Cold Cases and Haunted Places

by Trixie Silvertale

  Anna shook her head, her mouth opening to respond.

  But she never got the chance. The air in the room exploded around her, an ice storm pummeling her half-frozen skin with tiny daggers of ice.

  And the specter across the room barreled into her so hard she flew off her feet and slammed into the door at her back.

  7

  Ice enveloped Anna. Piercing her skin and turning her muscles brittle. An enraged blue gaze fixed on her face from mere inches away. The cloying stench of graveyard dirt clogged her nostrils as terror consumed her capacity to think.

  Her mouth opened and a tremulous shriek of terror sliced from between her lips. In the space of a single heartbeat, her horrific experience in the ether came rushing back. She was helpless again. Bone-shatteringly cold again. Alone in the incapacitating terror again.

  Shadowed mists rolled around her, blocking out the physical world and seeping through her skin to immobilize her will to fight. The tempo of the miasma grew with her own fear, turning frantic as her pulse pounded in her ears.

  The hate-filled face of the savage spirit contorted with a feral smile. “You’re all the same. Cold and judgmental. No one is good enough for you.” The icy hands around Anna’s throat tightened, and her eyes bulged beneath their terrible power. “In the ether, I will be your king. You will be my slave.”

  Sound boomed through the ether, the force of it punching the air above Anna’s body. The savage spirit lurched sideways with the sound and dissipated into shadowy motes of ice. The pressure on Anna’s throat disappeared and she could breathe again.

  “Anna!” Pratt’s voice was filled with fear.

  She coughed violently as a warm grip pulled her upright. She dragged thin ribbons of sweet air between her lips, her lungs heaving for more.

  “Come on, honey.” Pratt supported her under the arms. “We need to get out of here.”

  “J…!” She tried to speak and another coughing spasm took her.

  Pratt understood her question. “He’s still in the ether. He’ll find Mistren and stop him, honey. But we need to get you…”

  Pratt’s words were cut off as the specter hit them again. Pratt’s warm presence was ripped away from her, and she was thrown against the wall. Almost immediately, a hard, icy grip found her throat again.

  Mistren’s face was a mask of rage, his eyes swirling with the ether’s terrifying shadows.

  Anna bucked beneath the ghost, her legs almost completely numb from the unrelenting cold. She had to get to Pratt. He might be hurt.

  She fought until she bought herself a tiny breathing space and then sucked in air, releasing it on a harsh cry. “Joss!” His name came out as little more than a husky whisper. Fear clawed its way down her spine. He would never hear her calling.

  A furious specter burst from the ether on an enraged bark. “No!” The lanky form slammed into Mistren, wrenching him away from Anna. Anna hit her knees, coughing violently. She crawled toward Pratt.

  He lay twisted and immobile in front of the door. When Anna touched him, his skin was like ice. At first, she thought he wasn’t breathing, but after a moment she saw the shallow rise and fall of his chest.

  Anna wrapped herself around him and breathed his name. “Pratt. I need you to come back.” Tears slid down her cheeks. “Please…” She pressed her mouth against his. His lips were nearly blue and so cold and stiff. Anna almost pulled away, thinking he was already dead. A soft sob tore from her painful throat.

  Above them, two roiling shadows slashed through the space, slamming into walls and leaving behind glittering hoarfrost wherever their battle touched. Ice glittered from every surface and froze the puddle of blood that was all that remained of poor Mitchel Mistren.

  Within her arms, Pratt finally stirred, groaning softly.

  She said a silent prayer of thanks and pulled him closer. She was so tired. Her eyes were so heavy…

  An unearthly howl slid through the house. The walls rattled beneath its power. The sound throbbed for a long, terrifying moment and then cut away as if it had been sliced with a knife.

  The battle was over.

  Fear ripped Anna’s lethargy away. She sat up, her gaze flying around the house. “Joss?”

  Nothing.

  Please don’t let him be gone. The thought turned her chest to frost even faster than the savage ghost had. She shoved to her feet. That scream…

  “Joss! Talk to me!”

