Coldhearted (9781311888433) (2 page)

She’d shut her eyes and wrapped her arms
around her head, not wanting to see the terrible monster who was
about to kill her. Shivering, she waited for death, but the monster
didn’t slay her.

It seemed that Edie was meant to die another
day.

She finally lowered her arms and opened her
eyes. She saw a light, but it wasn’t from the chandelier above her.
It was the warm, beautiful sun with its rays extending through a
wide, open space. The front door that’d been shut and locked for so
long was now…open.

Not wasting time on the how and why, she flew
out of the house and hurried back to her car. When she was safely
inside, she turned over the engine, blasted the heat, and then she
looked back. The front door to Lockhart Manor was closed. That was
strange; she hadn’t closed it. There were no lights on inside the
house. No one was moving around in front of the windows.

The house was vacant.

She listened for the wail, the warning that
she’d heard before entering the house, but all was silent. Had Edie
imagined everything? She searched her pocket, found, and withdrew
her phone. The screen was lit, fully charged. Alive. She banged her
head against the steering wheel and started to cry.

I’m going crazy.

It was the only logical
explanation Edie could think of. No one had spoken to her. No one
had tried to hurt her. She’d imagined everything. It was only
normal, right?
Losing my parents like
that…so suddenly…my mind must have snapped.
She wasn’t thinking clearly anymore. She felt lost, adrift.
She wondered if she’d ever be found.

She yelped when her cell phone rang, and then
scolded herself for being so jumpy and stupid. She didn’t recognize
the caller, but answered anyway.

“
Hello?”

“
Edwina St. John?” a
pleasant female voice greeted.

“
It’s Edie,” Edie
corrected.

“
Oh, Edie, this is Principal
Jennings. I was calling because I was worried. Your uncle gave me
your number. You and I were supposed to meet before first period,
go over your schedule, a quick tour, et cetera.”

Edie almost cursed, noticing that the time
was well after eight.

“
Sorry,” Edie apologized. “I
got lost. Still am, actually.”

“
Oh, no, don’t apologize.
Where are you now? Any landmarks? Signs?”

“
Um…” Edie looked for a road
sign, but couldn’t find one. “I don’t know. I’m in front of
Lockhart Manor, if that means anything.”

“
Oh, that old place?”
Principal Jennings let out a chuckle. “That’s way on the other side
of town.”

Edie shrugged even though the principal
couldn’t see. “Like I said, I got lost. I’ll be at school as soon
as I can. I’m going to look up the directions on my phone. What’s
the address of the school again? Ashbourne Lane or something…?”

“
Oh, don’t you worry about
that!” Principal Jennings said. “You just stay there. I’ll have
someone come by in no time and escort you to the
school.”

“
Uh, no, Principal
Jen—”

“
No, no, no! Don’t worry,
Edie! I’ll have someone there in a jiffy. Sit tight.”

“
Uh, okay,
thanks.”

“
Keep warm! See you soon!
Bye!”

“
Bye,” Edie returned, and
then ended the call.

Great. Now she had to be escorted to the high
school because she couldn’t find her way there. How humiliating.
Well, she had no choice and settled in, waiting for her rescuer to
arrive.

She was shivering, despite the furnace that
she’d lit inside her car. She wrapped her arms around her chest,
and rocked back and forth, trying to forget about what’d happened
to her—or what hadn’t happened to her—inside Lockhart Manor.

Edie was sure that she was having a psychotic
breakdown.

Yet, at the same time, she had a very bad
feeling that she wasn’t alone, and prayed to God that she was
wrong.

Chapter 3

Edie was staring at Lockhart Manor, obsessed,
when she heard a vehicle approach beside her.

She turned and had to look up. The guy in the
red pickup had his window rolled down and motioned for her to do
the same.

“
Hi,” he greeted, after
she’d lowered her window. “Nice car.”

He was very sweet-looking with dimples and
thick, brown hair.

“
Hi,” she greeted back,
feeling her cheeks flush, but not from the car’s heat. “My uncle
bought it for me,” she informed next, referring to her brand new
white BMW with black wheels. “Are you my escort?” she
asked.

