56

ORCHID

Shortly after midnight we enter another clearing and there is the house, right where Frostgrave told us it would be.

What he fails to tell us, however, is just how colossal the place is.

The massive three-story structure sits atop a small rise, overlooking the chest-high mess of grass and weeds that fills the clearing where yellow fireflies flicker. It's the first time I've seen fireflies in real life.

The mansion itself is beyond antiquity. Its pale paintwork is peeling away like dead skin to reveal the wood below, and the shingled roof, which is sagging to one side, is sprouting tufts of grass.

It has definitely seen better days, but the structure is largely intact even after all these years.

Dog and I stood for a moment at the edge of the woods, just looking up at the pre-Cataclysmic house in awe.

More howls in the distance break the spell, however.

"Let's go," Dog says. “We need to go in.”

I start forward into the tall grass, but Dog's hand on my shoulder stops me.

"What is