“The Doom Statues” — Chapter 34

They awaken Tuesday morning to discover that Rebecca has painted her bedroom blue. But not just any blue, rather a particular shade which is meant to ward off ghosts. Without even hearing about what Jeremy and Emily discovered last night from that book, she had already reached the conclusion that there must be some sort of haunting at work, and took this preventative step.

“This is what’s known as haint blue,” she explains, “it’s a Southern tradition.”

“Hmm, well, if nothing else, it is kind of soothing,” Denise counters, though this comment has the opposite effect as intended, for Rebecca openly sneers at her.

On this day that manages to be both overcast and bright, they are hanging out in Rebecca’s room. Despite having every working window in the house wide open, to bloodlet the paint fumes, the aroma is still borderline headache inducing. It probably doesn’t help that the rooms on the south side of the second story have no windows, therefore the air flow isn’t fantastic. These would be one bathroom, a pair of installations including Rafael’s yarn maze, and then the giant walk-in closet housing The Collection in the southwest corner. Some air does presumably travel up and down the stairwells, which carve up the middle of the floor, but otherwise they rely on a breeze from what windows do exist — those found in the bedrooms, and one…