Gretchen’s eyebrows furrowed. “Did he?”
I nodded, then stared at the bedroom door to fight through the memory. “It seemed like he knew I’d come here, which I can’t understand.” I looked at Gretchen. “But at the very end he mentioned Dane—something like, Dane was the one.”
Her eyes widened. “He did spellbind Kipp?”
Nothing would please me more to know I could blame Dane, but I couldn’t. “I’d say yes, since it does sound like that’s what Kipp meant, but I asked him outright if Dane had done a spell on him. He said no.”
She stared at me for a long moment before she said, “While what Dane’s done to you is horrible, I honestly don’t believe he would use magic in such a dark way. You’re right—Kipp must’ve meant something else.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “But I’m growing tired of not knowing what that something is.” Frustrating me even more, if Gretchen hadn’t woke me up I would’ve had the answer. Rubbing my face to ease my tired eyes, I sighed. “Feels like we’re running in circles.” I dropped my hands and gave Gretchen a long look. “Kipp said enough that he’s safe in the Netherworld, so for now, I have to let that go and we need to stick to figuring this world out.”
She gave a firm nod. “You said it seemed like he knew you’d come here, that it was safer for him and you if he stayed away.” Her head cocked. “Did you get any sense why he thinks you’re both in danger?”
“I didn’t get a chance to ask,” I muttered. “But I could see that he’s concerned. Although, clearly not too concerned because he’s not back here right now ordering me to leave.”
“There is that.” She nodded agreement. “If he honestly feared for your life, he would return and tell you as much. In fact, I doubt Kipp would have left you knowing you were in danger.”
I didn’t like where my thoughts took me. “Meaning, he’s in danger.” I shook my head the second it came out of my mouth. “But how could he be in danger, he’s already in a coma and a ghost?”
Gretchen nibbled her lip, then finally said, “A very good question.”
“All right.” I gave my arms a good shake, shedding all the confusion from my mind. We needed to stay focused. Only focusing on what Kipp had said wouldn’t get us anywhere. ”So, what next?”
She hesitated a moment, her eyes glancing at the tray ceiling before looking at me. “Even if we didn’t need the Lux from Wayde, I’d still beg you to help with Alexander. I hate to see him in this condition of unrest.”
Which was why Dane was a full-out idiot because if he thought it over, knew my loyalty to my friends, just Gretchen asking me probably would’ve sealed the deal. Of course, with Kipp gone, it gave me more motivation since I’d likely tell her to wait until I solved Kipp’s problem first. But we were all in this together now and just needed to figure this shit out. “Okay, I’m on board with helping him—more than just my need to fix Kipp—but I have no clue where to start.”
“As I see it, we need to get Alexander stronger so we can ask him more questions and get solid answers.” She continued to worry her bottom lip. “But I’m afraid I’ve never conjured such a spell. In truth, he’s the best one to answer that question. Like I’ve told you, he was the most talented spell caster I knew.”
“See, and that’s it, too; if we could get him back to being a normal ghost instead of this freaky apparition thingy, then maybe he could tell us more of what happened to him.” I waited for her nod, then I added, “So, we start there tomorrow? Finding a way to strengthen him?”
“I think that’s a good first step,” she agreed. “I’ll go over my spells tonight and see if anything stands out that could help him.” She stood off the bed, smiling down at me. “I’ll go back to my room and study a bit before calling it a night.”
A nasty cold sweat washed over my body at the idea of being alone in this house and as she turned, I jumped off the bed in a rush and tightened my fingers around her arm. “Can you stay?”
Gretchen winced, glancing between her arm and the bed, before she settled her wide-eyed gaze on me. “Here, in the bed with you?”
I looked over the fancy room and the only bed, too, then I shoved away my embarrassment and nodded at her. “Okay, yes, very weird. But I don’t want to be alone. What if the person who did this to Alexander comes back? Sorry, but I’d rather have four fists than two.”
