“Hey! Babe! What are you doing sleeping in the tub? Trying to drown yourself? Get dressed and come downstairs with us. Baby Boy and I have a surprise for you.”
“Oh, God. How did that happen? Um, okay.” I pulled the plug on the cold water and got out of the tub shivering. I wished I had time to record everything I saw, but I quietly pledged to do so tonight before I went to bed.
One thing was for sure—Max Davenport had been an evil man. And there was another worse thing.
He knew I was here.
Chapter Seven—Austin
Nathan didn’t seem surprised to see me, but he wasn’t in a hurry to open the screen door to me either. Glancing behind him, he closed the door with an apology to someone I couldn’t see and joined me on the front porch. It felt cool this evening, as if it were fall already, yet we still had the entire month of August to endure. Nothing like the dog days of summer to make you think about heading north for cooler places. Maybe when all this was over with, I would do just that, head north. I didn’t like the cold, but I did need a change. Maybe I could find happiness somewhere else. I felt a twinge of guilt as Bree’s face came to mind…but wouldn’t she be better off without being entangled with me in this life too?
“You have a lot of nerve coming here after breaking ties with the brothers.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” I said, “I’m a horrible person because I left the Brotherhood. But you are still my friend, Nathan.”
He winced, as if he didn’t feel the same way. That saddened me more than I expected.
“My life is the Brotherhood, Austin. If you leave us, you’ve left me too.”
I suspected he might react this way, but I still needed information. “I’m here about the house.”
“Seven Sisters.” Nathan sat in a rocking chair and waved me to the other one. “The house or the girl? Never mind, I suppose they are one and the same, really. Fine, but let’s make this short. I have students to teach. You used to care about that, Austin.”
Nathan wasn’t going to let this go. He was never going to accept that I had moved on, that my future wasn’t here with the Brotherhood. In recent months, I’d begun to question everything they touched, everything they did. Their involvement in the Idlewood home, their search for the Ouroborus Grimoire and their apparent curiosity about Carrie Jo, a fledgling dream catcher with incredible intuition. They grasped for these things, just like the people we were supposedly trying to defeat. I had become increasingly dissatisfied with their tutelage and decided enough was enough. I suspected that even now they were studying her, with their books and manuals, mapping her charts, comparing past lives and trying to decide if she was friend or foe.
“If you want me to go, Nathan, I will. I just have one question for you.”
“I am sure you do. A complicated and morally ambiguous question, no doubt.” He smiled genuinely, and that smile assured me that despite our differences and his words, despite the fact that we were now on very different paths—we were still friends.
“She’s dream walking on her own; she’s learning. And like many dream catchers, she made a mistake.”
Nathan stopped rocking. “Made a mistake…as in ended up in the lake, or as in interfered with established events?”
“As in changed history.”
“That’s one helluva mistake, Austin. I take it she communicated with someone, then? Why do they do this?” He rubbed his eyes like he was fighting off a headache.
“It was my fault, Nathan. I should have been there to help her, I promised her that I would teach her, but I couldn’t make it and she didn’t wait. Bree was there, and we had so much to talk about. She remembers things—I never thought she would remember me, but…”
“Can we please get back to Carrie Jo? What mistake? Specifically.”
Normally, Nathan’s impatience didn’t bother me, but now it set my nerves on edge. “She accidentally caught the attention of one of the spirits, Lafonda Delarosa, in the house during a dream walk.”
He shrugged. “And?”
“She spoke to her and warned her about the death of her brother. As a result, Death claimed someone else.”
“Dear Lord, Austin. The wrong person died because of what Carrie Jo did? That’s quite a ‘mistake.’ Does she know what that means? She broke a spiritual law and will probably feel the reverberations for years to come. I’m sure you told her this.”
I nodded in solemn agreement. “Not in so many words. There’s no denying that things have shifted. Major personality changes in her husband. Physical changes in her son. Lots of other differences in her closest friends.”