  A shadow formed across the room. A tall shape molded from the glooms and shifted within the miasma of the ether behind it.

  A blustery breeze shot through the room and goosebumps of pure terror pebbled Anna’s skin. “Joss?” Her lips moved, but sound barely escaped them.

  It was a silent hope—a quiet plea.

  The shadows slipped backward and a golden-haired figure with intense dark blue eyes strode out, shoving a frost-covered cowboy hat back on his head.

  “Joss!” Anna flew across the room and threw herself into his arms. “I thought…” The words got lost under an avalanche of emotions.

  “I’m okay, darlin’.”

  “Is he gone?” she asked, pulling away to look up into his face.

  “He’ll need managin’. But he won’t be comin’ back to this house.” He looked down at her and she knew what he’d meant by that statement. She knew what they needed to do.

  The shadows shifted again and Anna’s gaze flew past Joss, her pulse spiking with sudden fear.

  The girl who stood behind Joss was ghostly pale. Judging by the fact that her form was nearly translucent, she had very little power. But Anna recognized her from the photo Bill had shown them.

  “Stephanie Plumber?”

  The ghost nodded, silvery tears sliding down her semitransparent face. She reached out a hand, her lips opening and forming a simple phrase. Thank you.

  And then she disappeared.

  Anna and Pratt stood in the street and watched as the Mistren home succumbed to a controlled burn. Somehow Bill had gotten the remaining family to agree to demolish the house. She very much doubted he’d told them about the ghost that would continue to haunt it if they didn’t get rid of his anchor. It was more likely their agreement had something to do with the knowledge that Jim Mistren was the killer of young women.

  Anna didn’t know what had turned Mistren into a killer. She only knew that several young lives had been lost beneath the tide of his hate. Pratt and Anna had almost been swept away by that same tide.

  “Well,” Bill said, leaning against Pratt’s Jeep with his arms crossed over his chest. “That’s that.”

  Pratt nodded. “I still can’t believe he killed his own son.”

  Anna frowned. “Savage spirits aren’t the most rational of creatures. It sounds like Mitchel confronted him about what he’d done.”

  Next to Anna. Pastor Frederick sighed. “Mitchel lied to me about what happened that night. He said the ghost had attacked him.” He shook his head. “I have no doubt now that he saw the ghost of that poor murdered girl. But she clearly wasn’t the one who’d attacked him. If I’d questioned him further, I might have uncovered his father’s part in this heart-breaking mess.”

  Anna reached out and squeezed his arm. “You couldn’t have known.”

  Frederick nodded, but he didn’t look convinced. His head came up. “Please, tell Joss thank you for me.”

  She nodded. The reverend had already thanked her and Pratt several times.

  They watched him walk away, shoulders rounded and head down. He looked like a beaten man.

  “You know you’re never going to hear the end of this with the cowboy,” Bill told Pratt, grinning widely.

  Pratt sighed as if he carried the weight of the world on his broad shoulders. “He’s going to be insufferable.”

  Anna felt herself smiling. Her two favorite men were forever looking for ways to outdo each other. It was like living with two very large toddlers.

  But when Pratt turned to her, his eyes sparkled with good humor. She laughed. Tuckin
g her arm in his, she gave it a squeeze. “I think you should take me to lunch. I have a hankering for another one of those delicious subs. Besides, there’s no sense hurrying back to the store just so Joss can lord it over you.”

  Bill chuckled. “I should get back to work. You two have fun.”

  Pratt didn’t seem to hear his friend. His gaze was locked on hers. “You scared me in there, honey. I thought I’d lost you to that thing.”

  She lifted to her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. “I thought I’d lost you too.”

  Pratt pulled her close and gave her a proper kiss, warming her all over.

  When he broke the kiss, his lips curved in an evil smile. “I’ll never admit it in front of him. But in matters of the ether, Joss is definitely the better man.”

