Return to Seven Sisters

by M. L. Bullock

  The sheet! The corner of the sheet wrapped around my neck, and I felt my body being drawn to the floor. I could not breathe or move or cry. All I could do was stare into the face of the creature that hated me. Hated me enough to murder me. And without question, he would do just that.

  I could no longer reason. No longer think.

  All I could do was die.

  Chapter Twenty-One—Carrie Jo

  “Ashland, are you with me?” I shook his body gently. He wasn’t used to dream walking and had only walked with me once before. It had taken a toll on him then; it would be worse now that he’d been so sick.

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  I snuggled close to him and cried. What we had seen was horrible, but it wasn’t just that a woman got killed by a malevolent spirit. I knew what this would mean for Lily. Nobel had killed Jacinta, but it hadn’t been enough. Apparently, his lust for revenge had not been satisfied by the taking of a life. He wanted more, and he would never have what he truly wanted. He wanted Jacinta to face her perceived crimes, but that wasn’t possible now.

  Ashland stroked my hair and we lay in the dark, neither one of us talking until the sun came up. As we began to get ready for the day, I couldn’t shake the unmistakable feeling of defeat. How could we expect to keep Lily safe now? And what about Baby Boy?

  I kissed Ashland’s cheek as he hovered over the coffeepot. I snagged the phone and told him I was going to make a phone call. I didn’t use her name, but he knew who it was I was calling. I walked out of the house and across the front lawn before I dialed the number. “Hey, Rachel, it’s me. Yeah, things are about like they were last night, but we’re trying again tonight.”

  “You want to come by and see the kids? I think your son really wants to see his Dad. He’s been asking about him all morning.”

  “I want that more than anything, but I don’t think we should come over there right now. There is a possibility that…” I stumbled over what exactly I should say to her. “We might not come alone, and I do not want to put the kids or you guys at risk. Tell them we will pick them up in the morning, no matter what. Even if we have to live on the boat for a while.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  “Worse,” I said as I tucked a wild strand of hair behind my ear.

  “Lily Belle wants to talk to you,” Rachel said teasingly. Lily must have been standing right there. She hated that horrible nickname. I couldn’t say I blamed her.

  “Put her on the phone, mean Aunt Rachel.”

  “Roger,” she said as she handed the phone to a breathless Lily.

  “Am I coming home today?”

  I bit my lip and closed my eyes to keep my voice steady. Lily could always read my moods. And who was I kidding? She knew exactly what we were doing here. “Not today, kiddo. But as I told Rachel, I’ll pick you up in the morning no matter what.”

  “Are you sure you’re coming?” I heard what she didn’t say: Are you going to abandon me too?

  “Absolutely sure. We might go spend a few nights on Uncle Ash’s boat. How would you like that?”

  “I think it will be okay. I’ve never been on a boat before. I don’t know how to swim.” Lily’s young voice sounded uncertain, distrustful. But then again, who could blame her?

  “I will teach you, Lily. And they have lessons at the YWCA just down the road.”

  “Okay, I would like that. Um, Aunt CJ…I want to tell you something, but I don’t want to get in trouble. Will you promise not to be mad?” Lily’s voice trembled.

  “Were you mean to AJ? Or Aunt Rachel?”

  “No. Nothing like that. It’s about the lady. The one in the window.”

  A million questions ran through my mind. Was the man mean to you? Were you being hurt and not telling me? But I didn’t ask any of those things. This wasn’t the time for interrogations. “Yes?” I stopped my pacing and listened intently to Lily’s confession.

  “Well, the lady left something for me in the magic box.”

  I slapped my cheek in shock as I listened. “Really? You mean the safe?”

  “Yes, she left me something.”

  I laughed nervously, unsure whether to reassure her or lie to her. I decided she deserved some honesty. “Okay, Lily. I will go look. And if there is anything in there, I will keep it for you until you get home.”

  “Thank you. You promise?”

  “I do promise.”

  “Okay. Bye, Aunt Carrie Jo. See you in the morning. Don’t lose my prize.”

  “I won’t, baby girl. Listen to Aunt Rachel. I will see you in the morning.” I hung up the phone and stared up at the house. I didn’t see a thing. Not a face, not a shadow, nothing. But he was there watching me.

