“I figured as much. That’s why I thought you could choose the date. Seeing how you know London and all that.”
“Are you flying to London?” I try not to get excited, but my insides are not listening.
Isaac smiles and nods. “Before I fly out to California for basic training, my family and I were going to take a big road trip. Mom and Dad agreed to pay half my airfare if I wanted to fly to England. I’ve never been there, and it sounds fun.”
“Yes!” I can’t stop grinning. “There are so many places to take you. Oh, I’ve got to make a list. And you get to meet Alisa. I can’t wait to tell her.”
“Good.” Isaac releases an exaggerated sigh. “I didn’t know if you’d want me to, but now that I know you do—“
“A thousand times yes.”
Dad pops his head in the room. “Everything okay? What’s with the raised voices?”
“Isaac is going to visit me in London!”
“Is he?” Dad doesn’t seem as enthused. “Great.”
After he shut the door again, I scooted over on the bed and patted the spot beside me. “Want to sit?”
Isaac sat beside me and wrapped one arm around my shoulders. He rested his head against mine. “Is this hurting you?”
“Not at all.”
“I still have to work on your father. He’s not exactly sold on me dating you.”
I lean into Isaac. “Good luck with that.”
37
I look out across the water and am no longer afraid. Now I can focus on the beauty of nature and the warm breeze that caresses my face.
“You’re in my sun,” Cassie complains.
“Fine. I only wanted to see the view one more time before I go.”
“It’s not like you’re never coming to the states again. I’m going to see you in two months.”
“Yes, I know. But that’s in Ann Arbor, not up north.”
“I understand that, but at some point, you’re going to visit Gran, right? And what about lover boy? He’ll be back up here once basic training is over.”
“Okay, okay.” I step off the dock. “Well, give me a hug, at least.”
Cassie sets her phone down and pushes herself up off the lounger. “Goodbye, my dear cousin.” She gives me a hug and a loud kiss on the cheek. “When’s Isaac’s flight?”
“Early next week. Which is perfect. Gives me time to hide all the bug specimens.”
“So gross. And I can’t believe you still want to get a degree in forensic science. Haven’t you had enough nastiness to last a lifetime?”
“Not at all. Dealing with the mystery and the paranormal elements quite intrigued me. Maybe one day I’ll be a detective. As long as I can take the pictures.”
“Me too! Sherlock and Holmes!”
I laugh. “You mean Holmes and Watson. Sherlock is Holmes’ first name, you ninny.”
“Whatever. You knew who I was talking about.”
Both of us pause as Gran approaches. She’s been quiet since I was released from the hospital yesterday. Dad said that she couldn’t get worked up over the situation because of her heart condition, so they only told her I fell and got a concussion. Still, I sense that she knows more than she lets on.
“Hello, girls.”
We both greet her.
“Cassie, would let me say goodbye to Ginnie?”
Once Cassie’s out of earshot, Gran asks me to sit down. I take one lounger while she takes the other.
“I’d have never forgiven myself if something happened to you.”
“Gran, I’m fine. I fell and hit my head. I shouldn’t have been over there by myself anyway.”
Gran turns to me and shoots me a withering look. “I’m not a dummy. You wouldn’t have been in the hospital for almost a week if you had bumped your head.”
I don’t say anything because what would be the point?
“Barbara Blackstone visited me before you and Sam came up to visit. She was worried, telling me that she’d been having nightmares where her sister was calling out to her. She wanted to know if I’d seen anything or heard anything. But I hadn’t. Just the usual forest sounds. She asked if any of my family was coming to visit, and I knew who she meant. I told her no. You and your dad have never visited in the summer. She said to make sure that you stay far away, just as a precaution. Well, it had been years since I had talked to her, so I didn’t think anything about it. That same afternoon, I saw her.”
“Barbara? Or Bonnie?”
“The ghost girl. She stood in the same spot Barbara had been standing not even an hour earlier. That’s when I had my first episode. She startled me!”
“Is that around the time you called me?”
“When I was in the hospital, and I found out from Sue that you and Sam were flying in, I remembered Barb’s warning. I’m not one to believe in all this ghost nonsense, but I know what I saw.”
“You couldn’t have kept Dad or me from coming to see you.”
“I should have tried harder. But a part of me wanted to believe that everything was fine. I missed you both so much, which made me keep second-guessing my intuition. And I’m sorry that I didn’t take the threat as seriously as I should have.”
“It all turned out okay. We’re fine. And I’m glad we came. Even with everything that happened, I’m still glad we visited.”
Gran stares out across the water. “I hope Sam will forgive me one day. I know that’s part of the reason he’s going back to London.”
“Of course he forgives you.” But I remember Dad’s words in the hospital, and I know he still has a lot to process. He’s running from the truth, but I can’t tell Gran that.
Cassie calls my name. I turn to see Mitch standing beside her on the deck. “He wants to say good-bye!”
I wave them over to us.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you that Barbara stopped by this morning. She wanted to see you. She was really demanding, but you were sleeping still. It was strange. I’ve never seen her so pushy.”
