“You are still here. Get out,” I warned as I poured another sip of whiskey and sloshed the liquid down the back of my throat. “Fool or not, I’m not a witch.”
“How dare you call me such a thing? I am much more powerful than any witch! Go ahead and drink yourself to oblivion, Paul or Philip or whoever you pretend to be now. Drink up, my dear, for Lafonda will be dead before morning! Just watch!”
She spun out of the cottage in dramatic fashion and left the door wide open. I made no move to close it for I wasn’t sure what I would do yet. I felt cold despite the warmth of the whiskey, cold like I was dead already. My sensible brain instructed me to leave Mobile. Not tomorrow but now. Trouble was coming to Seven Sisters in ways the Delarosa family couldn’t imagine. I didn’t believe in magic, but I did believe in murder, and I had no doubt that Maggie Davenport was capable of killing the woman I loved. Not for my sake but for her own pride and arrogance. The deaths of Jonatan and his wife weren’t enough for her. I didn’t doubt her. She would certainly try to kill Lafonda.
And I couldn’t have that. Even if Lafonda hated me for the rest of her life, I couldn’t have her death on my conscience. I knew I would love her with my last breath. I slung a dry jacket over my shoulders and pondered my next move.
How could I protect Lafonda if she didn’t want me around? How? And then the answer came to me.
Nobel Delarosa.
If I could get the arrogant bastard to listen, if I could talk to him and explain Maggie’s plans, that might convince him to take the threat seriously.
And if that didn’t work, I would have to kill Maggie myself.
I stomped outside leaving my packed bag on the table; the whiskey burned my stomach, but I felt better. Yes, I could feel the blood moving through my body again. The muddy road would slow my pace, but I was determined to intervene. Surely if I stepped to it I could reach Maggie before she even arrived at Seven Sisters. Yes, that’s what I’d do.
I hadn’t traveled far from the cottage when I heard an odd sort of whisper. A hurried, frantic whisper that spoke my name. Not once or twice but many times.
Paul, Paul, Paul!
“Who’s there?” I called as I stood in the thick mud; all my senses were alight. I felt danger, real and imminent danger, although I could not yet determine the source of it. The scent of moldy leaves struck me, and I felt something brush the fingertips of my right hand as if an invisible dog had passed under them. It suddenly occurred to me that I had no weapon. No pistol, no rifle. Nothing at all. Shoving my hands into my pockets, I took a few steps away from the sound but did not run.
“Who’s there? I won’t ask again. I will thrash you.”
Paul…Paul…come here. Help me!
Immediately I recognized the voice of my brother, but that could not be. It could not be Max. I’d seen him dead on the table, dead in his wooden coffin. Dead, dead. All the way dead. Pale and without blood. Yet, here was his voice, beckoning to me.
“Max?” The question fell off my tongue unbidden. This could not be Max even though some part of me desperately wanted it to be. “Who’s there?” I held my ground unsure what to do now. The whispers filled my ears again, many different voices, yet I knew the one that rose above the rest. I knew it as well as I knew my own. The woods were so still, so quiet. Nothing moved, nothing at all. The only thing I could hear was the beating of my own heart and the pattering of rain around me. Just when I convinced myself that I hadn’t heard what I thought I heard, that I had imagined it all, I saw him. Max!
He stepped out from behind twin oaks, his dingy white shirt surprisingly dry despite the intensity of the rain shower. He grinned, beckoned me to him with his finger and then stepped back behind the oaks.
Paul…I need you…
“Max?” I sobbed in the rain like a child. What evil was this? Had the witch summoned my brother from beyond the grave? Why did he call me? How could I help him now? He was dead! As dead as our parents! As dead as poor Jonatan Delarosa and his unfortunate wife.
Paul…
Max’s voice faded as if he were getting farther away. Much farther. A scream erupted from my lips, and I waded off into the woods. I had no choice, did I? I had to find Max, if that was truly him. What if it was? But how?
I cleared the twin oaks and blinked into the rain thinking that I would find him waiting for me. But he wasn’t there. There wasn’t a trace of Max or anyone else. Just rain, more rain and moldy leaves. I heard a sound behind me. Something was moving! Max?
