Chapter 12 - Beneath the Foundation
The kitchen floor split along a line that had never been there before.
Mara pulled June away as the tiles slid apart, revealing a narrow metal staircase descending beneath the foundation. Cold white light climbed the steps.
Theo stared into the opening.
“We don’t have a basement.”
“You didn’t,” Evelyn answered from outside. “Not according to the plans.”
Mara refused to unlock the door. Instead, she called Agent Iris Ward, the federal investigator who had helped expose Helix North four months earlier.
The call connected, but Iris did not speak.
A prerecorded message played in her voice.
Do not trust anyone who remembers the silver coat.
Then the line went dead.
June walked toward the staircase.
“The humming is down there.”
Mara caught her hand.
“What humming?”
“The people whispering.”
Theo turned to Evelyn.
“What did you put under our house?”
“I didn’t build it,” Evelyn replied. “Mara did.”
The words struck harder than an accusation.
Mara remembered buying the house eight years earlier. She remembered the inspection, the renovation and the first night she and Theo slept there.
But when she tried to remember the basement wall, her mind became strangely blank.
From below came the sound of a child laughing.
May you like
It was June’s voice.
Yet June was standing beside her.
