The Deepest Cut, (MacKinnon Curse series, book 1)

by J.A. Templeton

  Chapter 10

  Anne Marie wasn’t at all what I expected. Being Miss Akin’s friend, I had known she would be on the older side, but she looked ancient, her skin like wrinkled leather. Her whitish-purple hair resembled a beehive, and she was taller and on the slim side. Polyester elastic waistband pants rode high on her waist, and her white button-up shirt had been ironed to perfection. As she stared at me, she carefully removed her navy windbreaker and set it over the back of a chair.

  “Would you mind if we closed the drapes?” Anne Marie asked, setting a single white candle on the card table. I had read about using candles when summoning spirits––how ghosts were drawn to the soft light.

  Miss Akin nodded. “Not at all, dear.” She hopped up from her chair beside the fireplace and closed the drapes.

  “Should I lock the front door?” I asked, knowing we’d all be in deep-shit if my dad walked through the door to find us having a séance.

  “I already did, my darling,” Miss Akin said, sitting back down.

  I was glad Shane was with Milo, and I hoped he stayed away. I’d be horrified if he walked in right now.

  Anne Marie lit the candle and sat down. She took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Let’s hold hands and close our eyes,” she prompted.

  I did as she asked, taking both Miss Akin’s and Anne Marie’s hands within my own.

  I felt ridiculous.

  “We ask that if there are any spirits who wish to contact us, do so now,” Anne Marie said in an authoritative voice. “Use our energy and let us know you are here by making a noise—be it a tap or a knock of some type.”

  Anne Marie breathed deeply at least a half dozen times, and I opened an eye to make sure she was okay. She seemed to be, so I closed my eye again.

  “I sense a spirit with us,” she said, sounding pleased.

  That didn’t take long. I bit the inside of my lower lip to keep from cracking a smile. Honestly, I didn’t feel any spirit with us. I was skeptical. But it’s not like she was getting paid for this, and what would she have to gain?

  “My chest hurts something fierce,” Anne Marie said, her voice weaker than before. “And my head aches a bit.” She breathed deeply again. “Ah, she says her name begins with an R.”

  My pulse skittered. My mom’s name was Rochelle, and she’d had head and chest trauma.

  “Was it a car wreck?” Anne Marie said to no one in particular.

  Now she was going too far. I abruptly pulled my hands away. “Did you see my dream from the other night? Are you reading me instead of reading a spirit?”

  Anne Marie looked at me like I had punched her. “I don’t know anything about your dream, dear,” Anne Marie said matter-of-factly. “I know nothing about you…aside from the fact you are a fellow sensitive. Please trust me.”

  Miss Akin nodded and took hold of my other hand, squeezing it. “It’s okay, Riley. We are here to help you, not harm you. Perhaps she can give you some of the answers you are looking for.”

  She was right. Anne Marie could give me answers. Plus, I had waited to hear from my mother for over a year now and this could be my only opportunity.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

  “She’s handing me a red rose, which means she loves you.”

  My throat tightened and I began to tremble. I wanted to tell her I loved her too, but I couldn’t push the words past my lips.

  “Her energy is fading fast. She just wants you to know she’s okay, Riley.”

  Is she mad at me? Does she blame me? Does she hate me? A hundred questions raced through my mind, but I couldn’t say the words. Not in front of Miss Akin and Anne Marie. I didn’t want them to know I had caused my mother’s death, even if I had lived with that guilt every day since the accident.

  “Are there any other spirits who would like to contact us?” Anne Marie said.

  Mom, I want to talk to you. Don’t leave so soon.

  I was desperate to keep her here. The hair on my arms stood on end as the temperature abruptly dropped. I wanted it to be Ian, but the energy felt different than his. Darker.

  I didn’t bother keeping my eyes closed. In fact, I couldn’t. I was too nervous.

  “Her name begins with an L,” Anne Marie said, her breath coming out in a fog.

  It was all I could do to hold onto Anne Marie’s hand. She felt freezing cold to the touch. “My neck hurts something fierce,” she said, her brows furrowed. “My throat feels tight, like I can’t breathe.”

  I glanced at Miss Akin, whose eyes were wide open now. She tried to give a reassuring smile but it came off more as a grimace.

  “Do you hear that?” Anne Marie asked, her eyes opening as well.

  “I don’t hear anything,” I said, a sense of foreboding coming over me. “I just sense a dark presence.”

