“Thanks, Maddie. I was a typist and file clerk. The work was tedious a lot of the time, but the money was all right. It kept a roof over our heads and food on the table. Mama was a little scandalized at first about me working in an office, but I wasn’t the only lady working there so that made her feel better.”
“But why didn’t you marry this man?”
Allegra shrugged. “I’d already broken Clyde Atwell’s heart. I didn’t want to break another. When it came down to it, I just didn’t love him. I tried to convince myself that I loved him and then, when that didn’t work, I tried to convince myself that it was okay that I liked him but didn’t love him. That was a surefire recipe for disaster. We both would have been miserable.”
“How did he take it when you told him? Or did he put the brakes on?” said Madeleine.
“No, I was the one who broached the subject. He was put out about it, but he understood. Funny thing, though. I introduced him to the girl he ended up marrying. She lived next door to me and my mother and brother. They were really happy together. I was godmother to their oldest daughter. It was fun being the spinster godmother who was deputized to have a positive influence on the girl. I just decided I wasn’t the marrying kind, I guess. Or at least that’s what I told everybody.”
“That sounds wonderful!” Madeleine’s facial expression changed from delight to sadness. Her thoughts seemed to turn inward. “I wish I’d been stronger. I wish I’d had faith in myself, faith in you and us. If I had, I wouldn’t have said no when you asked me to go away with you.”
Allegra sighed. “I can’t say that I wasn’t mad at you because I was mad at you for a long time. You broke my heart. Going all the way to California helped. When I stopped being mad at you, I just hoped you had found happiness.”
“Did you ever think to write to me?” Madeleine stared off into the distance. It was as if there wasn’t anyone else around.
“I did, but after a while I’d made my own life out there. I assumed you had your own life, too. I guess I was afraid of you saying no to me again. I didn’t want to hear that.”
Maya recognized Allegra’s reluctance and how the need to preserve her own pride was tied up in that reluctance. She wouldn’t want to open herself up to the possibility of another rejection, despite how much she loved Madeleine. It would be up to Madeleine to make a move, but she went silent. Something crashed downstairs. A cold wind seemed to blow through the bedroom even though the window was closed and showed nothing but the dark winter night.
Maya wondered how much Madeleine could hear. She was so focused on Allegra. She must have known something was approaching because she finally spoke.
“I am sorry, my love. I always loved you.” Madeleine gestured toward Maya and the others. “It’s them who brought us together again, but I don’t know if they can make this permanent. If they can, will you give me another chance?”
Madeleine asked this question in such a plaintive tone that it broke Maya’s heart. Madeleine put her hands on Allegra’s shoulders and looked in her eyes. Maya was more determined than ever to find a way for them to be together in the afterlife as they hadn’t been when they were alive.
“Do you hear that?” Jason asked, sounding apprehensive as the sound of breaking glass echoed from downstairs. “Maybe we should prop the door open. I’m tired of getting trapped in rooms.”
Eddie started moving the trunk sitting in the corner near the vanity table. Steve and Jason went over to help him push it against the door to prop it open.
“They’re coming,” Madeleine whispered. She pulled Allegra closer to her, but they were suddenly repelled.
“No!” yelled Allegra.
“If we’re going to make sure that these two can be together from now on, we have to do whatever we can right now.” Maya looked around anxiously. “We have to break whatever hold the sisters have on Maddie, and break the binding spell that Richard cast to set them all free.”
Madeleine started to shimmer. Penny circled her with her camera. Allegra reached out her hand but couldn’t touch her. Eddie started flipping through the book that no one else could touch while Steve stood behind him, his eyes averted.
“This is not good, whatever it is,” Julie observed.
“We have to do something!” Lily cried.
The shimmering swirled around Madeleine until she was encased in a cocoon of mottled light. She strained against it. A cold shiver ran down Maya’s spine. Allegra pounded her fists against the cocoon. She could not break through. Madeleine screamed. It was a scream that cracked the bedroom window and ran through Maya’s body like ground glass, but she could not break the cocoon. Maya clenched every muscle in pain until silence settled on the room again.
