Ghost Moon

by Rebecca York

  She closed her eyes and opened them again. “What you can have with a ghost is . . . limited.”

  “He saved us. And he could turn out to be very good for you.”

  “How could he be?”

  Zarah shrugged. “In school, when they brought ghosts to class, I could never see them. Or sense them. Could you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, my psychic powers were never great.”

  “They were good enough to cure Griffin. And to hide the portal just now. And to tell me something would happen in the forest.”

  Zarah’s eyes welled up, and Quinn was instantly sorry she had mentioned her friend’s husband.

  Zarah dragged in a breath and let it out. “I won’t go to pieces on you again. Tell me about the ghost.”

  Quinn considered the question. “I wish I knew how to directhis interest away from me.”

  “Do you really mean that?”

  She turned her hand palm up. “I don’t know.”

  “I think the two of you are good together. And you will mean more to each other than you can imagine.”

  Quinn nodded. She had some ability to sense the future, too. And she knew that she hadn’t seen the last of Caleb Marshall. She cleared her throat.

  “Unfortunately, there’s a problem.”

  “What?”

  Quinn pressed her hands against her thighs. “In our world, there are many people who are werewolves. Griffin is. So is Rinna. And she had the bird form, too.”

  “But there aren’t so many here. I realize that,” Zarah answered.

  “As far as I know, there is only one family of men. The women can’t carry the trait. They are all in the Marshall family—Logan’s family.” She paused, wishing she could just drop the subject. But it had to be said.

  “And?”

  “They are all aggressive men. They fight among themselves.Or—they used to until Logan’s cousin, Ross Marshall,started getting them to work together. The ghost, Caleb Marshall, was killed by one of his cousins seventy-five years ago. Caleb stayed here to avenge his death. The man who killed him is long gone, but he has to be related to Logan.”

  Zarah winced.

  “I don’t want to tell Logan and Rinna about him.”

  “Maybe you have to warn them. What if he acquired the power to come after them?”

  It was Quinn’s turn to draw in a sharp breath. “I was hopinghe wouldn’t. But I see he’s getting stronger. That’s why I told him he couldn’t come with us.”

  “So his need to avenge his death complicates your relationship.”

  “Yes.”

  “Like with me and Griffin. I was sent to spy on him. Then I wanted to confess, but I knew he’d be furious.” She heaved a sigh. “Why can’t anything be simple?”

  Quinn shook her head. “Because life is never easy. I thought that when Griffin freed me, everything would be better.”

  “And now you’re saddled with me,” Zarah said softly.

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “I know it’s not. But I feel like a burden.”

  “You’re not. You’re my best friend!”

  “And what if Rinna and Logan hate having me in their house?”

  “Stop!”

  “I can’t help it.”

  “I know. So maybe we should get the meeting over with as soon as we can. You’ll like them. And they’ll like you.”

  Zarah stood and looked down at her tummy. “You’re sure I don’t look like a pregnant whore in this outfit?”

  “Not here.”

  Zarah reached to pluck some dried leaves off of Quinn’s shirt. “Let’s get it over with.”

  “You’re still nervous.”

  “Of course. But I have to keep myself safe—until Griffin and I can live together again.”

  Quinn nodded. Neither of them said the obvious, that it might never happen.

  FORTY minutes later, they approached the Marshall house. Zarah stopped and stared. “You told me that they live out in the woods. And it’s safe. I had trouble believing it was true.”

  “I did, too. But things here are very different.”

  “I studied the books and . . . magazines . . . you brought me. But I have so much to learn.”

  “That will keep you busy.”

  “Yes.”

  When Quinn knocked on the door, Rinna opened it almostat once. “Thank the Great Mother,” she said. “We were so worried about you.” She gave Quinn a questioning look. “You left in the middle of the night. We knew you’d gone to get Zarah, and we were worried.”

  Zarah was hanging back, but Rinna stepped forward and held out her arms.

