“But you were angry sometimes?” Mia pressed, a shrewd look in her eyes. “Even a little bit over an injustice or a personal slight?”
“Of course!” Rose countered, remembering her childhood reaction to a beaten James lying in the street in front of her. “Isn’t everyone at one time or another?”
Mia offered Rose a sad smile. “But what about since you woke up here?”
Mentally, Rose began reviewing her life since she had regained consciousness in her currently ghostly form. No matter how hard she tried, Rose couldn’t remember one single time that she had been angry. It just hadn’t happened. Sadness and maybe a little agitation? Sure. But no anger, not ever.
“No,” Rose finally admitted, more confused than before. “Since I woke up here, I don’t think I’ve ever been upset, not the way you mean.”
The dark-haired woman nodded and weariness seemed to wash over her. “That’s what I thought. Well, I know what has to be done.”
Justin’s patience was clearly wearing thin because he snapped at Mia. “So get on with it. What’s going on?”
At that, Mia pushed off from the wall and crossed the room to stare out the window. “I think that Rose’s grandfather was here in the house when she died. That’s why he can’t remember what happened. His memories were stripped right after the incident. But I don’t think he meant any harm. I think he was trying to prevent her death.” Mia turned to look at the small group, her eyes glittering in the late morning light. “He tried to cast a spell that would… Well, I’m not completely sure of his intent. However, I am sure that he intended for both you and Rose to live.”
“How do you know for certain?” Josh asked, his eyes flickering from corner to corner of the small room as if searching for something only he could see.
“I don’t. Not completely for certain.” Mia hesitated. “The records Tim brought back yesterday indicated that after the bodies were found here, an inquest was held into the deaths. No conclusion was ever reached and the case was closed. Ten years later, a man approached the town sheriff and said he’d had a vision years before about the deaths of four young people in this town.”
Ben, who until now had been standing quietly to the side, made a harrumphing noise. “Nonsense! Why don’t I remember that?”
Mia gave him a sad, tired look. “According to the official records, you’d only been dead a week when the man arrived. He’d only recently figured out where his vision had occurred. He tried to get here sooner but he got lost. He wanted you to know that you weren’t the reason they were all dead, that it had been an accident. The universe had made the decision, not you, Ben.”
The old ghost was quiet for a moment. “So it wasn’t my fault? None of it? I didn’t kill my Rosie?” His words were barely a whisper.
“No.” Mia’s voice was just as quiet. “It wasn’t. There was nothing you could have done. Those four were on the wrong path and the universe intervened to make it right.”
“I didn’t read that in any of the files I found,” Justin countered, still clearly wanting Mia to be wrong. “It would have been part of Blue Spring’s public record, right?”
This time it was Tim who shook his head. “I found that same account mixed in with Doc Baker’s private papers, the ones that were sent away. Seems the good doctor came back every so often to check on things in the town. He might have left shortly after he arrived here, but he kept coming back, as if he knew his work wasn’t quite done since the case was unsolved.”
“Where did he go?” Ben asked, still clearly shaken by Mia’s revelation. “Even after all this time, I never did find out.”
“West,” Tim said. “He moved to what’s now the Millvale section of Pittsburgh and took all of his papers, including those personal documents. Had I not found that one mention of his move in the local museum files, I wouldn’t have even known to look there.”
Ben turned to his granddaughter, a sorrowful look on his face. “But I still failed you, Rosie. Whatever I did, it was wrong.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Mia cut in. “Maybe things didn’t work quite as you had hoped, but I don’t think you completely failed, either. I think another obstacle got in the way of everything, something that no one saw coming. It’s time to correct that.”
“How do we do that?” Josh asked, his frown now so deep that Rose wondered if he would ever smile again. “None of us can do magic and we don’t have anyone on staff who even dabbles right now.”
Mia gave a small smile. “Maybe not, but we can give Rose a body again, a human body.” When nobody said anything, she rushed on. “You all died but were reborn again. Theoretically, to put the universe right, Rose should have died and been reborn too. In the next life, you would have met, fallen in love and the balance of the universe would have been restored.”
