The town of Arthur 's Wake was dying . At least , that 's what Jamie 's dad always said . The man tended to wax philosophical when he was drunk , which was often . Jamie would silently sit at the dinner table and listen to the man ramble on about how things had been different when he had been growing up , how back then an honest day 's work actually got you something . Jamie 's mother would sit quietly at the other end of the table from his father saying nothing , gaze firmly fixed on an empty space six inches in front of her face , only stirring to refill plates or glasses or to clear the dishes . Many days her unmoving , hollow eyes were ringed with various shades of purple and yellow . On those they weren 't , the bruises were simply hiding , concealing themselves in places less visible . Once last year his father had been in a particularly black drunk . Profits at the factory were down . Rumor had it that the foreman would be releasing a handful of workers by the end of the week and Jamie 's dad reckoned he might be one of them . Jamie had lain in the bedroom he shared with his brother staring at the ceiling for as long as he was able , tears quietly streaming down his face , listening to the shouts through the thin walls accompanied by heavy thumps and soft moans . Finally , unable to bear the sounds any more he got out of bed and retrieved his little league bat from where it rested in the corner . He made it to the door when he felt a small hand tug on his pajama sleeve . Jamie pulled his sleeve from Lester 's grip and gave him a slight shove , enough to knock him back onto the bed . The little boy sat there , pitifully sobbing as Jamie slipped through the door . Noiselessly he crept down the hallway towards the living room holding the bat cocked the way his coach had taught . Jamie carefully poked his head around the corner , eyes growing wide at the scene that unfolded before him . His father stood in the middle of the room a half empty beer can in one hand , his belt in the other . His mother cowered in the far corner , hands held feebly in front of her , one eye already swollen shut . A red rage overtook Jamie , the emotion more powerful than anything he 'd felt in his young life . In that moment he made the decision to kill his father . He held his breath , stalking ever closer as the man took a long pull from his drink . Whether he was warned by the slight widening of his wife 's good eye , or through some devilish intuition , Jamie 's father turned just as Jamie raised his weapon . Screaming in anger and frustration Jamie swung as hard as he could , only to have the bat plucked from his hands as easily as a child pulling the wings off a fly . They drove to the hospital in silence save for Lester 's quiet sniffles from the back seat . Jamie 's arm had to be set and put in a cast . The break was clean so the doctor assured them it should heal without any issues . They also tightly wrapped his chest in medical tape , though fortunately his ribs were just cracked and bruised , not broken . Jamie lay lightly dozing in a hospital bed , Lester curled up under his unbroken arm fast asleep , while his mother spoke softly to a woman in the hallway . They talked for a while , ever so often shooting concerned glances at him through the doorway . Finally his mother came into the room and gently sat down next to him . I mean it , Jamie ! I would die if anything happened to you or your brother . I can take care of myself ; you just have to trust me , baby . " Well , " Jamie thought to himself as he drifted to sleep , " it might not really be a lie . I said I wouldn 't try again . Next time I just have to succeed . " One night he lay in bed fitfully trying to get comfortable when the dark shape of his father loomed over him from the doorway . Terrified , he remained absolutely still , feigning sleep . To his surprise , the man sat down next to him , quietly weeping . Don 't you fucking dare . You are not his father , not after what you did . If you touch either of them again , for any reason , I 'm leaving you , Frank . And I 'm taking them with me . Now get out . Since then , Jamie had been waiting for an opportunity to kill his father . He 'd come close a few times , evenings when his father would be passed out in front of the tv , a line of drool slowly dripping down his chin . But something always held him back ; Jamie told himself it was the promise he 'd made to his mother , but the small , honest part of his mind knew it was because he was afraid . He still remembered the pain . For his father 's part , he hadn 't touched Jamie or Lester since that night . It probably helped that , somehow , he managed to avoid the layoffs at the factory . Certainly he still got drunk regularly , and on many occasions would slap his wife around , but things never got quite as bad as that time ; there was less shouting involved now . The abuse had become almost a casual action , done out of reflex rather than emotion . Jamie 's anger had cooled from the burning rage it was when he made the decision to kill his father , to a low , calculating heat . He was patient , and he watched , knowing that someday he would have his moment . Until then , Jamie spent his evenings numbly sitting at the dinner table , listening to his drunk of a father go on about the good old days . Lester at least