Mystical Love

by Rachel James

  He didn’t answer but stiffened at the question. Janice licked her lips nervously again. God, sometimes history repeated itself. Sometimes a spirit took a fiendish delight in creating déjà vu. She pushed the thought away as Ginger sank into a chair alongside her, dusting her hands nervously.

  “Where are the others?” she asked.

  “Still searching. They’ve gone to investigate the chapel on the top floor.” Lloyd fell silent and Janice saw his brooding scowl. She reached out and squeezed his hand.

  “You mustn’t blame yourself for what’s occurred, Lloyd.”

  “Of course I’m to blame,” he barked. “There were warning signs I simply ignored. I’m gifted. I can read people as easily as they read their watches. Why didn’t I see this coming?” He pounded his leg in emphasis. “I should’ve seen this coming.”

  The self-censure in his voice touched Janice and she wished she had answers to give him. Since she didn’t, she felt it best to turn all their minds to something more constructive.

  “What do you suppose is on the other side of that red field?” she asked. “I mean, what are the people across the water seeing when they look this way?”

  “That’s an odd tack on things,” Lloyd declared. Janice knew her diversion had worked.

  “But important.”

  “How so, my dear?” Muriel asked.

  “Is the glow we see real?” Janice responded. “Or are our minds being cleverly manipulated to make it seem so?”

  She heard Lloyd’s snort as he tossed his head.

  “The force field is real. Just ask Ginger there. When she made to touch it, it leapt out and sniped at her. You saw it. She felt the charge.”

  Ginger shivered beside her and Janice knew Adrian’s assistant would rather not remember that moment.

  “You think we’re imagining all this?” Muriel asked. “All of us linked somehow to experience the same vision as reality, like the headaches?”

  “Part of me suspects that. But the energy that it would take to sustain the vision for seconds at a time, not to mention a full hour … no, I don’t think we could do it. One of us would give way. Crack under the mental strain.”

  “We’re exceptional psychics, Jan,” Lloyd reminded her bitterly.

  Janice shook her head.

  “No, there’s only one exceptional psychic here, Lloyd, and that’s Adrian Magus. The rest of us have only one specific talent. He has myriad skills.”

  Lloyd finally took a seat and hunched over, interrupting Janice.

  “Adrian is a clever illusionist, nothing more.”

  Janice gave him a black-layered look.

  “How can you be so obtuse after sitting through his performance? The man transforms matter, Lloyd. He is a telepath, has precognition … he knew what was coming. I swear it. I saw it. It was in his hands.”

  Lloyd scoffed with a wave.

  “He was paralyzed by the pain like the rest of us. He succumbed to it.”

  “But he moved through it all. While we were rooted to our chairs and to the pain, he moved through it. He knew before any of us that Lisette was coming across and he sensed at once she was looking for me. He sensed danger long before we did. Only an exceptional psychic could do that.”

  “So, what’s your point?”

  “Lisette asked Adrian if he understood her words to me.”

  “And he denied knowing their meaning. I believe him, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know.” Janice shrugged. “Jasper says throughout his life, Adrian has had a recurring vision of a red-headed woman. He says it’s me, but in the portrait gallery earlier, you mentioned how much I reminded you of Lisette. Suppose Adrian’s image in reality is Lisette? Suppose she planted it there?” She broke off, seeing the determined shake of Lloyd’s head. “Well, why not?”

  “Because the image was you, Janice. I’ve seen it.”

  “You’ve seen it? Where? When?”

  He didn’t answer right away and Janice knew the question made him uncomfortable. She watched a range of emotions ebb and flow across his face before he finally gave a shrug and answered.

  “Interrogating Adrian in Iraq was hell. He was on overload, absorbing the volatile emotions of the soldiers dying around him. As a parapsychologist, I did what I could to help under the circumstances, saw to it he was shipped home, but not before I garnered a brief glance of the image. It was you, but I never put two and two together. Not even after you and I met at the university. In fact, I never realized you were that woman until tonight when I saw the look on Adrian’s face as you walked in to dinner. Everything clicked in place, like the glass shattering.”

