dee popped out of another and ran toward Jules.
“Jules,” Dee breathed, her face glowing. “There’sanotherupstairs. And you know how you get there?”
“How?”
“Asecret staircase!” Her dramatic whisper increased to a shriek by the end. Grabbing Jules’s hand, Dee hauled her to what appeared to be a linen closet. When Dee yanked open the door, an impossibly narrow stairway was revealed. “See?”
“I see.” Jules peered through the gloom that covered all but the bottom few steps. A shiver ran through her as she thought of all the things that could be lurking in the ancient attic—mice and bats and skeletons. Possibly serial killers. She fumbled just inside the doorframe. “Is there a light switch?” If not, there was no way she was squeezing herself into that narrow, dark space.
“Is there electricity?” Tio’s voice asked from behind them.
Jules turned to look at him. “Do you mean ‘is the electricity turned on’ or ‘is there any electrical wiring in this house’?”
“There’s electricity,” Dee answered for him as she reached to where Jules had been fumbling before. “See? It’s buttons, though, not switches.” The skinny staircase was illuminated by the harsh yet dim glare of a bare bulb. Jules exhaled with relief. At least there was power in this old wreck of a house. Dennis must be paying the bill. Would he expect her to change the bill over to her name? If so, it’d be the first test of her fake identity. Her throat felt like it was closing. Reaching up, she tugged at the V-neck of her shirt and coughed, trying to clear the imaginary impediment.
“W-what’s wr-wr-wr…” Sam’s huff of an exhale was short and impatient. “W-what’s the matter?”
Too late, she dropped her hand to her side. “Nothing.”
He just gave her a look and waited silently. Ty joined them, and all her siblings grew solemn as they watched her.
“Nothing,” she said with more force. “I’m just thinking of everything we need to do to make this place livable.”
“Beds,” Ty said. Jules held back a cringe. She hadn’t even thought about that.
“A TV.” That was Dee’s contribution.
“D-dishes.”
“A computer. Oh, and Internet.”
That’d be another test of her identity—andmore monthly bills.
“Food.” Ty’s voice held the same longing that Tio’s had when he’d mentioned the computer. “Soon, please. I’m starving.”
“A horse.”
She rolled her eyes at the last offering, trying to fight down her panic. After paying for their new identities, Jules had very limited funds to set up a household of five—four of whom were still growing out of their clothes. Her initial impression of the house was that it would take an enormous influx of cash just to keep it from falling down on top of them.
As if to underscore her growing anxiety, a heavy rumble of thunder echoed through the house. Jules shot a nervous look at the ceiling. If the roof was weather-worthy, she’d be shocked.
“C’mon, Jules,” Dee urged, tugging on her hand. “Let’s look upstairs.”
Deciding that whatever lurked in the attic couldn’t be worse than the worries that were multiplying in her mind, she allowed her sister to pull her up the narrow stairs. Each one creaked worse than the one before, and Jules’s stomach lurched with every step. She expected to fall through the ancient treads at any second, and she clutched Dee’s hand a little harder. The heavy clomping of the boys’ feet behind them made her cringe.
