Restless Spirits

by Michelle Scott

  A pine tree loomed ahead. Ethan yelled and covered his face with his hands just as he was thrown forward into the airbag that ballooned from the steering wheel. The car stopped with a jolt that tightened the seatbelt painfully against his chest.

  Heart pounding, Ethan fought his way free of the seatbelt and the airbag. The moment he was outside, the cold rain soaked him. He put his hand to his forehead, relieved when he didn’t feel any blood. His right shoulder hurt from where the seatbelt had cinched it, but otherwise he was okay. Thank God he’d been traveling slower than the posted speed limit. He hated to think what might have happened if he’d struck the tree at fifty-five miles an hour instead of only twenty-five.

  The car, however, had taken a beating. The right headlight continued to shine while the left had been smashed by the tree he’d hit. The hood had crumpled like a candy wrapper. He cursed and kicked a tire. The only way he was getting it out of there was by tow truck.

  With another curse, Ethan slammed the car door shut and went to find whoever had caused the accident. Maybe they could get him to Thunder Point.

  Ethan grabbed his guitar case and bag from the trunk of the car. Following the trail of broken limbs where his car had skidded through the woods, he climbed the steep embankment. The person in white was nowhere to be seen. Now what to do? The nearest town was twenty miles behind him, and he still had no idea where Thunder Point Manor was.

  A sweep of headlights came from around the curve behind him. A car! Ethan stood in the road and frantically waved his arms. To his relief, the car slowed before coming to a graceful stop. The driver’s side window rolled down. “Need a lift?” the driver asked. The car doors unlocked.

  Ethan opened the back door and threw his things into the backseat, but when he opened the front door, he remained rooted to the spot. David was behind the wheel.

  David’s eyes lit up. “Ethan! You finally made it. Where’s your car?”

  “In the ditch.”

  “Ditch? Are you okay?”

  No, he wasn’t okay. Not now. David had never mentioned that he lived near his sister. As far as Ethan knew, David was still living in Detroit. So what was he doing here?

  David’s smile was a little too bright to be real. “It’s okay. I won’t bite.”

  Ethan would have rather walked, but the weather prohibited it. It was also unlikely that any more cars would be driving past. Reluctantly, he got inside. “You didn’t tell me that you’d be around,” he said, feeling cheated.

  “I’m sorry. I know I should have mentioned it, but I was afraid you wouldn’t come if you knew.”

  “You’re right.” Ethan wouldn’t have even considered it. But he was here now, and without a car. “I had an accident,” he said. “Someone ran across the road in front of me. When I swerved to avoid hitting her, I ran into a tree.” He pointed towards the side of the road.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” David flipped on the dome light to look him over.

  Ethan swallowed. Hearing David’s voice on the phone had been hard. Seeing him was unbearable. All his old emotions came rushing back in a flood that left him breathless. In the two years since he’d seen him, David had lost weight, and his features had sharpened. He’d also changed his hair. His bangs no longer hung in his eyes. A shadow of a beard clung to his strong jaw. His full lips were curved into a worried frown. He dressed casual, in jeans and a chambray shirt rolled up at the sleeves to show off his well-toned forearms. Ethan was suddenly very aware of his own, rumpled state.

  “I’m fine,” Ethan said. “The car is another matter. I’ll need a wrecker.”

  “I can help with that, but let’s get you to the manor first.” David put the car in gear and eased out into the road.

  “I don’t know why someone was out in this weather. Or where they were trying to go.” Ethan was always chatty when he was nervous, and being so close to David made him very nervous. “It was a woman. She was wearing a white nightgown.”

  David stopped the car so quickly that Ethan was thrown against the dash. “What color was her hair?”

  “Dark.”

  “That’s Tessa.” David threw the car into park and unfastened his seatbelt. “I’ve got to find her.”

  Ethan’s eyebrows jumped. “Your sister’s running around in a thunderstorm?”

  “Lately, she’s turned into a marathon sleepwalker.”

  Poor Tessa was even worse off than David had let on. Maybe coming here hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. “I’ll help you find her,” Ethan said, reaching for the door handle.