I turned around slowly, afraid to see who was behind me. A pale face with pinched lips and steel gray eyes met me. She clubbed me with a heavy wooden stick, and I fell to the ground like a sack of rotten potatoes.
Chapter Eleven—Carrie Jo
Soon after Rachel left, Ashland came inside with the kids and reminded me that he had to head downtown to meet the detective we hired to help find Chance. I hadn’t showered yet, but I did change my dusty clothes. There was no hiding my freaked-out expression after my unexpected dream walk and the encounter with the shadowy presence. My curly hair had gotten sweaty and frizzy from the heat of the hidden room. While the kids gobbled up chicken nuggets, I quietly told my husband about our discovery but left out the part about the map and Nathan. It felt a little wrong to do so, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to keep my promise to Rachel. I mean, I would have to tell Ashland everything eventually, and he didn’t seem real happy about what he’d heard so far.
“There is a horrible mirror in there, Ashland. Rachel called it a Smoke Mirror,” I whispered furiously as he led me to the laundry room to hear more without upsetting Lily.
Baby Boy asked for seconds, and Ashland hollered back, “Just a minute.” Then he turned back to me. “You went looking for the room without me? What if you’d gotten hurt and I didn’t know where you were?” His blue eyes weren’t relaying love and kindness at the moment. He was clearly concerned, but I smiled sweetly and pretended nothing much happened.
“I know, sorry, but listen. That mirror, you have to see it, and we have to find a way to get it out of there. And I saw Philip.”
“In the mirror?”
“No, after that. You won’t believe who he really is—he was Max Davenport’s brother.” I flushed a little remembering my dream walk in which Ashland seemed to be Philip or Paul or whoever he was. I still hadn’t worked up the courage to ask him about why he’d been there with me in the dream, and I could see now wasn’t the time.
“Excuse me, but your son is on the counter.” Lily nibbled on her nugget as she watched us with her large green eyes.
“What?” Ashland said as we raced back into the other room. Sure enough, Baby Boy was trying to help himself to more nuggets. “Hey, Mr. Impatient. What have we told you about climbing on things?”
“Don’t do it?” AJ answered proudly.
“If you know the answer, son, then why aren’t you listening?”
“I hungwy. I can do it, Daddy. See?”
I scooped him up and saved him from sitting in time out. “Let Daddy do it. You sit with me. Can I have one of your nuggets?”
“No. You can’t eat these nuggets. They are for kids,” AJ answered with a mischievous grin. I kissed his sweet cheek and put him back in his chair at the bar and sat beside him.
“What about you, Lily? Would you share with me?”
“Yep. I sure will,” she said and offered me one of her nuggets. I wasn’t really hungry, but I couldn’t refuse. As I popped the snack in my mouth, I listened to the kids chatter on about some cartoon they wanted to watch later. But I had other plans for us. It was a beautiful afternoon, and they needed to get out of the house. We all did.
“Why don’t we go feed the ducks while Uncle Ashland goes on his errand?” The kids loved that idea, and so we decided that was exactly what we would do. After discovering that mirror and feeling those hands on me, I didn’t want to be at Seven Sisters without another adult present. I would have to tell Ashland everything, but he would be late for hi
s meeting with the detective if he didn’t get going. As soon as he gets back, though, Carrie Jo.
“Stay out of crawl spaces and hidden rooms until I get back, okay?” Ashland suggested as he headed out the door.
“I think I can manage that. Mostly because I won’t be here.” I smiled and gave him a sweet kiss goodbye.
Lily had become my shadow and went everywhere I went. A week had made such a difference in her. I’d bought her a purple backpack, mostly because AJ had a blue one and it only seemed fair that she should have one too. We loaded it with the bread we’d need, her favorite book—she was an avid reader and aspiring writer—and a bottle of water. I grabbed my keys, my purse and my son, and we headed out to visit my mother’s grave and feed the ducks at Mobile Memorial Gardens. It was a lovely cemetery, and I hadn’t been to visit in too long.
