Wicked Witches of the Midwest 9

by Amanda M. Lee

  Marnie ignored her tone. “Things will be perfect,” she agreed. “Things will be completely and totally perfect. What kind of food do they like, Sam?”

  “Well, Dad will eat anything,” Sam replied. “Mom is a vegetarian, though.”

  Mom, Marnie and Twila sucked in twin breaths. They hated vegetarians. We’re a meat-and-potato kind of family.

  “Well, I’m sure we can come up with some appropriate dishes,” Marnie said. “I’ll look through the books tonight.”

  “I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t eat meat,” Aunt Tillie announced. “I love sausage.”

  I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing at the unintended double entendre. “That’s what she said,” I muttered under my breath, causing Thistle and Clove to giggle.

  “Did you say something, smart mouth?” Aunt Tillie challenged.

  “Nope.” I pressed my lips together as Landon shot me a dubious look. “I didn’t say a word. In fact, I’m going to run to the drink cart and make myself something to chase away the chill. Does anyone want anything?”

  “I’m going to stick with wine,” Landon answered.

  “I’ll take a fifth of whiskey,” Thistle said.

  “Coming right up.”

  I listened to the conversation as I left the room, smirking when I heard my mother steer the conversation toward Annie. I was almost at the cart when the lights flickered. It happened immediately after a bright flash of lightning but before the accompanying thunder roll. I glanced toward the window as the power flickered again.

  This time five ghostly apparitions appeared in the window, causing my heart to pound when I locked gazes with a short man with a big beer gut. All five ghosts stared at me as I reached toward the drink cart, my fingers shaking as I fought to tear my gaze from them. It was as if I was frozen in place.

  The lights flickered once more before completely going out, plunging the room into darkness.

  I wanted to scream. I couldn’t see anything and my mind went to a wild place where the ghosts were closing in on me as they attempted to smother the life from me. I didn’t get the chance to scream, though, because one of the guests did it for me.

  “It’s a ghost!”

  FIVE

  “Bay?”

  I could hear Landon calling for me but I remained rooted to my spot. I was terrified to move in case I walked through one of the creepy ghosts. I didn’t get a chance to study them for very long, but at least two of them appeared to have gaping wounds. Most ghosts take on a form pleasing to them. I’d come in contact with several over the years who were jerked so violently out of their lives that they looked exactly as they did in death, though, which was altogether creepy.

  The room remained dark and I counted in my head. It usually took a full minute for the generator to kick on.

  “Bay?” Landon’s voice was closer and I pictured him feeling his way through the darkened rooms as he tried to find his way to me. I tried to speak, but no sound would come out of my mouth. Things only worsened when I thought I heard a low scraping sound in the corner of the room. Of course, that could’ve been my imagination working overtime.

  “Bay!” Landon was more insistent now and I managed to jerk in the direction of his voice at the same moment the generator kicked on.

  Of course, because we were in the middle of a storm the thunder blasted at the exact same moment, and I jumped when he reached for me.

  Landon pulled me to him, smoothing my hair. He almost seemed relieved when his hands made contact with my skin. “You frightened me,” he murmured into my hair. “Why didn’t you answer?”

  “I … .” I wasn’t sure how to answer, and when I glanced over my shoulder I found the spot dark where the ghosts stood moments before. “I’m not sure. I kind of freaked myself out.” I offered him a rueful smile. “I love storms, but you know how I am about horror movies.”

  Landon didn’t look convinced. “I do know how you are about horror movies,” he said. “You like to watch them and then play pranks with Clove and Thistle. You generally don’t freak out, though.”

  “I’m sorry.” I meant it. “I just got tongue tied for a second.”

  Landon tipped up my chin, his expression unreadable. “You’re pale again. You got some color in your cheeks after our nap but … .”

  I cut him off. “I’m fine. I’m sorry I frightened you.”