  Janice’s heart skipped a beat.

  “It was a forewarning none of us picked up on,” Lloyd continued. “Adrian wasn’t holding that glass tight. We all saw that. Still it shattered. Why?” He leaned in closer, his gaze steady. “Do you remember feeling anything unusual at the time, Janice?”

  “Unusual?” Janice hoped the question sounded thoughtful, because inside her chest, her heart was beginning a strange tattoo along her ribcage and her lungs were beginning to constrict rapidly, like they always did when she prepared to tell a lie. Should she tell Lloyd about her mind link with Adrian? And the brief image of limbs entwined in sexual combat? She studied the inquisitive face leaning into her, waiting patiently for her answer. No, she couldn’t tell Lloyd. The image was too disturbing. At first, she had surmised the entwined limbs were hers and Adrian’s. But, now that Lisette had revealed her need to be reunited with Aubert, it was possible she and Adrian had tapped into Lisette and Aubert sharing an extremely pleasurable interlude. But she had to be sure before confiding.

  “Janice?”

  “Sorry. I was trying to relive the incident to see if there was anything useful for us to know about it. I can’t think of a thing. It happened so rapidly. Perhaps, Adrian could offer more. You might ask him.”

  “That question will have to wait.” Muriel stated. “Our first priority has to be figuring out Lisette’s time line before she died. Tell us about her, Lloyd. How did she die?”

  “Most people would want to know how she lived,” Lloyd countered.

  “Well, then, how did she live? Who was she?”

  “She was the Earl of Montagne’s first cousin. Spent her early life tucked away in a cold-as-ice convent. Her parents betrothed her to Baron Dumas when she was nine, he twenty. He owned a fleet of cargo ships. Sailed the waters to and from America for years and came to love the savagery of the new land. He decided to make his fortune and future here so he bought land and built Witchwood. When Lisette was eighteen, he sent for her, arranged a mammoth wedding.”

  “Sounds like an idyllic love story,” Ginger interjected. “Boy meets girl, boy gets girl. What went wrong?”

  “The records are sketchy but I’ve managed to piece together some of what must have occurred. They were to be married in the chapel upstairs. The day of the wedding, the staff rose early, eager to get a head start on the wedding preparations. You can imagine the scullery maid’s terror when she found the baron’s severed head sitting atop the banister stairwell. Her blood-curdling screams echoed up three levels of stairs. They found the baron’s upper torso in the West wing’s library. His lower torso rested in the East wing master bedroom.”

  Janice gave an uncontrollable shiver.

  “Mutilation?”

  “Hmm. Gruesome, isn’t it?”

  “Too much so. And Lisette?”

  He gave an impatient shrug.

  “Disappeared without a trace.”

  “Locked in a crawlspace, you mean,” Janice replied. “Terrified and hiding. But from whom, do you think?”

  Lloyd shook his head and Janice knew he had no answer. Leaning back, she realized their survival depended on learning the answer to who had killed
the baron. It was somewhere through a heavy mist. Could they break through it?

  An unexpected touch on her shoulder startled her to the present. Clutching her chest, she looked up to find Adrian staring down at her. He patted her shoulder lightly.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare the hell out of you.” He drew up a chair to hers and straddled it. “I assume you’re trying to piece together Lisette’s life?”

  Before she could nod her assent, Jasper pulled a chair alongside Muriel and straddled it. His expression was grim as he cautioned.

  “We better come up with something soon. Our investigation of the chateau has been fruitless.” His gaze found Janice’s. “We are truly trapped. Our only option is to reason this whole nightmare out amongst ourselves.”

  Janice couldn’t agree more. The sooner they discovered Lisette’s murderer — and Janice was sure that being sealed in a tiny crawlspace whatever the reason did constitute murder — the better off they’d be. She leaned in, studying the men’s faces.

  “Do either of you feel we are living in an illusion created by our own minds?”

  “Impossible,” Jasper stated immediately. “We couldn’t maintain that type of illusion for any length of time.”