seemed to be oblivious to the dark undercurrents in the house . Even now the eight year old was making faces across the table at Jamie trying to get him to laugh . Jamie thought about trying to kick him under the table but decided not to ; he didn 't want to draw attention to himself . " This town is going to hell , I tell ya , " his father spoke between bites of roast . " Unemployment through the roof , homeless bums passed out on every other street corner . " He took a swig of beer . " And don 't even get me started about all the disappearing kids . That little Fontaine girl 's the latest one , last week . Her dad stopped by the factory today , out of his goddam mind . " Relief washed over Jamie , quickly followed by shame . He 'd known Morgana Fontaine for years . The first day of second grade another boy had pulled on her raven black braid and Jamie had shoved him away . Morgan , needing no one to fight her battles for her , turned and punched the boy in the nose . Sitting next to each other in the school office waiting to see the principal they quietly joked about the open mouthed , gaping look the boy had on his face as he sat on the ground trying to contemplate what had just happened . They 'd been friends ever since and , for the last year or so , Jamie had felt his feelings toward her changing towards something deeper than friendship . Her sister Claire was about the same age as Lester . Jamie knew the girl certainly , he often walked the sisters home after school with Lester dragging his feet behind them , but Jamie was really only there to spend time with Morgan . The emotions he felt about her weren 't well defined as of yet , but something in his stomach had heaved in the brief moment he thought she was missing . His relief that she wasn 't was offset by the knowledge that she would surely be devastated by Claire 's disappearance . Neither girl had been in school the last two days , and this explained why . " Mom , may I be excused please ? " She hadn 't finished her nod before Jamie was halfway out the door . The Fontaines ' house was only a few streets down and he could be there in minutes . He 'd meant to go see Morgan before now , but the thought of the dark looks her mother always gave him whenever he walked the girls home had warded him off from showing up uninvited . He turned and saw Lester running as fast as his legs would carry him . Jamie stopped and waited for him to catch up . He arrived panting , hands on his knees trying to catch his breath . Jamie frowned . They continued down the street and made the turn onto Blackwood Drive , reaching the Fontaines ' a few minutes later . Walking up the steps with Lester close on his heels , Jamie knocked firmly on the door . Half turning back towards the road as he waited , Jamie 's eyes fell on the dilapidated building a little farther down the street as they often did when he walked Morgan home . It must have been really something back in its day , what with its massive stone walls and windows , enormous garden , and high iron fence , but the Wicker House had been abandoned for more than forty years . The walls were dirty and the windows broken , the garden so overgrown it more closely resembled a jungle , and the fence was mottled with rust . The wicked spikes jutting on top of the posts still looked plenty sharp though . Jamie felt an involuntary shiver crawl down his spine . People said the place was haunted , and it was easy to see why , even in the daylight . Quick steps approached from inside the house and Jamie turned back just as the door swung open . Mrs . Fontaine stood there , a tissue held in one hand and her eyes tinged with red . It was obvious she had been crying . " Good evening , Mrs . Fontaine . We . . . we heard about Claire . We were hoping we could see Morgana . " Jamie was always careful to use Morgan 's full name around her mother . Morgan hated it , but her mother was especially particular in that regard . " We 're terribly sorry about what 's happened . " Lester nodded solemnly next to him , so far continuing to obey the order to keep his mouth shut . " Of course , of course , boys . Come in . It 's a trying time , and Morgana needs her friends to help her through this . She 's upstairs . " Lester followed closely as Jamie went up the stairs and down the hallway to Morgan 's room . He knocked lightly and waited a moment . All was quiet . He knocked again and called softly through the door . " Morgan ? It 's Jamie . I 've got Lester with me . We came to see you . " There was a moment of silence before she answered . " Awe , come on , don 't be like that . Even your mom said we should come up . And you know how she usually feels about me even standing out on your porch . " " Please , Morgan ? " Lester piped up from beside him . " We heard about Claire . My daddy told us she 's missing . We just want to make sure you 're ok . " Jamie glared down at his brother and briefly considered tweaking him on the ear before he heard movement on the other side of the door . After a brief scrabbling at the handle , it creaked open a few inches and Morgan peered through the crack . The interior of the room was dark , and Morgan squinted into the light of the hallway . Jamie 's heart lurched into his throat . She looked awful . Unlike her mother , Morgan 's eyes weren 't red from crying but were