I didn’t need pride. I needed sleep. I felt myself growing more and more tired as the seconds drew on. Going into the Netherworld clearly drained my energy and I suspected crying didn’t help either, nor did the emotional experience of seeing Kipp again. I’d feel a lot more comfortable with Gretchen there.
After a long search of my eyes, her expression softened, and she smiled in her sweet way. “Sure, I can stay. Let me put my pajamas on, grab my book, and I’ll be back.”
“Thanks,” I exhaled, releasing her arm, which I seemed to have had a death grip on, and I hoped I didn’t bruise her. Leaving me behind, she shut the bedroom door behind her. The old floor squeaked under her footsteps as she headed down the hallway. I returned to the bed, grabbed the blankets off the floor, and remade the bed.
After I finished with fluffing up Gretchen’s pillow on the left, I did the same to mine, and then a soft voice said, “Hi.”
I gasped, spun around, and spotted the woman ghost I’d seen out at the swamp, Victoria. Her blue eyes were warm and her smile friendly. “Oh no. Not this again. Go—”
She rushed forward at a speed a live person couldn’t match. “Don’t send me away.” She reached for my arm, but her hand went right through my flesh, causing icy shivers to wash through me.
“Do you mind?” I snapped, jumping back. “I’m not in any mood to be frostbitten.” Especially by some ghost I didn’t know, when I would’ve preferred it to be from the ghost I loved.
Victoria stared at her hand a moment longer before her gaze lifted to mine, and sadness filled her eyes. “Is it true—you can help us?”
I wrapped my arms around myself to warm the coldness out of my body and I scowled. “Yes, I can, but,” and this was a big but, “only if you promise to leave me alone until I say so.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “Please.” Her voice trembled. “Don’t send me away again. I need you to help me.”
I shut my eyes, drawing in a long breath to settle the slight annoyance flittering through my veins. I honestly had enough going on and didn’t want to take on anything else, but she didn’t deserve to be lashed out at, even if I so wanted to.
After I controlled my raw emotions, I opened my eyes to her and found her crying. “Okay, what do you need?” I softened my voice. “But please, be quick about it. I’m so tired and need to go to bed.”
“I lost a necklace,” she stated.
I stared at her, waiting for her to say more, but she didn’t. “You lost a necklace and…?”
She took the final steps to reach me, since my jumping at her touch had put a good distance between us. “I found it.”
I waited yet again to understand exactly what she was asking of me, but she continued to stare at me as if I should know, which I hadn’t a clue. Another long second passed before I waved her on. “And?”
“I need you to take it to my grave.”
Oh, yeah I heard her. I wished I hadn’t.
I blinked, looking for any humor in her eyes to suggest this was a joke. None appeared. “You are kidding?”
She shook her head slowly with a nervous smile. “There’s a cemetery over that way.” Pointing to the right, she gestured to the window by the bathroom door. “Can you take the necklace there?”
“Now?” I gasped, backing up another step and banging into the bed behind me. “Go and walk in the dark to a cemetery?”
Her expression became pinched as she took a step forward and matched my retreat. “I know if you bring me the necklace, then I’ll finally leave here.” Her bottom lip trembled. “I need to leave here.”
The desperation in her eyes and voice always got to me. Eve
ry ghost that begged to cross over had it, exactly why I always ended up helping them. “Why is this necklace so important to you?”
“My husband gave it to me before he died in a mining accident. I lost it a year or so after his death. I’d searched and searched for years for it, but couldn’t ever find it.” She glanced down to her dark brown trailing skirt and swirled her hips, making it flutter. “I didn’t die horribly, but had pneumonia a month after my thirtieth birthday and didn’t recover. I know it’s why I’m still here. I need that necklace with me.”
This was an absolute first request. Usually, my help was more people related, such as apologizing or settling some kind of emotional trauma. But I could actually see how this could make someone stuck. If she had mourned the loss of the necklace while alive, that desire would never let her rest. “You’ve been searching ever since you died?”