“It’s the other sisters, isn’t it?” Penny said. “Why won’t they let her go?”
“This is nuts!” Jason yelled. “What do they get out of doing this? They’re all dead! What does it matter now?”
Allegra punched the shimmering light again to no effect, although she winced. Maya wondered if she felt pain from the impact or the possible emotional loss or both.
“We have to make them see that it doesn’t matter anymore,” said Julie.
“Can you guys can come up with an idea on how to do that?” Lily asked.
“Yeah. We can,” said Maya. Her muscles were letting go. The pain was subsiding. She hoped they could still make this right. She turned to Eddie.
“We have to try and anchor the sisters to you and maybe Richard. Are you up for it?” Eddie asked.
Maya nodded and focused her thoughts and energies on the other ghosts. They evaded her. Eddie lit candles. He lit some more incense. He chanted some spells Maya hadn’t heard before.
“What about breaking Richard’s binding spell? Wouldn’t that set them all free?” said Penny.
Eddie turned toward the forbidden book. Maya knew she had to stop him.
“No! Not yet!” yelled Maya. “We can’t let Allegra and Maddie lose each other again!”
Allegra punched the cocoon again. Nothing. Madeleine let loose another bone-shaking scream.
“This isn’t them just being uncooperative,” said Eddie. “It’s more than that.”
“I won’t lose you again!” screamed Allegra. “I won’t.”
The shimmering cocoon started changing colors, and Allegra backed away. It changed first to a gorgeous shade of blue, then to a sea green that faded into a muted yellow and then on to a brilliant red.
“Why are they doing this?” Allegra sounded on the verge of tears.
Maya was trying to think of something — anything — that would break Madeleine out of the cocoon. She looked over at Eddie who’d begun pacing around it. He looked worried. Jason was sitting on the trunk that was still propping the door open. Maya suddenly smiled. An idea so beautiful in its simplicity came to her.
Maya turned to the cocoon. “Madeleine. Maddie. Look at me.”
Madeleine, who seemed disoriented and lost, had a hard time focusing on Maya.
“She may no longer be in this room here with us,” Eddie said. “The barrier might have displaced her even though we can still see her.”
“I really hope that’s not the case,” Maya said, waving her hand in front of Madeleine. The air around the cocoon felt hot and cold at the same time. The smell of burned flowers filled the room again.
After a few moments of Maya waving and yelling Maddie’s name, the ghost finally zeroed in on Maya. She appeared heartbroken.
Maya had to push down her own feelings of heartbreak. She didn’t want them to slow her down. “Maddie, listen. Can you hear me?”
Madeleine nodded.
“Talk to them. Talk to your sisters. Make them understand.” Maya hoped Madeleine really could hear her.
For several moments, there was no sound except the susurration of the shimmering cocoon and Allegra’s sobbing. When Madeleine did speak, Maya couldn’t hear her at first. Slowly Madeleine’s voice became audible, like the volume on a radio being tu
rned up.
“… Mustn’t do this. Please. If it is you, Nelly. Rosie? You must let me go. I don’t want this anymore. I have the chance to make something right. Why won’t you let me?”
Maya and the others waited for a response. Even Allegra ceased her sobbing to listen and wait. Maya caught Eddie looking at her. He looked how Allegra must have felt—frustrated, worried. Maya wasn’t sure if there was anything else they could do, but she had another idea.
She turned back to Madeleine. “Keep talking. Make them come out of hiding.”
She didn’t know if Madeleine had heard her, but the cocooned ghost kept talking, questioning, wondering why her sisters would treat her in such a way.
She got louder, but there were no screams, only the demands of someone who’d had more than enough.
“How dare you!” she yelled. “How dare you keep me imprisoned? You always were pompous and arrogant, Nelly, always thinking that you know best. You still believe that, after all this time. My mistake was agreeing with you. And you, Rosie, you’ve done nothing but follow Nelly all your life. Never had a thought of your own in that empty head of yours! But you had a husband. You knew what true love was. How could you deny me the same?”