Nathan hopped out of the chair and began pacing the porch. “Austin, do yourself a favor—stay away from that house. There’s nothing but heartache for you there, and that’s always been the case. It’s a portal, an active portal. You can’t fix what you’ve done. You aren’t that man anymore. Why are you so intent on getting yourself killed?”
I shot him a quizzical look. “I’m just trying to help a friend, Nathan.”
“I’m not talking about Carrie Jo, and you know it. I’m talking about you dream walking at Seven Sisters. You know you don’t belong there, and don’t bother lying to me about it. You’ve been there! You were dream walking the property even before they moved in.”
I couldn’t hide my surprise. How could he know that?
“The residue is all over you, Austin. The past clings to you like a web. You’re from the past…don’t you think it will want to claim you? And what or who exactly are you looking for, Austin? Can’t you forget about the past?” His pointed stare made the hair on my arms rise.
“I…uh…I’m not thinking about the past. I’m thinking about the future. Besides, I’ve been doing other research.”
“I’m going to ask you again, what are you looking for at Seven Sisters?”
I tapped the arms of my chair with my fingers. How to put it into words? It wasn’t what he thought. My soul wasn’t pining for a ghost, nor was I trying to find a lost fortune or anything like that. I merely wanted to understand it all. Why had David Garrett made those choices, and why had I been cursed by them? “I guess the best way to answer that is simply. I want peace, Nathan. That’s all I want. Peace.”
“You won’t find it there, my friend. Stay away from Seven Sisters. You’re marked—forces you don’t understand watch you, and they know what you’re up to. They see you walking, even when you think you walk alone. It’s madness what you’re doing. Every day, I regret bringing you back to this place. If it had been my choice, I would never have done it. I argued with the Brotherhood over you, did you know that? I tried to keep you safe, but you are determined to die.”
“Wait, are you saying there is a target on my back?” I’d heard this sort of conspiracy theory about the Brotherhood before, but I had never believed any of it. They were a secretive society, but murderers? I hoped I was misinterpreting what he was saying. But Lionel Jon Archer claimed they were murderers, and look what happened to him!
Nathan sat back down and began rocking his chair again with his short, stubby legs. He would never order such a thing. These were my brothers; we had been committed to the study of supernatural gifts and their owners. We’d faithfully recorded the few that we’d found, but we’d never interfered.
Until we came to Mobile. Until Nathan wanted me to introduce myself to Carrie Jo Jardine.
At one time, I thought Carrie Jo might be the one. She understood me, and she knew me in ways other people could not. But she already had a husband, and I wasn’t the kind of man who would steal another man’s wife. Not anymore. I would love no one in this lifetime, not even Bree, which would make more sense than breaking up Carrie Jo’s marriage. Bree’s spirit and Calpurnia’s were very much the same—I knew that somehow. However, David Garrett had loved Isla Beaumont. In this life, I had not found my Isla, and perhaps that was a good thing. She might very well want to kill me again.
Nathan continued to rock in his chair and ponder the Mobile
night sounds, as he always did at dusk after his classes. I heard a whippoorwill and an owl, and there was no telling what else was out in the woods behind this Brotherhood hideaway.
“Remember Anderson’s Law, Austin. Time is like an eternal string. If you pull at it, it changes the delicate fabric of life. Twist it a little, and perspectives change, destinies switch. If you tug that string hard enough, sometimes you change things forever in ways that cannot be described. And once you’ve tugged at its string, Time remembers you.”
“If Carrie Jo did that, pulled on the string, how do we smooth it out? Or can we?” Dread crept over me. Did I really want to know the answer?
“To be honest with you, I’m not sure you can lay this at Carrie Jo’s feet. What makes you so sure you didn’t make contact yourself while you were there? How can you know? Perhaps you should do some soul-searching, my friend, and be honest with yourself.”
“Wouldn’t I have known if something had happened? I didn’t interact with anyone, just observed.”
