She Shall Have Music (Psychic Seasons

by ReGina Welling

  “If I have the guest list ready by the time I order, they have a calligrapher on staff who will address the envelopes. Take a look at her samples in the back, they’re just beautiful.”

  “Do you have the guest list ready?”

  Julie exchanged a glance with Gustavia. “I do and you should know that Reid will be coming to the wedding.”

  “Of course, I expected that. I’m fine with it.” There was more though, she could tell by the look on their faces.

  “He’s going to be filling in for Tyler’s brother who won’t be able to make it back in time for the wedding. As Best Man.”

  Well, that complicated things. He would be around a little more than she’d planned. A surge of hope shot through her until she reined it back in.

  “I’ll make it work, no worries.”

  “Yes, I’m sure you will.” Gustavia’s remark was met with wrinkled-nose scorn.

  “Moving on.” Estelle threw the two women a quelling glance though the surprise of her presence was enough to accomplish that goal anyway.

  “Sneaking up on us again, Grams?” Julie asked but she was glad her grandmother was getting the chance to take a small part in the wedding plans.

  The belated dinging of the doorbell sounded and the lights dimmed. Estelle had agreed to give some kind of warning sign before she appeared but was abysmal at remembering to do so.

  “Better late than never.” Julie rolled her eyes and Amethyst snorted out a laugh.

  “I would like to ask Kathleen for a favor.” Estelle turned toward the blind psychic. “Do you think it would be possible for me to accompany you when you girls go dress shopping?” She was asking Kat to channel her when the time came. “I’d like to be able to touch the dress and feel more a part of things, but I understand if you’d prefer not.”

  Since any channeling of Estelle gave Kat the ability to see, this was a mutually beneficial opportunity. She would have the chance to participate fully. “Yes, of course.”

  “Thank you, dear.” Estelle intended to help the girl regain her sight before she went into the light. All Kat needed to do was to fully release her fear of seeing spirit—something she was already well on her way toward doing—and her vision should return since there was no physical reason for her blindness.

  “Now, show me those invitations quickly before I have to go again.”

  Chapter Three

  Something drew Logan Ellis back to Oakville. Something just as irresistible as the fiery death a moth endured when called to the flame and he was just as likely to get burned—the force inside him would not rest until he returned.

  In his lucid moments, he knew he should run. Just put Julie and the past in his rear view mirror, hit the beach, rest up and get his mojo back. Unfortunately, his lucid moments were few and fleeting. Instead, he found himself squatting on an abandoned farm in an area that his former, saner self would have called “Oakville adjacent.”

  Today, the tiny spark of sanity he could claim only managed to burn back the shadows but not banish them completely. It surfaced now and eyes darting from side to side, he took stock of his situation.

  Colder nights and living rough had thinned him; carved away at flesh and bone as he shivered in the dark too far gone some nights to even search for warmth. He tore through the house looking for anything warmer to wear, any shred of clothing left behind. A few pieces of furniture remained in the old place and he was glad to see at least one bed with a lumpy, stained mattress but neither of the two cast-off dressers held a single article of clothing and the closets were empty.

  He opened every door, every cabinet in the place before finding a set of narrow stairs leading to the attic where he hit pay dirt. Forgotten boxes damaged by the leaky roof had burst and spewed their contents. Kicking aside piles of old papers, he found a stained quilt and several articles of damp clothing.

  The quilt, in a wedding ring pattern, smelled ripely of old musty cloth but it was dry and warm so he tossed it over his shoulders like a cape, then quickly sorted through the clothes. Jeans that would be at least an inch too long on him, a couple sweatshirts and at the very bottom, a fleece lined jacket.

  He carried them all downstairs and out into the sunny yard where he spread them over the porch rails to dry. Maybe the sun would burn off some of the smell.

  Once this chore was done, Logan became more aware of the world around him. Oak trees, the town’s namesakes, surrounded overgrown fields of frost-browned grass. The trees were vividly dressed in shades of russet, yellow, and green. How much time had he lost? The last he remembered, he had been sweating through hot summer nights in the woods.