The room plunged into darkness and became cold. Maya felt around her feet for her messenger bag. Finding it, she opened it and began rifling through it.
“She made them mad,” Lily said, teeth chattering.
“What is it with ghosts and Arctic cold and darkness?” yelled Julie.
Penny stamped her feet. “I hate when they turn off all the lights!”
“Let there be light.” Maya pulled her flashlight out of her bag and switched it on. “Well, a little bit of light anyway.” The beam barely cut through the inky darkness.
Madeleine yelled, “Don’t you dare!”
Maya jumped, startled, thinking that Madeleine was angry at her for turning the flashlight on, but that wasn’t the case at all. She was yelling at her sisters.
“Don’t you dare do this to these people, my friends! They’re trying to help me. Stop this right now!” Madeleine looked around wildly, still encased in the cocoon of light.
When Maya looked around, all she saw was darkness and her breath in the beam of the flashlight as it curled away from her nostrils. She wondered if Madeleine saw her sisters.
Almost as suddenly as the darkness had descended, it lifted. The shimmering cocoon began to dissipate, but the cold remained. Eleanor and Rosamund appeared in the room. Their long hair flowed behind them, blown by a gentle breeze that wasn’t really there.
“It’s getting a little crowded in here,” Jason muttered as he stared down at his EDI meter.
Eleanor gave a cursory glance at Maya and the other ghost hunters. Rosamund smiled and nodded at Allegra who looked ready to defend herself and Madeleine.
“You’ve got our attention, sister,” Eleanor said. She stood in front of Madeleine, her arms folded over her chest.
“And in the most unseemly way,” Rosamund added. She spoke like someone who expected to always be obeyed, never questioned.
Madeline got angrier, almost acquiring a red hot aura around her.
“Unseemly. Unseemly better describes my cowardly behavior toward Allegra so many years ago. Unseemly describes the way I let you have too much influence over me. Unseemly describes your behavior here, sisters.”
Maya suspected this was the first time she had ever spoken to her sisters so candidly.
“It isn’t what Father and your mother would have wanted for you.” Eleanor proved it possible for a ghost to look both smug and censorious at the same time.
“No, they would not, but I will not live in eternity as a fearful, dutiful child. I believe it is possible for Allegra and me to have now what we didn’t have then. If she will have me.” Madeleine gazed at Allegra. “Will you, my darling? I should have called you that so long ago.”
Allegra smiled and floated over to Madeleine. The last of the cocoon faded away. “Do you really mean it?”
Madeleine nodded. “I do. What do you say?”
“I say yes!”
Madeline took Allegra into her arms. Maya and the others cheered. Steve and Eddie kissed. Maya looked over at Lily. She hoped their first kiss would come soon.
Eleanor looked displeased while Rosamund’s expression vacillated between delight and dismay. Madeleine released Allegra and faced her sisters.
“This is where I leave you, my dears.” Madeleine had a sad smile on her face.
“Do you want our blessing?” Rosamund asked, the sadness in her voice matching Madeleine’s sad smile.
Madeleine appeared to be surprised. “Only if it is freely given. All I want now is to be with Allegra. Your approval or disapproval means nothing to me now. I hope you find peace.” She turned to the others. “Thank you for all your help. I won’t soon forget you.”
“Neither will I,” Allegra chimed in.
“You’re leaving now,” Maya said.
Madeleine and Allegra nodded.
“No time like the present,” Madeleine said.
Allegra added, “Or the past. Or the future. We have all of time to be together.”
“To love each other.” Madeleine gazed at Allegra.
“I won’t see you again, will I?” Lily asked Madeleine.
Madeleine shook her head. “No, my dear. I will intrude no more. Thank you for your hospitality.”
Jason, who had been monitoring his EDI meter, said, “Something’s happening, guys.”
