Chapter Twenty-Seven

During a Saturday search of the basement, Sonya, Cleo, Trey, and Owen discover a framed 1933 staff photograph with names, including Eleanor Gruder, confirming rich household history. They plan to restore and display crocheted linens and a treadle sewing machine, but the machine animates and nearly injures Sonya, signaling further supernatural hostility. Energized anyway, they map out a game room and additional displays.

As September deepens, Sonya orders equipment, starts a new client project, and embraces autumn around the manor. Cleo completes her autumn tree painting and worries over illustrations for a YA horror novel; Sonya’s detailed review reassures her they’re exactly right. The next morning brings a brief flurry and a calm apparition of Jerome by the shed, which comforts Sonya but alarms Trey as another sign of escalation.

Trey, sensing a mounting threat, argues for reentering the hostile room to confront Hester Dobbs; Sonya refuses, insisting the timing is wrong and that they must find Astrid’s portrait first. They agree on caution and on involving everyone when the portrait is found. Sonya then receives news that Ryder intends to hire her as a digital marketing consultant, further anchoring her commitment to the manor and community.

While Sonya works alone in the library, the atmosphere shifts: music cues turn ominous, cold spreads, fog creeps in, doors slam, windows darken, and the hearth flares. Hester Dobbs manifests, declaring Sonya’s time over. Dobbs hurls Sonya across the room, slams her into a bookcase and ceiling, and taunts her with threats of blood and torture short of death to avoid breaking the curse. Bleeding and suspended, Sonya clings to survival as Dobbs lowers her, promising to force her from the house.