Vault of Glass, page 8
“Maybe the Glass Vault has nothing to do with Maisie and Neven’s disappearances, but I have to know for sure. I want to go inside and investigate. If we don’t find them, if there aren’t any clues, then we leave it up to the police. I’ll understand if you want to wait in the car or go home. I won’t be mad, August.”
August reached over and gently pried her hands apart. He moved his other hand up to tenderly stroke the right side of her cheek. Her body heated, and her heart accelerated. Even though she couldn’t make out all the details of his face, she could see the sincerity in his smile plain as day.
“Perrie, you’re an idiot.” Her shoulders slumped at his words, and she started to move back from his touch, but he pulled her closer, refusing to let her look away. “But, I’m an idiot, too. I’m with you every step of the way. So, if you want to get out of the car, I’ll follow you. However, I must warn you that I’m no knight in shining armor. I don’t have any of those skills.”
She let out a loud laugh and dragged August to her, folding her arms around him. “Neither do I, August. Neither do I.”
Before releasing him, she stared at his face a moment longer than she should’ve, his lips mere inches from hers. Then she drew back because they needed to get inside the museum.
As quietly as she could, she stepped out of the car, except when they shut the doors. Even though they tried to close them as softly as possible, it sounded like a gunshot echoing down the entire street.
“Shit,” August said at the same time Perrie ducked to the ground. “Did you just crash to the cement and leave me in the open?”
With nonchalance, she popped back up from the hard ground, as if it had never happened. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She smiled, meeting him on the other side. “Let’s do this.”
Clenching the back of August’s shirt, Perrie followed him to the door while damp grass brushed against her ankles. Besides the sounds of their footsteps, they were surrounded by the uncanny melody of chirping crickets and croaking frogs.
Except for the small ball of light illuminating the porch, she couldn’t see anything. The tall wooden door came into view, daunting as ever. The same words were scrawled across the front:
Quinsey Wolfe’s Glass Vault
The job posting was no longer listed. In its place, it now read one word: Open. Yet, there were no hours of operation written anywhere.
She and August exchanged glances, giving each other a similar look of surprise. “So, I guess they’re open?” Perrie asked.
“Only one way to find out.” He shrugged.
The golden knob flashed under the light and Perrie reached to turn it. She gasped. Unlocked.
As she pushed the door open, no squeaky hinges greeted them, which wasn’t what she’d expected. She thought there would be darkness, but they were instead met with a row of lit lanterns hanging on the wall in a long and narrow hallway.
Perrie stilled, swallowing hard. “Should we keep going?”
“Yeah, or we can stand here all night and admire the hallway.”
“Good point,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “Guess I’ll go first.”
Quietly, she stepped inside. August followed suit and softly closed the door behind them. There was nowhere to go but forward. A musty smell filled her nostrils as she took stock of their surroundings. The walls on either side of them were decorated with red-and-gold leafy-patterned wallpaper, highlighted even more by the lanterns attached. The lanterns guiding their way seemed to float and move with the eerie shadows they cast around them.
Perrie listened for the echo of footsteps or distant voices, anything that would point them in Maisie’s direction. Nothing ... only the soft padding of their own footsteps against the flat blue carpet.
She and August walked side by side, like equal partners. At the end of the hallway, there was only one way to turn, a sharp left. August went first, gripping her hand and bringing them down the next hall covered in solid-gold tile.
This place was beginning to feel like a miniature maze because of the narrow halls leading them in a certain direction. She suppressed the urge to turn around and run away—back to August’s car.
I am not a coward. Maisie needs me. Ignore the voices in your head telling you otherwise.
Refocusing her thoughts, Perrie noticed the hallway had changed. These walls were blue with a gold trim dividing them. Instead of lanterns casting light, expensive-looking crystal chandeliers hung above them. The smell was beginning to remind her of an old library, except no books lingered.
“I’m starting to feel like this place is all hallways and no rooms,” August mumbled as he looked ahead. There was obviously going to be only one way to turn again.
“I just hope we run into someone soon,” she said.
Maybe, if they could find the owner, he would tell them how his building could vanish into thin air, or why their photos wouldn’t appear. Then again, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know any of those details.
“If we ever get out of these hallways.” August ran the tip of his fingers along the wall, barely touching the surface. Bits of dust floated off into the air.
They reached the end and their only option was to turn right. The flooring transitioned from tile to another flat carpet, but with a strangely unique Victorian pattern, containing threads of browns, golds, and oranges. Again, she noticed the walls had changed their pattern. The blue-and-gold wallpaper had become green, the deepest, most luscious shade of it she’d ever seen. It almost reminded her of the wrapping paper Maisie had used on her birthday present.
“Look!” she whisper-shouted. Up ahead, at the end of the hall, was an opening.
Perrie latched onto August’s arm and gripped it so hard she feared she might break it in half. He picked up the pace and she stayed attached like a baby sloth. As they got closer, she took a long, deep breath. The hallway spilled into a large room, and the first thing her gaze landed on was the shimmer of a thousand colorful glass statues. They were everywhere.
