“I am no more dead than you!” I replied sharply.

It was a struggle against the passage of time and the swell of unpleasant memories to recall the gardner’s name. After a moment of staring at that hardened and aged face, that had more in common with petrified wood than any living man, I succeeded. “Stanley, I have many questions for you, but let me start with the most relevant- how did the estate end up in such a state of disrepair? And with wild encroachments like I have never before seen. I do not hesitate in naming them unnatural.”

He paled and then ducked his head in a shaky bow. When he spoke again his voice was hoarse. “Twas your father’s will. Him and those wretched friends of his. I don’t mean to speak ill of the deceased but there were goings on here that you’d not believe. Strangers arriving in the night that vanished before dawn. Storms that swept up from the ground.” His eyes widened in alarm. "Those strangers- they’re looking for you now. "

It seemed I had inherited more than my ancestral home.