Unlike her two elder sisters, Emily noticed no spirits or apparitions, either before or immediately after she entered the large old house. Perhaps the entities in her vicinity were more cautious than the others. Perhaps it was because she was engrossed in examining the architecture of the building as she made her way inside. Or perhaps it was merely because Emily was less observant at the moment. Regardless of what the reason might have been, the effect was the same, and any oddness the house might have held for Emily remained un-elevated.
To be fair, she also wasn't moving with quite the speed of some of her siblings either, instead wandering idly through the old building as she made her way to her destination. The destination she had in mind, of course, was the basement. Being who she was, Emily had volunteered to check for any possibly harmful molds or fungi that might have been overlooked by whoever had last evaluated the house. Most likely being the coolest and most moist place in the building, it would make sense for her to check there first.
As Emily approached the basement staircase, and her younger siblings ran about behind her, it occurred to the girl that there might be all manner of dust, dirt, cobwebs, and other such undesirable substances in down those stairs. But, as she thought a moment later, the rest of the house had clearly been cleaned recently enough, and there was no reason to believe otherwise about the basement. Besides, she was going down there to look for possibly toxic substances, so those would hardly be important by comparison.
She was just taking the first few steps downward, when she heard footsteps behind her. Pausing on the stairs, Emily half-turned to see who was approaching.