  “Welcome to our house.”

  After a little hesitation, the other woman stepped forward,and they embraced.

  “I’m so glad to have someone from home come stay with us,” Rinna said.

  “But I think you don’t have servants. I’ll make extra work for you,” Zarah answered.

  “Over here, we don’t need servants. There are ways to get things done quickly. You’ll see.”

  Logan came striding to the door and saw the two women. Looking at them carefully, he asked, “What happened?”

  Quinn heaved in a breath and let it out. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk outside.”

  “Right.”

  They filed into the front hall.

  “To give you a summary of the past twenty-four hours, Baron’s men tried to kill Zarah in her bedchamber,” Quinn explained. “She stabbed one of them instead. Griffin got us to the portal in a wagon, disguised as a shipment of grain. But soldiers caught up with us. He led them away, and we got through the portal.”

  Rinna peered at Zarah. “You look worn out. Come sit down.”

  “Thank you.” It was obvious that Zarah was overwhelmed by the situation.

  Quinn leaned toward her. “Relax,” she said in a low voice. “You’re safe now. Everything’s okay.”

  Rinna led the way down the hall to what they called the great room, where large windows looked out over a wooded area.

  “Make yourselves comfortable. This is your house now,” Rinna said. “Let me get you something to eat and drink. I’d been thinking you’d come back soon. So the refrigerator’s full. I have fruit. And cheese. And meat. And we have juices or tea or spring water, if you prefer.”

  “Water,” Zarah whispered.

  “Try the orange juice,” Quinn said. “You’ll like it.”

  Zarah gave her a doubtful look. “But I hate for Rinna to use up her supply. Or go to any trouble squeezing it.”

  Rinna laughed. “No trouble. I don’t have to pick the fruit and make the juice. I bought it at the grocery store. I just have to pour it out of a carton.”

  “Oh.”

  “We have a lot of conveniences here.” She smiled. “Let me play hostess. I don’t get to do it a lot.”

  Quinn went with Rinna to help bring the food, but all the time she was feeling the weight of her secret pressing against her chest. Because her nerves were jumping, she almostdropped the carton of juice.

  “Are you all right?” Rinna asked.

  “A little shaky.”

  “You look pale.” Rinna gave her a closer look. “You had an ordeal escaping from Baron’s men. I think you haven’t told us all of it yet.”

  “That’s right.”

  “You should sit down, too.”

  “I’ll sit when we bring the food in.”

  Back in the great room, Logan was talking to Zarah.

  “So you think you weren’t followed,” he said as Rinna and Quinn set down plates of food.

  “We were,” she answered. After cutting a piece of melon with the side of her fork, she said, “Two soldiers followed us. We killed one.” She stopped and swallowed. “A ghost drove the other one off a cliff and into the river.”

  Logan’s gaze shot to her. “A ghost? Are you sure it was something supernatural?”

  “Yes.”

  Quinn scuffed her foot against the rug under the c
offee table. She caught Zarah’s eye, then looked away. Before she could stop herself, she turned her gaze back to Logan and said, “I think I have to tell you about him.”

  Now that Quinn had spoken, she hovered between relief that she was about to be honest with Rinna and Logan and dread at the consequences.

  “The ghost found me . . . the last time I came through the portal.”

  Logan was staring at her with an intensity that made her want to squirm in her seat. Obviously he’d picked up on the import of what she’d said. But she managed to keep her gaze level and her body still.

  “And you didn’t mention him?” he asked.

  She swallowed, wishing she had prepared herself better. She’d known all along that this moment was coming, but she’d kept hoping it would stay in the future. “I wasn’t sure what to say. He was a werewolf killed in a fight with his cousin. The other werewolf buried him in the woods.”

  “Werewolf! How do you know?”

  “I talked to him. His name is Caleb Marshall. He said he was still on earth because he wanted to avenge his death. And I think one of your relatives killed him.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  For several seconds, there was dead silence in the room.

