I took a long sip of my soda to stall for time. It was kind of embarrassing to admit my normal strategy for finding the perfect gift for family members. Especially as I’d hoped to change that strategy up this time and hand pick my gift. After two hours of walking and searching, I didn’t think that was going to happen.
Finally, I took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes. “To be honest, I usually ask Aunt Opal. She always seems to have the inside track on what Mom wants. Even when Mom doesn’t know she wants it.”
He slapped himself on the forehead. “Opal! Why didn’t I think of that? Sapphire loves Opal’s shop. I’ll bet we’ll find the perfect gift right there.”
I shrugged. “If not, she can probably point us in the right direction.”
Arc was looking at me in horror. “You mean you had a plan and yet you put us through all of this? Why do you hate me so much?”
“I don’t hate you.” I gave him the sweetest smile I was capable of. “And for the record, I really wanted to see if I could do it myself this time. Doesn’t look like I was very successful at that, though.”
Archie put his hands on the edge of the table to push back his chair. “Then let’s head on over to...” His words ended in a gasp as he looked over my shoulder.
I whirled around, that certain that some kind of calamity was about to happen. Only, there was nothing there. At least, nothing that shouldn’t be. I turned back to Archie, who was still staring behind me.
“You’re kind of freaking me out, Archie. What is it?”
He swallowed, not even blinking. “You don’t see it, do you? I’d hoped that with all of your power, you would.”
Arc and I looked at each other. “Am I missing something?” I asked him.
He shook his head. For what it was worth, Arc looked every bit as worried as I felt. I think he was right. There was something very wrong going on with our father.
And it was time we found out what.
“What do you see?” I asked.
Archie blinked twice and then his eyes met mine. There was more than a little worry in them. “You really didn’t see anything? Nothing at all?”
I looked behind me again. Nope. Still nothing. Well, other than the normal everyday life in a shopping mall. Nothing that would get that kind of reaction from anyone. Let alone my stalwart and professional father.
It kind of worried me that he didn’t answer my question. That wasn’t a good sign.
“What exactly am I not seeing?”
Archie’s face was as blank as I’d ever seen it. I glanced over at Arc. After all, he’d known the man longer.
He returned my gaze, then turned to Archie. “Look, Dad, whatever it is that’s going on, I think you need to tell us. We might just be able to help.”
For a minute, I didn’t think Archie was going to answer. Then, finally, he leaned back in his seat again. His eyes closed.
“How can you help me if I’m losing my grip on sanity?” His voice was so quiet I could barely hear it, and I was sitting less than three feet from him.
“I don’t think you’re crazy, Archie,” I told him. “I think whatever it is you saw, there has to be a logical explanation for it. And maybe we can help you find it. But you have to tell us first.” I threw one last glance behind me. “For starters, is whatever you saw still there?”
He opened his eyes and reluctantly looked behind me. Then he glanced around the dining area. “No. It’s gone.”
“Are we talking a ghost here?” Archie asked.
I just looked at him. Witches can see ghosts, yes. But as far as I knew when they made themselves visible to us, they were visible to all of us. I really didn’t think they could pick just one person to be able to see them. Then again, what did I know about being a ghost? That would be a good question for our resident ghost, Liz.
“If it were a ghost, you all would see it too, wouldn’t you?” Archie said sadly. “So I don’t think that’s the answer. Besides, I know Liz. This looks nothing like her. You can tell she used to be a human. You can tell she’s a ghost, too.”
“And this?”
He glanced around again. “I don’t feel comfortable talking about this here. Let’s go to the office.”
AS IT WAS SUNDAY, WE had the place to ourselves. Just me, Arc, and a man who was afraid he was going crazy.
That would be enough to keep a man up all night, all right. It sure would me. Sanity was an important thing to keep a tight grip on. Even if it was hard sometimes with the things we’d had to face.
Once we made it to Mineheart Law, we settled in the conference room. It worried me even more when Archie went over to check the recording equipment to verify that it was off.
What the bloody heck was going on here?
“Okay, Dad, enough already. What’s going on? Should we be calling Sapphire?” Arc asked.
“No!” Then Archie struggled to calm down. “I mean, no. Please don’t involve her just yet.” He looked at me. “You know how she worries. I want a chance to figure out what’s going on before I tell her.”
I peered closer at him. There were definitely dark circles under his eyes. And the man was jumpy and distracted. And he’d not been at all his usual self last night either. Chances were good Mom knew something was up. She was good at that kind of thing. One of the best, really.
“We’ll talk about that later.” No way was I going to agree to keep Mom out of the loop until I found out exactly what that loop entailed.
Then I waited. I’d already asked him twice what he’d seen and not gotten an answer either time. It was time for him to talk. Not me.
It still took a few minutes.
“I’m not sure what it is,” he said slowly, looking out the window and facing away from us. “As I said, it doesn’t appear to be a ghost. Or if it is, it isn’t a ghost like Liz. It’s just... kind of like a shadow with nothing in sight to throw it.”
He shivered. I’d never seen the man this shaken before. And with all the terrors my family had faced in the past year or so, that was saying something.
“A disembodied shadow?” Arc asked.