  “Not better,” she told him, leaning close. “Just better suited. Against a flesh and blood bad guy, you’ve definitely got an edge.”

  “Thanks. I’ll hold tight to that thought while Mr. Wispy beats me about the head and shoulders with his ego.”

  The End

  If you’d like to read more books in this fun series, you can find them here: Yesterday’s Paranormal Mysteries: https://samcheever.com/books/#Yesterdays

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  The unsolved mystery of young witch Adeline Craft's disappearance has haunted Moon Grove for years—until magical sleuth Zoe Clarke unknowingly buys her necklace from a paranormal pawnshop. When the necklace brings Zoe new clues from the beyond, can she solve the case, or will she be next to disappear?

  1

  Moon Grove’s labyrinthine cobblestone streets seemed to sprawl endlessly around me like a semi-coiled snake. Gothic iron lampposts and charming, tiny brick shops, each selling magical goods and services, lined either side of Crescent Street, the busiest in the whole tiny town.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever learn my way around this place,” I whispered to Mallory, my new friend from Veilside Academy of Magic, as we meandered down the street. I’d already been living in town for about two months — and survived a few attempts on my life in that time — but I still didn’t feel like I had a clue where anything was.

  Mallory fixed her magnified eyes on me and pushed her coke-bottle glasses up her nose. “Oh, come on, Zoe. If you can learn how to use a wand, I’m sure you can learn the lay of the land. Besides, Moon Grove isn’t that big, and the only way to learn it is to walk it.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. You’ve lived here your entire life.”

  Mallory shrugged. “Fair enough, but having me as a tour guide should make things even easier for you. Hey, check this place out,” she said, changing the subject with the flick of her wrist. I followed her finger to a building that looked more or less like the rest — minus the shrunken heads and animal paws on display in its windows. A magically illuminated neon green sign depicting a bubbling cauldron announced the shop as “Odessa’s Oddities.”

  “I’ve always wanted to go in, but I could never find anyone brave enough to do it with me. You game?” Mallory asked, and I gulped.

  “I dunno. Looks creepy.”

  “That’s the whole point. Come on,” she said and grabbed my hand to drag me through the shop’s open door. I’d just yanked my hand out of her grip when I heard a voice.

  “Help,” it rasped from somewhere distant yet somehow close, like an echo in a crowded room, and I froze.

  Mallory whirled on me, her wild tangle of hair bouncing. “What’s wrong?”

  “Did you hear that?”

  She furrowed her brows at me like she worried I’d really lost it this time. “Uh, no? What are you talking about?”

  “I heard a voice. It whispered to me to help.”

  Mallory laughed. “Oh, great, so not only can she read minds, now the famed Zoe Clarke can speak to the dead too!”

  I scowled at her. “I’m not making it up. I heard something. I think it came from inside that shop,” I said and shivered at the thought.

  I had next to zero interest in perusing the wares on sale at Odessa’s Oddities prior to a voice from beyond reaching out to me, but now I had precisely zero. Whatever I’d heard, I didn’t want to know what it was or where it’d come from. Learning I could read people’s minds was one thing, but speaking to the dead? No, thanks.

  “Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Mallory said and bounded into the shop.

  I stood staring in horror as I watched her mop of brown hair bounce around a large shelf and disappear. “Mallory!” I hissed but got no answer. I took several deep breaths. “Come on, Zoe. It’s probably just some dumb trick to scare people and get them to come inside,” I whispered to myself as I wiped my sweaty palms on my robes.

  I sucked down one last breath and entered the shop. Immediately, an overpowering scent of incense invaded my nostrils. As if I didn’t already have a good enough reason to get out of the shop quickly, now I had a potential headache to contend with. As I passed display cases with rows upon rows of creatures suspended in jars in green liquid and metal objects that looked like something out of a medieval torture room, I resolved to make Mallory pay for dragging me into this Lilith-forsaken shop.

  “Help,” the voice whispered again, and once more I froze, desperately searching over both my shoulders for its source, but all I found were more items I wished I’d never seen.