“So why did he get to be reborn but I became a ghost?” Rose asked, fighting the need to sit down. There were shadowy images at the edge of her memory now too, but she couldn’t pin them down. If she could see them, she might be of more help. She should be able to do this; her spectral energy was strong. However, the harder she tried, the more they slipped away.
Mia returned to look out the window. “I think your killer used his own brand of magic or he had help from someone else, a dark witch, perhaps. Whatever the reason, when it came to you, Rose, multiple spells collided and your soul splintered into two parts.”
“Every soul has two halves,” Mia explained, “one dark and one light. For some reason, the light side of you was trapped here, enhanced somehow by a counter spell. That’s why you’re not a typical ghost.”
At that, everyone fell silent. Finally, Elliott, who had been quiet the entire time, gathered the courage to ask what everyone wanted to know. “So if essentially the good half of Rose is here, where is the other half?”
Mia sighed and rubbed her temples. “I can’t be sure, but I think Rose’s dark half was, in fact, reborn. Partial souls can be reborn, though it’s rare. I’ve seen it before.”
“Where?” Rose demanded as she reached out to Mia, wanting to touch her. “Where is the other part of me? And more importantly, how do I put myself back together? If I have that body, I can live. I’ll get my second chance.”
Mia held up her hand and again Rose was struck by the impression that the other woman was on the verge of exhaustion. “I did some research last night and I believe that your other half was reborn as the woman who now owns this house – Sophia Hamlin. From what I’ve learned, Sophia is a miserable shrew who doesn’t have a friend in the world. Everyone I talked to told me she’s mean, nasty and without a trace of goodness or kindness.”
“So why didn’t Rose join with her when she walked in the door?” Justin demanded, obviously having decided that, at least for now, he was willing to believe Mia’s theory. “Shouldn’t it just happen or something?”
“Reunification of a soul isn’t that easy,” Mia replied, shaking her head. “It takes a specially trained person to put a soul back together, usually a shaman or someone else trained in spiritual magic. It doesn’t just happen without help, just as it didn’t just get splintered without some interference, either.”
Tim, ever practical, got to the heart of the matter. “So where do we find someone that can do this? Where do we start looking? Should I make some phone calls?”
“You don’t need to.” Mia’s voice was quiet, yet strong and Rose could see Tim’s eyes, now filled with fear, leap to Mia’s. She was certain that Tim knew Mia’s secret, otherwise he wouldn’t have pushed her the way he just had. “A highly trained telepath, combined with the natural abilities of a Mimic can do it. We just need a few moments alone with Rose to get her ready.”
Chapter Twenty- Five
From their positions in the kitchen, Rose, Callie and Mia could hear Tim and Justin engaged in a rather tense discussion just beyond the door. Somewhere farther away, they could also hear Reed and Ben arguing over Callie’s mere presence in the house. Ben was infuriated that Cal
lie was now more or less alone with Rose and that Reed wasn’t physically present to “control” his charge. Elliott stood beside the women, watching over them with calm eyes and not speaking, as usual, simply waiting to see whether or not the plan would proceed. Though no one in the kitchen voiced their thoughts aloud, it was clear they were all thinking the same thing. At least one of the men beyond the door would try to stop Mia’s plan, leaving all of them, including Rose, stuck right where they had been before.
At first, Justin had done nothing more than stare at Mia in disbelief, refusing to believe she was a telepath and a highly skilled one at that. After all, he said, he’d never seen any proof of her talents. When Tim had defended Mia, confessing that he had known about Mia’s abilities for years, Justin had snapped. He had accused Tim of betraying their friendship, while Tim had countered that it wasn’t his secret to share.
