Chapter 12 - The Song in the Wall
Lily didn't ask where the music box came from.
When she walked down the stairs twenty minutes later, clutching her stuffed rabbit, her gaze locked onto the silver cathedral immediately.
"You found it," Lily whispered, her large brown eyes widening in wonder.
Eleanor stepped between the child and the counter, her posture stiff and protective.
"Found what, sweetheart?" Eleanor asked, keeping her voice artificially calm.
"The church with the music," Lily said, pointing a tiny finger at the silver box.
Arthur crouched down to eye level with his daughter.
His pulse hammered in his throat.
"Lily, have you seen this box before?" Arthur asked gently.
"The lady gave it to me," Lily said simply.
The kitchen went dead silent.
Outside, a raven cawed sharply from the high branches of the pines.
"What lady, Lily?" Arthur asked, fighting to keep the tremor out of his voice.
"The lady who lives in the basement at the old house," Lily said, tilting her head innocently. "She said when you married Mommy again, the music would start."
Eleanor gripped the edge of the kitchen counter so hard her knuckles turned white.
"Lily, that house burned down," Eleanor whispered. "No one was down there."
"She was," Lily replied with the devastating certainty only a child could possess.
Without waiting for permission, Lily reached past Arthur’s arm and wound the tiny silver key on the side of the music box.
The gears groaned inside the antique metal.
Then, the delicate, chilling melody began to play.
It wasn't a standard lullaby.
It was an obscure, haunting French tune—the exact song Eleanor’s mother used to hum before she vanished twenty years ago.
Eleanor stumbled backward, knocking a coffee mug to the floor.
May you like
It shattered against the tiles, dark liquid splashing across the pristine stone.
"Turn it off," Eleanor gasped, clutching her chest. "Arthur, turn it off right now!"
