Dinner reminded me of another Hallmark movie, and I tried to summon the disgust that I thought I should have felt about all the warm and fuzzies. Still, I just couldn’t manage it. My eyes slid from one person to another.
My human boyfriend smiled at me before turning to scold his son for teasing his nymphet daughter. My goblin mentor leaned in close to tell the Sandman what I assumed was a dirty joke. Rhiannon, my werevamp best friend, laughed at her boyfriend’s flaming face as she scarfed down as much food as she could fit on her fork.
Beck tapped my hand and indicated he needed more wine. I stood and leaned in to grab the bottle, and when I did, he reached over and pinched my rear. It was all I could do not to squeal. I gave him a hard, accusing glare, but he only gazed at me as if innocent. Great, now my face is flaming.
Somehow my new family, as strange and eclectic as it was, worked. And even though I knew there would assuredly be more trouble in my life, I was content at that moment to let the worries dissolve into the back of my mind.
I’ll think about that tomorrow…
Rhiannon and I made our way to the cave after the dishes were cleared and all the food put away. Beck, Tig and Sandy were all kicking back and snoozing while watching football games. The kids were enjoying their new toys.
The sky was grey with moisture and cold, and I figured the front that had been predicted would begin laying down rain before the day was over. It was frigid enough I’d grabbed one of Beck’s thick coats for the trek through the woods.
“I can’t believe she left you all her stuff. I mean, sure you were her Neutralizer, but didn’t she have some other friends or relatives?”
My shoulders lifted and fell in a little shrug. “Charley’s note said she didn’t. Is it really all that surprising? I mean, she’s the proverbial little old lady in the neighborhood. Everyone loved her, but no one was really close to her.” It still made me a little sad to think about it. It also made me realize how easy it had been for Nelson to work on my feelings as far as the MAUC/Human issue. I didn’t know for sure, but I was willing to bet part of why Grammie spent her life alone was because of how difficult it was to be a witch in a world made for humans.
We worked our way through the stone passage and found my grotto nestled in almost the exact spot I’d located the troll living a year ago. The cave was cleared of all of the muck and grime the disgusting creature had deposited there, and now a clean little spring bubbled into a lovely pool of water.
“Pretty awesome that Beck happened to have this cave for you to put the grotto in.”
I programmed the coordinates into the magical map, and then Rhia and I both stepped into the grotto. Our bodies tingled and tickled as we dissolved and then reappeared inside Grammie’s house.
I had orbed here a few times before. Charley had helped me find just the right place to appear, off in a little mudroom beside her kitchen. The house was quiet and a little bit eerie now. Part of me wished I could inhale a deep breath and catch the scent of a fresh baked pound cake.
But the house was empty and silent and smelled only of must.
“So what’s the plan, girlfriend?” Rhia asked, flipping on a light switch.
“I don’t know.” My voice sounded a bit whiney, so I rolled my shoulders and told myself to put my big girl britches on. “I promised Beck we’d look around just to be sure there wasn’t anything of value that I might want.”
My BFF nodded and then skipped off to search the house. Leave it to a werevamp to find some aberrant excitement about going through a dead woman’s belongings. I wasn’t happy about this little venture at all. I’d already hired an estate salesman to get rid of everything, and I had a realtor lined up to sell the property once it was clean. The last thing I wanted was to go through Grammie’s stuff.
As I made my way from one room to another, it occurred to me how unassuming her house appeared to be. The furniture was simple and mostly wooden. I thought a few pieces might even be heirloom. Of course Grammie was a very old witch, so these things were probably acquired by her in her lifetime. On the wall flanking the stairs leading up to the second floor were old photographs. One in particular caught my eye, of a woman in what I recognized as a World War I nurse’s uniform.
I reached a hand out and fingered the frame, studying the woman’s eyes. Under any other circumstances I might have assumed this was a relative, but as I gazed into that frozen image I realized the beautiful brunette was actually Charley herself. There was a precocious grin on her face as she peered at the camera, and that look spoke somehow of a woman in love. I wished at that moment that she might step through the photo so that I could ask her about the man taking her photograph.
“Oh. My. God!” Rhiannon called out from some place upstairs. I frowned and looked in that direct to see her head pop down through an opening which clearly led up into the attic. “You have got to see this!”
Rolling my eyes I abandoned the photos and made my way up the rickety pull-down steps leading into the upper floor storage. “You nearly gave me a heart attack, Rhia. And if you found any dead bodies up here I don’t want ...”
My voice trailed off when I saw what she held in her hands. She was so excited that she could barely keep still, waving her arms back and forth and chattering incessantly. Still my gaze followed the object in her grasp, mystified by its simple elegance and beauty.
“Don’t you realize how perfect this is? I am a great judge of size, and I can tell you right now that this will fit you perfectly! Like a glove…” Rhiannon cried, rushing forward and holding the plastic garment bag against my chest.
“I don’t think…”
“Oh, yes, trust me. This is the best thing you could’ve found in this house. It’s perfect…”
But my stomach was churning as she dragged me close to an old standing mirror. My lower lip found its way into my mouth, and I began to gnaw at it as I tried to keep from looking at my own reflection.
“You are going to make a beautiful bride!”
Finally my eyes focused on the image in the mirror.
I’m in so much trouble…
Just before the turn of the twentieth century, a man by the name of Arthur Stilwell was in the process of building a railway to connect Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico. His original plan was to purchase the Houston East and West Texas Railroad and then to create a port terminal in Galveston, Texas. Stilwell’s plans changed when, as he recounts in his autobiography:
I was warned by my nightly advisors not to make Galveston the terminal of the Kansas City Southern Railroad, because that city was destined to be destroyed by a tidal wave.
You see, Stilwell claimed that from about the age of four he received messages from spirits that he called “brownies.”
As a child, he would warn his mother that relatives would be visiting days before the persons would actually arrive. He also pointed out his future bride when he was just 14 years old, and in fact within five years Jennie Wood became his wife.
As to the railroad, Stilwell said that the brownies advised him to end the railroad at Lake Sabine and to build the terminal at the site that is present-day Port Arthur. He followed their instructions, “not deviating from the plans revealed.”
Just five years later, the hurricane of 1900 devastated Galveston Island, killing around 8,000 people.
On April 7, 1924 Time Magazine featured an article titled “Brownies” which related the guidance Stilwell received from his nightly visitors. Other authorities at the time, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, believed Stilwell might truly have been psychic. I even located for auction a copy of one of Doyle’s books which was inscribed to Stilwell: "Yours in the great cause of Spirit-/Arthur Conan Doyle,/May, 31/22”
You can learn more about Stilwell and the city of Port Arthur, Texas at the Museum of the Gulf Coast.
Reaping Trouble (The Lynlee Lincoln Series Book 4) will release December 31, 2015
Lynlee thinks she might finally be getting into the swing of things now that she�
��s living with Beck and his two kids. She even starts learning how to cook. But when her BFF Rhiannon insists she try on an antique wedding gown left behind by a deceased witch, life starts to unravel.
Before she realizes what’s happened, the wedding dress transfers a curse to Lynlee, and she receives the message every witch dreads: notice of her impending death. The grim reaper has a tag on her, but even though she knows how the system works, Lynlee’s not going to give up without a fight. But with the possibility of her demise hanging over her head, Lynlee wonders if it’s best to cut ties with those she loves. After all, why make plans for a future she’ll probably never get to have?
And
Moon Dust (The Werevamp Diaries-1) about Lynlee’s BFF Rhiannon is a part of the It’s a Ghoul Thing Anthology Releasing October 6, 2015
A Bundle of Trouble (The Lynlee Lincoln Sets Book 1) Page 29