Rose had eventually calmed both men down long enough for Mia to explain her plan. Rose, Mia had told them, could not exist outside of the house or its immediate grounds, as was the case with most ghosts. However, unlike most ghosts, since her soul was splintered, Rose could be carried inside another person if she really needed to travel. It was also unlikely that Sophia Hamlin would be out of the hospital anytime soon, which meant that to be reunified, Rose would have to go to her.
At first, Justin had offered to carry Rose’s soul, but Mia had flat out refused to allow it. It would disrupt the universe even further, she had informed him, and there was no guarantee that once inside Justin’s body, Rose would be able to escape, even with Callie’s help.
The most logical way, at least according to Mia, would be for her to carry Rose’s spirit to the hospital. After all, she was a telepath and it would take a mentally strong person to carry another person’s essence for that amount of time.
That plan had made Tim very unhappy, but in the end, Mia had won, just as Rose knew she would. Margaret had been a powerful force in her time and apparently, in her current incarnation as Mia, she was no different. Now, they were in the kitchen, so that they had privacy while Mia absorbed Rose’s soul into herself with Callie acting as a conduit. A direct body-to-body transfer was risky, but with Callie acting as an intermediary, the risk was more acceptable.
Of course, Reed hadn’t seen it that way and had, at first, refused to release Callie, the Imperitas still prohibiting her free reign of her abilities. Once Callie had coaxed Reed into agreeing to the plan, Ben had objected, saying he wasn’t going to allow a Mimic like Callie to touch Rose.
That had angered Reed all over again and a fight had nearly broken out until Elliott had suggested he supervise the transfer. He was a medical doctor, he’d reminded them all, with a specialty in the supernatural. If something was amiss, he would be able to tell.
That had seemed acceptable to everybody, even Ben, and before anyone could change their minds, Elliott had ushered the small group into the kitchen where the transfer was to take place.
Now, as Callie stood between Rose and Mia waiting to begin, it was Rose who was hesitating. As excited as she was about the possibility of finally regaining a body, of really and truly being with Justin, there was one more thing she felt as if she had to do. If something went wrong with the transfer, she would never get another chance.
“Before we do this, I need to tell you something.” Rose twisted her hands in front of her, unsure how to bring up what needed to be said.
“If it’s thanks, don’t bother.” Mia replied closing her eyes as if she was exhausted, which Rose reasoned, she probably was. “I would do this no matter what.”
“It’s not that,” Rose tried again, “though I do appreciate it.”
“Are you worried that I’m not strong enough?” Mia asked. “If that’s the case, don’t be. I’m far stronger than you know.”
That piqued Rose’s attention. “How strong?”
At first, she thought Mia wouldn’t reply but then, the other woman sighed as if coming to a decision. She glanced at Callie and Elliott as well and, as if in mutual agreement, they both left the room, with Elliott muttering quietly that they had five minutes before he and Callie returned.
“How much do you know about The Order of The Cambion?” Mia asked Rose once the others were gone.
Rose gasped in horror. “Enough to know that they’re powerful, supposedly evil men who believe they were born to at least one demonic parent. I also know they worship the idea of an evil, power-hungry Merlin from Arthurian legend and they call their leader ‘The Merlin.’ Even those on the Other Side fear them. Why do you ask?”
“Because they trained me,” Mia replied, holding Rose’s gaze firmly, never shying away from the difficult topic. “I’m not one of them, but my uncle was. When he discovered that I was telepathic, he kidnapped me and took me to The Merlin for training.”
“And yet, you’re here,” Rose replied warily, now uncertain of Mia and her intentions. “It’s said that no one can escape them, especially if The Merlin is involved.”
At that, Mia snorted and rolled her eyes, not the reaction Rose expected. “If you’re clever enough, you can escape. I did. After all, they’re just men. Powerful men, but men none the less.”
“Exactly how powerful are you?” Rose wanted to know. By now, her mind was buzzing, the pieces of both the past and present starting to fall into place. “Can you do magic?”
