The sound of echoed laughter stopped me in my tracks. I hadn’t heard any other voices than my own in a long time. Honestly, I had thought the House was empty but it was connected to so many realities that I wasn’t ever sure. We often thought about the good that did us but it also meant that there were always dangers beyond our borders. It was a wonder that any of us were still alive at all. I hoped the observatory was keeping the ‘bad guys’ at bay, whether they were Lovecraftian nightmare gods, steam-punk pirates, zombies, or things that we hadn’t dreamed up yet.

A section of the cream colored hallway had been replaced with a set of glass double doors, the insides opaque. I shrugged at the alteration. This wouldn’t even make the top ten strangest features of the House. Presumably the laughter had come from inside.

Hesitantly, I touched my palm to the glass. It was warm. I cracked the door open. Steam escaped into the cool air, disintegrating into nothing. Applying a little more pressure, I stepped inside.