  “Maybe one of us could,” Lloyd interjected and Janice knew he was recalling their earlier discussion. Beside her, she felt Adrian stiffen. She turned to find his gaze boring into her own.

  “I assume Janice has been trying to convince you I’ve created this illusion somehow? A continuation of my Vegas performance, perhaps?”

  Janice didn’t miss the smoldering anger beneath his sarcasm. Lloyd came to her defense without hesitation.

  “She thinks nothing of the kind. If truth be told, Adrian, she finds you exceptionally gifted. Admires you tremendously for how you held us all together during the mind link.”

  Janice felt her cheeks flame under Adrian’s sudden scrutiny of her face. He was speechless in his surprise and so was she. Damn Lloyd’s runaway tongue! She had voiced no such opinion of Adrian. Out loud, that is. Damn and double damn! She hoped the semi-darkness of the room hid the flush in her cheeks adequately or there would be hell to pay. Obviously sensing her discomfort, Adrian turned his gaze from her and then studied each face in turn.

  “I’m going to say this once, and only once. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m as much in the dark as any of you.”

  “I believe you, Adrian.” Muriel’s voice was filled with a defiance that dared anyone to say differently, and Janice found her protective instincts endearing. “We all have to work through this together,” Muriel continued, “if we want to get out of here alive, that is.”

  “We’re all getting out of here alive,” Adrian countered. “Nothing else is acceptable. So, what’s our first move? Besides admitting the obvious bullshit that we’re trapped by a ghost who wants her soul freed.”

  “No.” Janice corrected. “She wants to be reunited with Aubert. To be one with Aubert, that’s what she said.”

  “Do we know anything about this Aubert?” Adrian asked Lloyd.

  “Death by mutilation.”

  “Horrible death,” Jasper muttered. “Is it possible his soul is trapped and needs release?”

  Janice’s eyes lit up at his words.

  “That makes sense. Lisette implied her destiny had been interfered with. Altered in some way. Is it possible that her soul is tied to Aubert’s and if we release his soul, we also release hers?”

  “How do normal people release a dead spirit’s soul?” Ginger asked with a shiver.

  “Good question, Ginger,” Adrian complimented. “Only one way I can think of is to backtrack and find Aubert’s murderer.”

  Lloyd gave a busted laugh.

  “Are you crazy? Do you know how long that would take? He died centuries ago. We don’t know a damn thing about his life or his enemies. There’s no way to backtrack, not fully enough.”

  “Oh yes, there is,” Janice piped up. “The old wing, Lloyd. You said it’s still intact. Rooms, treasures, everything intact.”

  She saw his thoughtful frown.

  “Yes, but … ”

  Muriel leaned forward, catching Janice’s excitement.

  “Is there a library in the old wing, Lloyd?” At his nod, Muriel clapped her hands once. “There’ll be records, hordes of them. They wrote everything down back in those days. Diaries … ”

  Adrian slapped his thigh, smiling with satisfaction.

  “We start there. We go through every book and if that doesn’t work, we split up in teams and search the chateau thoroughly, every room! Agreed?”

  Every head nodded in assent and Muriel added as a last thought.

  “With our second sight, we should be able to time slip, tap in and put ourselves back there. Experience the moment. Alone, we’d never do it, but together, we might get away with it.”

  “Can you really do that tap in thing?” Ginger asked with another nervous half-giggle. Lloyd reached over and patted her hand affectionately.

  “Only in mind, not in body.”

  Ginger’s face relaxed and Janice saw her give her first genuine smile since the dinner table.

  “Thank God. I suddenly had visions of you all exploding into fragments like the glass did. Or worse, beaming up like they do in a Star Trek transporter.”

  “Speaking of that glass, Adrian,” Lloyd said, turning back to the group. “I was telling Janice earlier that the shattering was a warning we failed to pick up on. Do you remember anything unusual at the time it happened? Janice says she recalls nothing.”