Allegra and Madeleine turned to walk away. They reached the door to the bedroom. Allegra disappeared. Madeleine appeared stuck. She kept walking but wasn’t moving.
“No! No! Allegra! My dear!” She pounded her fists against the barrier to no avail.
Maya turned to Rosamund and Eleanor. “Is this your doing? You’re truly horrible.”
“No.” The voice was male. A third apparition slowly appeared behind the two sisters who looked as appalled and contrite as Maya was angry.
“This is my fault,” said the apparition as it slowly transformed into Richard. “The three sisters were ensconced happily in the turret. They played the occasional prank. They helped me with my writing. We had fun. Then I discovered that awful book hidden in a crack in the basement. I decided to bind them to me so they would always be there for me.” The two sisters drifted away from him and avoided eye contact as he continued.
“They fought against the binding spell, and I don’t blame them. First they tried to sabotage my writing. Then they got violent.”
Lily approached her uncle and reached her hand out to him. It passed through him.
“Oh, Lily, I’m so sorry. Please tell Kate how sorry I am. They didn’t deliberately kill me,” said Richard. He turned to Eddie. “You can set us all free. Please. I’m begging you.”
Eddie mumbled something about mortals messing with dark magic. He grabbed the book and ripped out a page. He held it over the candle’s flame until the fire reached his fingertips, and he was left with ash in the palm of his hand. He blew the ash in the direction of the ghosts and yelled words Maya didn’t understand. They weren’t English. She didn’t know what they were.
Madeleine’s fist finally broke through the barrier. Allegra pulled her through with the words, “We won’t be separated again.” They disappeared.
Richard faded away. The two sisters remained.
Julie clapped. “I love a happy ending!”
Eddie jutted his chin toward Eleanor and Rosamund. “Yeah, but what about those two?”
The two sisters didn’t seem to see or hear them anymore.
“Erich? Is that you?” said Rosamund.
“That must be her late husband,” said Maya. “He died only a year into their marriage.”
Another ghost did not appear, but Rosamund stared into the threshold to the room as if she was looking far away.
“Oh, it is you. I never stopped loving you.” She started heading to the door. Her sister stood back in
silence.
“Goodbye, sister,” said Eleanor. This stopped Rosamund in her tracks.
“Come with us. You don’t have to stay here alone. I won’t have it. It’s time for us to finally leave this house. We should have left a long time ago. We don’t belong here anymore.”
Eleanor broke into a smile, and the two sisters faded away.
The temperature in the room warmed almost immediately. Maya didn’t realize how cold she had been until the cold had disappeared.
“How will I know if they’re well and truly gone?” Lily asked.
“Oh, you’ll know,” Eddie said.
Maya realized the mysterious book had vanished, too. She tried to ask Eddie about it, but he went tight lipped. All he would say was that it didn’t belong here in the first place.
As the sun started to rise, the ghost hunters packed up. Jason pulled a chocolate bar out of his pocket, took a piece for himself, and shared it with the others. Maya liked this bit at the end of an investigation when a new peace settled and they shared a candy bar. There was always just enough for each of them to have a bite. This time, Lily got the last bite.
Julie’s phone vibrated.
“Who would text you so early in the morning?” asked Maya. She was exhausted. She couldn’t believe she had been up all night.
Julie took out her phone and sighed. She looked at Maya and then moved her gaze to her brother.
“Please stop responding to her,” Jason said as he packed away his now silent EDI meter.
Julie’s phone then conveniently ran out of power.
“Ah well,” she said. “Guess I can’t. I was thinking of contacting Miranda anyway. We need to return some stuff to her at the library. Maybe she’d be willing to go out for coffee.”
Jason gave her a thumbs up. Maya turned to Lily.
“You’ll be all right here tonight? You know, on your own?” asked Maya.
“I should be. I’ll have to be. I can’t ask you to spend every night here with me, can I?” She giggled with a sheepish look on her face.
Before Maya could reply, Penny and Jason said, “Why not?”
“I didn’t mean that I wanted her to spend the night here, again. I meant—”
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