  You were a murderer, Nobel Delarosa. Not once but at least twice. But you won’t get Lily. You don’t get to have her.

  I stomped back in the house long enough to find Ashland and pull him away from his coffee cup. As soon as we got a hundred feet from the house, I told him what Lily had shared with me. We wasted no time going to the study. My stomach dropped when I saw that the safe was standing open. Ashland bent down and retrieved two items from it.

  A letter and one black marble.

  He handed them to me, and we walked back outside for the third time. I opened the letter and couldn’t believe what I read. I showed it to Ashland, and together we made the next phone call.

  Sierra answered the phone. Amazed by what we’d found, she promised they would return later today to see what they could do. “Jacinta gave you a gift, Carrie Jo. Nobel won’t have a leg to stand on now. He will have to go. Don’t confront him; wait until tonight when we can all be there. In this case, there is strength in numbers, and we are going to need it if this eviction process is going to be successful.”

  I didn’t mention the dream walk that Ashland and I took or Lily’s tip on the letter. I just told her that I found it. She didn’t press me on any further details but promised that she would see us at six o’clock sharp.

  Ashland and I returned to the house only long enough to get dressed and grab the keys. Without asking where we were going, I sat in the passenger seat and let my mind run through everything I’d seen last night. The dream, the investigation.

  When we pulled into the harbor, I was so happy to see the water and the Happy Go Lucky 2 waiting for us. Ashland and I spent the day on the water. We never left the slip, but being away from the house felt good. No way could I have stayed at Seven Sisters without charging up those stairs and confronting the devilish Nobel Delarosa. How could he have killed his wife? How could he sit in judgment of her when he had killed his own brother?

  But we didn’t talk about it. We did some basic maintenance on the boat, and I cleaned the living quarters. I think it was understood that we were going to retreat here after we picked up the kids. Not forever. Just for a little while.

  About five o’clock, we tidied everything up and headed back to the house. To my surprise, the team was already there waiting on us. I had the letter in my purse—no way was I leaving it at the house. I wanted Nobel to be completely surprised by it.

  “Hey, guys. You look well,” Midas said with a sigh of relief. “You ready to take back your house?”

  “I’m ready to take back my life. We are ready,” Ashland responded.

  “Then let’s go.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two—Sierra

  Without pausing or fussing about, I headed up the stairs. There was no sense in going through the formalities of an investigation. We knew there was an entity here, a very dangerous entity. One that had stalked me last night while I was walking the floors with my fussy infant. It got so bad that Joshua actually got up to help me. He was unusually patient and took care of our daughter while I shored up the protection at the front and back doors. Thankfully, the salt worked and we were able to sleep a few hours. Better than these people, I was sure.

  I paused at the top of the stairs and asked Carrie Jo, “Do you have the letter? May I have it?” She handed it to me, and I con
tinued, “If anyone doesn’t feel comfortable with this, you should probably stay out here. There’s no shame in it, and this isn’t for everyone.” Nobody bowed out or balked at going inside. That was encouraging.

  “Let’s go,” I said as I opened the door.

  Lily’s room was icy cold, a clear sign that Nobel Delarosa wanted us out. He was afraid of us.

  As well you should be.

  “Nobel Delarosa, you cannot stay here. This is not your house.” I felt a shifting of the air, a strange funkiness. “Carrie Jo, you and Cassidy stand by the door. We don’t want to chase him all over the house. Ashland, if you and Jocelyn would take the window. Visualize the window and door as closed. It will work if you stay focused.”

  Midas and Joshua stood behind me as I positioned myself in front of the armoire. “Nobel Delarosa, you wanted justice. But you’ve targeted an innocent child, and you cannot do that. We will not allow this.” The air got colder, and for a few seconds I thought I heard footsteps, but I refused to allow myself to get distracted.

  I could see Nobel inside the armoire. He was crumpled up like a black robe. In fact, I believed if I opened the closet door, I would see such a garment lying there. Back in Jacinta’s time, there would have been an armoire here, but it was essentially the same use of space. “I’m going to read this letter now. Listen and then leave.”