“I don’t know, but I probably could if I was properly trained,” Mia admitted. “After I escaped, I never tried. I was too afraid. I still am. I’m mentally linked to Steven, the man who currently calls himself The Merlin and if I use my abilities too much, they might be able to find me.”
Rose bit her lip. While Mia’s admission confirmed Rose’s suspicions, it also made the situation a lot more complicated. “Does Tim know?”
“He knows about my telepathy,” Mia admitted, “But not about The Order or the binding spell that keeps me connected to Steven. If he knew, he’d offer to help me break their hold over me. I don’t want him like… Well, it’s not important, anyway.”
For Rose, however, it was very important as the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place. “I think it is,” she countered. “If you told Tim, he would offer to do whatever it took to break The Order’s hold over you. I suspect it’s something risky and, given what I know of the group, probably of a sexual nature. But you don’t want that.”
Mia shook her head, the sadness now back in her eyes in full force. “I want Tim; I love him. I have since we were children, just the way you loved James and the way you love Justin now. You’re going to see that in my mind anyway once we join. But I don’t want Tim like that. He’ll do it out of pity. I’d rather not have him at all than to know the only thing he feels for me is sympathy.”
She paused and bit her lip. In that moment, Rose saw Margaret as she had been that day in the church when the flu epidemic had broken out. She was scared and unsure, but determined not to back down.
“After we join,” Mia hedged, “you’re going to know all of my secrets, every intimate detail of my life. Callie won’t because I won’t pass through her. Some telepaths can compartmentalize, but I can’t, at least not very well. Please, Rose, after this is all over, be kind. Please don’t reveal my secrets.”
“They’re not mine to tell,” Rose assured her. “I would never betray your trust.”
At that, the other woman smiled and it was the same sad grimace that Rose had seen earlier. Whatever was bothering Mia was consuming her, controlling her life. Rose hadn’t planned on telling anyone about her suspicions regarding Mia until she was absolutely certain but now, she didn’t know if it could be avoided. If something went wrong, Mia deserved to know the truth, or at least what Rose believed was the truth.
She regarded Mia for a moment longer before she spoke again. “You believe that Tim is here in this time because he is bound to Justin and me. I don’t think that’s true.”
“He was Justin’s best friend even then,” Mia countered. “He still is. Time h
asn’t changed anything.”
“True, but that’s not all it is,” Rose informed her. “In all of the visions that Justin sees, Tim is in the room right after he’s shot, yet we lived in a time without cell phones or instant communication. How did he know to be there?”
Rose barreled on without waiting for an answer, pressing her advantage when Mia wasn’t quick enough with a comeback. “In Justin’s visions, Tim, when he was Jonah, mentions three deaths that day. Justin and I are obvious, but who was the third, Mia? Who else died that day? Tim didn’t die until that evening, making him the fourth victim.”
It was Mia’s turn to look pale. “I don’t know, Rose. For as much as I know, I don’t know that.”
“I think you do or at least you started to suspect after you read the case files, all of them. That’s what brought you here today.” Rose paced the room. “ I knew Margaret Covington, the Mountain Witch, and my grandfather told me stories about her past. She had been kidnapped as a child, taught black magic and forced to abuse her natural abilities. Yet, she was still kind, even after all she’d been through. Despite everything, she was still a good person. Good but scared.
“My grandfather said that, as far as he knew, she didn’t trust anyone, and I met her often enough to know that was true. She’d been hurt too many times. Still, he said, she had to trust someone. That person was the town’s doctor, the only man educated enough not to fear her. In my time, that would have been Tim.”
Mia turned away so that Rose couldn’t see the fear in her eyes. “That doesn’t mean anything. It certainly doesn’t involve me.”
“Yes, it does!” Rose was quite agitated now. “You look like her, Mia. I can see bits of the woman I knew in your eyes. She’s in there; you know she is. You were Margaret and you love Tim now just like Margaret loved Jonah back then.”
“I’m not,” Mia insisted firmly. “Besides, if I had been, wouldn’t I have been able to stop this, stop you from dying?”
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