When Lenore opens her eyes, she doesn't feel well-rested. Then, as she tries to sit up, she feels a deep ache in her side.
"Are you awake?" It's Alaric's deep voice, one that sounds calm in every situation.
She turns her head to find him sitting at her bedside, dark shadows under his eyes letting her know that he hasn't slept. "Alaric? What happened?"
He leans forward. "I found you on the third floor during the night, then brought you back to your room when you fainted. Do you have a history of sleepwalking?"
"Not that I know of." Memories of her walk around the manor return in broken pieces. "But I don't think I was sleepwalking. I mean, I've heard that people usually don't remember what happens when they sleepwalk, and I somewhat remember leaving my room and heading to the third floor."
Alaric nods, almost like he expected to hear that exact response from her. "Do you remember anything else?"
Lenore closes her eyes as she thinks, trying to put together the fragments she remembers in a way that makes sense. "I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to actually fall back asleep, and then it was like I had this urge to explore the manor. I never had a reason to go to the third floor, so I thought I'd take a look when I reached the staircase. Aside from that, the rest must've been part of my dreams after I passed out."
"What makes you so sure that whatever else you remember was just a dream?" Alaric asks. He doesn't sound unkind, but there's a tone in his voice beyond simple curiosity that she can't quite place.
Lenore meets his eyes. "It's too unbelievable to have happened in reality."
When she says that, Alaric's expression doesn't change. "Humor me."
"Is it that important?" Lenore asks. It's not that she experienced anything embarrassing, but the idea of explaining how she felt on the third floor out loud leaves her with a strange feeling.
"It might be," Alaric says. "I won't force you to tell me, though."
"It's not that. I just feel a bit silly saying it." Before she loses her courage, she tells him in a rush of words. "For some reason, it was like I'd been on that floor before. I didn't really think about where I was going, and it was as if my body just knew where it wanted to go on its own. The strangest part was that I could look at the closed doors and know what room was behind them. That's why I think it had to be a dream or my imagination making up answers, because there's no way I could know what's actually there."
Alaric stays silent for a long time when she's done talking, although it could simply feel that way due to the anxiety of waiting for a response after she just spouted out what sounds like nonsense even to her own ears. Finally, he stands up and pulls the braided rope at her bedside to call for her maids. "Get dressed and come to breakfast. After that, I'll need you to spare me some time for an experiment."
Lenore nods, but Alaric already has his back turned to her as he's leaving. While she has no idea what to expect, she knows that whatever Alaric has in mind won't hurt her. She, too, wants to know if her experience was just a dream or something more, because it felt awfully realistic, even if she tries to tell herself that it's impossible. No, she's not afraid of Alaric. She's afraid of the answers she might find.
It doesn't take long for her to get dressed with Mary's help and head to the dining room. The table is already set, and dishes have already been served with covers over them to keep the food warm. As Lenore sits down, one servant moves to start lifting the covers so she can eat, but she stops him with a quick gesture.
"Alaric intends to join me today, so keep the covers on until he's here. I can wait," she says. When he plans on joining her for meals, he's usually there before her. She doesn't blame the servant for assuming he won't be coming.
The wait is over soon, as Alaric shows up dressed and ready for the day, but the prominent bags under his eyes reveal how tired he must be. It wouldn't be bad for him to take time for a nap after he finishes whatever experiment he mentioned to Lenore.
They eat in amicable silence before Alaric leads Lenore to the third floor. Just like during the night, she feels like she knows this place.
Alaric points to the first door by the staircase. "Tell me what that room is."
Lenore answers without thinking about it, like it's second nature to her. However, Alaric doesn't tell her if she's right, and his expression doesn't give her any hints about how close she might be to the correct answer. Instead, he continues leading her down the hallway, making her tell him what's behind each door.
Just like the first one, her answers come quickly and easily. It's not something she has to think about. When he asks, the words are already on her tongue.
She's thankful that he only asks her about the doors in the first hallway. If he made her guess about every room on the third floor, it'd be exhausting. However, the way he stops and looks at her at the end of the hallway leaves her thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to keep going if it meant being free from his stare.
"You're right."
Lenore looks at the door next to them. "About that room?"
"Yes," Alaric says, "but also about all the other rooms I asked you to identify. None of them are regularly used anymore, but when they were, their purpose was what you said."
Lenore's mind goes blank. She thought that she was just imagining that feeling of knowing this floor, and now Alaric tells her that it wasn't a trick of her mind or a dream. "Maybe I got lucky?"
Alaric shakes his head. "I think it's something else."
"Like what?"
Alaric doesn't answer her directly. Instead, he says, "I need to think about it. I'll let you know what I figure out."
Then, he's gone, and Lenore is left wondering why she knows information about the manor that she shouldn't. Before she leaves the floor, she glances into the room she remembers entering during the night. There are still roses—alive and vibrantly colored—in the vase.
All she can do is wonder what's happening with her.