  Finally, Logan spoke. “Do you happen to know how long he’s been dead?”

  “Seventy-five years.”

  His gaze turned inward, and she saw his lips thin. “That fits.”

  “What?” Rinna asked.

  “The time period. I think my grandfather might have killed him.”

  Everyone had been looking at Quinn. Now their gazes shifted to Logan.

  “What makes you think so?” Rinna murmured.

  “I’ve told you all the men in my family want to be top wolf. So they fight for territory. Or that was the Marshall tradition,until my cousin Ross started changing things. First he contacted his brothers. Then he got together with me and his other cousins. He showed us how to work together and got us together socially—with our life mates.” He laughed. “Once that happened, the women played a big part in socializing us. They want the contact with each other, so they arrange familyevents.”

  He shook his head regretfully. “But it wasn’t like that years ago. Not hardly. The Marshalls rarely saw each other. And when they did, there was likely to be a fight. There was talk in the family—of something happening. I never could get a straight story out of my parents. But I know there was a cousin named Caleb Marshall. He was my grandfather’s age. I know people used to whisper about bad blood between him and my father’s father. Some said that he went out west, like Ross’s brother Johnny, who changed his name to Sam Morgan.But I always wondered if that was just a cover story for something more sinister. Like in the Sopranos, when they whacked a guy and said he’d disappeared into the witness protection program.”

  Quinn put her hand to her forehead. “The Sopranos? Singers? And what does it mean to whack someone?” She’d thought she was doing so well in this world, but she wasn’t following very much of what he’d been saying.

  Logan laughed again. This time it was a grating sound that did little to break the tension. “The Sopranos aren’t singers. They’re a family in a television show—where the dad is in organizedcrime. And sometimes they kill their rivals.”

  Quinn nodded. “But it’s just on television?”

  “Well, it has some basis in reality.”

  Before she could ask about that, Logan tipped his head toward her. “Do you know where Caleb Marshall is buried?”

  “Not exactly. It’s in the general direction of the portal, but not on a direct line from your house. I told you there was a landslide, and I had to detour. That’s when I ran into him.”

  She saw Logan shudder. “I roam all over the woods around here. But there’s a place I never like to go. Maybe it’s around his grave. It could be that I sensed him, and I didn’t want to run into him.”

  Rinna had reached out and grabbed his hand. “He could have hurt you.”

  Quinn answered quickly. “When I first met him, he seemed . . . dim,” she whispered. “I don’t mean stupid. I mean . . . not all there. In a ghostly sense.”

  The others nodded.

  “But he’s getting . . .” She stopped and shrugged. “I don’t know what to call it. Stronger? More aware of himself.”

  “You said he drove one of Baron’s soldiers off a cliff. Did he push him?” Rinna asked.

  “I didn’t see it. But I don’t think so. I think he just scared the man into diving off into space.”

  She looked down at her hands and back at Logan. “I’m sorry. I think I stirred him up. He said I was the first person he had talked to in all this time. He said he was lonely.”

  “Then how did he talk to you?” Rinna asked.

  “You remember the lessons we had in school? Did they ever bring a ghost to visit your class?”

  “Yes, but I was never good at seeing them. Maybe I sensed something, but it was . . . vague.” She paused for a minute, then added, “But other students could do it.”

  “I think it’s hard for most people—even adepts. But, for some reason, I was good at it.” She stopped and swallowed. “Unfortunately, he was able to reach out to me.”

  “And he’s formed a connection with you,” Zarah said. “So if you asked him to stay away from Logan, he would.”

  Quinn wanted that to be true, but she had to be honest about her fears. “I can’t count on that.” She swiped a hand through her hair. “I’m going back there tomorrow. I can talk to him.”

  “Don’t go back!” Rinna said.

  “I have to. I have to bury the soldier we killed. I can’t just leave him there.”

  Across the room, Zarah moved in her chair. “I stabbed him, too. I should go with you.”