  Logan searched his memory but all that came back to him were snippets—brief flashes of time. A big dog coming at him with teeth bared, he clutched his arm and found the wound had healed to an angry red scar. He remembered the satisfying sound of a baseball bat crashing through glass but mostly there were long, blank spaces where he had been lost to himself and to the world.

  Lifting his face to the sun, he absorbed its light and heat and wished he never needed to go back into the dark. Stomach churning with hunger, he searched for something edible. It was a farm and farmers tended to plant things; maybe a few perennial vegetables had survived the killing frost.

  He took one circuit around the house and found a small kitchen garden that the wilderness was already in the process of reclaiming. To his relief, that worked in his favor when he found a patch of hardy kale that had been overgrown by thick grass. The grass had taken the brunt of any frost damage leaving much of the kale alive and ready to eat.

  This success was followed by the discovery of some small, pinkish onions and a row of forgotten carrots. He pulled several of the carrots and wiped them on the grass. With most of the dirt removed, Logan ate them in large, hungry bites that hit his empty belly and made it gurgle with the need for more. Still, they were sweet and earthy. Nothing had ever tasted so good. Pungent raw onions wrapped in kale followed the carrots until he finally had his fill.

  Sated, tired, and finally warm, he stumbled back inside and made his way to the bedroom. Sinking into the old mattress and hoping he would wake up himself again, Logan dropped over the edge of sleep.

  And back into darkness.

  _,.-'~'-.,_

  “He’s back.” Estelle’s exclamation came just before the faint ringing of the doorbell as she abruptly appeared in the center of the room. The lights flickered.

  “Grams, we talked about this.” Julie shook her head then chanced a cautious glance at Reid. She took in his pale face and shocked expression. Nothing to be done about it now. Noting Amethyst’s amused expression, Julie quirked an eyebrow at her before assuring Reid that his eyes had not deceived him.

  “Reid, I’d like you to meet my dearly departed grandmother, Estelle.” Not much sense trying to dance around the truth, he had seen what he had seen and they might as well just deal with it.

  “But she…she just…” he trailed off as he tried to make sense of what he had seen. The woman had just appeared there like a ghost. Then his brain caught up. “Wait a minute, did you say dearly departed? But I don’t believe in ghosts.”

  With a wicked twinkle in her eye Estelle informed him, “That’s okay, young man. We believe in you.”

  He speared a look at Amethyst. “Did you know about this?”

  “Naturally,” she treated him to the first genuine smile he had seen from her since his arrival. His brain registered that fact in addition to noticing she did not attempt to hide her delight at his obvious distress. The smile remained even as she pulled a ten-dollar bill out of her pocket and handed it over to Kat. “Another day and I’d have had you on that one.” Instead, she had lost yet another bet to the psychic.

  Turning to Reid, Amethyst said, “Not to worry, she’s friendly, like Caspar.” Her words were meant to be reassuring but he got the feeling she was mocking him. At least a little, anyway. He rolled his eyes at her.

  “Nice to meet you,” he mumbled as he
glared daggers at Tyler. “You could have warned me.” Then he fell silent.

  “Didn’t you hear me? I said he’s back.” Now that the introductions were over, Estelle’s agitation increased. “What are you going to do to keep my girls safe?” She demanded an answer from Tyler.

  When Julius appeared next to Estelle, Reid only shook his head then sat back to rest one crossed leg over the other. It was hard to sustain a state of shock when everyone around him seemed comfortable in the presence of these two—well—presences.

  Julie’s ex, once the consummate con man had targeted her in an attempt to wrest away control of Hayward House and the property around it. Fortunately, his plan to sell the acreage to a developer had been foiled by a little judicious sleuthing on the part of Amethyst and Gustavia. The pair of them, dressed up in thrift store business attire, had infiltrated Logan's office, and uncovered the plot.

  “How did you find him? I thought he had learned how to shield himself from you.” Amethyst asked Julius.

