Welcome to case closed. You're listening to The Shadow House by Anna Downs, narrated by Natasha Beaumont and the author. Let's pick up where we left off last week.

Alex, chapter 25.

The ground under my feet felt unstable, as if I were standing on the deck of a small boat.

She's real. The witch is real.

I took a shaky step forward. I couldn't see the witch's face, but I could see Amy's.

Beneath her blunt fringe, her delicate features were pinched. She was listening intently to what the woman was saying,

but her whole body was rigid, her hands clenched into fists, her eyes locked on the ground.

She looked so small. Her eyes locked on the ground.

She looked so small.

Feeling like I couldn't trust my own eyes, I blinked several times,

but this time the old woman did not shimmer and disappear.

I could hear her mumbling, a dry rattle like the tumble of dead leaves.

I took another step and another and another until I was standing close enough to hear the words.

They come in the night, the witch was saying,

Listen, you'll hear them. Voices, and footsteps.

Her hair was wet, plastered to her skull as though she'd been caught in a downpour,

but her raincoat, the color of mint ice cream, was dry.

It flapped in the breeze as she spoke, the lapels parting to reveal a long nightgown,

blue with little pink flowers.

They follow the path that leads to the sky.

Her voice was raspy and urgent as though someone had her by the neck.

A hill of grassy green, greengrass, a diamond moon, the bluish of blue skies.

...