by Elle Adams
If they’d been following Carey’s ghost-hunting exploits, they might have picked up on the notion that the town was swimming in ghosts, even if most of the residents seemed to neither know nor care about their ghostly neighbours. But that didn’t explain how those particular ghosts had landed on their radar… nor why one of them had vanished shortly before their visit to the inn.
Allie pursed her lips. “Sounds like their main goal is to make trouble for everyone, especially Carey. I can’t say what problem they might have with Faith Murray, though.”
“You said she was a librarian?”
“She is,” said Allie. “Not at the academy, mind, but if those kids have been pestering her about local spirits, I can see how she might have got irked with them.”
“Might be worth talking to her,” I said. “Whereabouts is the library? I don’t think I’ve been there before.”
“It’s on the other side of the river,” Allie answered. “You’ve seen it, I don’t doubt. It’s opposite the old coven’s headquarters.”
“Can’t forget that place.” I suppressed a grimace at the reminder. “I’m not sure Eric is being entirely honest with me about Lara’s disappearance, though I’m lost on why he’d hide the truth from me when he’s the one who asked for my help. Maybe I’ll see if there’s any more info at the library.”
It was worth a shot, and I wouldn’t have minded bringing Carey with me to get her mind off Cris and her fellow witches’ ghost-hunting exploits and attempts to belittle her. It wasn’t as if we were going to confront a dangerous ghost, and besides, maybe the staff at the town’s library could shed some light on the history of the inn’s resident spirits.
“Well, it’s your choice,” she said. “I have to admit I’ve sometimes wondered how many ghosts we have living among us here and what their stories are.”
“It’d be useful to have more details if we’re going to turn this place into a haunted hotspot,” I agreed. “Did Carey go to her room?”
She nodded. “Carey wants to be left alone, I think. She’s had a tough week, and she has to go back to school tomorrow.”
“Are you sure you don’t need my help in the restaurant?” I asked, reluctant to abandon Carey after the tumultuous day she’d already had.
“No, I’ll be fine,” she said. “You deserve the night off. Maybe have a second date with the detective.”
“Uh-huh.” I hadn’t actually heard from him since after our first date, something I didn’t want to read too much into. I mean, he was busy, and so was I. Besides, I didn’t want to draw him into my feud with Carey’s classmates, and I was better off looking for information on the ghosts on my own without drawing the attention of our unwelcome new guest in town. “I’ll see what he says.”
I left the inn once again, heading over the bridge towards the high street, where most of the local witches worked. The shops would be closing up soon, but I pinpointed the library at the far end of the street. As Allie had told me, it stood across from the coven’s headquarters, its bricks painted mauve, like most of the town’s witch-owned establishments. I hoped that didn’t mean the people who worked there had belonged to the coven and had been buddies with Mina Devlin before her departure from town.
I pushed the oak doors open and walked into the library. A middle-aged witch sat behind the counter, dressed in a dusty cloak and a hat decorated with cobwebs, complete with a spider hanging off the end. I wasn’t entirely sure whether it was real or decorative. She sure didn’t seem like the sort of person who’d be deemed cool enough for a bunch of teens to give the time of day to, much less for them to go to for ghost-hunting tips, but she must have done a convincing job of selling the town’s haunted history to them.
“You’re the new witch in town, aren’t you?” she said. “I’ve heard about you.”
“I’m Maura,” I said. “Are you Faith Murray?”
“Ah, no, I’m Debora,” she said. “Debora Lowe. History’s my specialist area.”
“Really?” Curiosity piqued, I walked closer to the desk. “You mean the town’s history, or…?”
“I take it you’ve heard some of the local stories during the time you’ve spent here in Hawkwood Hollow?” she said.
“You mean the flood?” I said. “Yeah, I have. I actually wanted to learn more about a couple of former students at the academy who died in the floods.”
“Oh?” She arched a brow. “Any reason?”
“There’s a group of students at the academy who’ve taken it upon themselves to go hunting for the ghosts of those two spirits,” I explained. “Since my friend and I live at the inn and have a ghost blog of our own, we got curious.”
“I think I know who you mean,” she said. “Those are the kids who came here to the library to badger my colleague with questions, aren’t they?”
“You mean Faith Murray?” I said. “Did she have anything to say to them?”
“She assumed they were out to make trouble, and she might not have been wrong,” she replied. “Regardless, I decided to humour them. There were two students who are known to have died in the floods, and it was quite an odd case at the time, if I remember correctly.”
“In what way?”
“The police were never able to rule their deaths an accident,” she explained. “The old shack they were hiding in collapsed when the river burst its banks—that much was clear to any witnesses—but there was some evidence of a spell having been used in the area, too. The police never followed up… well, they tried, but there were so many deaths in the floods that the whole case got buried. Intentionally or not.”
Whoa. So their deaths might not have been accidental? It wasn’t the first rumour I’d heard of a similar incident during the floods. A tragedy like that, unfortunately, could be used to cover up all manner of crimes.
“Didn’t the police have any suspicions as to who might have done it?” I asked.