  “No. She probably won’t remember you, and having a stranger around will only agitate her. You keep on going to the manor. About a quarter mile up the road, you’ll come to a driveway on the right. Take it, and you’ll get there.” David was out the door before Ethan could argue.

  The turnoff for Thunder Point was so hidden by the woods it was no wonder that Ethan had missed it. The driveway was paved, but narrow, and it wound its way through the trees like a snake. Twenty yards up, the way was blocked off by a large, iron gate flanked by two brick pillars. Luckily, the gates were open, and he drove through.

  The trees parted, giving Ethan his first glimpse of Thunder Point Manor. It was a giant of a house, three stories tall with a grand portico flanked by pillars. Snarling, stone lions guarded the steps as if daring anyone to mount the stairs leading to the double doors. Windows with old-fashioned mullions frowned down. The place reminded Ethan of a hungry beast with a large appetite.

  He parked on the circular drive out front, grabbed his bags, and hurried inside. The grand entry with its magnificent curving stairway and enormous chandelier dwarfed him. Ethan wondered where he should look for Grant Muir. He checked his watch. Eleven o’clock. Would his host still be up? The house was silent. The only noise came from the somber ticking of a grandfather clock.

  He was about to start up the stairs when a piano refrain caught his ear. Someone was playing a melancholy, rippling music that reminded him of waves on a winter beach.

  Leaving his things in the entry, Ethan followed the music down a tiled hallway until he reached a large, open room dominated by two-story tall windows and the most ornate grand piano he’d ever seen. Sitting at the keyboard was an older woman in a blue caftan. She played with a flourish, as if in front of a large audience when, in fact, she was the only one in the room. Her eyes were closed, her lips slightly parted.

  “Hello?” Ethan said.

  The woman’s eyes popped open. The music skidded to a halt. “Oh! I didn’t realize that I had an audience.”

  “Sorry to bother you,” Ethan said. “The music was incredible.”

  “You aren’t bothering me,” she said. “I always play better when someone is listening. Do you play?”

  “Guitar, not piano.”

  “How delightful! This place is paradise for musicians.” With a theatric sweep of her arm, the woman indicated the room. It was filled with musical instruments: a cello, a harp, even a set of drums. Couches and chairs circled the piano. It would be a perfect place to perform.

  “I’m looking for Grant Muir,” Ethan said. “I’m Ethan Rhoades. He invited me as his guest.”

  “Dr. Maude Rosenbaum,” the woman said. She wore her dyed-red hair in a pouf that added several inches to her height. Rings sparkled on her fingers. “So you’re the one that David’s been talking about. The psychic.” She gave him an appraising look. “You are a handsome one. Look at those beautiful, brown eyes. And such long lashes! I’m jealous.”

  Ethan flushed. “What about you?”

  “I’m the Muirs’ private physician. I’m here to look after Tessa.”

  Ethan frowned. “Right now, Tessa is out in the rain. I nearly hit her with my car when she ran across the road. David’s gone to get her.”

  Out in the entry, the front door banged open on a gust of cold, damp air. “Grant!” David shouted. “I need your help!”

  Chapter Three

  Dr. Rosenbaum’s eyes widened
, and she raced from the room. Ethan followed her back into the entry. David, his arm around Tessa’s shoulders, stood at the bottom of the staircase. David was drenched, and his T-shirt clung to his broad shoulders and flat stomach. He held his sister carefully, as if she was as delicate as a Faberge egg.

  Seeing Tessa was a shock. Her modeling career had just been getting started when Ethan had met her, and her beauty had been haunting. Now, her sparkling, blue eyes were dull, and her face was pale and puffy. She shambled next to her brother like the walking dead.

  David glared at Dr. Rosenbaum. “I found her on the other side of the highway.”

  “You had us worried, Tessa,” Dr. Rosenbaum said. “You shouldn’t be out on a night like this.”

  “The voices came back.” Tessa’s voice was hardly above a whisper.

  “Dreams,” the doctor said gently. “Nothing but a nightmare.”