bloodshot just the same . Deep circles under her eyes suggested she hadn 't slept for the last several days and her raven black hair was snarled into a tangled bird 's nest on top of her head . She looked thinner than normal , as if she hadn 't been eating . Getting her bearings she eyed Lester with an appraising look . " Missing huh , twerp ? That 's what they 're saying ? That 's what you think is going on ? " Her laugh had a slight manic tone to it , and continued for several moments too long . Jamie and Lester exchanged a concerned glance before she finally regained control of herself . " Heh , sorry about that . Haven 't slept in a few days . You better come in before mom changes her mind . " She opened the door wider and made a sweeping gesture with her arm . Jamie walked through the door with Lester following , gripping his hand tightly . The room was a mess . It was hard to see details in the dark , but Jamie could smell the dirty clothes heaped about the room and noticed piles of used dishes stacked here and there throughout . The only light came from a tiny lamp sitting on a desk at the far wall , the rest of which was strewn with old newspapers . A small leather bound book that looked like a diary or journal lay open in the middle of the desk . Morgan retrieved the book before moving to the bed where she sat , pulling her legs up and crossing them in front of her . Jamie looked around for a place to sit before finally settling for a relatively open spot on the floor , Lester crouching down beside him . Morgan stared at the two boys unblinking , like a bird of prey on its perch deciding what to do with a morsel it had just spied in the field below . Jamie tried to think of something to say but found his mind was strangely blank . Instead he cleared his throat in the uncomfortable silence . Finally , Morgan apparently made up her mind . Jamie was confused by the line of questioning . " Uh , well . . . I mean , like I said , he was a millionaire . I think he had some oil fields or something . And he was some kind of an explorer , had all kinds of weird stuff he did in Africa and all over the place . He built that house about forty years ago and he had a wife , but she disappeared a few years after that . And , uh . . . " he trailed off . Morgan 's lips curved slightly up into a smile . There was no warmth in it , " That 's right . Everyone knows . And everyone 's wrong . " She chuckled , slightly patting the book in her lap . " This book . . . it has the truth . And let me tell you , boys , in this case the truth is a whole hell of a lot stranger than fiction . " It took Jamie half an hour to page through the journal . He didn 't read it in depth , other than a few passages Morgan had specially marked , Lester trying to lean over his shoulder the whole time . Finally he reached the end . " You went in there ? Morgan , you must be crazier than he was . There 's no way the stuff in this book is true . Wicker must have been insane . I mean , he was insane , remember ? He killed those people who worked for him , and then he killed himself . The stuff he wrote in here is the rambling of a lunatic . " Morgan scowled at him . " Yeah ? How stupid do you think I am ? Seriously ? That I 'm just going to believe something that 's written in an old book ? " She rolled her eyes and got up from the bed moving towards the desk . " Loads more . The police report from the night Wicker killed himself . News articles about his so - called wife before she mysteriously vanished . And stories . Tons and tons of stories from people claiming to have seen her after she disappeared . " " But , that 's nothing . Just ghost stories to frighten kids . . . " He stopped as he saw her eyes threaten to overflow with tears . Angrily she wiped them away . " That 's what I thought too , at first . But then . . . " Her voice broke in a sob . Whispering she spoke , almost to herself , her gaze fixed straight ahead , eyes staring at nothing . " It was just a dare . It was just a stupid dare . " She turned to look at him . The tears had come back and this time they ran down her face . " Oh , God , Jamie . I think I killed my sister . " Morgan took a couple moments to compose herself . Then she began . " We 'd grown up listening to the stories , you know ? Everyone had . You 'd think that maybe living down the street from the house we 'd eventually get used to it , but I never did . I could never look at it without getting creeped out . I hate being scared , and finally a couple weeks ago I decided to do something about it . " The breath hitched in her throat before she went on . " I didn 't tell you , or anyone else at school , because I was afraid you 'd make fun of me . This just sort of became my pet project . I started at the library . Went through all the old records they had to find out everything I could about the house . There 's a lot . More than a lot . Wicker was basically the closest thing this town had to a celebrity back in the day , so the newspapers carried the story for weeks after he died , hit it from every angle . The one thing they had absolutely no information on was his wife . " She moved over to the desk and picked up one of the old newspapers . " The only hard evidence I could find to show that she even for sure existed was this article here . " She passed the paper to Jamie . The top article on the page was devoted to the Lady Wicker , recounting stories and speculations that various people around town had made about her . It was accompanied by a picture of the second story of the house , in much better condition than it currently stood , and Jamie could see the fuzzy image of a woman standing in the window , the only detail a surprising sharpness of her eyes . " Finally I got all I could out of the papers . For the amount of stories they ran after Wicker 's death , they had surprisingly little actual information about him . So last week I decided I 'd go inside and see if I could find anything . I figured maybe once I saw what was in there I 'd be less scared . Claire insisted on going with me . You know how little siblings are . " She looked pointedly at Lester before continuing . " I really hadn 't thought we 'd find anything , but once we snuck in it looked like the house hadn 't been touched in all this time . Once the police completed the investigation they just sort of closed the front door and walked away . There 's so many creepy stories about the place , I think it 's kept a lot of people out who would have gone through it before now . I wish I would have done the same . " She sighed . " There 's still a whole bunch of weird stuff in there . Masks and statues and all sorts of things . The room the picture in the paper shows as Mrs . Wicker 's has these symbols scrawled all over the walls . Eventually we made our way up to the attic . The house is all rundown and some of the stairs were pretty rotten but the ladder leading up to the attic was still there . I thought if I saw where he killed himself that would be enough to cure me of my fear . So we went up and poked around . That 's where I found this . " She tapped the journal . " It was getting late so we went back home . That 's when I first started going through the book . I thought the same thing you did , that Wicker must have been nuts . But the worst part was that my fear hadn 't gone away . Just the opposite , all the stuff in the book made me even more afraid , even though a part of me was telling myself it had to be make believe . " The next day I was talking to Claire about it . She laughed at me , said I was scared of a stupid , empty house . I told her if she wasn 't a scaredy - cat that she should go spend an hour in Mrs . Wicker 's old room at midnight . I think she was afraid but she didn 't want to admit it in front of me . You know how little siblings are . " She looked at Lester again . " So last Saturday we snuck out again . That 's the first day the fog really came in . We were practically on top of the house before I could see it . I offered to let Claire out of the deal , but she was insistent , even though she was so scared she was shaking . I told her that at least I 'd lower the terms of the dare ; I didn 't want to be there any more than she did . All she had to do was go upstairs to the room and wave to me through the window . Then we could go home . " I had to go in through the gate just to be able to see the window . Claire went up the steps and only looked back once before squeezing through the front door . I don 't know how long I waited , standing there staring at the window , waiting for her to come . It was probably only a minute or two , but it felt like hours . Finally , I saw this figure at the window . It was hard to make it out through the fog , but it was definitely person shaped . I thought it had to be Claire . I mean what else could it be ? It was there for a moment , and I could tell it was looking at me , but then it moved away from the window . I think I must have been holding my breath , because I remember I let it out then , thinking that Claire would be back down in just a minute and we could leave . I 'd kid her a little about not having the guts to wave to me , but in reality I was glad she was moving as quickly as she was . " Those were the thoughts going through my head when I heard Claire calling me . I looked up and there she was standing in the window , waving at me clear as day , even through the fog . She had this huge smile on her face , so proud of what she 'd done . " Morgan choked back a sob . " She was just trying to impress me , the little idiot . But I couldn 't be happy for her , because I knew , " she looked up at Jamie , " I knew she wasn 't alone in the house . " I yelled at her to get down from there , to run . First she looked mad that I wasn 't giving her the praise she had expected , then she looked scared . She had this terrified look on her little face when she finally backed away from the window . That was the last time I saw her alive . " God , I waited there calling to her forever . I was scared that I was so loud I 'd wake my parents down the street , but part of me hoped that would happen , that they 'd come . I should have gone in there after her , but I was just so scared , " her eyes were tearing up again . " My little sister was in trouble and I was too big of a coward to do anything about it , Jamie . " I must have stood there for twenty minutes just yelling her name . I never even heard anything from her , not a scream , not a sound . Maybe if I 'd heard something , knew for sure that something was happening , that would have spurred me to run in . But I didn 't . I couldn 't . Finally my voice