  What if the voice wasn’t a trick? Stranger things had definitely happened to me since moving to Moon Grove. Prior to that, I didn’t even know magic existed, much less that I could read minds.

  “Come,” the voice said, more assured this time. Simultaneously terrified and determined, I weaved my way through the maze of shelves and objects, trying to block them all out in favor of finding the source of the voice.

  I quickly reached the back wall of the shop, which appeared to be some kind of jewelry counter. Glass display cases full of emerald green felt held gems and jewels the likes of which I’d never seen, each of them sparkling with magic — but it was a necklace placed at the center that immediately caught my eye.

  As I stared into the infinite darkness of a black diamond surrounded in concentric circles by rings of fire-red rubies and gold, a chorus of whispers flooded my mind, blocking out all sound and pulling me closer to it. I rested my hand on the glass above the necklace and, if I could’ve, I would’ve smashed my hand through the glass to get to it.

  “Ah, yes, that’s my most enchanting charm.”

  I screamed and whirled to find a shriveled, hunched witch wearing an eyepatch standing behind me. Layers of lacy black shawls hung from her shoulders with matching fringe, and a pungent smell of cabbage rolled off her.

  “I-I’m sorry, who are you?”

  “Why, I’m Odessa, dear,” the witch said with a smile, revealing a single yellowed tooth. “And who might you be?”

  “Zoe Clarke.”

  “Ah, of course. You’re the new witch in town everyone’s talking about. Pleased to meet you,” Odessa said and produced a shriveled claw of a hand from her shawls for me to shake. I did so quickly.

  “Erm, likewise. Anyway, I, uh, I was just looking for my friend. She’s a witch around my height with a big mop of brown hair. Have you seen her?”

  “Really? Seems to me you were rather interested in that necklace. Not that I blame you,” Odessa said, her single yellow-brown eye twinkling. “Would you like to try it on?”

  “It’s not gonna curse or hurt me if I do, will it?” I asked, and Odessa cackled until her laughs turned to a coughing fit.

  She cleared her throat. “Well, I can’t guarantee it won’t, but that’s part of the fun, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Try,” the disembodied voice pleaded, and Odessa’s eyebrows lifted slightly as if she’d heard.

  “I suggest you listen, dear,” she said, and despite my best attempt at keeping my composure, my eyes widened. Had she really heard it too? Without asking for my permission
, Odessa disappeared behind the counter and slid open the panel on the back to pull the necklace from its display. She motioned for me to lean forward, and though every voice in my head screamed at me to run, I rested my stomach against the glass, pushed my tangled red curls away from my neck, and waited.

  A sensation like an ice cube sliding down my back on a summer afternoon swept over me as the cool metal of the necklace and its charm touched my skin. After a few moments passed and I didn’t burst into flames, I let out a sigh and the voice I’d been hearing seemed to sigh along with me.

  “A perfect fit,” Odessa said, beaming. She reached under the counter and held up a cracked, stained handheld mirror for me to examine myself. Despite the poor quality of the glass, I had to agree — the diamond’s deep black and the rubies’ scorching shade looked amazing against my fair skin.

  “Thanks,” I said and fingered the charm.

  “You should keep it.”

  “What?! You can’t be serious. This thing must be worth thousands,” I said, incredulous. Besides, I wasn’t at all sure I wanted a freaky piece of jewelry like that hanging around me.

  “Keep,” the voice agreed, and I shivered.

  “Believe me, dear, I mean it. I’m beyond tired of listening to it after the last thirteen years,” Odessa said, and my jaw dropped.

  “You mean you can hear—”

  “Yes, but let’s keep that our secret, shall we?” she interrupted and nodded over my shoulder. I turned to find Mallory approaching. Her eyes shot open wide as saucers when she saw the necklace.

  “In Lilith’s unholy name, now that’s a necklace,” she whispered and reached for it to examine it. “Hey, wait a second. I recognize this charm. Isn’t this the one they found after Adeline Craft’s disappearance?”