Chapter 4

"I can't believe you'd be so irresponsible to just let him go off with strangers!" Reena yelled as Jessie opened her can of peach paint. Reena had been barking at her since she'd walked through the front door without Daniel in tow.

"They're kids his own age. He was having a great time, he's learning to adjust to this nightmare you've put us into. What more could you want?" Jessie set the can opener down and carefully pried the lid off.

"What I want is for you to watch your language, be more helpful around here, and try to be more responsible where your brother is concerned. Anything could happen."

Before Jessie could relieve Reena of her worry, Daniel came bouncing past them, whistling some simple tune. He took three steps back and poked his head in the door. "Hi Mom. I'm getting into my work jeans and then I'll be right in, okay?"

Jessie waited for him to close his door before she stood and faced her mother. "See? Nothing did happen, except maybe he had a good time. He's home, he met some kids who showed him around town, and, in case you care, I met a couple of kids my own age as well. So, all-in-all, I'd say it was a good morning." Jessie pulled her paint-splattered bandana out of the pocket of her peach-spotted overalls and tied it around her head.

This stopped Reena cold. Inhaling slowly, she asked, "Where did you meet these...kids?"

"At the head shop, mother. They were buying a bong while I waited for my weed to be de-seeded." Jessie shook her head in disgust. "I met them at the coffee shop."

"I don't find that amusing, Jessie, not one bit." Reena stood with her arms akimbo. "And I don't appreciate this fresh mouth from you."

"You can't keep harping on me about the dope stuff, Mom. I'm not interested in it anymore. That doesn't mean I'm going to turn into a librarian and hang out with the geeks. When are you going to get over it?"

Reena returned to stirring her Apricot Fantasy paint. Her light brown hair was streaked with the color. "You can't blame me for worrying. After all you've put us through-"

Jessie groaned. "Will you ever let it go or are you going to beat me up with it forever?"

Reena continued stirring her paint, and did not look up. "I'm trying, Jessie, but I'm a mother who trusted her daughter to do the right thing, not to move into the Land of Bad Decisions. That trust has to be rebuilt. All I'm asking is that in the future, could you tell us where you're going? Especially when you're with Daniel."

"I told you. We. Went. Exploring. There's no definitive place when one goes exploring. Don't you ever remember being a kid?"

"Of course I do, but I didn't wind up in juvenile hall when I was sixteen, either. My parents could trust me to go where I said I was going and do what I said I was going to do. Jess, I am trying to trust you, but you act like you've got a great track record, and you don't. You want trust you haven't earned yet. I know you're not happy being here, and the last time you were unhappy about something, you were smoking pot and getting in trouble. I'm sorry if I can't just let it go."

"So, until then, you're going to be suspicious of everything I do? I did my time, I suffered through community service, and I'm nearly finished with that horribly boring drug rehabilitation program you forced me into. Give me some credit."

Reena looked up at her. "I'm trying."

"Well, try harder. I'd rather eat a bullet than let anything happen to Daniel, and you know why? Because when the rest of the family tossed in the towel, he still believed in me. He's never done anything but like me for who I am. If it weren't for him, I'd have split from here the second you turned your back."

"I am happy to hear that you're planning on staying."

"For Daniel. He's made some friends. He's happier than I've seen him since we got here. I am not going to apologize for being a party to that happiness."

Reena nodded, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a ring with three ancient skeleton keys on it. One of the keys was so old it broke off in her hand. She handed that one to Jessie. "The three rooms at the end of the third floor all need to be taped off. The tape for those rooms is in the supply closet at the end of the hallway."

"What's this key to?"

"I don't know, but one of these other two keys is to the supply room."

Taking the rest of the keys, Jessie started up the stairs. She couldn't stop thinking about the term Money Pit. There was still so very much to do before her parents would even come close to starting to recuperate their investment. The floors on the third floor were terribly warped and needed replacing, the bathrooms needed new fixtures, new floors, new tubs, new sinks, and had to be completely gutted before any of those could be installed. The third floor was a mess, and although they could open with four bedrooms on the second floor by the end of July, that meant either halting construction or having four empty rooms until they could finish.

The Money Pit was, indeed, apropos.

The first key she tried turned out to be the master key to the bedrooms, so she placed this in her pocket. The second key she used to open the storage room. She wondered what the third key was for. It wasn't shaped like all the others, and felt heavier in her hand.

Stepping out of the storage room, she noticed a numberless door perpendicular to the storage room. "That's odd," Jessie mumbled. She hadn't noticed that door when she walked into the storage room. Why did it have no number? The other bedroom doors had brass plates with 3A, 3B and 3C on them, but this door had nothing. Just as she started to test her last key, her father's voice drifted upstairs.

"Jess, are you up on the third floor?"

"Yeah, Dad, what do you need?"

"Would you toss me down a package of rollers? I have the wrong size down here."

"Sure, hold on a sec." Setting all the keys down, Jessie grabbed a package of rollers and dropped them over the side railing, watching as her father caught them.

"Thanks, honey."

As Jessie started back to the storage room, she stopped cold. The numberless door was gone. "What in the hell?" Running her hand along the wall, she frowned. Standing back, Jessie saw nothing but wall. For a moment, she felt like she was stoned.

"Hey Dad," Jessie called out as she leaned over the railing. "How many rooms are on the third floor?"

"Three bedrooms and the storage room, and the shared bath at the other end of the hall. Why? Aren't you up there?"

"Yeah...I just...wasn't sure about the keys, that's all." Jessie stood in front of the storage room door for a long time. She knew she had seen another door, but a blank wall mocked her. As she stared at the wall, she suddenly made out the light blue eyes of Madame Ceara glaring intensely at her.

"I'm not afraid of you," Jessie whispered. Was this a flashback or something? What on earth was going on? "But I know there was a door here, and if I have to bash the wall in to find it, that's what I'll do."

Jessie grabbed the tape, deliberately not looking at the wall as she walked past it...but every fiber in her felt as if the wall had somehow looked at her.