  A growl filled the air, an inhuman, ugly sound. It sent shivers down my spine, but I would not be dissuaded. “No, you cannot stay,” I commanded in a loud voice.

  “Read it, Sierra!” Midas encouraged me.

  “My husband, Nobel Delarosa, killed his brother, Jacques Delarosa. He is guilty of murder and should be punished for his crime!” The closet door began to shake and the growling grew louder, but I continued to read the letter.

  “I, Jacinta Delarosa, am responsible for the death of my son, Jonatan, his wife, Memphis, and their child.” The growling stopped and the shaking ceased. Only one last line to read, Sierra, I encouraged myself as I fought the fear that threatened to smother my voice.

  “No one else should be held accountable for these sins but my husband and me. All others are blameless.”

  As soon as I finished reading the letter, a loud boom, the loudest boom I had heard yet on this property, shook the house. I fell to the ground along with Midas and Joshua. The noise shook Seven Sisters so hard that books fell off the shelf and the child’s desk shifted a few inches. Somewhere in the distance, I heard glass breaking.

  But it was over. I got up off the ground and dusted off my clothes. Midas opened the closet door. There was nothing there except Lily’s colorful wardrobe. I didn’t have to make an announcement. The whole team knew we had been victorious. Nobel Delarosa was free; the Stuarts were free.

  The haunting here had ended. I cried as I held Carrie Jo.

  “Thank you, Sierra. Thank you so much.”

  I wept for joy. I don’t know how I would have lived with myself if we had failed. I was grateful to the Powers That Be, to my team and strangely enough to Jacinta Delarosa. If it hadn’t been for her letter, we might never have stopped the paranormal activity here.

  As everyone filtered out of Lily’s room to talk before breaking down equipment, I lingered with Carrie Jo.

  “She died in here,” I said as visions of Jacinta’s death played through my mind’s eye.

  “I know. I saw it last night.”

  “I think he killed her. Isn’t that horrible?”

  She sat on the bed next to me. “Yes, but don’t dwell on it, Sierra. You can’t help her now. She made her choices, and we have to make ours.”

  “You’re right. I just wasn’t expecting to see that. Promise me you’ll bless this room before you move Lily back in here.”

  “I do promise. Now let’s go downstairs. Your team needs you.”

  “Okay,” I said as we walked out of the room. I paused outside, but there wasn’t anything else to see or hear. It was over, at least our part.

  As we joined the rest of the team, the sadness from that last vision faded. I was no longer Sierra the seer, the psychic medium, the paranormal investigator.

  I was just plain ol’ Sierra Kay. And for that I was grateful. “Good job in there, honey pie,” Joshua said as he tried out another ridiculous pet name. I was glad no one else could hear it.

  “No, Joshua. Don’t ever call me that. But thank you.” I kissed his cheek.

  “But you wanted a pet name.”

  “Not that one.”

  “I have some others to try out on you, but I have to do that privately, I think.”

  I smiled up into his goofy face. A goofy face that I loved. “You probably should wait, then, but let’s hope these names are better than that one.”

  “Hey, I don’t ever want us to end up like…” I knew exactly where he was going. We’d had our squabbles in the past, and I’d done some dumb things, but that was all behind us.

  “No, Joshua. We’re digging up old bones. We’re good, me and you.” We kissed briefly, and I hugged him as tightly as I could.

  He whispered in my ear, “Okay, sugar pie.”

  “No, Joshua. Not that one either.”

  I felt alive, which wasn’t always the case after an investigation. Often, I felt sad or depressed; it was like that when you connected with spirits. They took so much out of me. But just this once, I was leaving knowing that I had given something back. I really made a difference, not just to the dead but to the living.

  And that was enough.

  Epilogue—Carrie Jo

  “Catch the ball, baby!” I shouted at my niece as she held up her glove with closed eyes. If she wasn’t careful, that ball was going to plunk her on the head. It didn’t, but she didn’t catch it either. I purposefully cheered even though she completely missed it. At least she opened her eyes, retrieved the ball and tried to throw it to the pitcher. “Way to go, Lil!”

