T*Witches: Split Decision by H.B. Gilmour, Randi Reisfeld Page A

… is it… okay?”
    “Yes,” the soft voice answered. And Sara was somehow taller, as if, unbent by illness, she could stand straighter than ever. Her eyes were not the warm golden brown Alex remembered. They were the duller brown of sparrow’s wings, and watery. Had she been crying? And her skin, it had been so gray and drawn just before she died. Although Alex couldn’t make out her featuresclearly, the woman before her had a smooth sheen to her skin, a translucency. Alex had the overwhelming urge to run to her. It would take only one giant step, one leap outside the circle.…
    “She’ll leave if you do.” Mike squeezed her hand again. “It’s not allowed.”
    Alex had seen only one other spirit. Her grandmother Leila, who was not exactly the kind of ghost you wanted to get close to. But Sara! Alex scoured her mother’s face, wondering, did she remember all they’d done and had together, would she call her by her cherished childhood nickname —
    “Lexi…” the spirit whispered.
    No. Allie had been Sara’s name for her. Could she have forgotten? Alex fought her quick disappointment. She knew so little about what happened to a person after … what they remembered or forgot. “Mommy,” she said, “I have so much to tell you, to ask you —”
    “We have little time. I can’t stay long,” Sara warned without smiling.
    Alex took a deep breath. “I’m okay. I hope you weren’t worrying, because everything worked out. I have a twin. Did you know?”
    There was no answer. Alex said softly, “I’m safe, Mommy.”
    “I never doubted it. You are a strong girl, Alexandra. I always had faith in you. You must listen now, I have things to tell you.”
    “Wait, okay?” Alex couldn’t help interrupting. There was something she’d wanted to say ever since Sara’s death. The words caught in her throat now, choking her. But she had to get them out. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t save you. I didn’t know then all the stuff I know now. I didn’t know how to help. But soon I’ll be able to do more —”
    A thin arm shot out from the spirit’s cowled sleeve. Sara put her hand up as if to silence her daughter. But the floodgates had opened and Alex couldn’t stop. Bursting into tears, gulping and sobbing, she said, “I was only fourteen. And I didn’t know how to save you. Mommy, I’m so sorry.”
    “You waste your time feeling sorry for yourself,” the spirit unexpectedly admonished.
    Alex was stunned. “No,” she managed. “Not for myself, for you —”
    “It’s too late for me, Alexandra, but there are others who need you. Who call out for you even now. I hear them every day. You have the power to heal so many mortal souls, but they are too far away. The longer you stay here, the more harm you do.”
    What was Sara telling her? She was hurting people, shirking her helping and healing duty, by staying in Marble Bay?
    The spirit nodded.
    But this was where she lived now. With Dave and Emily, who’d taken her in; with Dylan, the brother she’d bonded with; and especially with Cam, the sister she needed. And Cade. He’d come back to Marble Bay just to be with her.
    In life, Sara could not read Alex’s mind. She didn’t have to; she’d always known her daughter’s heart. Now she said sternly, “You must not allow your feelings to prevent you from doing what you were born to do. Not even for him, this boy.”
    She knew about Cade?
    “You must leave the home of those who took you in,” Sara told her. “They are good people, but they are not your destiny. You are needed elsewhere.”
    Chills shuddered through Alex. Sara was telling her to go to Coventry —
    “No, not the island. You are needed at home. In the place we lived together. That was my charge when I was chosen as your protector. You must return to Montana. Soon.”
    Alex couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It hadblindsided her, come out of left field. Her tears started up again, though she bit her lip trying to hold them