She nodded, smiling brightly. “I finally found it.”
I glanced at the bedroom door and then looked at the bed, wishing I could crawl into it. But I also doubted this ghost or any of the others would leave me alone. The sooner I got one ghost off my to-do-list, the better. Besides, I wasn’t doing anything right now, but planning to sleep. Gretchen would be a few minutes anyway, so I sighed. “How close is this graveyard?”
Chapter Twelve
The house was incredibly quiet. I assumed because smart people were asleep. Gripping the railing on the staircase with one hand, I held my flashlight tight with the other and without looking back at Victoria behind me, I asked, “Where is the necklace?”
“Here, I’ll show you.”
She had clearly sped up because she flew right through my body, nearly causing me to tumble down the stairs. My blood turned to ice and the bite of frost had me shivering. I wrapped my arms around the railing tight so I didn’t summersault down the staircase and I scowled at her back. “Now that,” I sneered, “was very rude.”
She didn’t acknowledge me and finished her descent down the staircase, then vanished through the front door. I cursed and hurried after her.
In the foyer, I put on my running shoes, and then I opened the front door and shut it behind me quietly, not to disturb anyone.
As I stepped out into the night, the warm air brushed against my skin and fluttered my hair around my face. I turned on my flashlight, scanned the area in front of me and I caught sight of Victoria, who headed toward the right side of the house. The moon above provided a lot of light, which made me happy, but my flashlight helped, too.
I jogged to catch up to Victoria as she moved quickly through the yard. I passed by a row of large trees and my shoes squished into the grass below. “Will you wait?” I called.
I pushed forward to a run and saw her dodge right behind a huge oak tree. I quickly followed, and once at the tree, I turned and immediately skidded to a halt, since I nearly ran straight through her. I grasped the tree and groaned as a sliver pushed itself into the palm of my hand.
I parted my lips to lash out at her when she squatted, then turned up to me with teary eyes. “It’s here. Look.”
Biting back my curse words, I ignored the sting in my palm and glanced down. Beneath the beam of my flashlight, I only saw grass. I moved closer, lowered the flashlight toward the grass and knelt beside her. “Where?”
She pointed to a spot right in front of the tree trunk and whispered, “Right under the grass there.”
With my free hand, I moved the grass around and something caught the light from my flashlight. “Oh, wait.” Pushing my fingers down into the grass, something cool brushed across the tip of my finger. Then I grasped the cool metal and lifted out a coin shaped item. I nearly said she was wrong and maybe I’d found a quarter, but as I brought it closer to the light I noticed it wasn’t a coin, but a round diamond pendant with a long silver chain. “Is this it?”
She sighed, staring at the necklace with tears rushing down her cheeks. “Yes, that’s it. I saw it catch the light off the moon one night.”
I pushed off the grass and stood, as Victoria joined me. “Okay, great. Where to now?”
Tears continued to trail down over her cheeks when she turned and pointed into the dark night. “This way.” She strode through the yard, and I kept close to her since I couldn’t see all that much in this area. Clouds had swept over the moon and made the night pitch black. The only light came from my flashlight, and it wasn’t nearly enough.
She continued to stride through the large yard, weaving her way in between the tall, thick trees until we came to the edge of the forest hugging the grounds. Looking back to me, she smiled. “Just over here.”
I looked at the forest, then around me at the pitch-black night, and finally focused back on her, totally confirmed I wanted no part in this. “Oh hell, no. I’m not walking into that forest.”
“It’s not in the forest,” she said softly, pointing to the right. “The cemetery is this way.”
Not happy about any of it, I hesitantly followed her as she kept to her word and just to the side of the thick brush was a pathway. Only a few steps along the stone walkway, the cemetery appeared.
The small graveyard had a wrought iron fence and an incredibly spooky gate with vines overtop of the metal. “How old is this place?”
She strode forward and walked right through the gate. “Old.”