The room itself formed a complete circle and different displays were placed next to each other, one after another in the same fashion.
Perrie didn’t know what August was thinking, but she was both disturbed and enchanted. Everything in the room was made of glass or made to appear like it. She wanted to get a closer look, but she was planted in place by the warning signals going off in her mind. Ignore them. There was no one here, and unless they were hiding in the displays, then they were completely alone. Perrie’s hands shook when she noticed there was no other door, window, or way out besides the way they’d come in.
“August.” She hesitated.
“Yeah?” He attempted to move forward, but she grabbed his arm and yanked him back.
“Did you not notice the, um, lack of exits?” Her gaze continued to search for another way out, maybe even a trapdoor on the marble floor. There wasn’t one. Tilting his head, he scrunched his eyes, seeming to try to recall each one of their steps from the moment they’d come through the door.
“Well, now I do,” he said finally.
“This is too strange.”
He gripped his curls and scratched his head. “I couldn’t agree more. There also appears to be no one here.”
“Let’s take a look around then.” She took a cautious step to her left and August followed.
Maybe they were missing something—a secret door or clue that would tell them where to go next. Perrie was ready to believe anything, even the possibility there might be an invisible door. Maybe they would find someone. Maybe they could find this Quinsey person, if he even existed, so they could ask him about Maisie. Unfortunately, that was one too many maybes for her.
This museum was unlike anything she’d ever seen. The displays each contained frighteningly life-size glass statues with realistic, human-like characteristics. Perrie would never have known that glass could be molded to reflect life, both physically and in color. They were all made that much more unique by the precise coloration of the scene they were playing out. It was like they’d been caught in the moment, as if a photographer had captured them as the action occurred.
They were undoubtedly beautiful, but spine-chilling in the stories they were trying to tell. The displays were from some of the best horror films to date, historical events, and gruesome fairy tales.
Perrie came upon the display of a creature with long, distorted nails standing over the bed of his dreaming victim. The victim’s eyes were pressed tightly together and her mouth was crafted into a frown. She must’ve been having a nightmare and didn’t even realize the worst of it was about to come true.
Moving onto the next one, she studied a display with a wolf that was equal parts man, in shredded clothing, howling at the moon. Beneath him, Little Red Riding Hood was sprawled out on the ground with her red cape twisted and mangled like her body. Her eyes were left wide open. Unpleasant chills tingled down her spine and the hairs on the back of her neck rose.
What is this place? She shuddered.
Perrie and August walked in continued silence, his hand clasping hers. Neither of them could bring themselves to speak to each other, so she kept her eyes busy.
There were many, many more. They passed a display of kids with white hair and glowing eyes, a cemetery surrounded by ghostly figures, the witches of Salem ready for revenge, and then she halted. Frankenstein’s Monster was hard to miss in the menagerie. He faced the wall, back to her, so she was unable to see his expression. She maneuvered around for a better look at his kneeling figure. Stitches covered his glass body, mended wounds that would surely leave behind scars if he were a real person. The way he held himself told her he’d lost everything.
Perrie didn’t know why, but she felt sorry for him.
August led her away and onto the next display. These particular scenes she was familiar with, as they were all fairy tales, twisted to be obscure and obscene. Mother Goose ripping the feathers from her beloved goose, Alice setting fire to Wonderland, Hansel and Gretel eating the witch they’d cooked, Ariel halfway finished cutting off her own fin to become human, Pinocchio had sewn a suit of what appeared to be skin to wear over his wooden body, and plenty others that she couldn’t find the right words for.
A large sign in her peripheral vision caught her immediate attention.
Welcome to Sleepy Hollow
A glass girl knelt beside it with her hands over her face, as though she was crying. Behind the girl was the Headless Horseman mounted atop his horse, a long blade in his hand. Perrie looked to the right of her, finding the next display to be Jack the Ripper.
Perrie was about to walk toward it to get a better look at what was inside, when something tugged on the front of her shirt. She inhaled sharply and peered down. Nothing was there.
“August, I felt—” She tried to catch his attention, but he was focused on the Sleepy Hollow sign.
A strong force pulled her right leg and Perrie crashed to the floor, landing hard on her side. She quickly rolled to her stomach to get back up, but she couldn’t.
“Perrie!” August stooped down and grabbed her hands, but before she knew it, they were being dragged forward. He tried to yank her back, but the force tugging at them was too strong. It was almost as though an invisible wind was drawing them toward the Sleepy Hollow display.
“Please don’t let me go!” Perrie screamed at August. She didn’t know what was happening, but she did know she didn’t want him to leave her there.
His face was flushed red from attempting to haul them in the opposite direction. “I’m not letting you go! Just keep holding on to me.”
Perrie squeezed as hard as she could, but then another powerful rush of wind sent them crashing into the Sleepy Hollow exhibit. She was sure they would have to pay for whatever they broke inside this vanishing death trap. Closing her eyes, she prepared for the impact of body against glass. She’d been expecting to hit it hard, so when the wind ceased and she collided with soft grass, a gasp escaped her mouth. August fell on top of her, knocking her sideways.