started to go hoarse and I just sat down on the ground and started to cry . I 'm not sure how long I was sitting there sobbing before I noticed that the fog had started to thicken even more . " Suddenly I became aware of this presence . You know how sometimes you can tell someone is looking at you even when you aren 't looking at them ? It was like that . I looked up and couldn 't make anything out five feet in front of me because of the fog . But even so I could see this pair of eyes staring at me from near the front door . " She shuddered . " I don 't know how I know this , but those eyes were happy , Jamie . Happy , and hungry . I thought I 'd been scared before that , I thought I 'd been out of screams . Boy , was I wrong . I turned and ran so fast it 's a wonder I didn 't knock myself out trying to get through the gate . Even more wonder that I managed to find my way back to my house through the fog . But I did , screaming and crying and blubbering the whole way . " By that point I actually had managed to wake my parents up with all the noise I was making . They were at the front door when I just about collapsed on the welcome mat . It took them a while to get me calmed down enough to tell them what happened . My dad grabbed a flashlight and headed over to the house . He searched until morning but didn 't find anything , no trace of Claire or of what or who took her . Then he called the police . She sighed . " They 've had me tell them my story over and over again , hoping I could give them some clue about who took Claire , some detail . Even if I could have seen more clearly through the fog , I don 't think it would have helped . Did you know there 's a lot of missing kids in the Wake ? It 's been going on for a while now , Jamie ; I 'll bet even longer than they think or would admit . I 'll bet it 's been going on since the night Tomas Wicker threw himself out of his attic window . Since the night she got out . " She opened the book on her lap and absently started to leaf through the pages . " It 's all in here . The stuff Wicker saw , that he encountered . She was one of them , that Thing everyone thought was his wife . He kept her locked away up there in that room so that she 'd never be free . But she got free . And Wicker decided he 'd rather kill himself than face what he knew she 'd do once she was . " She paused , blankly staring at the book . " Now hang on a second , Morgan , " Jamie cut in , " nothing you saw proves anything that 's in the book is true . I mean , I certainly believe that you saw someone in the house , and in all likelihood they 're the one that took Claire . But there 's nothing about it other than those eyes that suggests there are ghosts or demons or whatever that are responsible for this . And that could have just been your mind playing tricks on you . It was probably just some homeless guy . They haven 't found a body ; Claire could still be out there . " Morgan looked up , a small sad smile on her face . " Oh , Jamie . Don 't you get it ? They won 't find a body . " " Because remember how I said when she moved away from the window that was the last time I saw her alive ? I didn 't say it was the last time I saw her . It 's why I haven 't been able to sleep . " Morgan shivered slightly , took a breath . " Claire comes to me every night , out of the fog . She looks at me through my window with her black , empty eyes , her hand lightly tapping on the pane like she wants to come inside . But somehow I know that 's not it at all . It 's not that she wants to be let in . It 's that she wants me to come out . " She threw back her head and laughed , " I know . Wild isn 't it ? " Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Jamie with an accusing expression . " So any more bright ideas or thoughts about how crazy I am ? " Morgan chuckled at that . " Told them what exactly ? That some demon succubus stole my little sister and turned her into a monster ? Come on , Jamie . You know they 'd never believe that , even with the journal to back up my story . " " Already tried it . She doesn 't come when other people are around . Just makes the adults give each other concerned glances when they think I 'm not looking . No , I 'm going to have to do this myself . " Jamie silently made his way down the empty streets towards Morgan 's house . It hadn 't been any trouble to sneak out . His dad was drunk as always , passed out in front of the tv . Nights like that , mom went to bed early to avoid the possibility of waking him up and putting him in one of his black moods . It was too easy to walk out the front door with only the slightest creak of hinges to betray his exit . Lester hadn 't wanted him to go of course ; the kid was terrified . But then when he realized he wasn 't going to convince Jamie to stay back , he 'd tried to insist on coming himself . That wasn 't going to happen . Morgan had already lost Claire screwing around with this house , and whether he was about to encounter demon women or just some deranged pedophile , there was no way Jamie would let the squirt tag along . Not this time . Morgan had laid out the bones of the plan earlier that day . The journal never referenced the thing called Lady Wicker by name , but there were plenty of passages talking about " Her " and " She " . Morgan had also found a detailed drawing that