He smiled, showing off his dimples even more.
“Yep, I’m your knight-in-shining armor.” Then his smile faded.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you’re some
damsel-in-distress.”

Edie shrugged, not taking offense. “No big
deal.”

He brought back his smile. “Yeah, well, some
girls get touchy about that. Think us guys are saying they’re
helpless or something and need a man.” He shrugged, unable to
decipher the modern female. “Anyway, I’m Mason, Mason Fenwick.
You’re Edwina, right?”

“
Edie,” Edie corrected
him.

“
Edie,” he echoed back.
“Welcome to Grimsby.”

“
Thanks,” she muttered, and
shivered at the cold blast of air entering her car.

“
Not used to the cold, huh?”
he observed correctly.

“
I was born down south. This
is like...” She trailed off, waving a hand at her surroundings, and
then continued, “Siberia or something.”

Mason chuckled at her comparison, finding it
silly. “You’ll get used to it,” he assured her with a warm
smile.

Edie noticed that he wasn’t as bundled up as
she was. No hat. No gloves. No scarf. He was wearing a sweater
under a coat, and he didn’t even seem to be that cold. No
shivering. No teeth chattering. He was very relaxed.

She liked Mason and thought Grimsby wasn’t so
bad, after all.

Suddenly, there was a gurgling sound, as if
someone were coughing up blood. Mason started making frantic
movements inside his truck, but he wasn’t hurt; he was trying to
keep his truck cranked up. It didn’t work. It died, silent.

Mason cursed. “Sorry,” he apologized to Edie.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with it. I just had it serviced.”

Edie gave Lockhart Manor a
wary glance.
The ground’s cursed, I know
it.

“
No signal,” Mason said,
checking his cell phone. “What about you?”

Edie checked hers. The signal was strong. “Do
you want me to call someone?” she asked. “A tow truck?”

Mason sighed and drummed his fingers against
the steering wheel, thinking. “Well…if you don’t mind, you could
drive me back to school. I’ll show you the way. Later, I’ll have
someone come by and get the truck.”

Edie smiled. “So now I’m rescuing you?”

Mason chuckled. “It seems that way.”

He got out of his truck and shut the door,
not bothering to lock it, and then he came toward her car. Edie
moved her backpack behind her, so Mason could sit in the
passenger’s seat.

“
Ooh, nice,” he commented,
sliding in. “But hot.” He closed the vents in front of
him.

“
Sorry, I’m not used to the
cold,” Edie reminded him.

Edie adjusted the fire that she’d started,
turning down the knob, just a little.

She couldn’t drive shivering. They’d never
make it to school, but a ditch instead.

Mason said, “I bet if you were to stay here
long enough, you’d adapt to the cold.” He seemed anxious. “Are you
planning on staying in Grimsby for a while?”

Edie shrugged. “Well, I’m a senior and I
guess I’ll be going off to college after graduation. I don’t know
where but probably somewhere down south.”

Mason’s face fell, disappointed. “Oh, well,
maybe you’ll change your mind.”

“
Maybe,” she said, not
committing either way.

At her “maybe,” his face lit up. He smiled.
“Yeah, think about it. So why’d you move here if you don’t like the
cold?” he asked.

Edie hesitated, and then said, “My…my parents
died and I came here to live with my uncle. I had nowhere else to
go.”

Mason was wearing a
sympathetic frown. “I’m sorry about your parents.” Then his frown
turned up into a smile. “I’m a fan of your uncle,” he said,
explaining his abrupt change in mood. “I’ve got all his
books:
The Demon’s Bride
;
A Vampire’s
Vengeance
;
Washington’s Werewolf
;
I, Ghoul
;
The Ghosts of San Jose
...”

Edie let Mason go on, not really listening,
just staring at his face, so handsome.

“
Edie?”

She blinked. “Huh?”

Mason smiled again. “I said: which story of
your uncle’s is your favorite?”

She bit her lip, and then said, “Well, I’ve
never read any of his books. My parents never let me, said they’d
give me nightmares.”