“What the hell was that?” Perrie shouted and scrambled to her feet.
“No idea.” August shook his head and pushed himself up.
“We have to leave. Now!” Panic seeped its way through her, down to her bones.
“I’m with you”—he grasped her hand—“but how do we leave?”
His words caught her off guard. The exit of course! Except ... there was no exit. When she looked around them, they were no longer in the exhibit. In fact, they weren’t in the museum at all, and she had no idea where they were.
Chapter 10
Perrie and August now stood in a forest, surrounded by a fog so heavy she couldn’t see anything past the trees directly in front of them.
How are we not in the museum?
“You okay?” August poked her hand with his pinky, waking her out of her staring spell.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Chest heaving, heart pounding, she walked back in the direction they’d come from. Something thrust her backward before she could go any further. She shot August a confused look.
“What the hell?” August tightened his fists and took a few steps back, then jolted forward, hitting the wall of invisibility. As he bounced back, he caught himself before falling to the ground. It was as though there was a wall made of rubber in place of their exit.
Feeling dazed, Perrie shook her head to clear it before her gaze settled on August. “Hold on. What are you wearing?”
Forget the wall, what is with his ridiculous getup? He wasn’t dressed in the same clothing as before. August wore black trousers with a button-up black vest and a white collared shirt underneath. A long black coat swept around him, ending where a pair of tall black boots began. Besides the eye-catching quality of his ensemble, she had no clue what era it was even from. But it was old.
August eyeballed her and pointed at himself. “What do you mean me? What are you wearing?” Shuffling forward, he lifted a lock of her hair. “And when did you get curls?”
Inhaling sharply, Perrie snatched the strands from him and examined it. One long, curly hair twisted in her fingers. Dropping it, she quickly ran her hands over the top of her head and felt the newness of it.
What is going on? Seriously, she was in full-on panic mode as her hands trembled. She took a look at her clothing next, shocked to see August was right.
Perrie wore a long black dress with a big skirt and sleeves that came to her elbow. A layer of lace flared out at the ends and brushed the skin above her elbows. The bodice was cinched tight with decorative buttons trailing down her middle. She skimmed her hands up from her stomach to her neck where she could feel the collar squeezing her throat.
Never in her life had she been claustrophobic, but she was now with all these buttons. The dress almost dragged on the ground and she lifted it away to see her shoes. These shoes! They were charcoal gray, with pointed toes and skinny heels. Perrie had never worn real heels in her life! Actually, the last time was her princess dress-up shoes back in preschool—they didn’t count.
Even when Perrie had gone to the prom with August, she’d chosen flats over heels. Using caution, she took a couple steps and, thankfully, they weren’t as uncomfortable as they appeared. Shaking her head, she dropped the skirt to cover her feet. They needed to find Maisie and the last thing she needed to worry about were shoes.
“I don’t know why I’m wearing this, honestly. I sure didn’t have time to change or magically find these clothes in the one-second transition from where we were—to wherever we are now,” she snapped more to herself than August.
“I need a picture of this.” August reached for his pants pocket but realized he didn’t have any. He patted his hips and backside down. Nothing.
Their cell phones were gone. Her dad wanted her to have a phone for emergencies. Well, where was the damn thing when she needed it? Even the necklace August had given her had vanished. She was at a loss for words and it seemed August was, too. Perrie’s legs slowly carried her back to the barrier, while she held her arm out with her palm up and fingers spread apart, until her hand contacted the invisible wall. It was like rubber mixed with gel. There was no breaking through it. She pushed, clawed, and scratched as hard as she could.
Using her miming skills around the barrier, she first went to the left, then again to the right. August copied her movements until they realized they were practically surrounded. Their only option was to go in the other direction, toward the forest in front of them. She hesitated.
“I really don’t want to just sit here.” August sighed.
Perrie had no intention of sitting there and waiting for who knew what. This whole week had been a fucking mess, and this place was about to put her over the edge. She didn’t know where she was or what the hell was going on.
Is this a nightmare? Perrie pinched herself on the arm like they did in the movies to wake up. What a waste of time. All that did was make her arm hurt.
“We’re not going to sit here,” she said. “Let’s try going forward, since that appears to be the only direction to go.” There was little to see except bushes and trees, so she let nature lead the way.
August motioned her forward. “Ladies first.”
“Why thank you, August. Aren’t you just a gentleman? I’ll let you know if I see a werewolf in the forest so you can, you know, run first.” She smiled, lifting her skirt and trudging ahead.
Surprise washed over Perrie by the level of comfort in her pointed hiking shoes. Still, she wished she had on something more practical. Climbing over tree limbs wasn’t exactly a tea party.
“Let me go ahead of you then. Wouldn’t want anyone to mess up that pretty face of yours,” August said, reaching to move a tree limb so she could pass through. The long limbs were covered in green leaves, dotted in between with shriveled red berries that she was sure were poisonous.
