Stardust on the Sea

by Tawdra Kandle

  “So...successful date?”

  I swiveled my head and returned the smile. “Definitely. Quite possibly the best date I’ve ever had.”

  “Wow.”

  He turned into parking lot next to the bed and breakfast. We crept to the backdoor, using the key that Jane had given us just for this purpose. The house was quiet; it was nearly midnight.

  Lucas paused at the foot of the steps, and I turned to look at him. “Come up,” I said, turning my lips up in what I hoped was an inviting smile.

  “Are you sure? I’m not sure I should if you’re going to jump me the way you did this morning.”

  I tried to hold back a very-unlike-me giggle and shook my head. “I promise, your virtue is safe.” I laced my fingers through his and squeezed. “But after last night, I really don’t want to go to that room by myself after dark.”

  “Especially knowing that it was Cecile’s room?” Lucas started up the stairs, pulling me after him.

  “Yes—well, maybe. I mean, we don’t even know that Cecile has anything to do with this.”

  I unlocked my door and let Lucas go ahead of me. He stepped in, reached for the light switch and glanced around.

  “It looks all clear.” He drew me inside. Nothing seemed disturbed. I checked my closet and everything was as I had left it, as was the case in the bathroom.

  “I’m sorry I dragged you up here under false pretenses,” I said, dropping onto the bed. “Looks like our resident ghost was quiet tonight.”

  “Maybe.” Lucas sat down next to me. “Geez, your room really is a lot bigger and nicer than mine.”

  I lifted a shoulder. “The perks of name and privilege, I guess. I didn’t make the arrangements, remember. Harley probably offered to pay Miss Jane double for the last minute reservations.”

  Lucas smoothed a strand of hair away from my face. “Your family really has that much money?”

  “Enough.” I didn’t want to go down that path of conversation. “Lucas, you don’t think we imagined all this, do you?”

  He shook his head right away. “No way. I know what I saw last night, and I also think you’re a pretty level-headed person. Maybe it was just...one of those things. The ghost just wanted to make her presence known, and now that she has, she’ll leave us alone.”

  “Maybe.” I heard the doubt in my own voice.

  “That’s not a bad thing, you know.” Lucas slid an arm around my waist and used the other hand to tilt my chin up. “Being left alone...all sorts of things we could do.”

  My lips curved into a smile even as he covered them. His kiss was much less tentative tonight than it had been earlier. All the time we’d spent together today, our date—all of it was poured into this kiss. But it had the same effect on me now; I turned my body toward Lucas, linked my hands behind his head and pressed as close to him as I could.

  “Cat,” he murmured, and my heart melted a little more at the nickname. I threaded my fingers through his hair and moved my head to deepen the kiss.

  Lucas eased me back to lie on the bed, and I took advantage of having my arms free, easing my hands under his shirt and up his back. He mirrored my action, pulling up my tank top even as he lined kisses down my neck.

  I shivered as the cold air hit my now bare stomach. Lucas ran his hand over the goose bumps and eased my shirt off.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” he said, hardly more than a breath. He brought his mouth down to cover my breast through the lace of my bra, and I gasped, arching toward him. I wanted to feel his skin, too, and I struggled to tear off his shirt.

  He sat up just a little to help me, and in that pause, frowned.

  “What?” I reached up to skim my fingers over his chest, desperate for him.

  “Do you hear it?”

  I stopped moving for a moment, kept perfectly still. And then I did hear it. The same melody that had been playing in Lucas’s room earlier. Listening, I shivered, and realized at once that the room was much colder than it should have been.

  Lucas lay down again, pulling me close to him, but his eyes remained wary, darting around the room. I clung to him, torn by the shivers that ran down my spine and the hunger to run my lips all over his skin.

  The music grew louder, and the bed shook. I curled into Lucas, grateful that I wasn’t alone. I pressed my lips to his shoulder, and his arms tightened around me.