  “It’s okay.” Landon gave me another brief hug before releasing me. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the drink cart and held out his hand. “Come on. You look like you could use a drink.”

  “Some food wouldn’t hurt either,” I admitted. “You did promise me a busy night, after all.”

  “I did.”

  Landon kept me close as walked back toward the dining room. It was only then that I remembered the scream. “Did someone see a ghost?”

  “One of the guests saw a shadow and thought it was part of the dinner theater,” Landon replied, keeping his voice low. “It’s okay. I mean … it’s okay if you’re okay.”

  “It’s okay then.”

  “I certainly hope so.”

  Landon waited for me to be seated before handing the bottle of whiskey to Thistle. She accepted it wordlessly, her eyes wide when locking with mine. I forced a smile for everyone’s benefit even though my heartbeat hadn’t returned to a normal rate.

  I searched for something to fill the uncomfortable silence. “That was freaky, huh? I almost tripped into the drink cart.”

  “It was definitely freaky,” Mom said. “I didn’t realize we were supposed to get such a big storm.”

  “I did that,” Aunt Tillie supplied. “That was my anger.”

  “What do you have to be angry about?” Landon asked, making a big show of putting his napkin on his lap as he tried to act as if he wasn’t rattled. He had no idea what frightened me, but I knew he was worried about my reaction. He would never question me in front of guests, though. No, he would save that for later, when we were alone. “As I recall, everyone else has a reason to be angry but you.”

  “No one is talking to you,” Aunt Tillie sniffed. “Eat your steak and shut your hole.”

  On a normal night her dismissive attitude might’ve bothered Landon. He was much more interested in me than Aunt Tillie, though. “I am definitely going to eat my steak,” he said. “Then I’m going to eat my blueberry pie. Then I’m going to thank Winnie, Marnie and Twila for a wonderful meal.”

  Mom beamed as Landon winked in her direction. “No one can say you don’t suck up with the best of them.”

  “Yes, well, I’m gifted in that department,” Landon said, leaning back in his chair. He seemed more relaxed, if only marginally. “After that, though, I’m taking Bay back to the guesthouse. I think she needs a good night’s sleep.”

  “I think we all need a good night’s sleep,” Clove said. “I’m going to be up at the crack of dawn so I can clean the lighthouse.”

  “What’s left to clean?” Sam protested. “You scoured every inch of the lighthouse before we left.”

  “Oh, there’s plenty left,” Clove said. “I’m going to need the day off work so I can focus on my cleaning, Thistle. I hope that’s okay with you. If it’s not … well … suck it up.”

  “It’s fine,” Thistle said, her eyes never leaving me. I could lie to Landon and put him off for a bit, but she could always see right through me. “I’ll handle everything. Don’t worry.”

  “SO, DO you want to tell me what really happened?”

  Landon held it together throughout the entire meal and questioned me only when we hit the back door of The Overlook. He was a good boyfriend, kind and loving to a fault, but his FBI training refused to allow him to let things go when he sensed trouble.

  “Nothing happened,” I replied, rubbing my hands together when we reached the back patio. The air smelled earthy thanks to the fast-moving storm. “I just … frightened myself.”

  “How?”

  “I’m not sure,” I hedged. “The lights flickered a
nd I thought I saw something before they went completely out. Then I freaked out when it was dark because I couldn’t decide if I really saw something.”

  Landon was well aware of my abilities and he accepted them without question. That didn’t mean he wasn’t prone to questioning me when he thought a situation warranted further investigation. “What did you see?”

  “I don’t think I saw anything.” That was a lie, but I wasn’t ready to admit the truth. I had no idea why. It wasn’t as if I caused the ghosts to appear, but if I owned up to what happened earlier in the afternoon he would go into protection mode and order me to stay away from the tanker. I didn’t want to do that in case I needed to return to investigate. “For a second I thought it could’ve been a ghost or something, but it was just the way the lights were playing with my eyes.”