  Tessa trembled. “I saw them, too. This time, they were behind me in the bathroom mirror.”

  “Tessa!” Grant Muir appeared at the top of the staircase. A square-jawed man in his late thirties, Grant was dressed in pajamas and a blue plaid robe that hung to his ankles. “Where have you been? I woke up, and you were gone.” He hurried down the stairs, slippered feet thudding on the risers. His pale hair was mussed, as if he’d been sound asleep only moments before, and his face was a mask of worry. “You’re soaking wet!” He took off his bathrobe and draped it over Tessa’s shoulders. Then he glared at David as if it was his fault that his wife had been out in the storm.

  “I found her across the road,” David said.

  Ethan stepped forward. “She ran in front of my car. I nearly hit her.” Tessa flicked her dull eyes at Ethan. If she recognized him, she didn’t let on.

  Grant looked Ethan over from wet shoes to damp hair but didn’t acknowledge him. Instead, he put his arm around his wife’s shoulders. She leaned against him. “I suppose I should be glad that you’re safely back home. But what were you doing outside in the rain?”

  “She’s having her nightmares again,” Dr. Rosenbaum reported. She took Tessa’s wrist and felt her pulse. “You had a very exciting night, didn’t you? Your heart is racing.”

  “Did you take your medication?” Grant demanded.

  Tessa looked away.

  “There’s your problem! The medication is there to help you.”

  Ethan felt another stab of pity for the young woman. No doubt she was on the same types of medicine that Ethan’s parents had forced on him all those years. They’d never believed that the voices and visitations were real, either. They’d called him unstable and sent him to psychiatrists who had labeled him as psychotic. For most of his life, Ethan had believed them. But even with the pills, his visions hadn’t gone away. Not entirely. Now that he was an adult and free to make his own decisions about his health, he’d stopped taking the meds. He would rather deal with the ghostly visitors, even one as unsettling as Kennedy, then spend his life feeling numb and detached from the rest of the living world.

  Grant cut his eyes at Dr. Rosenbaum. “You need to help my wife remember to take her medicine.”

  An ordinary man might have been ridiculous giving orders in his pajamas, but Grant Muir looked anything but ordinary. His authoritarian presence filled the vast space of the entry. Dr. Rosenbaum was unable to hold his gaze. David looked furious, but said nothing. Ethan felt implicated as well, as though he were partly to blame for this household disruption.

  Tessa straightened her spine and threw off Grant’s arm. “I can remember to take the pills on my own. I’m not a child.”

  “I know, my dear, but you are forgetful.”

  Spots of color bloomed in Tessa’s cheeks, but she wouldn’t meet her husband’s eyes. “The pills are what make me forgetful.”

  “The pills are what keep you from wandering around outside in the dark!” Grant’s voice had risen, and it rang throughout the large room. Tessa’s shoulders hunched, as if she was trying to fold herself up like origami. David’s eyes blazed. Grant cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Tessa. I didn’t mean to shout. You had me worried to death.”

  “She had us all worried,” Dr. Rosenbaum said. “Go upstairs to your room, Tessa, and I’ll fetch my bag. I want to check you over before you go back to sleep.” Grant took Tessa’s hand and guided her up the stairs. Dr. Rosenbaum followed.

  “Welcome to my world,” David said when the others had disappeared.

  “I didn’t realize that things were so bad,” Ethan said.

  “Bad and getting worse. You have no idea how glad I am to have you here.” David stepped forward, as if to hug him, but Ethan backed up a step. He was still adjusting to the fact that David was a part of this scene. David nodded, as if he understood Ethan’s reluctance. “Let’s find your room.”

  Despite Ethan’s protests, David picked up Ethan’s bags and carried them up the stairs. The risers groaned under their feet. “Unfortunately, the manor is a cranky, old beast,” David said. “Grant wants to renovate it, but hasn’t gotten around to it yet.”

  David led Ethan further into the house, past several closed doors, around the back of a library, up another set of stairs, down the hall, past an empty room…Ethan doubted that he’d ever find his way in this maze of a house. Finally, David opened the door to a bedroom. “This is where you’ll be staying. I gave you a room away from everyone else. Hopefully, that will spare you some of the drama.”

