The trip towards the kitchen had only sped when Ari had started hearing other sounds coming from upstairs. It appeared that the others had not hidden themselves away very well. She'd eschewed the main staircase in favor of the back stairs that would lead right into the servants' wing of the estate. She'd get to the kitchen, then find more salt water -- there had to be more salt water, right? -- and if that didn't work, well...
She held tightly to her instrument; there were other methods. She wasn't exactly terrified -- she'd faced down her fair share of ghosts -- but she was surely unsettled.
How in the world had Aud managed to summon something so ridiculously creepy?
Thumping sounded from upstairs; just as she turned the last corner, someone came crashing down behind her and then a shrill, desperate scream sounded from the kitchen.
"Audrey!"
She was considerably less drunk now that adrenaline had set in; she was in the kitchen in the blink of an eye, and what she saw there had her narrowing her eyes. "Hey!" she shouted. This time, the doll's little head turned a full 180 degrees and the flat eyes seemed to bore into her.
I am not afraid of ghosts, Ari reminded herself. I am not afraid of ghosts.
"Let her go," she demanded with a bravery she didn't entirely feel. Her fingers tangled on the strings, but she was not about to be undone by some tiny doll, even if that tiny doll apparently had magic powers (and a very large knife). It was time to sing a Requiem.