  “Do you see anything?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

  I felt his head shake. “No. Just the air, the music...” I heard a rattling, and Lucas swore under his breath. “The doors to the balcony. Like someone’s trying to get in. Or out, I guess.”

  I ventured a peek out. “What do you think? Why is she—Cecile!” I called out. “Why are you doing this?”

  The rattling stopped. The music faded. Gradually, the chill began to leave the air.

  Lucas scooted up to the pillows, bunched two together and stuffed them behind his back as he leaned against the headboard. He drew me up, and I stuck my feet beneath the covers before leaning onto his chest again.

  “That was intense.” He rubbed the top of my arm. “Wonder what set her off?”

  I stirred a little, lightly brushing the muscles of his stomach. “Do you think it was us? George said she died of a broken heart. What if seeing us here, like this, upset her?”

  “I’ve never heard of someone really dying of that,” Lucas said, skepticism in his voice. “You don’t think she killed herself, do you?”

  The balcony doors rattled again, just once, and then stopped.

  “Was that a yes or a no?” I asked. No response.

  “I think we need to get your necro-whatever you call her over here as soon as possible. Let them talk, see if they can work something out. Send her to the light, or whatever.”

  “I don’t know if it works that way.” I yawned. “Will you stay with me tonight, Lucas? I don’t mean—I’m not saying to do anything, but just please don’t leave me here on my own.”

  Lucas grinned down at me, squeezed my shoulder and dropped a kiss on my head. “As much as I want to—uh, do something, that kind of freaked me out. But I’m staying here. You didn’t even have to ask.”

  At breakfast the next morning, Lucas and I both endured some meaningful looks from other guests. I supposed one or two might have seen Lucas creeping down the front steps and up the back ones to change this morning, but apparently word spread fast.

  We made a few delicate inquiries into the music, the temperature or anything else that might have been out of the ordinary with the others, but no one else seemed to have noticed anything amiss. I scanned their minds to make sure, but there weren’t any hidden agendas.

  We walked down to the beach so I could call Julia away from listening ears. She was excited when I gave her the quick recap of our ghostly encounters and agreed to meet us in front of the Star that night.

  “You know, we don’t have to do this at night,” I said, closing my eyes as the water rushed over my feet.

  “Miss Jane is less likely to notice anything if we bring her in at night. And we don’t have to worry about running into the cleaning people.”

  “I guess. Julia had to work until five anyway.” I turned toward him. “So what do we do today, while we’re waiting?”

  “Beach day.” Lucas hooked an arm around my neck and gave me a loud kiss on the mouth.

  “I thought the beach was too boring for you?”

  “It won’t be boring hanging out with you. Plus...” He leered. “I want to see you in a bikini.”

  I tried to hide my blush. “How do you know I have a bikini?”

  “Hope springs eternal.”

  As it turned out, lying on the sand, with the sun beating down on us, cool water at our feet, was exactly what I needed. Lucas was indeed appreciative of my bikini and spent a good part of the day whispering into my ear about what kind of feelings it inspired. He read aloud to me from the history book he’d brought, and we talked about what we both enjoyed studying. It was the kind of stress-fr
ee, worry-free day I hadn’t had in far too long.

  “So...” We sat at the water’s edge late in the day, and Lucas toyed with my fingers. “You work with people who have paranormal abilities. Is that right?”

  I nodded. “Pretty much. We try to help everyone realize untapped potential.” It was the sort of company line that rolled off my tongue.

  “And you said someone made you take this vacation. Why did you have to be forced?”

  I couldn’t really remember it anymore, all of my objections to coming to this place. I laid my head back against the chair and sighed. “I guess you would say I am the ultimate type-A personality. My work is my life. It’s what I do, all the time. I have a few other hobbies—I told you I double majored in botany and poli sci, and I love working with plants—but really, those are only a means to an end. I use them for work.”

  “That sounds intense.”

  “It is. And this last year was very hard.” I paused, wondering if it were safe to talk to him. I had already revealed so much, but this was something I had not discussed with anyone outside Harley and my father.