Nathan snapped his fingers and said, “And that’s your blind spot! Seven Sisters is a portal to the spirit world. Its beautiful columns and unique statuary mean something. They are arranged in a specific order for a reason. No matter how careful you are, they are watching.”
“What do I do?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? The Law of Fate inevitably takes over. It’s a noble idea, fixing things—and that’s who you are, a fixer, so it’s natural that you want to help. But I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of anyone doing that. You can’t un-ring the bell, Austin. You should know that better than me. Better than most.”
“And that’s why I feel so compelled to intervene.” Then the two of us fell into silent contemplation.
“Come home, Austin. Leave Seven Sisters behind. I should never have sent you there. I see that now. Come home to us and all will be well.” Nathan rose from the chair, and I hesitated. His offer tempted me, but only for a few seconds. No way could I leave the Stuarts in this condition.
“I can’t, Nathan.”
He paused with his hand on the screen door and wouldn’t look at me. I thought I heard him mutter to himself, but I didn’t press him. “One more thing you should remember. Time never forgets us, you know. Time knows where we are and where we belong. Dream walking is one thing, but dream walking in a place where you’ve been before—lived before—simply tempts Time to administer justice. I think I understand your motivation in all this, I really do. Whether you believe me or not, it proves that you aren’t who you used to be, for what it’s worth. But that doesn’t absolve you of your debt. You must render whatever payment Time demands. Best of luck to you, my old friend. Good night, David. If you find your way back home, I hope you are happy there.”
He walked inside, the screen door slapping loudly behind him. I couldn’t believe what he’d just told me. I wasn’t David Garrett reincarnated. I was David Garrett. And Nathan had known it all along.
I walked off the porch, my whole body trembling.
Oh God, it’s true! I’ve been running from my own ghost—I am David Garrett!
And I’m going back to Seven Sisters.
I’m going to die.
Chapter Eight—Carrie Jo
Baby Boy decided today would be a good day to play hide-and-seek in every room of Seven Sisters. We’d closed the tours down until we could get things organized in our living space. To Ashland and me, the house was far too large for our family, but to Baby Boy, every room was a wonderland, every table an interesting cave and hiding place. We took great pains to keep the hidden doors secret.
This morning, I woke to the sounds of my son’s sweet voice counting. Even when he couldn’t find someone else, he would play hide-and-seek by himself. That’s what only children did—they made do. Maybe we should get a dog. I sat up in the bed and looked around our bright and airy bedroom. I loved the white walls, white sheets, white comforter. Did I mention I loved white bedrooms?
“One, two, four, seven, go!” His delighted giggling encouraged me to get up and sneak in on his play session. His imaginary friend must have found him because I could hear him squeal and run the other way. He was in the hallway now. Oh goodness, Baby Boy, stay away from the stairs! I raced to the doorway, happy to see our baby gate still in place.
“Hey, babe, your son is ready for some breakfast!” I shouted to Ashland as he brushed his teeth.
“Ugh, you’re too cheerful for me this morning. I feel like I have a hangover. Did I drink last night, babe?”
“No, not unless you did it when I wasn’t looking.” I smiled at hearing him call me babe. With a few twists of my wrist, I had a messy bun on top of my head. He strolled out as if nothing weird had happened yesterday. I took advantage of the moment, sat on the edge of the bed and kissed my husband like I meant it.
“What’s that for? You must really want those praline waffles!”
“Oh yes, I do. I want them bad.” I laughed as he eased me back on the bed and began kissing me. Baby Boy’s scream broke into our playtime, and we both headed out into the hallway to see what the problem was. Our son was lying flat on his back, his hands stretched out toward some invisible force. For a second, I could swear he was being lifted off the ground.
“Oh my God! Put him down! AJ! Momma’s coming!” Hearing me shout at him made him cry even more. I snatched him up and could see that his tooth was bleeding now. He must have fallen while running on those chubby legs.
“Let’s go downstairs.” Ashland looked over his shoulder and gave me a sad look. “It’s not what you think, Carrie Jo.”