“There was only one suspect at the time,” she said. “A classmate of theirs. The kids who came here to the library weren’t interested in the actual case, though.”
“They were more interested in the ghosts,” I surmised. “They showed up at the inn where I work, which is close to where the two of them died.”
“Interesting,” she said. “I can’t see ghosts myself, but I’ve always thought of them as pale echoes of the living. I don’t know why it didn’t cross my mind that we might learn from them, too. And I call myself a historian.” She chuckled lightly.
“Uh-huh.” I assumed she knew the local Reaper had retired but not that the town was swarming with the dead. I didn’t see any ghosts within sight, but no doubt there were more of them lurking farther into the library. “Did you tell those kids anything else?”
“They had no interest in asking me any further questions,” she said. “You know… I do have some old newspapers from the time of the floods. I’m sure they have more details on the case. You can borrow them if you take good care of them.”
“Oh, sure.” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice. “Did you not give them to the students?”
“They didn’t ask.” She turned around and shuffled over to a nearby shelf. “Those young witches can be quite careless, bless them, but I’m sure I can trust you not to damage them. Feel free to borrow the papers for a few days.”
“Thanks.” I waited by the desk until she returned, carrying a plastic folder containing a few newspaper clippings. She handed them to me, and I carefully transferred them to my shoulder bag. “It’s appreciated.”
“No problem at all,” she said. “I wonder why some stories make it to the surface and others don’t. History is biased, of course, but ghosts are capable of speaking for themselves… provided we can hear them.”
Some of us hear more than we want to. “Thanks again. It was nice talking to you.”
I left the library, my gaze falling on a dark patch on the ground just outside the door. A row of herbs marked its perimeter, and the faint smell of sage drifted through the air.
<
br /> Sage was one of the few herbs that repelled spirits. That would explain the lack of ghosts. But who had put the herbal barrier around the library—Debora, or Faith Murray? I debated asking, but Faith didn’t appear to be around, so I’d have to talk to her another day.
When I returned to the inn, I found no signs of the kids from the academy. Thankfully. Hoping they’d got the message, I had a quick look around to make sure they hadn’t left anything behind when they’d been casting spells outside. I didn’t see any visible evidence, but there was always the possibility that the students had made up the story about Faith leaving herbs outside the inn.
Before I went inside, I turned on my Reaper powers and scanned the area for any ghosts. The usual suspects registered on my radar, but no Lara. I did see Eric, though, and went to waylay him in the lobby.
“Have you found her yet?” he said.
“No, I haven’t.” He could try to be a little less impatient, considering I’d volunteered to help him in my own time. “I did hear the two of you died when the shack you were hiding in collapsed during the floods. Do you remember?”
The ghost’s entire body paled. “Who told you?”
“Debora Lowe at the library,” I said. “She had a bunch of newspaper articles from the time of your death, claiming that it wasn’t an accident and blaming it on a classmate of yours.”
“That isn’t—” He broke off. “I don’t remember all the details of my death. I do remember the floods. Lara and I bunked off school that day, and we were hanging out at an old shack near the river. I remember this kid from school came to yell at us for skiving off. Said we were setting a bad example.”
“Ed James, was it?” I’d sneaked a look at the headlines on my walk home.
“That’s him,” he said. “I remember that, and then… that was it. Everything went blank. Next thing I knew, I woke up like this, and half the town was underwater.”
Hmm. Ghosts sometimes blanked out the memory of their death due to trauma or the amnesia that sometimes came hand in hand with being a spirit, especially one who’d been around for a while. But Eric had always struck me as pretty steady as far as ghosts went. He’d remembered Lara, at any rate.
Eric spun around as though startled by something, then he vanished without warning. When I peered through the door, I spotted the detective walking across the bridge towards the inn. He saw me and quickened his pace, and I went out to meet him.
“Hey,” he said. “What’re you doing alone in the lobby?”
“Talking to a ghost,” I said. “Were you on your way here?”
“I was actually looking for you.”
“Oh?” My heart gave a flip. “Any reason?”
“For a start, I found out where our Reaper friend is staying,” he said.
“You did?” I said. “What ghost-free place did he find in town? Or is he camping in the nearest field?” He didn’t look like the type to enjoy camping, but maybe in his eyes, squatting in a tent in a muddy field was preferable to being pestered by ghosts.
“He’s not staying in town,” said Drew. “He’s at a small bed-and-breakfast place in the village over the hill. I saw him walking there.”
My brows rose. “He’s staying with the normals.”
That would explain a lot, though if he hoped to avoid ghosts that way, he was barking up the wrong tree. Ghosts were just as likely to plague normals as they were paranormals like us if they assumed they could get attention. Besides, he still hadn’t confided what he was doing in town, which raised a major red flag in my book.
“Exactly,” said the detective. “How’s the ghost hunt going?”
“It took an interesting turn,” I said. “Let’s just say the situation with the teenage ghosts and the academy students is a little more complicated than I thought.”