  “She’s saying something over and over again,” Anne Marie said. “I’m havin’ a hard time making out the word.”

  My heart roared in my ears. Anne Marie looked at me abruptly. “I think she’s saying your name, Riley. Yes, that’s it. Do you know a young woman in spirit whose name begins with an L?”

  I nodded, afraid of what was coming. “What does she want?”

  “Why are you here?” Anne Marie asked.

  The table lifted a few inches off the floor and fell back down with a clatter.

  Miss Akin gasped, and we all dropped hands.

  A knock sounded from the front door, and then on the wall right behind Miss Akin. Knocking started on every wall, coming from all over the house at once.

  “Sweet Jesus,” Miss Akin said, her eyes wide with fear. I had the feeling she had gotten a lot more than she’d expected. I wanted to tell her that she hadn’t seen anything yet, but I didn’t want to scare her.

  Anne Marie jerked—and then she looked at me and didn’t so much as blink. “Do not help him.”

  It didn’t sound like Anne Marie’s voice at all, but a much younger voice. Someone my age. My throat tightened. Could it be Laria? I wondered with a sick feeling.

  Miss Akin must have caught the voice thingy too, because she scooted closer to me. “What do you mean, Anne Marie?”

  Anne Marie turned to Miss Akin and her head tilted. She continued to just stare and Miss Akin gasped, “Anne Marie?”

  The corners of Anne Marie’s mouth lifted in a creepy smile before she turned back to me. “Forget him, Riley…or else.”

  The candle blew out and the curtains ripped open by themselves. Miss Akin let out a startled scream and put a hand to her chest. “Bloody hell––I don’t think I’ll be doin’ that again anytime soon.”

  Anne Marie blinked a few times, looked at me, and then at Miss Akin. “What happened?”

  Oh my God…was she serious?

  “You don’t remember?” I asked.

  Anne Marie shook her head, glancing at Miss Akin. “I think I need to go home and rest, dear. I’m completely knackered out and my head hurts somethin’ fierce.”

  Miss Akin had a concerned expression on her face, but she nodded. “Yes, that might be for the best. I’ll see you home.”

  “Don’t be silly. I’ll be just fine. It’s nothing a little nap won’t cure,” Anne Marie said with a reassuring smile.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, following behind as she and Miss Akin walked slowly toward the front door. I felt someone in back of me—totally in my personal space, and I turned…only to find the room empty.

  I didn’t like feeling at such a disadvantage.

  “I’ll call you later,” Anne Marie said, before shutting the door behind her.

  Miss Akin turned and looked at me, eyes wide. “I’m so sorry, my dear. I honestly had no idea things would turn out in such a way. I thought perhaps she’d ask a few questions, but I would have never—”

  Someone pounded on the door and we both jumped and let out startled gasps. “Goodness me, I don’t think my heart can take much more of this,” Miss Akin said before she whipped open the door.

  Staring back
at us was Shane, a strange expression on his face. “Why was the door locked?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry about that, my darling,” Miss Akin said, fidgeting with the doorknob. I must have locked it by accident when my friend left.”

  “Yeah, I saw her. I think she left skid marks in the driveway.”

  I didn’t doubt it.

  Miss Akin cleared her throat. “Would you like some lunch?”

  “Sure,” Shane said, glancing into the parlor. “It smells like smoke in here.”

  “I lit a candle,” I blurted, and Miss Akin took the opportunity to head for the kitchen.

  There was a part of me that wanted to tell him that our mom had come through, but chances were he’d think I was crazy. Plus, I didn’t want to chance it. What if Anne Marie had done her homework to begin with, and what about Laria? How could she have made all those knocks and sounds throughout the house? And what about the voice that had come out of Anne Marie? It had seemed so real, and what she had said about not helping him. She had to be talking about Ian.

  It was just all too much to absorb.

  Shane ran a hand through his hair as he walked toward the staircase. He was on the first step when he turned to me. “Did you have a friend over last night?”

  I shook my head. “No…why?”

  “I could have sworn I heard you talking to someone.”

  My heart skipped a beat. He had obviously heard me speaking with Ian. “Maybe I was talking in my sleep.”

  “No…it was like a full-on conversation,” he said adamantly. “You were talking to someone just like we are right now.”

  I swallowed hard. I had spent too many months with people thinking I was mental, my own family included. “I didn’t have anyone over, so I must have talked in my sleep.”

  He opened his mouth, ready to argue, but I darted past him and ran upstairs. “See you at dinner.”