Before I could question her further, Mitch and Cassie are close. I get up to greet Mitch. We exchange a hug. “Good news,” he says. “Isaac and I didn’t have to go destroy those psycho bugs. I woke up yesterday morning early. I kept hearing drawers bang shut. It was Mom. She told me that she felt awful about what happened to you, and it should be her that confronts her sister, and no one else. She said she knew what she had to do. She came back a couple of hours later and said it was done.”
Gran now stands beside us. “She destroyed the bugs? I’m not understanding.”
“Those nasty beetles that kept bothering me,” I explain to her. “They were the ghost—“
“Think of them as Bonnie’s messengers,” Cassie adds.
“They were her, more or less.” Mitch corrects Cassie.
“And they’re destroyed?” Gran still stares across the lake.
“If a person burns them up—destroys them—then that person destroys the ghost’s essence.”
“There was no fire over there.” Gran walks closer to water, her eyes fixed on the other side.
“I’ll have to ask Mom, but she said it was taken care of. It took a lot for her to do that. She hasn’t been in these woods for as long as I can remember. She’s been frightened by them.” I can hear the pride in Mitch’s voice.
“I haven’t seen one of those beetles since I’ve been back, so your mother must have been successful.”
“Technically, your grandmother. She did it for you.”
“I’m her grandmother.” Gran spins around and glares at Mitch. “Let’s get one thing straight. The cat might be out of the bag, but we made a promise to each other. I’m going to keep my promise, and I expect your mother to do the same.”
“I was only saying that we’re family. My mother set aside her fear and confronted her sister. Because of Ginnie.”
Gran swears, which shocks the three of us. “She should have confronted that ghost years ago. That wasn’t bravery that sent her over there. It was guilt. She didn�
��t want someone else to get hurt. And then she shows up on my porch this morning, her head held high as if she has a right to claim what isn’t hers.”
Mitch looks from Gran to me. “I don’t want to argue. I only wanted you to know that it’s finished.”
“Has your mother been acting differently since she’s come back?” Gran completely changes her tone. “When she was over here this morning, she had a lot more confidence. She was staring me down, demanding to see Ginnie. Strange, isn’t it? That woman has barely looked me in the eyes for these forty years.”
“She faced down her ghostly sister. I think she feels a lot more confident.” Mitch says. “I have to admit that I was surprised when she didn’t go to work today. She said that she didn’t want to be at the library anymore. But if she’s happy, I’m happy.”
“She quit the library?” I ask. Gran makes eye contact with me, and the clues hit me like a runaway train.
“Not yet. She took a day off.” Mitch watches us, before saying, “Listen, I’m going to leave. I thought you’d be happy that Mom finished the job for us.”
I mentally shake myself and give Mitch another quick hug. “Be safe. I’ll see you soon.”
“Cassie and I are already planning a meet up in Ann Arbor.”
After Mitch waves and walks away, Cassie glares at both me and Gran. “What was that about?”
“There was no fire over there yesterday,” Gran says. “So whatever Barbara went over there to do, didn’t happen.”
“How can you be sure? It might have been while you were sleeping.”
“I haven’t slept well for over a week. Since my granddaughter was nearly killed. And yes, that’s right, none of you fooled me with that ‘hurt her head’ nonsense.”
“There’d at least have been smoke, right?” I ask, feeling the trepidation down my spine to my toes. “Maybe she did something else.”
“The woman who came over to see you acted nothing like Barbara. Why do you think I questioned whether or not she was Bonnie? Because that woman has avoided me for forty years. Always kept her head. Very shy. Just like Barbara. But this morning,” Gran pauses and shakes her head. “This morning, the woman at my door was in my face and demanding. I had to put my foot down and remind her of our promise to each other. And do you know what she said? That promises mean nothing to her, and that I destroyed her family. Barbara would have never said that.”
“So, if that’s not Barbara then who is it?” Cassie asks, then gasps and covers her mouth. “You don’t think—?”
“The ghost needed me to let her in. Like she wanted to possess me,” I say the words, feeling sick to my stomach. “But I wouldn’t let her. Instead, I prayed, which she didn’t like, and then, it was weird, I felt really powerful inside. When I said ‘no,’ it literally threw her from me.”
Gran gives a slight smile. “That doesn’t surprise me at all. You’re strong, Ginnie, and all that good faith teaching helped.”
“But what if Barbara wasn’t as strong?” I ask. “What if she went over there like I did to destroy the bugs, but instead…” I stop because I can’t even say the words.
“That explains it,” Gran says. “The woman who came to see you, Ginnie, wasn’t Barbara Blackstone.”
“It was Bonnie.”
THE END OF BOOK ONE
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to those who have read and reviewed my work. This book is so much stronger because of the wonderful advice and critiques I received. You’re my first shout-out!
Thank you to my family. I appreciate your love and support.
This book was started back in the day when I taught high school English. It has been revised several times, but my overall goal has not changed. I wanted to write a suspenseful tale for all of my students. Hopefully, future generations of high schoolers will enjoy this book, but please know, that the heart of this book is every student I’ve ever taught. I cherish the time spent in the classroom with all of you.
A special thank you to my grandparents, specifically both of my grandmothers. Even though they are in heaven, I know that they are pleased with this book. I created the Gran character with both of my grandmothers molding and shaping the character into who she became.
Last, but never the least, thank you to my heavenly father. My desire is for every book I write to give you glory.
Much love.
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