resembled the symbols on the walls of what had been Lady Wicker 's prison . " Some of the symbols were marred , Jamie , " she said , opening book to the page in question . Strange letters that looked nothing so much as random scratches and scribbles covered the paper . " I 'm sure that 's what let her get out of there . It can 't be she 's completely free , though , or she wouldn 't still be hanging around the Wake . My guess is that whatever did it just caused the cage door to open wide enough so she could stick her head out and snap at anything that gets too close . If we can fix the symbols , it 'll close the door again . " " You think I don 't want that too ? " Morgan looked at him incredulously . " Christ , Jamie , going back into that fucking house is the absolute last thing I want to do , especially at night . But there 's no way my parents will let me go over there after everything that happened , and they keep a close enough eye on me during the day that there 's no way I 'd be able to sneak out . We have to go at night . " And so he reluctantly agreed . Jamie arrived at Morgan 's house and crouched down on her porch . The fog was already starting to heavily roll in but he could still make out the ominous outline of the Wicker House farther down the street . A slight noise made him turn as Morgan slipped out the front door to join him . " Good , you 're here . I didn 't want to have to wait for you out here alone . No telling if my sister will decide to show up , and I really don 't want to find out what happens if she does . Did you bring the paint and brushes ? " Morgan held it up along with a battery powered flashlight . " To help us see so can we draw the symbols . Let 's go , I want to get this over with . " The heavy iron gate screamed loudly as Morgan pushed it open far enough for them to squeeze through . Looking up , Jamie realized this was the closest he 'd ever been to the Wicker House . The structure squatted like an insect , the gaze of its paneless windows radiating malevolence as tendrils of fog curled and wrapped around its eaves . Its empty gaze seemed to follow them as they made their way up the overgrown path and slipped through the front door . Once inside , Morgan switched on the flashlight , the white beam slicing through the otherwise pitch black darkness . She played the light around a bit to orient herself in the gloom and Jamie could see that what she 'd said about the house was true ; the place looked as if it hadn 't been touched in the forty years it had stood empty . Finding the staircase with the light , Morgan slowly moved up to the second floor , Jamie following closely on her heels , carefully avoiding the rotten steps . The top of the stairwell opened to a long hallway , the door at the far end cracked slightly open . Morgan fixed her light on the opening . " That 's the one , " she whispered in Jamie 's ear , " come on . " He shivered , but didn 't know if it was from fear or from her closeness , the tingle of her breath on his skin . Silently they crept down the hall , and soon found themselves in the room . Morgan passed the beam along the walls and Jamie 's mouth dropped open . The symbols were something to be seen in the journal , certainly , but they were a completely different matter in real life . The number of them was astounding , and it was obvious that they 'd been painted on the walls with meaning and purpose , far from the jumble of scribbles he 'd thought when he first saw them in the book . It seemed as if they glowed with a faint luminescence , and not for the first time Jamie wondered if conducting the repairs would be as easy as Morgan had made it out to be . Finally Morgan rested the light on the far wall and Jamie could see exactly what she had meant ; several of the symbols were noticeably smudged , though it was impossible to tell what might have caused the damage . Jamie dropped his pack to the floor and hurriedly removed the two brushes and a small can of paint he had stuffed inside . " Here , hold this so I can see . " Morgan handed him the flashlight as she opened the journal to the page she had marked . Picking up the paint and a brush she moved over to the damaged section . " Okay , shine it over here . " He complied and with a look of intense concentration , Morgan began to carefully paint . She 'd been at the work for several minutes and was making good headway when the fog began noticeably seeping through the broken window . A feeling that he was being watched began to grow stronger and Jamie felt a rash up goosebumps break out down his arms . He glanced from side to side attempting to find the cause of the feeling . " Morgan . . . " " I know , " she snapped , her voice trembling slightly , " I feel it too . She 's coming . Just keep the beam steady . Finishing this is our only chance . " She continued to work , and Jamie saw her brush shake slightly , small droplets of paint falling to the floor . A sudden cloud of fog boiled in through the window and as he turned he found himself facing the opposite corner of the room . From its depths peered a pair of shockingly intense eyes . They fixed on him . The gaze immediately locked his own and in a moment Jamie felt his will drain away . The flashlight fell heavily to the floor at his feet . At the edge of his consciousness he could barely make out a