  “We brought on a new recruit last year,” I began. “She was someone I’d been watching for a while, because I knew she had an ability. She needed someone to work with her, and Carruthers was able to help her control her powers. But it was hard for me to work with her, because her boyfriend--” I bit my lip. “He was someone I thought I wanted in my life. So there was that tension, because I knew he never wanted me.” I didn’t mean it to sound plaintive, but it almost did.

  Lucas rubbed the top of my hand with his thumb. “I’m sorry.”

  I forced a smile. “Don’t be. It worked out for the best. But in the course of a very delicate assignment with—his girlfriend, we found out that one of our people was working against us. You can probably imagine that in our line of work, everyone is very close. You’re sharing secrets that no one else can know. So when you lose someone you’ve trusted, it can be devastating.”

  I sucked in another breath. “We moved on. We tried to be more discerning. But this spring, one of our more seasoned people was on assignment with a new recruit.” I saw Rafe in my mind’s eye, with his cocky twisted grin, the wary eyes. “Something went very wrong, and she—she was killed. The veteran, not the recruit.”

  “My God.” Lucas pulled my head toward him. “I’m sorry, Cat. I can’t even imagine.”

  “Why do you call me that?” It was as good a way to change the subject as any.

  He smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know. You are a very good Cathryn most of the time, but I think sometimes you’re a Cat, too.”

  I studied him. “I find it very hard to believe that you know me so well in such a short time.”

  Lucas was quiet. “I’m a pretty good judge of character, but I think we’ve been in an extraordinary set of circumstances, too. Maybe that helps me feel like I can see things more clearly.”

  “Hmm.” I wasn’t sure where to go from there. He was right in that I’d shared things with him I hadn’t with anyone else, but at the same time, my biggest secret remained hidden.

  “I’m tired of talking about me,” I said, shooting him a bright smile. “Let’s talk about your move to Florida.”

  He laughed. “Am I moving to Florida?”

  “I think so, yes. You’re going to move into your aunt’s house and write the great American novel. You’ll be celebrated coast to coast. And when people mention you, I’ll smile and say, ‘I knew him one summer, before he became the famous Lucas Reilly.”

  “So that’s what will happen? I won’t keep in touch with you while I’m in Florida, the same state where you live?”

  I shook my head. “No, you won’t. Because when I go back to Florida, I’ll be Cathryn again, the uptight and very driven person who never has time for anything but work.”

  We didn’t speak for a long while.

  Julia arrived right on time. She met us in the parking lot, and Lucas and I walked her into the house. It was about eight o’clock, but a few people lingered on the back verandah. I avoided making eye contact and led Julia upstairs to my room.

  “It doesn’t always work, you know.” She stopped before we turned the key. “I don’t want to disappoint you. I haven’t been able to do this very long, but I think a few times, people have been disappointed. Sometimes, the dead don’t want to speak.”

  Lucas patted her back. “It’s okay, Julia. We don’t have any expectations of you. But on the other hand, from what Cathryn and I have seen, this is one dead person who has something to say.”

  She nodded, and we went into the room.

  It was cold again, and Lucas put an arm around me when I shivered. We stopped and stared at the bed, where a jumble of shoes lay in the middle.

  “Hey, those are mine!” Lucas grabbed a pair of sneakers. “How did they get up here?”

  I frowned as something I’d thought of earlier niggled at my brain. Julia walked farther into the room.

  She drew in a deep breath before she spoke. “Cecile? Are you here? If you are, and you can hear me, I’d like to speak with you. I’d like to know what you have to say, what you’ve been trying to tell Cathryn and Lucas. We want to help you.”

  It was silent and still for a full moment. And then the cold deepened. I felt as though ice were moving through my veins. The balcony doors rattled and the bathroom door slammed shut. Lucas gripped my hand.

  Julia was unfazed. She moved around the room, touching furniture, until she came to the balcony. There she stopped by the doors.

  “There you are,” I heard her murmur. “Go on now. I’m listening.”