  “Are you sure?” Landon pushed my hair away from my face and gazed into my eyes. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

  I did know that. “I’m sure. There was nothing there when the generator kicked on. I freaked out over nothing. I’m sorry I frightened you.”

  “I’m always frightened when your safety is in question.” Landon gave me a soft kiss. “I do think you need some sleep, though. You’re still white.”

  “Are you ready for your fake nap?” I was going for levity and it worked when Landon grinned.

  “I’m ready for an entire night with you,” Landon replied. “I don’t care if we take a fake nap or real one. I just want us to be together.”

  “That sounds nice.” I slipped my hand into his and we were almost off the patio when we heard voices from the other side of the railing.

  “Annie, you’re being ridiculous.”

  I recognized Belinda’s voice right away. Landon and I exchanged a look before changing course. We had to check on Belinda and Annie before leaving.

  “I am not.” Annie was sobbing when I caught sight of her. “I saw it. I know I saw it.”

  “What’s going on?” Landon asked, his face full of concern as he released my hand and moved toward Annie. She was pressed in tight against the side of the patio, almost as if she expected someone to come up behind her.

  “She’s overreacting because of the storm,” Belinda explained. “I’m not quite sure what her problem is, but she didn’t take it well when the lights went out. She started … carrying on.”

  “Carrying on how?” I asked, my heart skipping a beat. This wasn’t the first time I believed it was possible Annie saw something otherworldly. She’d seen a ghost once before. I was sure of it. If it became a regular occurrence – and I was terrified it would – her life was bound to get a whole lot more difficult. No one wanted that.

  “I don’t know.” Belinda looked to be at her wit’s end. She’d seen a few crazy things since moving in with us, but either by choice or accident she was still oblivious to the witchy secret. “She acted as if she was talking to someone who wasn’t there, and then she started crying and hiding her face. Then she ran outside.”

  “Really?” I had no idea how to respond. If Annie had an ability – which would seem to indicate there was some witch blood in her heritage – then we would have to sit down and have a long talk with Belinda … and it would have to be sooner rather than later.

  “What did you see?” Landon asked kindly, opening his arms and smiling when Annie stepped into his embrace. Marcus was her favorite person in the world, but she’d warmed to Landon considerably since Aunt Tillie told her that he wasn’t a scary person despite being “The Man.” That was another instance of her mouth getting away from her.

  “I saw two men,” Annie replied. “They were dressed funny and they were bleeding.”

  “How were they dressed?” Landon asked.

  “They had on funny clothes … like jackets and ties and weird hats,” Annie replied. “They had blood all over them.”

  “I told you that you imagined that, Annie,” Belinda chided. “You didn’t really see any men.”

  “They were there,” Annie protested. “I swear it.”

  “Seriously, I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” Belinda said, reaching for her daughter. Landon reluctantly relinquished her, his face stoic as he patted the top of Annie’s head. “I think you’re tired. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

  Annie looked desperate when her eyes landed on me. She seemed to sense I understood her predicament. “You believe me, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do.” The answer was automatic and I had to force myself to ignore Belinda’s exasperated sigh. She wasn’t magical. She’d never seen ghosts. She didn’t understand the pain of having people think you were crazy or imagining things. I would never do that to Annie. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll look for the ghosts and see if I can get rid of them.”

  “You will?” Annie looked relieved. “Do you think you can really do that?”

  This time the smile I shot in her direction wasn’t forced. “I think I can.”

  Landon and I remained next to the patio and watched as Belinda led Annie into the inn. Belinda’s voice was warm and caring, but she was clearly out of her element. Once the door closed, Landon turned to me.

  “Do you think Annie saw what you saw?”

  I wasn’t sure how to answer. “I think there’s a good chance she did.” There was no sense going out of my way to lie to him. If this kept up, I would have to own up to everything, and I didn’t want to exacerbate the problem. “It happened so fast, though.”