“
Well, you could borrow mine
sometime, if you want. I mean, unless your uncle has copies
around.”

Edie shrugged again. “I’ve never thought to
ask, but if I were to go looking for one, I’d probably be buried
under a pile of garbage.” She smiled crookedly, embarrassed. “My
uncle’s kind of messy.”

That was an understatement. Her bedroom had
been the only clean room in the house when she’d arrived.
Everywhere else had papers, books, unopened mail, empty cigarette
packs and spilled coffee stains. So…on her first day in Grimsby,
she’d cleaned. Her uncle never said if he’d appreciated it or hated
it. They lived on opposite sides of the house. Her side was very
bright, welcoming. His side was very dark, oppressive. She guessed
that he needed a dark environment to work in. You couldn’t be a
successful horror writer if you sat in the sun all day.

Mason reached over for Edie’s cell phone.
“May I?”

“
Okay,” Edie said, handing
it to him.

She leaned over and watched as he entered his
name and number in her contacts list.

“
There,” he said, after he’d
finished, and handed the phone back to her.

The device was hot in her gloved hand.
“What’d you do that for?” Edie asked.

Mason let out a chuckle. “A guy has never
given you his number before?”

Edie blushed. “No.”

“
Well…I’ll be your first,
then. No pressure. Just call if you want to come over, grab a book.
Or talk, whatever.”

Edie smiled. “Is everyone in Grimsby as
welcoming as you?”

He smiled back, but then immediately frowned.
“Unfortunately, no, but you have your bad apples everywhere,
right?”

Edie could see in his hazel eyes that he was
thinking of someone nasty in particular. She nodded in agreement
and didn’t probe about this mystery person.

“
So…I guess Principal
Jennings must’ve really trusted you to come and get me.”

Mason smiled. “Yeah, she knows I’ll come
back.”

“
I’m sorry about your truck.
If I hadn’t gotten lost—”

Mason cut her off with a dismissive wave.
“Don’t worry. It’s an old truck, bound to happen. So…” He thumbed
at the mansion in the distance. “How’d you end up here?”

“
Do you know this place?”
Edie asked instead, feeling curious, despite her fear.

Mason shook his head. “I mean, I knew it was
here, but this is an old part of town and no one really travels
down this way. It’s just the woods and…nothing.”

Edie felt a cold finger travel up her spine
and shivered.

Mason’s wrong. There was definitely something
here.

“
Do you know anything about
the people who used to live here?” Edie asked Mason. “The
Lockharts?”

“
Nope. The house has always
been vacant.”

“
No one’s bought
it?”

“
It’s never been for sale,
as far as I know.” He gave Edie a concerned look. “Why? What
happened?”

Edie shook her head, not wanting to scare
away the one good person she’d found in Grimsby. “Nothing. It
just…looks creepy, don’t you think?”

Mason appraised the house, the grounds, the
woods, and then turned back toward her. “Yeah, I guess if you were
out here alone. At night,” he added, and she knew from his relaxed
tone that he wasn’t as scared as she was.

Or maybe I’m just one big scaredy-cat. Edie’s
cell phone rang, causing her to jump. Yep, she was definitely one
big scaredy-cat. She looked at the display and noticed it was the
same number that’d called her before.

“
Hey, Principal Jennings,”
Edie said. “We’re on our way now.”

“
Oh, good,” she said. “I was
starting to get worried. I feel better now. See you
soon.”

After Edie had said goodbye, she ended the
call and turned toward Mason. “Does she treat all new students this
way?”

Mason shook his head. “I think it’s because
you’re famous.”

Edie grimaced. “Me? Famous?”

“
Well, the niece of a famous
uncle,” he amended. “Grimsby’s nothing to boast about, but we have
an international bestselling author, who’s made this town his home.
Puts us on the map, I guess.”

“
Does…does everyone at
school know who I am?” Edie asked nervously.

Mason nodded. When Edie groaned, he clasped
her hand, and said, “Don’t worry.” He massaged her gloved hand; his
was hot to the touch. “Jeez, you’re cold.” He let go of her to open
up the vents that he’d closed earlier, and then turned them in her
direction.