I opened the gate and it creaked, totally freaking me out. The trees around me rustled with the wind and I groaned. Why couldn’t Victoria have come to me in the daylight when things weren’t so damn scary? Well, maybe because I wouldn’t have helped her, too busy with my own problems.
I stuffed back my worries and slight fear as the clouds moved away from the moon, which caused a little more light in the cemetery. Using my flashlight, I scanned the area. Only ten or so headstones were present and by the looks of them, they were as old as the house itself. Ready to get out of this place, I turned to Victoria. “Okay, which one is yours?”
She walked forward and stopped at one of the smaller tombstones. “Over here.”
As I settled in next to her, I aimed my flashlight at the headstone.
Victoria Glasgow Hackett
Beloved wife and daughter
1901-1930
At Victoria’s sharp inhale, I turned to her and she now stood in front of the tombstone next to hers, which clearly belonged to her husband since it read, Thomas Hackett, who died in his early thirties. The tears and sadness in her face indicated enough that’s who lay beneath the ground.
“I finally have it, Thomas. I found it. I can come to you.” She lowered to her knees and placed her hands on the grass
My throat tightened, watching her reach out to her husband. This was the sad stuff; her pain was palatable. Not wanting to prolong her misery, I whispered, “How do you want me to do this?”
She continued to stare down at the grass below. “Push it into the grass in my grave, so that it’s always with me.”
Tears welled in my eyes for her and I exhaled as I knelt just off to the side of her grave. I pushed the pendant of the necklace as far into the ground as it would go with using my fingers alone.
After I tucked the chain into the hole with the pendant, a light shimmed next to me. As I turned, Victoria laid down on the ground above her husband’s grave. She never looked at me, nor did she say a word. She shut her eyes, her cheeks wet with her tears, as she whispered words I couldn’t hear.
I blinked away a tear and when my eyes cleared, she was gone. I exhaled, sitting back on my legs. Usually ghosts thanked me for my help and it was slightly odd not to have that talk before one crossed over. But it made the moment a little more special because it only proved how much Victoria had waited to be with her husband. How much it meant for her to go and join him. In the moment of her crossing, she didn’t think of me, but only of him.
I was okay with that.
In fact, I totally understood. Most times now, I only thought of Kipp. I raised my flashlight, glanced to my right, and spotted the largest headstone in the cem
etery.
William Glasgow
Husband and father
1852-1900
Victoria’s father, I assumed, because her maiden name had been Glasgow. As I stared at his name, a tingle registered in the back of my mind and I could only gawk at the headstone. The name hadn’t registered with Victoria, but now it did and I could’ve smacked myself; Glasgow was Nettie’s last name.
I scanned the cemetery, realizing I stood in the Glasgow family plot. As it appeared, by all the names on the headstones, all of Nettie’s family had been buried there. With my heart slowly pounding, I hurried through the few rows of tombstones and read each one as I passed until I finally reached the last gravestone. When my flashlight hit the name, my breath caught in my throat.
Nettie Glasgow
A daughter forever missed.
1895 –
I leaned in and looked at the bottom for the date she died, but it appeared to have been erased through time. Chunks of the stone were missing and I couldn’t read it, but in that moment, a thought struck me. “Nettie,” I called.
Silence greeted me.
Annoying me further, I had to wonder if I had just been speaking to Nettie’s sister or at least a close relative. I could’ve had the chance to ask her something about Nettie and I had let it slip through my fingers. But that only confirmed my suspicion that Nettie could still be around. If her sister or maybe cousin had been there, so could Nettie. “Nettie,” I called again.
Only darkness surrounded me.
A rustle in the trees snapped me out of my thoughts and an owl hooted in the distance, reminding me I stood in a cemetery alone. Using my flashlight, I took a quick look around me, but I only met darkness. With all that spooky business, I booked it out of the cemetery at full speed.
Mystically Bound (Frostbite, Book Three) Page 8