  “He did, but for a few hours today, the blinders came off and his mind was clear…” Julius broke off, his expression troubled.

  Amethyst read his aura and saw the colors she usually associated with compassion mixed in with the anger that Julius most often displayed when talking about Logan. Odd, she thought, he feels sorry for the man.

  Gently she said, “You’re feeling just a bit sorry for him now. What’s changed?”

  Julius scowled at her, “Very perceptive, young woman. Don’t get me wrong, that boy has done horrible things and he deserves to be punished for them. His intentions have never been good but whatever evil he called to himself because of his actions—no one deserves to have something like that riding him.”

  “You think we have to help him, don’t you?” Gustavia broke in, “After all he’s done, you want to help him.” Since she had taken the brunt of his most recent crime spree, Gustavia’s compassion for Logan was completely non-existent.

  Julius sighed. He understood her reservations.

  “Yes, young Gustavia, I think we may have to help him in order to catch him. Your brother is doing an admirable job making a legal case against Logan but you must see that he has to follow procedure, go through channels. It’s keeping him two steps behind and we need to be more proactive if we are going to end this situation.”

  Gustavia’s aura darkened, swirling dangerously. Amethyst touched her arm and did what she could to diffuse the wash of negativity.

  “He’s not suggesting we adopt the idiot, Gustavia—just that we level the playing field by getting rid of any outside influences.”

  Nodding his agreement, Julius said, “Exactly right.”

  This appeased Gustavia enough that her aura settled back to normal leaving Amethyst free to glance over at Reid’s. His was still a whirl of unsettled color but, for once, she battled her instincts to help and left him alone. Touching his aura right now would feel a bit too presumptuous. Too intimate. Too good.

  He’d have to fend for himself this time.

  She turned back to Julius and asked the question everyone was thinking, “Do you have a plan?”

  He dropped his head. Amethyst watched his aura take on a tinge of uncertainty.

  “I have ideas,” he almost mumbled the words then raised his head, his gaze searching as he looked at her for a long moment.

  “What? Do I have something stuck in my teeth?” She tried to joke but it fell flat.

  “How far are you willing to go to keep your friends safe? How deeply would you explore your abilities?”

  The question struck her as odd because her ability could hardly be described as defensive. Her mind generated an image of herself in tights and a purple cape leaping into the fray and plucking away dark blobs of light from an attacker’s aura. Yeah, right—she thought—Aura Woman will save the day—and Julius could be her sidekick, Captain Crazypants.

  “I’d do whatever it takes, not that I’m convinced anything about aura reading would help keep them safe.” She was emphatic and thankful that no one in the room was a mind reader. Oh, please let Kat not be a mind reader. Embarrassment at even the mere thought that someone could read her thoughts sent a blush of pink across Amethyst’s cheeks.

  A slight nod then, looking around the room, Julius spotted Reid.

  “Is this your young man?” He asked Amethyst.

  Red-faced and stammering she replied, “Um. It’s complicated. He was once, but now he’s just—well—he’s not.”

  Was Julius smirking at her? Amethyst narrowed her eyes and pinned him with a glare, which did absolutely nothing to change his expression.

  “Be that as it may, I approve. Do not let her slip away again, boy. She’s a keeper.”

  Amethyst didn’t think it was possible to blush harder but was proved wrong. A glance around the room didn’t help much; every one of her friends appeared to agree with Julius.

  Struggling to recover her normally dry sense of humor, she said, “Yeah, I guess I’m the catch of the day. Can we move on now?”

  Instead, Julius cocked his head and looked appraisingly at Reid who now felt like a side of beef at a chef’s convention. “Good heart, decent intellect and enough strength and sensitivity to become both conduit and protector. He’ll do.”

  If she had been embarrassed before, now Amethyst wished the floor would just open up and swallow her whole. “You’re making assumptions, old man.”

  Knowing Julius tended to be blunt and lacked the least bit of social awareness; Estelle cheerfully stepped in to smooth things over. She rested a hand on his arm and whispered loudly, “Let them come to it in their own time.”