By the time I got down the stairs, I was fuming. “What exactly is it that I think, Ashland?”
“It’s Christine, babe. She must have been playing with AJ. She didn’t do anything to him; he just fell. I can’t imagine she’d ever do anything to harm him. Falling down happens when you’re his age—you know that.”
“Oh,” I said quietly. “Are you sure it’s okay? I don’t know how I feel about our son playing with a ghost.”
He smiled sadly. “I’m afraid that as my son, he has a lifetime of that ahead of him.”
Instinctively, I hugged him, and together we tended to AJ’s mouth. It wasn’t as bad as we first thought, and the promise of a Popsicle for breakfast made it all better.
“Christine is happy there’s a child in the house. She never had the opportunity to play with her children, except Calpurnia.” He paused and listened to some voice I could not hear. “She says she won’t do it again.”
“No, it’s fine. She can play with Baby Boy. He would love that. I trust Christine…oh my God! All this time, you could communicate with her? Why haven’t you asked her what I want to know? Why is she visiting Lafonda?”
“It doesn’t work like that, Carrie Jo.” He cut the top off the Popsicle and handed it to our greedy little boy.
“So, communicating with her isn’t an option?” I smiled at him ruefully and poured Baby Boy a cup of apple juice.
He smiled back and shook his head. Gosh, I couldn’t believe the change in him. Yesterday he’d been such a jerk, and now he was grabbing a bowl, flour and all the other items he would need to make me my favorite waffles. I settled AJ in his high chair and locked him in to keep him safe. His tooth would be okay, I hoped. And it was a baby tooth anyway.
“No. I mean, ghosts are usually too fixated on something else to pay much attention to you, and they’re usually not willing to answer any direct questions. Still, I’ll try next time she’s around.”
“I hope I didn’t run her off. I’d like to keep the nice ghosts around if we can.”
“She’s not here all the time. She’s actually passed over, but she comes back occasionally when she feels that she’s needed here.”
“Interesting. I wonder why she came back to warn Lafonda. She tried to do what I did. She tried to warn Lafonda about Jonatan’s death. And last night, Ashland…I saw Max Davenport! I was dreaming—not dream walking, by the way. Anyw
ay, I was dreaming, and I was Lafonda at first. Man, she had such a migraine. It was so bad it hurt all down her neck and up the back of her head….”
“What?” he asked as he poured the waffle batter on the griddle.
“I saw Lafonda—and the connection was unbelievable. I could feel what she felt to a degree I’d never felt before. She had a bad migraine, so bad they had to black out all the windows and feed her laudanum to help her cope with the pain. That stuff makes you loopy. Seeing Lafonda under the influence reminded me of Bridget. You know, Bridget Ferguson. She always saw things other people didn’t.”
My husband didn’t answer me but picked up the waffle with a fork and added more batter to the griddle. He was strangely quiet now.
“What is it, Ashland?”
“It’s because of me, don’t you see? I had the brain problems, the blockage, the headaches, but then it suddenly went away. Where did it go? Somehow, I passed my disease on to Lafonda. It must have happened during that dream walk, the one you said changed things. Why couldn’t it change my fate as well as hers? You said yourself that Max’s and Jonatan’s fates had been exchanged. What if your encounter did the same thing to Lafonda and me?”
Desperate for a differed answer and feeling horribly guilty, I said, “Jonatan and Max lived in the same time, babe. You and Lafonda are separated by centuries. How would that be possible?”
He pierced the waffle and put it on my plate, then unplugged the griddle and poured out the rest of the batter. He’d apparently lost his appetite. So had I.
“I don’t have all the answers, Ashland, but we’ll figure it out. We have a friend who is willing to help us. I’m sure he’ll dig up some answers.”
“You’re talking about Austin.”
“Yes, but there are others too. Jan Kowalski might have some insight. And I didn’t want to tell you this, but Henri rigged up some cameras. He thinks he might capture some negative activity and maybe give us some clues.”
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