  The place was furnished in a musty, threadbare kind of way. At the front of the room, a pair of well-worn chairs were drawn up in front of a fireplace, and an old desk huddled in a corner. Waiting in the back corners was a walnut dresser, and an antique four-poster bed covered with an old quilt. The air had a dank, dusty smell, as if the room had been closed off for years.

  “It’s not a palace, but it’s the best we’ve got,” David said.

  “This is fine,” Ethan said.

  Thunder boomed, and the lights flickered. For the space of several heartbeats, the room went black. Then the lights turned back on. Ethan let out his breath.

  “Updating the electrical is part of the grand renovation plan,” David said. He set down Ethan’s bags.

  “Is your sister going to be okay?” Ethan asked.

  David sucked in his cheeks. “Grant is right; she gets restless at night if she doesn’t take her medicine. But it’s the medication that worries me. The pills turn her into a zombie. All she does is sleep.”

  “Does she hear the voices while taking the medication?”

  David’s voice lowered. “Yes. She doesn’t tell Grant about it, or Dr. Rosenbaum, either. But she does.” His worried eyes met Ethan’s. “Do you think you can help?”

  “I don’t know,” Ethan confessed. “It’s too early to tell.” He wanted to believe that Tessa’s voices were the result of otherworld activity, but he hadn’t felt a single flash of paranormal energy since arriving. Usually, it was the first thing he noticed in any building.

  David gave a resigned nod. “If you need anything, let me know. I actually live in the visitor’s cottage on the property, but tonight I’m staying here. Just in case Tessa has another problem. Otherwise, breakfast is at seven.”

  The look of defeat in David’s eyes tugged on Ethan’s heart. Maybe he should offer a comforting hug. But he didn’t dare. Instead, he said, “Things will look better in the morning.”

  David gave a mirthless laugh. “I used to think that, too. But life doesn’t work that way.” He left the room with a sigh that went right to Ethan’s heart.

  As exhausted as he was, Ethan couldn’t sleep. The lumpy mattress wasn’t the only thing keeping him awake. Seeing David again had rattled him more than he would have imagined. Knowing that they slept under the same roof brought back memories that were almost intolerable.

  Back when they’d been in college and living in Omega Nu’s frat house, Ethan and David had shared a room. That had been torturous, too. At first.

  Ethan had just come out the summer before he joine
d the fraternity, and was feeling unsure of himself and his position with his frat brothers. When he met David, Ethan had been immediately attracted to his roomie’s movie star good looks and sensitive, artistic nature. But David had a steady girlfriend and all the female attention he could handle. Right away, Ethan resigned himself to being nothing more than a friend.

  Omega Nu prided itself in being a service fraternity rather than a party one, and on weekends, Ethan found himself working alongside David to build a house for Habitat for Humanity. As the house grew, so did their friendship. When David and his girlfriend broke up, Ethan was the one to commiserate with him over beers. David spent many late nights helping Ethan study for chemistry. By the end of the school year, Ethan and David were inseparable.

  Ethan missed that more than anything. The bond they’d shared. Their easy friendship that involved video games, beer pong, and – at times – heartfelt conversations. When David had ripped himself out of Ethan’s life, he’d left a hole that couldn’t be mended.

  Thinking of David brought back the painful rush of heartache and confusion. Now Ethan would never get to sleep. He turned on the bedside light and rolled out of bed. The cold floor creaked under his weight. The chilly dampness of the room seemed to have seeped into his bones, and he wanted something hot to drink. Coffee would be okay. Tea would be better.

  Ethan slipped on sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt and went to find the kitchen. He managed to find his way to the library and the narrow staircase that David had used, but once he was at the bottom, he wasn’t sure which way to turn. He was Odysseus in the labyrinth. Maybe he would need a scarlet thread to find his way back to his room.

  When he reached the curving staircase that led to entry, he sighed in relief. He’d made it halfway. Now, all he had to do was find the kitchen. Taking a chance that the room was on the west side of the manor, he entered the dark corridor on the right.