“Why are we going here?” Lily asked suspiciously as we turned into the driveway of the cemetery.
“This is where the ducks are, Lil. Don’t you want to feed them?”
“I guess,” she said as she twisted her hair around her fingers. That was worrisome. Was she afraid of cemeteries? Gosh, there was so much I didn’t know about her.
“We don’t have to see any graves at the pond. Let’s keep driving.”
Baby Boy sang along with his favorite tune while Lily bit her bottom lip and continued to twist her hair. Maybe this was a bad idea. Should we go home?
I smiled at her in the rearview mirror, but she didn’t return my smile like she normally did. “How about we grab some lasagna for dinner after?”
“Can we eat it at home? I don’t feel good.”
“Sure, we can. Are you sick, Lily?” I answered, happy to hear her refer to Seven Sisters as home. I smiled at her again in the mirror, but my smile quickly disappeared.
I saw a skeletal hand, dull white and reaching over the seat—reaching for Lily’s shoulder! I slung the car in park and raced to the back door to free her from the seat and the devilish hand.
“Lily! Come here!” I shouted as I unhooked the seat belt. She was crying already, as if she knew what had happened, and now my son was crying as well. “It’s okay, AJ. Mommy is coming.” I raced to the other side of the car and tugged him out too.
Great, Carrie Jo. You’ve scared the daylights out of the kids. Good going.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I thought you were in danger. I’m sorry.” I held them both and put on a big old fake smile. “Let’s feed those ducks, okay?” The kids grabbed their backpacks and raced toward the pond while I retrieved my keys and locked up the car.
So much for escaping the ghosts of Seven Sisters. Why did I think I could?
As we tossed pieces of bread on the water and watched the ducks fight over them, I forced myself to be in the moment. The thing in the Smoke Mirror, possibly the angry spirit of Max Davenport, obviously wanted to tap into my most primal fears.
But the fear didn’t bring me to my knees. It ticked me off. Threatening me was one thing, but threatening Lily? That was another thing completely. As we tossed the last of the bread in the water and spent some time taking pictures of ducks, fish and turtles, I thought about what I would do next.
I knew what I had to do. Now it was just a question of when and how. As I loaded the kids back up in the car, I became more determined with every mile I drove. I made the promised stop to pick up a pan of frozen lasagna, and then we headed home to Seven Sisters. Kate had just left for a vacation, and I already missed her. Hopefully, we’d have all this madness wrapped up before she returned.
For now, meal prep would have to take a back seat and I would focus on more pressing matters. Like making it through the night.
Chapter Twelve—Carrie Jo
“We should know something about Chance and May in a few days. I think the real question is what do we do after we find them? It is entirely possible that May’s family would want to take Lily from us.”
Ashland and I were lacing up our tennis shoes and about to head out to the Moonlight Garden for an evening walk. He was right, of course, but what else could we do? A part of me still wanted to believe that Chance hadn’t abandoned his daughter, that there was a good reason he hadn’t come back, but that was beginning to seem less likely by the day. Rachel had popped in around suppertime and offered to sit with the kids while Ash and I went outside. She of course knew that we intended to do some “ghost hunting.” Ashland admitted that he’d seen a figure in the garden a few times recently and thought perhaps it was Jonatan. He couldn’t be sure, but we were going to see if we could make contact with him. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Jonatan played more of a role in the sudden surge of paranormal activity than I’d first believed. Not a negative role, or at least I hoped not. Maybe I was thinking wrong. I mean, he did kill his wife and had lost his mind before he was hanged for his crime. If you were insane in life, were you insane in death?
Lafonda…
I didn’t think so. It seemed that he knew what he did, and he wanted to protect his sister, but had he been successful? From what I’d learned over the past few years, historical records weren’t too reliable about the comings and goings of people in the past. No, if we wanted the truth, the real truth, it was better to see it for ourselves.
I poked my head in the door and could see Rachel and the kids playing a board game on the floor. Candy World, I think. That was always a favorite game for my son. Have I mentioned he’s a candy fanatic? Especially grape candy?