  It was the oddest sensation, watching and listening to someone have what seemed like a one-side conversation. Of all the powers I had ever seen, the abilities I had observed, this one unnerved me.

  I don’t know how long Julia stood there. Her eyes were sober, but she didn’t appear to be frightened. I tried to listen to her thoughts, but they were moving at an odd speed, almost garbled. I wondered if this were a component of her gift.

  And then tears began to run down her face. She wept, even as she nodded. Finally, she turned back to us.

  “Let’s go down to the beach, okay? I’ll tell you what Cecile wants you to know, but I don’t want to do it here. Feels like talking about someone right in front of them.”

  She paused as we went out. “It’s going to be okay,” she said and then closed the door.

  “You were right. It is Cecile Livingston.”

  I expelled a breath and glanced at Lucas. He was watching Julia carefully.

  “You need to remember that when the dead speak, it isn’t like when a live person tells a story. I don’t know why, but their time perception seems skewed. Sometimes they seem to understand it’s been long time, and at others, it is as though the events they describe just happened. So it can be hard to know how it all fits together.”

  “Did she say what she wants from us?” I wanted to know the story, sure, but I was most interested in Cecile’s endgame.

  “Not specifically. I’m not sure she knows. What I can gather is that she was in love. His name was Thomas. There was some reason they couldn’t be together.” Julia rubbed her hands together. “And then there was death. Violent death. At the hands of someone she knew.”

  “Her lover?” Lucas asked.

  Julia shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think it was...” She glanced at me. “I think it was a family member.”

  I thought of Miss Jane, so close-mouthed about her great-aunt Cecile. Could she know something?

  “She doesn’t seem angry about the death itself. She wants her lover. She wants Thomas. Their time together was unfulfilled, and she still loves him, still wants him.” Julia shrugged again. “I’m sorry. I know that sounds corny, like I made it up. But that’s what she said. She wants you to help her be with Thomas. And she said it must be you. She was very certain about that, very excited that you’re both here.”

  Lucas stuck his han
ds into his pockets. “Anything else we need to know?”

  “I don’t think so. She wanted to be acknowledged. Maybe she’ll go away now. Or maybe if you find out what happened to Thomas?” Julia shrugged. “I don’t know. I told her it was going to be okay, so I hope it is.”

  We walked Julia back to her car, and I promised her I’d see her at Harper Creek in a few weeks.

  Lucas and I returned to my room in silence. I swallowed hard before we went back in; having confirmation that Cecile was my roommate somehow made the whole thing a little creepier.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll stay with you.” Lucas rubbed my shoulder as we closed the door. He skimmed the backs of his fingers down my cheek and kissed my hair. “Are you all right?”

  I nodded, and he pulled me closer. “Cat, seriously...are you upset? Scared?” He kissed me gently, but just as before, everything imploded the moment our lips touched. I opened my mouth and tangled my tongue with his, gripping his neck, desperate to get as close to him as I could.

  He pushed me backward so that my knees met the side of the bed. I didn’t need a second invitation; I tumbled back, taking him with me into the soft mattress.

  “Cat,” he whispered as his lips moved down my neck. He slid down one strap of the cami I wore and then fastened his mouth on my breast, his tongue rolling over the nipple.

  I gasped and leaned back, giving him better access. Lucas pushed down the other side of the shirt so that I was bared to the waist. As his teeth closed tenderly over the center of one breast, his fingers found the other.

  A cold wind swept over us, and even there on the bed, I was dizzy. Still vaguely aware of Lucas’s body on top of me, I tried to call his name. But it was as if I were inside a crowded elevator, being forced into a small corner. I could breathe, but barely, and my vision had shrunk to a tiny pinhole of light.

  “Lu--” I tried to speak, but no sound came out. The pressure was intense. I wondered if I could be having a heart attack.

  And then there was relief. I still couldn’t talk, couldn’t move, but the pressure was lessened. I could see now, but from a distance, removed, even though it was still through my own eyes.