already felt like an hour.
Remembering I had a new cell phone, I pulled it from my pocket, only to find I had no charge. Not a big surprise. Spirits used energy from any available source.
Knowing I had a long wait ahead of me, I grabbed the candle from the altar and took a
seat beside the table closest to the side where Ian was buried. The fear that had gripped me upon entering the mausoleum and seeing Laria had lessened, and now I felt a strange calm. Setting the candle in front of me, I rested my hands over the flickering flame, savoring the little warmth it gave.
The orb appeared again, dancing in front of Maggie’s grave.
“I see you,” I said with a smile as it came closer. Suddenly, a cold rush washed over me, and I saw a flash, and then an image in my mind.
I remembered how Anne Marie had closed her eyes and focused on what the spirits were telling her. I did the same thing and at first struggled to see anything, but as I continued to focus and block out my surroundings, I saw a leather-bound book in my mind’s eye. The vision quickly flashed to a dark room with a concrete type floor that I didn’t recognize, but I don’t think it was the
inn. The place in the vision felt older. The image flashed over and over again.
It was like I was watching a slide show. I saw a picture of the castle, and then Laria’s face. She didn’t look scary like she did now, but younger looking; almost innocent. The vision shifted and I saw thick woods where a small crowd had assembled. Dressed in black cloaks that covered their heads, the group stood in a circle. Dread filled me as I heard chanting. A lamb was brought into the circle, and when a tall man stepped forward and pulled out a knife, I knew the lamb’s fate.
Without further ceremony, he sliced the lamb’s neck, and filled a jewel-encrusted goblet with the blood. He drank from the goblet, then passed it to the next person, and one by one the gatherers drank.
A shiver raced along my spine.
Ian had said Laria had dabbled in the Black Arts and that’s where the curse had come from. Was Maggie trying to warn me,
or was she just showing me what I was up against—and how dangerous Laria was?
The image shifted again. Laria sat in a small room, writing in the journal, occasionally glancing toward the door. When she finished writing, she placed the journal beneath her cot, laid down, and blew out the candle beside her bed.
The image faded and a mixture of fear and excitement rushed through me as I opened my eyes.
Chapter 14
I heard a creak seconds before the door flung open and a dozen people were staring in at me.
“Has it been an hour already?” I asked, putting my hand up to ward off the glare of Shane’s flashlight.
“Yeah,” Shane said, relief shining in his eyes.
“Were you sleeping?” Milo asked. I could hear the admiration in his voice.
I hadn’t been sleeping—more spacing off really, thinking about the visions I’d seen and how to move forward with helping Ian.
“She’s got ballocks,” someone else said.
Shane held out his hand to help me up.
He was grinning from ear-to-ear, and when he hugged me tight I was surprised. Tonight he’d shown genuine concern for me and it felt incredible.
Cassandra seemed disappointed that I was in one piece, but not Johan. “Well done, you,” he said, looking at me like a starving man stares at food.
I glanced over my shoulder and said a silent goodbye to Maggie and her family. I didn’t look at Ian’s grave. I couldn’t without getting emotional. I just wanted to see him again and hug him.
I was still stunned at the visions I’d received and wondered if I’d had that ability all along. What if some of the bizarre, fragmen-ted dreams I’d had in the past, which had never made sense, had actually been thoughts fed to me through spirits?
I’d always been so afraid of seeing the dead that I never considered that maybe they were trying to get my attention in order to help them.
Whatever the
Remembering I had a new cell phone, I pulled it from my pocket, only to find I had no charge. Not a big surprise. Spirits used energy from any available source.
Knowing I had a long wait ahead of me, I grabbed the candle from the altar and took a
seat beside the table closest to the side where Ian was buried. The fear that had gripped me upon entering the mausoleum and seeing Laria had lessened, and now I felt a strange calm. Setting the candle in front of me, I rested my hands over the flickering flame, savoring the little warmth it gave.
The orb appeared again, dancing in front of Maggie’s grave.
“I see you,” I said with a smile as it came closer. Suddenly, a cold rush washed over me, and I saw a flash, and then an image in my mind.
I remembered how Anne Marie had closed her eyes and focused on what the spirits were telling her. I did the same thing and at first struggled to see anything, but as I continued to focus and block out my surroundings, I saw a leather-bound book in my mind’s eye. The vision quickly flashed to a dark room with a concrete type floor that I didn’t recognize, but I don’t think it was the
inn. The place in the vision felt older. The image flashed over and over again.
It was like I was watching a slide show. I saw a picture of the castle, and then Laria’s face. She didn’t look scary like she did now, but younger looking; almost innocent. The vision shifted and I saw thick woods where a small crowd had assembled. Dressed in black cloaks that covered their heads, the group stood in a circle. Dread filled me as I heard chanting. A lamb was brought into the circle, and when a tall man stepped forward and pulled out a knife, I knew the lamb’s fate.
Without further ceremony, he sliced the lamb’s neck, and filled a jewel-encrusted goblet with the blood. He drank from the goblet, then passed it to the next person, and one by one the gatherers drank.
A shiver raced along my spine.
Ian had said Laria had dabbled in the Black Arts and that’s where the curse had come from. Was Maggie trying to warn me,
or was she just showing me what I was up against—and how dangerous Laria was?
The image shifted again. Laria sat in a small room, writing in the journal, occasionally glancing toward the door. When she finished writing, she placed the journal beneath her cot, laid down, and blew out the candle beside her bed.
The image faded and a mixture of fear and excitement rushed through me as I opened my eyes.
Chapter 14
I heard a creak seconds before the door flung open and a dozen people were staring in at me.
“Has it been an hour already?” I asked, putting my hand up to ward off the glare of Shane’s flashlight.
“Yeah,” Shane said, relief shining in his eyes.
“Were you sleeping?” Milo asked. I could hear the admiration in his voice.
I hadn’t been sleeping—more spacing off really, thinking about the visions I’d seen and how to move forward with helping Ian.
“She’s got ballocks,” someone else said.
Shane held out his hand to help me up.
He was grinning from ear-to-ear, and when he hugged me tight I was surprised. Tonight he’d shown genuine concern for me and it felt incredible.
Cassandra seemed disappointed that I was in one piece, but not Johan. “Well done, you,” he said, looking at me like a starving man stares at food.
I glanced over my shoulder and said a silent goodbye to Maggie and her family. I didn’t look at Ian’s grave. I couldn’t without getting emotional. I just wanted to see him again and hug him.
I was still stunned at the visions I’d received and wondered if I’d had that ability all along. What if some of the bizarre, fragmen-ted dreams I’d had in the past, which had never made sense, had actually been thoughts fed to me through spirits?
I’d always been so afraid of seeing the dead that I never considered that maybe they were trying to get my attention in order to help them.
Whatever the