We headed into the restaurant, where Allie gave us a wave from behind the bar. Then I told him about my encounter with Carey’s classmates and their strange interest in the ghosts of the two ex-students. I then added that I’d visited the library and confirmed the details of the students’ deaths with Debora Lowe, as well as picking up some articles that suggested there might have been more to their deaths than met the eye.
“Those kids were here to make trouble, but I don’t know if they were the ones who banished Lara’s ghost,” I said. “Regardless, it seems weird that one of the ghosts vanished right after a bunch of people started looking for her.”
“I thought you were blaming the Reaper for her disappearance,” he commented.
“I still think he’s the most likely culprit.” I think. “Not sure how he fits into this, though. He doesn’t know the locals, especially victims of a decades-old flood.”
“What did you learn from the library, then?” he asked.
“I got these.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the folder of newspaper clippings. “Turns out the police weren’t clear on whether the two deaths were an accident, and there were a few articles speculating about who did it. I’m guessing it was before your time?”
“It was,” he confirmed. “I can check with my colleagues if you think it’s relevant to the ghost’s disappearance.”
“I honestly don’t know,” I admitted. “The kids from the academy will be annoyed with me if I take their ghost-hunting mission away from them, but I’m not sure Carey wants to put their story on her blog anyway.”
“Doesn’t she?” he said. “I thought it sounded right up her alley.”
“It does, but those kids are horrible.” I shook my head. “They came here to rile her up. I’m not sure they even care about the ghosts, but Carey doesn’t want to provoke them, so I doubt she’ll want to get involved.”
Unfortunately, if I took matters into my own hands, they might well take out their annoyance on Carey at school anyway. There seemed to be no way to win in this situation.
“Oh,” he said. “Have you spoken to those students yourself?”
“I did, and Carey got mad at me,” I said. “Being a teenager is hard enough. I don’t need to add to that by intervening with school bullies. I already told them to go away, and they weren’t bothered. It doesn’t seem like there’s a way to win other than to ignore them until they get bored and find someone else to hassle. I know how these things operate.”
“You do?” he said. “You didn’t have to deal with the same when you were at school, did you?”
I raised a brow. “I wasn’t bullied, but I was a Reaper apprentice in a town of witches. My brother was better at playing the role than I was, so he was less of a social outcast than me.”
Of course, he’d been alive back then, which had meant I’d always had someone in my corner. That was one reason I’d left town and cut ties with the place I’d grown up in after his death. I’d had no close friends and nobody aside from my family who’d missed me when I left. Man, that was a depressing thought.
Drew’s mouth parted. “Your brother’s been quiet lately, hasn’t he?”
“I think he’s lying low after the Reaper told him to go away,” I said. “And then there’s the missing ghost, too. He probably feels like he’s already had one close call and that he’s better off not pushing his luck.”
“Is he usually that sensible?”
“No, but he hasn’t seen a Reaper in as long as I have,” I said. “Should we go and pay Shelton a visit now that you know where he’s hanging out? Just the two of us, not my brother.”
“I don’t think he’s going to be happy if we corner him at the place he’s staying at,” Drew said. “Better to wait until we see him in town again, I think.”
I pulled a face. “I just wish he’d admit what he’s doing here. It’d help if old Harold would cooperate as well. I’d feel a lot easier confronting him if he’d be able to back us up, but he won’t even leave that cottage of his.”
“Out of curiosity, what happens if it is the Reaper who’s responsible for the missing ghost?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” I said. “If the council se
nt him, then there’s nothing I can do. If he’s a rogue, I’m supposed to contact the council myself and inform them so they can swoop in and discipline him, but that’s not happening for obvious reasons. So if he turned out to be operating outside of the law, I’d have to take him on directly and drive him out of town myself.”
“Is that possible?” he asked. “He has the same abilities that you do, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, which is why I’d rather we didn’t come to blows,” I said. “He has a scythe. I don’t. If I could get old Harold’s help, I might be able to drive him off, but on my own, I’m more likely to end up coming off worse.”
“Maybe he’ll respond if the police confront him,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve ever arrested a Reaper before, but we have the resources at our disposal to make sure he doesn’t get away with any crimes.”
I pressed my mouth together. “Not that I don’t appreciate it, but if it goes on official records, word might make it back to the Reaper Council anyway.”
And then? The new life I’d begun to build since my arrival in town would potentially be in danger. I’d been under no illusions that I might be able to keep my history at bay forever, but I’d started to act as if that was the case all the same. And while I didn’t like to admit it, it was easier to pretend the other Reapers didn’t exist. After all, acknowledging them meant facing the people who’d indirectly caused my brother’s death and generally screwed up my life.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll keep it quiet for now unless you change your mind. I need to head back to the pack territory for an event tonight, but I’ll come and talk to the Reaper with you tomorrow.”
“What event?” I folded my arms, keeping a teasing tone. “Am I not invited?”
“A pack thing,” he said. “Like the coven’s social events but with werewolves instead of witches.”
“Ugh.”
“I thought that’d be your reaction.” He grinned. “I would like to see you again, though, just in case I wasn’t clear on that one. We can go out another night.”