  “No. The rest of you should stay away from the ghost— until I find out what he intends.” Quinn turned her eyes towardLogan. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you as soon as I met him. At first I thought it would just stir up trouble. And it seemed he was too weak to do anything . . . bad.”

  Logan sat up straighter on the sofa. “I’m not afraid of him, so he’s not going to drive me off a cliff.”

  “Stay away from him,” his wife begged.

  He moved closer to her and draped his arm around her shoulder. “A ghost can’t hurt me.”

  Quinn looked down at her hands, then up again. “He hurt the soldier. I hope he can’t do anything to you. I feel responsible.What if he follows me here?”

  “Isn’t he tied to his grave or something? How far is his range?” Logan asked.

  “I don’t know,” Quinn answered. She didn’t realize she was twisting her hands together until Zarah said, “You can’t help it that you can sense a phantom—and that he responded to you.”

  Quinn nodded. There was more she could say, but she wanted to end the conversation.

  They hadn’t really resolved anything. But she knew she didn’t have the energy for it tonight.

  Apparently, Rinna wanted to change the subject, too, becauseshe looked over at Zarah. “You’re worn out. And you must find this world very strange. I know I did.”

  “Yes,” Zarah murmured.

  Quinn stood. “I should go to bed, too.”

  “Yes, you had a long trip,” Rinna murmured. “And then the fight with the soldiers.”

  “We’re taking up so much of your household,” Quinn answered.

  “We have the space,” Logan said.

  “And I’m so glad to have company from home,” Rinna added.

  The house was built into a hill, with the master bedroom and adjoining office on the main level and the guest bedrooms on the floor below. Rinna went down with them to show Zarah some basic things like how to avoid electric shocks, how to flush the toilet, and how to adjust the water in the shower.

  Quinn went to her own room and closed the door. She had left some clothing here, so she took off the shirt and pants she’d worn and pulled on a clean T-shirt. But when she lay down on the bed, she couldn�
��t sleep.

  She kept imagining Logan tangling with Caleb. She didn’t want anything to happen to Logan. Or Caleb either. He had risked the talisman to save her life. That meant a lot.

  No man had risked so much for her. Ever. Caleb might have stayed on earth for the wrong reasons. But that was a long time ago. He was still here, and he had saved her life and Zarah’s. Even before that, she had felt a bond with him.

  Now that she had time to think, she couldn’t stop worryingabout him. Could the Marshall men hurt him—the way the soldier had tried to do?

  She knew they had some psychics in this world, a few people with talents like the adepts in her own universe. Were they able to call Caleb’s ghost to them, then banish him?

  A shiver traveled over her skin. Much as she wanted to deny it, she knew she was becoming emotionally involved with a man who was dead. And the idea was unnerving.

  Lying rigid on her bed, she watched the numbers change on the clock on the bedside table. Maybe she slept for a few hours, but she woke again before the sun was up. Too restlessto sleep, she got up and dressed again, then ate a little of the food that Rinna had gotten out the night before.

  She wrote a note, saying that she was going back to bury the body, and she would return as soon as she had finished.

  Logan was a landscape architect, and she knew he kept many of his gardening tools in a shed outside.

  Quietly, she exited the house, then found a shovel and hoisted it over her shoulder, before starting off toward the spot where they’d left the soldier.

  It was still before dawn, and she heard rustling in the underbrushall around her as the forest creatures went about their early morning business.

  Little animals were watching her. Maybe some larger ones, too. She might have turned back, but she knew she had to see this task through. She had a good sense of direction, and she moved quickly through the woods.

  The air was cool, but gray light had penetrated the canopy of leaves by the time she approached the little clearing where the soldier had caught up with her and Zarah.

  They had to kill him or be killed themselves, and as she stepped into the clearing, the scene flashed back to her. She remembered her terror. And the soldier’s confidence. He’d been sure that two women couldn’t beat two men.