Chapter 1 - The Laughing at 2:13 A.M.
The twins were laughing so hard they could barely hold on to the crib railing.
Sarah Bennett froze in the nursery doorway.
It was 2:13 in the morning.
No toys were moving. No music was playing. The night-light glowed dim blue across the room, and rain tapped against the tall windows of the Mercer house.
Yet eighteen-month-old Noah and Mia were standing in their cribs, bouncing on bare feet, squealing with delight at the dark corner beside the wardrobe.
“Hey,” Sarah whispered. “What are you two doing awake?”
Noah pointed.
“Mama funny.”
Sarah’s stomach tightened.
Their mother, Emily Mercer, had been dead for fourteen months.
Mia clapped her hands and looked toward the same empty corner. “Again!”
Sarah crossed the room fast and switched on the ceiling light.
Nothing.
The corner held a rocking chair, a basket of blankets, and an old brass heating vent near the baseboard.
The twins stopped laughing.
Noah’s smile disappeared first. His lower lip trembled.
“Where Mama?”
Sarah swallowed. “Sweetheart, Mama isn’t here.”
Both children turned toward the vent.
A soft sound came from behind it.
Three taps.
Sarah’s skin went cold.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
She lifted Mia from the crib and reached for Noah with the other arm. As she backed toward the hallway, the baby monitor on the dresser crackled.
Then a woman’s voice whispered through it.
“Don’t let Vanessa hear you.”
Sarah nearly dropped the monitor.
The voice was faint, broken by static, but unmistakably human.
She carried the twins into the hall and slammed the nursery door behind her.
At the far end of the corridor, a bedroom door opened.
Vanessa Reed stepped out wearing a silk robe, her blond hair perfectly smooth despite the hour.
Daniel Mercer’s fiancée looked at Sarah, then at the crying twins.
“What happened?” she asked.
Sarah stared at her.
Before Sarah could answer, Vanessa’s gaze flicked past her to the nursery door.
For half a second, fear flashed across Vanessa’s face.
Then it vanished.
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“You heard something, didn’t you?” Vanessa said quietly.
And Sarah realized Vanessa already knew.