  “Fine.” He looked from Amethyst to Reid and cautioned them, “Just be ready to play your part when the time comes. And don’t be fools about it, either.”

  Regaining his serious demeanor, Julius stated, “You will all need to be on your guard because I am going to be away for a while. There is an errand I must complete. An important one. Stick together, it might be a cliché, but there is safety in numbers.” Nodding to the room, he faded abruptly from view.

  Estelle said her goodbyes, gave Reid a cheery wink through the worry that still showed on her face, and did the same.

  _,.-'~'-.,_

  Breaking the silence that had descended on the room, Reid nearly shouted, “What just happened?” He looked around to see a variety of expressions from grins to concerned looks turned his way.

  At last, Finn, who had remained largely silent until now, offered dryly, “Stick around. It gets less freaky after the fourth or fifth time. Pretty soon, hanging out with ghosts will seem ordinary.” Gustavia mockingly punched him in the arm.

  When Julie spoke, her tone was apologetic, “I’m sorry, Reid. I warned her about just popping in like that but it clearly didn’t do any good. She tends to act first and think later. I’m sure you have questions.” She nodded to indicate he should ask them.

  A hundred thoughts chased each other through his mind at such a rapid pace that he failed to isolate any one of them.

  “I’m sure I do, but I can’t seem to formulate any at the moment. Maybe you should just tell me what kind of mess I’ve blundered my way into,” and he sat back, waiting.

  Gustavia began, “It all started when I took Julie to see Kat for a psychic reading as an engagement gift. Her grandmother and great grandfather came through—you’ve just met them for yourselves, and that started us off on the treasure hunt.”

  Tyler added, “That’s where I came in. My grandfather, the historian, had some notes about Hayward House and Julie’s family so I brought them over and got caught up in the search and in Julie, too. But she was engaged to Logan, a world class creep who turned out to be a con man.”

  Amethyst took up the story. “We figured out his plan by going incognito and infiltrating his office. His boss gave me a pitch about buying a condo on this very property. Logan had negotiated the sale of Julie’s house and the land without her knowledge and was trying to get her to sign over
full control of it upon their marriage. She wouldn’t have been able to stop him.”

  “So, I dumped him…” Julie began.

  “Quite spectacularly, I might add,” Gustavia cut in.

  “And he decided to get revenge,” Julie continued.

  “Mostly on Gustavia, because he blames her for Julie catching on to his plan and because he thinks she is more vulnerable. A few weeks ago, he cut her brake lines and caused an accident,” Finn said. The dark and brooding look on his face spoke of his desire to cause Logan some major bodily damage.

  “We could have been killed. I think he was hoping for that. Julius thinks he is—possessed isn’t the right word but it’s the closest description we can come up with—by a ghost, possibly one of his ancestors.” Kat explained.

  Incredulous, Reid looked at the faces around him. None of them was joking and considering he had just seen two ghosts, he guessed he might as well believe. “A treasure hunt?”

  Gustavia hooted, “Ghosts, danger and intrigue—yet every time it’s the treasure they pick up on first. Men.” A wide smile diffused her mocking tone.

  “Treasure hunts and nubile women finding us irresistible—two things every man dreams of.” All four women rolled their eyes while the other two men nodded in agreement.

  “It’s just how we’re wired; tell me more about the treasure.” Still, in the back of his mind, Reid brooded over the question Julius had asked Amethyst. How far was she willing to go to keep her friends safe? It sounded like there was some type of risk involved and until he knew what that risk might be, he was sticking around. First chance, he’d have to talk to Julie and Tyler about extending his visit again. In the meantime, though, there was a story about treasure he was dying to hear.

  Before that, though, he felt compelled to ask, “Is that it? Are there any more secrets I should know about?”

  Amethyst ticked off the points for him, “Ghosts, family legacy, crazy and possibly possessed con man out for revenge, Kat’s has prodigious psychic abilities—Oh, Gustavia’s father is Senator Roman and her name used to be Eloise. I’d say that about covers it.” Except for the fact, she still had feelings for him.