I waved at her, and we slipped out the back door armed with new flashlights with fresh batteries. Of course, I told Ashland everything about my experience in the hidden room and seeing the hand on Lily’s shoulder. I didn’t mention Rachel’s confession about Nathan or her reaching out to the Brotherhood for help on our “case,” but I said as we hurried down the steps and walked toward the maze, “Maybe we should talk to Nathan. At least listen to what he has to say about dream catching and this house. It couldn’t hurt, right?”
He paused on the pathway and put his hands on his hips as if he couldn’t believe that I would have a change of heart on the subject. “What is going on, babe? This is the last thing I expected to hear from you. Is it because of Lily?”
“Partly, yes. I guess I’m feeling desperate about everything. It would be nice to have connections with someone who knows what the heck they’re doing.”
“I think we fit the bill, Carrie Jo. We’ve seen more ghosts here at Seven Sisters and Idlewood than most paranormal investigators witness in an entire lifetime. I think you’re not giving us enough credit, babe. We’ll figure all this out. I prom-prom-promise.”
My heart fell to hear him stutter, but I didn’t make anything of it. “Alright. Where do we start? Where did you see Jonatan?”
“At the entrance of the maze and once in the Rose Garden. You know what? Let’s go to the Rose Garden first. I think if we are going to find Jonatan, it will be there. It was one of his favorite places to spend time with Lafonda.”
“Great. Sounds like a plan.” We walked west toward the Rose Garden, and I lingered behind Ashland waiting to see what he would do. My husband saw ghosts, not as easily as he used to, but he saw them nonetheless.
“Jonatan Delarosa, my name is Ashland Stuart. Do you remember me?” I sat on a bench and watched Ashland pace the pathway slowly. I noticed his steps were staggered a bit. He was having a bad day, apparently. Although some of his symptoms were returning, he pressed on. “Jonatan, I am here because I am worried about Lafonda.”
A sudden burst of wind pushed damp magnolia leaves past me. Ashland noticed it too and came to sit beside me. “You don’t have to be afraid of us. We’re not here to harm you or your sister. Carrie Jo found the mirror, Jonatan. We know it’s bad. Please show yourself.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and tapped on the EMF detector app. Maybe it would help if we could see the spikes in EMF? I wasn’t sure, but I’d seen them use something similar on television. Sure enough, the dial was spinning and the numbers
were moving up and down. “Point seven, point eight…hey, we have a one!”
Ashland nodded but kept scanning the pathway as if he expected Jonatan to step out at any moment. And that was entirely possible, knowing Ashland’s track record. We’d seen ghosts many times before, especially on the grounds. After a half hour of talking to thin air and watching the app flip out but seeing nothing materialize, Ashland suggested we wrap it up. It was getting dark out, and his strength was declining. Would he be able to make it through the maze? As if he knew what I was thinking, he frowned. The message was clear from the look on his face.
Don’t do this, Carrie Jo. Don’t make me feel like an invalid.
“Let’s check out the maze, babe.” I didn’t ask if he was okay but squeezed his hand, and together we walked through the Rose Garden and came to the entrance of the Moonlight Garden. As always, it gave me pause. It was such a beautiful place, even though most of the flowers had withered away and it needed a bit of maintenance. The statue that greeted us shone white in the dim light, and I could hear the sounds of crickets and night birds echoing through the maze.
I sighed and said, “Gosh, no matter how many times I step past that first hedge, it always feels like I’m walking into another time.” He smiled down at me, and the sun setting behind him cast a golden glow around his blond hair. Ashland Stuart was still the most beautiful man I knew. I loved him so completely. Was he perfect? No, but he was perfect for me. “Do you know what I mean?”
“I know exactly what you mean. It is like a doorway to the past, but then again, that would aptly describe all of Seven Sisters. Maybe that’s why we love it so much?”
“Maybe so, Ash.” And as we popped on our flashlights and stepped into the maze, I didn’t have a hard time imagining that Calpurnia or Lafonda would be waiting for me somewhere in there. Walking into another time…that was a good way to describe what I was feeling. I felt the air shimmer, didn’t just see it but felt it move like sticky spider webs.
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