Archie shrugged. “That’s about as close to describing it as I can come, yes.”
Arc and I spared each other a glance. This was so not good.
“Male, female, demon, or animal?” I asked quietly.
He still wasn’t turning around. Obviously, this was hard enough on him as it was. He must not be able to bear watching our expressions while he answered our questions. It might have done him good if he had.
I still didn’t think he was crazy. We were witches, dang it all. Our lives were strange to the max to begin with. This didn’t sound all that much like a leap into insanity to me. I was still of the mind that whatever this was; it had a logical explanation.
“Pretty sure it’s human.” He hugged himself. “Although, I guess that doesn’t really rule out a demon, does it?” He gave a short, humorless laugh. “My very own personal demon. Aren’t I the lucky witch?”
“There has to be some reason you can see it while we can’t,” I said. “Has anything happened in the last few days that we should know about? Did you have a close call with death or something that you’ve been keeping to yourself?”
Sometimes things like that could open doorways that shouldn’t be opened by people still walking this plane. I breathed a little easier when he shook his head.
“No. That’s just it, there’s nothing different in my life that I can put my finger on. Except for the shadow. That’s sure as heck different enough for anyone.”
“When did it start showing up?” Arc asked.
Archie ran a hand down his face. “A couple of weeks or so ago, maybe? At first, I had myself convinced that I was just dreaming. It only happened at night.” Another shiver. “Then that changed. It started flitting by even during the day. It doesn’t last long. Just long enough to get my attention, and then it vanishes.” He gave another laugh. “Still think your old man isn’t going crazy?”
&nb
sp; Chapter 3
“No, Archie. I don’t think you’re crazy.” And I was one that should know. What with everything that was going on with my personal battle with magical overloads, if anyone in my family was a bit on the lunatic side, it would be me. Not Archie.
He finally turned to face me. “Then how do you explain me seeing these apparitions?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I can’t. But maybe if we do a little brainstorming, we can figure something out. You shouldn’t have tried to deal with this alone, you know. That’s what family is for.” I left it unsaid, but he had to know what I meant at the core of my statement.
Mom had a right to know what was going on.
Archie slumped down into one of the chairs at the table. Arc and I followed suit, with a little less slumping involved.
“First of all, you just said apparitions, as in plural. Are there more than one?”
He shook his head. “No. At least I don’t think so. As vague as it is, though, who knows? It could be multiples. But if so, they’re only coming at me one at a time. Believe me, that’s enough.”
I nodded. “Okay. Let’s go with the premise that it’s just one for now then. You said it’s like a disembodied shadow. Does it do anything? Or does it just stand there?”
Archie looked at me for a long minute. Then he blew out a breath. “At first it just stood there. Now it’s...” His words trailed off.
“It’s what?”
He shook his head. “We’re making a lot of assumptions here. But if, and I must say that if is a mighty doggone big one, that shadow is of a person, then the person appears to be holding up their right hand.”
“Has it done that more than once?”
“The last couple of times it’s appeared, in fact.”
“Always the right hand?”
“Yes.” He gave a sad smile. “Rather like a schoolgirl wanting the teacher’s attention.”
My eyebrow rose. “Girl? You think it’s female?”
Archie seemed taken back by the question. Like it was something he hadn’t considered before. He took a deep breath, then blew it out. “I don’t have a clue why, but yes. I think it’s female. But I really mean it when I say I don’t know why I think that.”
Arc and I looked at each other.
“Witch’s intuition?” Arc asked.
“Sure sounds like it to me.” Then I looked at Archie. “If you think it’s female, then chances are good that’s the Goddess telling you something important. What we Ravenswinds have come to call witch’s intuition.”
Archie was staring at me. “Are you honestly saying that you believe the Goddess is telling me that the apparition is a woman?”
I shrugged. The Goddess had been known to talk with us Ravenswinds directly here recently, but to my knowledge, she hadn’t yet taken that step with the Mineheart part of the clan.
“I can’t really speak for the Goddess, but yes. That would be my first guess.”
He leaned back, his shoulders dropping. “All right. So if we go by your reasoning, then the apparition that I’ve been seeing would appear to be a woman that is wanting my attention.”
“Unless that hand movement means something else to her. There is more than one reason people hold up their hands, you know. Can you show me how she does it?”
Archie slowly held up his right hand, palm facing me and fingers together. That’s when I caught sight of the scar. Funny, but I’d never noticed it before.
“What did you do to your hand?”
“What?” Archie looked down at his palm and shook his head. “That’s nothing. Just something I did in my child...By the Goddess!”
His eyes flew to Arc and both of them jumped to their feet at the same time. Almost synchronized movement, that. And just a little bit freaky.
“Martha!”
Okay, so I had the feeling that somehow this line of questioning had led Archie to a breakthrough, but I didn’t have a clue as to what that breakthrough was. Although it seemed that somehow Arc was right there with him.
“Excuse me?” I held up my hand. What do you know? Adult girls do it, too, when they want attention. “Who is Martha?”