voice calling his name . What could they possibly want ? His mind , content to remain in limbo , rejected the summons . This time , his name was accompanied by a sharp pain , jolting him out of the hazy dreams he 'd been wallowing in . In an instant he was back to himself . Lester stood in front of him , tears streaming from his eyes , a line of snot running down his nose as he sobbed , his hand held back for another slap . Jamie caught the boy 's hand as it flew forward . " Whoa ! Easy , bud . I 'm here , I 'm . . . " his gaze fell on Morgan . The flashlight had fallen so that the beam bled over where she was lying on the ground , twitching violently , her eyes rolled back in her head so only the whites were visible . He grabbed the light and rushed to her side trying to hold her head steady . The fog continued to fill the room , but even through the thick screen of white he could see the ring of children around them . They stood shoulder to shoulder , their expressions blank , their eyes black . Twisting with Lester clutching his arm , he shone the beam about the room to see they were completely surrounded . When the light reached the front of the room , it fell upon a figure lost in the fog save for the same intense pair of eyes that had almost completely bewitched him before . As the boys watched , the lines of the figure seemed to coalesce and solidify until finally a woman appeared before them , as if by magic . Dressed all in white , she was beautiful , her hair a black even darker than Morgan 's , her skin as pale as new fallen snow . Her lips were blood red and drawn up in a cruel , knowing smile . Her eyes were the same as before , twin stars that had seemed to draw Jamie into them with a supernatural attraction , their message one of unspeakable pleasure and pain . Jamie shuddered . At his side Lester was crying , the words falling out of him . " Jamie , I 'm sorry , I 'm sorry . But I had to come , I just had to . And then you wouldn 't wake up , and the kids were standing around us and . . . " " Lester , shut up , " Jamie snapped . " Remember what I said earlier ? If you tag along you have to keep your mouth shut . " The boy quieted as Jamie slowly eased his left arm holding the flashlight under Morgan 's back . The girl had stopped convulsing but her eyes were closed and her breath was quick and shallow . " Now , " Jamie reached for his pack and slipped his other hand inside , " when I tell you to run , I want you to run downstairs , out the door and back home as fast as you can , got it ? " He gripped the small bottle concealed inside the pack . " Ready . . . . RUN ! " In one motion , Jamie flipped the cap of the bottle and whipped his hand out of the pack in a semicircle , spraying liquid all around him . He had taken the bottle of holy water from his mother 's night stand but , since his comic books said it sometimes worked for ghosts , had added a couple tablespoons of salt to the mix . Whether it was the saline or the blessed water , something made the woman and her hideous charges draw back , hissing , arms raised protectively . Jerking to his feet , Jamie awkwardly picked Morgan up in his arms and stumbled through the door , running down the hallway as fast as he could , Lester dogging his heels . He had just reached the bottom of the stairs , the entryway beckoning open wide before them , when he heard a crash and a scream . Turning back he shone the flashlight on his brother . In his hurry , Lester had stepped on one of the rotten stairs , his foot punching straight through the worm - eaten wood . Worse , Jamie could see where a jagged broken piece of stair had punctured his thigh , the blood leaking out bright red in the beam of the light . With a cry Jamie lay Morgan at the bottom of the steps and rushed to help his brother . The leg was wedged tight , and anything he did to try to manipulate it caused Lester to moan in agony . Crying Jamie started striking at the edges of the stair trying to work Lester 's leg free while the boy whimpered and sobbed . An unnatural silence caused Jamie to stop his struggle and raise his eyes to the top of the staircase . The woman stood there surrounded by her children , the fog twisting around her feet giving her the impression of floating . The message in her eyes was a promise of pain , retribution for the injury caused by the water . From where he was trapped , Lester could see everything . " Dammit ! " Tears were running down Jamie 's face . " I 'm coming back , you hear me ? I 'm getting her out then I 'm coming back ! " He stumbled back down to Morgan . " We 're all getting out ! " Gripping her under her arms Jamie started dragging her backwards out the front door . As he passed through the entryway he glanced up and saw the woman had begun to descend the stairs towards his brother , flanked by her hideous children . Jamie redoubled his efforts , practically falling down the steps through the billowing fog . " Jesus ! Jamie , we have to get out of here . I was wrong , so wrong . God , she was in my mind ! She wants to use me ! " she clutched Jamie 's sleeve . " We need to get as far from here as we can . " Jamie shook his head . " I can 't leave . Lester 's in there . He 's the only reason we got this far . I have to go back for him . " Tears began to roll down Morgan 's cheeks . " Jamie , you don 't