  “Bay, how can she be seeing ghosts?” Landon had come a long way when it came to accepting magic and spells, but he still didn’t understand all of the intricacies of our witchy world. “Doesn’t she have to be a witch to see them?”

  “Not necessarily,” I replied. “Sam can see ghosts, and his mother supposedly has witchy tendencies. Most men in witch families don’t get the same abilities as women, though. We might never know how Annie came by her ability.”

  “Do you think she’s really seeing ghosts?”

  I searched my heart and nodded. “This is the second time she’s seen something.”

  “I know. Why do you think that is? What are the odds of her ending up here if she really can see ghosts?”

  “Maybe it was destiny.”

  I expected Landon to laugh at my earnest answer, but he seemed intrigued by the suggestion. “You think she was drawn to you guys for a reason, don’t you? You don’t believe Thistle finding her on the road that day was a fluke.”

  “I … don’t know what to believe.”

  “Well, I’d like to believe it’s destiny,” Landon said. “If anyone can help her, it’s you.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you’re magic, sweetie,” Landon replied, not missing a beat. “Everything you touch is special. If Annie is special, I don’t want her suffering because of her abilities. You know exactly what she’s going through, and you’ll help her.”

  His admission warmed my heart. “Thank you.”

  “Oh, don’t look at me that way,” Landon dismissed, wagging a finger. “You act so surprised when I’m sensitive. I’m a sensitive guy.”

  My lips tightened as I tried to refrain from grinning. “You are a sensitive guy. In fact, I wouldn’t mind going back to the guesthouse and being sensitive together.”

  “That sounds like a plan.” Landon pulled me in for a hug as he gazed at the back of The Overlook. “You know you’re going to have to explain things to Belinda once you get a handle on the fact that Annie is seeing ghosts, right?”

  I nodded. “I need to talk to my mother and aunts before that. We’ll probably have to do it together.”

  “You need to talk to Thistle, too,” Landon said. “She’s extremely tight with Annie. I hate to admit it, but having Aunt Tillie in on the decision-making process isn’t a bad idea either. I know she’s told Annie some weird things – and something definitely needs to be done about that kid’s attitude before she gets out of control – but Aunt Tillie will die to protect her.�
��

  “We’d all die to protect her. You would, too.”

  “Yes, but I’m out of my element,” Landon said. “I’m extremely sympathetic to Annie’s plight, but there’s nothing I can do to make the situation better. All I can do is help you when you try.”

  My heart rolled at his admission. Landon is a fixer, so he always wants to make things better. It takes a strong man to admit he can’t fix something and to stand back and let others try. “You’re a good guy.”

  Landon’s grin was impish as he stared down at me. “I am. As a good guy, I think I deserve a reward.”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “I’m so glad you asked,” Landon said, grabbing my hand. “I’m going to lay out my entire plan during the walk home.”

  Oh, well, that sounded entertaining. “Lead the way.”

  SIX

  “Good morning.”

  I woke to find Landon staring at me, the morning sunshine filtering through the window and glinting off his angular features as he rubbed his thumb against my shoulder and my cheek rested on his chest.

  “Morning,” I murmured, taking a moment to bask in his warmth before stretching.

  Landon smiled as he watched me, waiting until I was done groaning before pulling me back to him. He clearly wasn’t in a hurry to get up this morning. “How did you sleep?” he asked.

  “I slept hard. How did you sleep?”

  “I slept okay.”

  His answer seemed evasive. “Did something happen I don’t know about?” I moved to prop myself up on my elbow but Landon was keen to keep me close.

  “You were up once last night,” Landon said, his voice even as he stared at me. “You had a nightmare or something. Do you remember that?”

  I racked my brain as I stared at him. I vaguely recalled waking up in the middle of the night. His voice had been soothing as he rubbed my back and sent me back to sleep. Luckily the next set of dreams had been much happier. There was something about bacon and skinny-dipping.

  “I … .”

  Landon’s face was placid as he watched me. “What did you dream about?”