  I was proud of her attempts to socialize. It was hard for us Jardines. Face it, Carrie Jo. She’s a lot like you. Baby Boy chomped on his third cheese stick as we sat in the bleachers, and he kindly offered me a soggy bite. Today was cool and cloudy, which was a welcome relief, but it threatened to rain. Gloomy black clouds hovered on the horizon, and I could smell rain in the air. I hoped the showers would hold out until after the game. This was the last one of the girls’ softball season. Even Detra Ann and Henri came to cheer Lily on to victory. Her team, the Bama Girls, were winning despite Lily’s fear of catching the ball. She’d come a long way, though, and she was one heck of a batter, the best on her team and other teams too. She was a natural. Ashland was thrilled, and so was Baby Boy…when he remembered why he was here at the ballpark. His T-ball season was over, thankfully. He didn’t enjoy T-ball at all.

  “And out!” Ashland shouted a little too enthusiastically. I reminded him again that the other team’s parents were in the stands next to us.

  “I know, I know.”

  As the game ended, the Bama Girls came together on the field and hugged their coach. The pink-clad kids were covered in dirt, but there was nothing but joy on their faces. I grabbed AJ and joined Ashland as we raced out to congratulate them. Lily quickly found me.

  “Did you see me? I threw the ball, CJ! I didn’t catch it, but I threw it!” Lily was hugging me, and her gap-toothed smile melted my heart yet again.

  “I did see you, baby! I knew you could do it!” Lightning cracked the sky and filled the air with electricity. “We’d better take you over to the pizza parlor. We’ll meet Coach Lauren and the rest of your team there.”

  “Aw…can I ride with Coach Lauren? She’s got a van, and I think Bobbie wanted me to ride with her.”

  I cupped her dirty chin with my hand. “If it’s okay with your coach, it is okay with me.” Ashland hugged her but only briefly because she was really sensitive about that sort of thing. Baby Boy took her glove.

  I gave Lauren the Hey, is it really okay? glance. She nodded and said, “I can drop her back home after the pizza party. Mi
ght be a few hours, though.”

  I gave her a thumbs-up and watched the celebration begin. Detra Ann waved at us, and Henri tapped his watch to remind us about dinner tonight. It was going to be nice to have them over again. Kate was working on gumbo when I left, and my stomach rumbled at the thought of some tasty seafood. Baby Boy suddenly began to cry for Chloe, and Henri came to his rescue.

  “Hey, let him ride with us. I’ve got to pick up a few things at the store, and he can tag along. I’ve got an extra booster seat in the car.”

  “Are you sure he’s not going to be in the way?”

  “No way. He’s my buddy. See you guys at six, right?”

  “Okay, but he might get a little cranky. He’s decided he doesn’t need naps anymore. And he ate like a pig, which will make him sleepy.”

  Henri smiled knowingly. “My daughter is her mother’s child, so I understand cranky. Come on, Big Boy. Let’s go play.”

  “Bye, Mommy. Bye, Daddy.”

  “Bye, Baby…I mean Big Boy.” I grabbed my tote bags and followed Ashland to the car. We drove home in happy silence, and I stepped inside Seven Sisters cautiously, just in case we weren’t alone. We weren’t because Kate was there, cooking up her tastiest dishes for Lily’s celebration tonight. I could already taste the gumbo.

  “I’m going up for a nap, Ashland. Want to join me?”

  It didn’t take much persuasion for him to oblige me, and of course we didn’t fall asleep. Not right away. Once I heard his light snore, I closed my eyes too and slipped easily into honey-hued dreams.

  I could hear Calpurnia speaking in soothing tones…and then I could see her. She was standing in the foyer. Both she and Lafonda were dressed in black. I could also see a wreath of roses, dried and decrepit, on the wall behind them. There were dead flowers in a vase too, and from my vantage point I could easily see into the open ladies’ parlor. All of the furniture was covered in sheets, as if the house were going to bed piece by piece. And forever.

  They were leaving! Calpurnia and Lafonda were leaving Seven Sisters. Yvette carried a leather bag out of the house and paused on the porch shaking her head. I could hear her speaking to Emma, the other housemaid, in a whisper.