Unfortunately, Archie and Arc were far too busy shoving themselves into their coats to give me a proper answer. I joined them. After all, I gathered they would soon be leaving, and I didn’t want to be left behind. Or go off into the cold without my coat on.
Archie spared me a glance once in his coat, and he crossed over to me and gave me a hug. “Thank you, Amie. But I’ll have to explain on the way. I don’t want to waste a single minute.”
I followed the two of them out the door and to the cars. As much as I hated to leave my little bug behind, I wanted to be in the same car with Archie. There wasn’t a single reason why the man couldn’t talk and drive at the same time.
And I really wanted some answers. They owed me that.
I gave Arc the shotgun position, and I climbed in the back of Archie’s Lincoln Towncar. “Can I ask where we’re going? To see this Martha?”
Archie pulled from the curb, nodding. “Yes. But we have one brief stop to make on the way.” He glanced over at Arc, then back at me through the rear-view mirror. “I think you’re right. It’s time to get Sapphire involved.”
I WAITED, BUT NEITHER of them followed that up with an answer to my previously asked question. So I gave up and asked it again. “Who is Martha?”
Archie glanced back at me, then over at Arc. “I really need to concentrate on driving. Why don’t you tell her, Arc?”
“Yes, Arc, why don’t you tell me?” Personally, I really didn’t see why Archie couldn’t tell me himself. I mean, the man was right there behind the wheel. People drove and talked all the time. It’s not like I was asking him to text me or something. I was right there.
Arc smiled back at me. “You’ll learn eventually that Dad likes to concentrate on one task at a time.” He grabbed the little handle above his door as Archie took a turn a little too fast.
I was getting the picture pretty loud and clear. One thing at a time was definitely starting to sound like the safest option here. I was also starting to understand why Mom drove most times when she and Archie went anywhere. And to make that statement even more pertinent, it was important to know that up until now, I hadn’t considered Mom all that safe of a driver.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “I think I get that. Archie can drive, and you can talk. So what’s the story with Martha?”
“Short version or long version?”
“Why don’t we start with the short and go from there.”
He nodded. “Martha is a childhood friend of Dad’s. Our families used to be pretty tight, too. Her son and I went to school together, and now he’s going to law school. We’ve even been talking about bringing him into the firm once he graduates and passes the bar.”
I looked at him and arched an eyebrow. Fascinating information, but it still didn’t exactly answer my question. Nothing there to explain the sudden rush to the woman’s side.
“Trust me, I’m getting there,” Arc said. “But I thought you should know the connection first. Anyway, Martha had a stroke a couple of weeks ago. She went into a coma shortly after that.”
Archie muttered under his breath. “About when this whole apparition thing started, too. How could I not have seen that?” The car swerved as he got a little too close to the center line—on the opposite side of the road from where he was supposed to be. I reached up to grab my little handle bar as well. Seat belts only went so far. I noticed Arc still had a firm grip on his too.
“You drive, Dad. Leave the story telling to me,” Arc said.
“Sorry.” The car veered back to the right side of the road. I was having second thoughts about this. His house was still a fairly good distance away. The Mineheart Mansion, as I called it, wasn’t that close to the city limits.
“Um. Maybe you should pull over and let me drive?” I asked.
Archie shook his head. “No time. I’ve got this.”
>
I could only hope he was right. It was kind of hard to concentrate on the matter at hand, not knowing if we were going to crash at any moment. If I had anything to say about it, this would definitely be the last time I let the man drive me anywhere. Lesson learned. And not to be soon forgotten, either.
To get my mind off of a situation now well beyond my control, I tore my eyes from the road flashing past and back to Arc. “So this Martha is in a coma? That might explain the shadow. But why is Archie the only one who can see it? Or rather, her? You are close to her, too, right?”
“Not as close as Dad. When they were kids, they did a little blood brother and sister kind of thing. They traded blood like the old Native American tradition we read about in books.”
I could feel my eyes widen. If Archie had even one drop of Martha’s blood running through his veins, then that answered that. Blood bonds were the strongest ties of all. Even I knew that.
Taking a risk, I glanced back out the window. Archie’s speed had increased.
“Okay. I’m on board with the whole, the apparition is Martha theory. But if I could just say one little thing?”
“Sure. Shoot.”
“I really don’t think a few minutes is going to make all that much difference here. And we won’t be able to do a darn thing to help her if we don’t happen to all be in one piece.”
Arc took a deep breath and looked at Archie. “She has a point, Dad. Maybe you should slow down a bit. Or better yet, maybe you really should pull over and let one of us drive.”
Archie grunted. “Wasted too much darn time figuring this all out. I have a bad feeling Martha’s getting weaker. Every minute really does count, I’m afraid.” Then he paused. “So why don’t the two of you just shut the heck up and let me drive already?”
We did.
But there was more than a little silent praying to the Goddess going on in the backseat. I just hoped she was listening.
Chapter 4
I took a risk on one thing. I called Mom to let her know to be ready when we got there. The thing was, Archimedes Mineheart was one of the most steadfast people I’d ever known under pressure. He ranked right up there with my Aunt Opal. And believe me when I say that meant something.
Team Destiny and Archie's Apparition (Team Destiny Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 2) Page 2