Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.

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"You didn't think that was the only entrance into the attic did you?"

Corrine asked as she led the way into one of the many other unused guest rooms.

I didn't deign to answer as I looked around this room. It had been many years since the last time I had been in this room. I couldn't even remember the last time someone had slept in it.

There was only one antique looking bed with matching dresser and one large, full-length, gilded mirror that hung snugly on the opposite wall. I looked around closely. There was a closet to my right I walked over to it, thinking the hidden door way would be there.

"Not there, mother...here."

Corrine said walking over to the mirror. She placed her right palm over the right side of the mirror frame and pressed down and released it. She pulled it open. I saw now that the mirror was on hinges... it was door. Thankfully the entry way was not as narrow as the other attic entrance, it was quite wide actually.

I followed her up the short staircase. The landing was a perfectly square, with two symmetrical hallways branching out on either side. The hallways were wide, allowing both Corrine and I to walk side by side. After a couple of steps, Corrine stopped and showed me a tiny slot. It was about five feet off the ground, a long thin rectangle. She gestured me to look through it. I bent down to look through the slot. I could see a room, with several desks...it was the school room that Malcolm had sent Corrine to, when she was a child I realized.

After I stepped back, Corrine slide the slot closed, turned to me and whispered

"From these two hallways one can see the entire attic, unnoticed. There is even another entrance to the attic over there." She said pointing to a small door further down as she continued,

"it opens into a large Armoire on the other side."

"When did he show this to you?" I asked, meaning her father.

"On my 12th birthday. He showed me this and told me he often watched me while I studied in the schoolroom. In his way he thought this was a compliment, to let me know how he liked to watch me. Every time I was in the schoolroom afterwards I always knew he was there." Corrine added with bitterness.

I almost felt sorry for her until I realized she was planning on doing the same to her own children.

As I was thinking I heard soft haunting music beyond the wall. I quickly looked back through the slot. The boy was pushing a now noticeably pregnant Cathy on a swing that they hung from one of the rafters. How could they look content now, I wondered. They were both doomed

"So you're planning on spying on Cathy to figure out when she'll be giving birth?" I asked on our way out of the hidden corridor.

"Perhaps, well I was thinking of inducing labor. Anyways, the reason I showed you this was because of the other entrance to the attic."

I waited for her to continue after she shut the mirror-door behind her again.

"What I plan to do after inducing labor is to wait in the corridor until she gives birth. That's when I need to you to go to their room and call Chris. Keep him occupied, tell him the twins are alive and are playing outside, I don't care. In the mean while I will go through this other entrance and get the child. Then we can seal up both entrances and never be bothered again."

Corrine finished with a maniacal grin on her face. Her plan did seem a little far-fetched, but plausible nonetheless, except for a couple of things.

"First of all Corrine, how do you plan on keeping them here much longer. I'm sure they've found a way out by now, if only by climbing out of the windows-"

Corrine laughed.

"Always so logical mother, aren't you? You're forgetting something though."

"Oh? And what's that." I sneered, how dare she act so condescendingly.

"Love."

I just stared at her. Love was the last thing present in this plan.

"Yes, love. The love that Cathy and Chris have for their twins will keep them here, I'll just have to go give them some hope that the twins are alive and will come back."

With that Corrine turned and left the room.

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Sorry it's so short, but I like to keep the same narrator for each chapter. So I just cut the longer chapter in half. Cathy's point of view next...