Page 162 of Sweet Nightmare

I’ve spent days in this estate and somehow never noticed an entire frozen lake practically hiding behind the mansion. Then again, I’ve spent most of those days trying to avoid Stephen, avoiding everyone else, and counting the hours until I could leave.

I look back toward the double doors and his voice is still there.

I could go inside.

I want to. More than I should.

But his closed doors are giving him somewhere the world can’t reach him. I know what that means.

So I stay where I am and I let him have his privacy.

Then I turn toward the window again.

My fingers curl around the edge of my sleeve.

His music may have brought me here but now it’s pulling me somewhere else. Somewhere I haven’t been since I arrived.

I look once more at Stephen’s closed doors.

“Goodnight, wanderer,” I whisper and then I walk away.

Not toward my room.

Toward the ice.

This isn’t something the sensible version of me would do. Unfortunately, that version seems to have disappeared since I arrived here.

I really should go to bed. Instead, I hurry back to my room and bundle up in black thermal leggings, thick sweaters, white socks, and my white winter coat. I put my hair up into a high ponytail before reaching for the one thing I never travel without.

My skates.

I run my fingers lovingly over the initials that are embroidered across the sides in silver.

A.V.

My mother has added them to every pair since I was little, replacing them whenever I outgrew the old ones.

It’s a small thing, but I’ve always secretly loved it.

Grabbing my skates, I slip out of my room and hurry toward the mansion’s back exit. The moment I open the doors, icy air rushes against my face.

Outside, tiny lights glow among the trees, their soft golden glow guiding me through the falling snow. I tighten my coat and follow them, my boots crunching beneath me. I don’t know exactly where the lake is, but I remember seeing it from inside the mansion.

I pause, glance back at the mansion, and retrace my route from the music room in my head. The hallway. The double doors. The distance to the edge of the estate.

Then I adjust my direction and keep walking. Snow gathers around my boots as I weave between the trees, Stephen’s piano melody lingering in my mind.

I don’t understand why I can’t stop thinking about it.

Then the lighted trees part.

I stop, breath catching in my throat.

The lake stretches before me, beautiful, vast and perfectly frozen.

Bright twinkling lights hang from nearly every tree surrounding it. Snow clings to the branches, turning them white and silver beneath the moon.

And speaking about the moon… above everything, she hangs low in the dark sky, painting everything silver, too.