understand , I can 't go back in there . If she uses me the way she wants , it 'll mean terrible , terrible things . For all of us . For the world ! " Jamie smiled sadly . " I know . And I 'm not asking you to . But he 's my brother . " He stooped down and kissed her lightly on the forehead . " I love you , Morgan . I just wanted to make sure you knew that . " " No , no , no , Jamie , please don 't go . Please ! " He stood and Morgan tried to clutch his arm but he gently pulled away . With that he turned and walked away , his shape gradually dimming in the white cloud until he was gone . Morgan collapsed on the sidewalk , her sobs the only sound breaking the silence . The Wicker House watched , content in her misery , until it too was swallowed by the fog . Frank Lawrence was drunk , as he often was , more so now than he had ever been before . Since he 'd been fired from the factory he only had time , and as far as he was concerned there was no better way to spend time than to drink . Especially lately . He took a swig from the forty wrapped in a brown paper bag held in his hand . Mary was gone . She 'd left shortly after Jamie and Lester had . . . disappeared , he supposed . Been taken . She 'd accused him of all sorts of things , even suggesting he had a hand in their disappearance . Frank took it all , privately resenting the injustice , but knowing on some level that he deserved all that and more . Maybe he wasn 't guilty of everything she tried to stick on him , but God knew he had plenty of sins . He 'd never said any differently . Still , he knew he hadn 't had anything to do with the boys missing . Christ , didn 't she know he loved them ? It was the drink that made him lash out , and the stress he was under to provide for a family that made him drink . Hadn 't he cut back after that time he 'd hurt Jamie ? It was too much to ask to give it up completely . No pleasing her . And hadn 't he treated her well ? Kept a roof over their heads , food on the table ? Sure , he may have taken a swing at her every now and then , but lots of husbands did . Nobody 's perfect . And he never hit the boys , not after that time . He wandered down Blackwood Drive and found himself standing in front of the broken down house near where they had found the Fontaine girl . She 'd been out of her mind , shaking and screaming and crying . When they finally got her to calm down , she 'd been talking crazy . Women in white , ghost children , absolute lunacy . And somehow his boys were mixed up in the middle of it . They had searched the house looking for them and found Jamie 's backpack in one of the rooms upstairs . Morgan insisted there had been some old journal she 'd had with her , but there was no sign of that . Probably just another figment of her imagination . The symbols in the room were sure odd , but for the life of him Frank couldn 't figure out what would make the girl try to cover them up ; it was obvious there was a decent sized portion of the wall that had been recently painted over , the paint and brushes still wet where they lay . The place gave him the creeps . He took another slug of booze . Fucking place . Should probably be burnt to the ground . His boys missing , the girl 's sister missing . And now , he 'd heard the Fontaines had packed the girl off to some loony bin somewhere . Couldn 't get her to tell a straight story . Out of her goddam mind . Hell , for all Frank knew , she 'd had something to do with Jamie and Lester disappearing . Yeah , no probably about it . Someone should definitely burn the place . Before he 'd even had time to really think about the thought Frank was halfway up the path to the front door . He had a lighter in his pocket . A house this old , with that much dry wood , that was plenty to make it go up like a matchbook . He stopped at the foot of the stairs fumbling for his lighter , not noticing the viscous fog that had begun creeping about him . By the time he looked up , lighter in hand , the world was completely white . If he hadn 't known it , he wouldn 't have been able to tell the house stood in front of him . He took a step forward and banged his shin , falling on the steps . He struggled to get up , but his balance was off , a victim of the booze . Finally he regained his feet when he heard the voice . Frank drunkenly swayed where he stood . Was he imagining things ? But no , there was Jamie in front of him . Paler than usual , and his eyes strangely black , but there was no mistaking his boy . His pale son smiled slightly . " I 'm sure you have . But don 't worry , we 're here now , and our Mother is with us . " Jamie moved forward and to Frank 's surprise he saw Lester step beside him . And was that the other Fontaine girl next to them ? It had to be . Frank dropped to his knees . " Missed you , boys . . . missed you so much . " He opened his arms and they moved into his embrace , their arms tightly encircling his neck . " Missed you . . . " the words trailed off as Frank saw a beautiful woman appear in the fog , her otherworldly eyes alight with joy and hunger . The cloud continued to thicken until all that was visible were a few shadows that seemed to struggle briefly before falling still . There was no sound , as sighs and screams alike were drowned , lost in the fog . Covered in a blanket of white , Arthur 's Wake continued to die .