  Janice could hear her teeth grinding into her jawbone at the pronouncement. Damn Lloyd’s free-spirited tongue. Why was he revealing their conversation to Adrian? Didn’t they have enough trouble without adding more fuel to an already out-of-control fire? She stole a peek at Adrian’s countenance. Would he reveal their mind link to the group? He disliked her enough to. His gaze locked with hers and Janice felt the air in her lungs suddenly drain. To her surprise, a silent message passed between them. Adrian was the first to pull his gaze away.

  “I only know one thing,” he replied, flashing a grin at the group. “Things would be so much easier if ghosts came with a set of instructions.”

  The group laughed at his remark and Janice felt her muscles relax. It was a good ploy on Adrian’s part to make them laugh. After all, if they were busy laughing, there would be no time for screaming. She glanced at Lloyd, who gave her the “thumbs up” sign and then stood. He signaled for them all to follow. Uncurling her legs, Janice rose, only to find Adrian blocking her way.

  “Did you really say you admired me tremendously, Janice?”

  “Of course not,” she replied. “If I focused everyone’s attention on your tremendous talent and skills, I’d no longer be the center of attention, and God knows, it’s all about me and the limelight.”

  He had the sense to look embarrassed at her obvious reference to his earlier shredding of her character and for a moment, Janice almost felt sorry for him. Then she shook herself mentally. No, it was his fault they were enemies, not hers. She held his gaze, not about to be the first to look away this time. A niggling question surfaced as their glances remained locked in a silent battle of wills. Was Jasper right? Was he pretending to dislike her to cover up some irrational fear he had of her? No, that was ludicrous. She couldn’t see him wasting time with pretenses. Especially when he could use barbed insults so effectively.

  Seeing his glance falter, Janice steeled herself for the upcoming insult and dropped her gaze. When it didn’t come, her glance shot up to find him grinning at her.

  “Go ahead and say it, Miss Kelly.”

  “Say what?” she hedged.

  “That you find my humor provocative and extremely sexy.”

  Janice’s eyes widened at his audacious wit. He w
as teasing her again, damn him. Well, she was through battling with his jaded wit. Squaring her shoulders, she met his gaze.

  “Do something for me, Adrian?”

  “What?”

  “Go to hell!”

  He bowed immediately.

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m on my way.”

  With a springy bounce, he was gone, striding across the room to join the others. Once there, he took hold of Ginger’s shoulders and pushed her out into the corridor ahead of him. Laughter spilled back through the door and as it faded away, Janice knew she’d wasted her insult.

  With a reluctant sigh, she took the same path to the door. Must Adrian’s every movement remind her of his sexual attractiveness? She rounded the doorframe and caught sight of Lloyd waving from the hallway landing. Behind him, the others were already disappearing up the staircase. As she reached the stairwell, she offered her hand to Lloyd, who squeezed it affectionately. Hand in hand, they ascended the staircase and soon caught up with the waiting group. Two flights later, the group had worked their way into the unused section of the manor. By the time they reached the mammoth library and spotted the massive bookshelves surrounding them, their expressions clouded over with worry. Ginger was the first to speak.

  “How will we ever wade through all these books in such a short time?”

  Seeing the same perplexed expressions all around, Janice took up the reins of command and stepped forward.

  “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” she quoted brightly.

  Crossing to a bookshelf, she took down two large volumes from the top shelf and placed them on the floor, then repeated the pattern. Beside her, Adrian did the same, starting his own stack alongside hers.

  “Spread out. Take a wall,” he urged.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Janice saw the others split in three directions. Soon, the floor was carpeted with stacks of books. Janice tried not to let the enormity of their task daunt her. Somewhere in these stacks was a bridge back through the strings of time. They’d find it and cross it. They’d relive that last horrendous day and somehow make sense of it.

  Pulling a gray wingback directly beneath the overhead chandelier, Janice dropped onto its plush cushions. Around her, the others did the same. Grabbing the top book of her stack, she ran her fingertips efficiently across the ragged book edge. Concentrating, she tried to tap in to its pages. Nothing. She closed the book, took another. Again, she ran her fingers across and along the bindings. Nothing. She took another, then a fourth. Soon, her first stack began to dwindle and soon, the only audible sound in the room was the careful, slow turning of book pages.