Wherever She Goes (The Psychic Seasons Series Book 4)
Page 16
Beside Julius, Estelle stood silently, her face settled into lines of misery anticipating the pain of saying goodbye to her granddaughter for the second time. Julie wasn’t the only one who would miss Estelle terribly when this day was over.
Busy thinking about upcoming goodbyes, Kat missed the moment when the sun passed through the window to land on the painting.
***
Gustavia stepped up to the window with the second set of lenses in her hand. “We only need five of the ten pieces so let’s just start with the first five. Kat, you have the nimblest fingers, come help me swap pieces until we get all the letters in place.”
Only two minutes passed before the shaft of light flashed through the five lenses resting against the glass, lighting up the A, R, and H.
Working quickly Gustavia swapped the highest lenses leaving the lower ones to Kat. With the second set of five settled into place, the sun picked out two more letters, T and E.
The pair stepped back to wait for what would happen next.
***
Again, Kat was watching Julius as the light moved slowly toward the prisms. More agitated than ever, he made several exaggerated eye movements before she realized he was trying to communicate something. The third time he looked pointedly at the other window in the room, Kat got it and moved to close the curtains, darkening the room slightly.
Just as she turned back toward the window, light sliced through the glass to strike each of the three prisms. One directed a beam onto the painting to illuminate the number nine of the clock rendered with fine brush strokes behind Julius as he stood next to his desk.
A second beam arrowed across the room to land on the keystone of the arched fireplace. Long-legged Zack reached the spot first and called out, “Twenty-two. It’s carved into the stone just there.”
The third and final flare of light speared into the light fixture hanging in the center of the room where it flashed into the etched glass star that was the central feature of what Julie had always considered the ugliest light in the house.
“And that would be a five, I presume?” Tyler grinned.
“Good thing we didn’t pull that eyesore down and replace it.”
“9-22-5.”
All three clues in hand, the next step was to check out the spot in the library that corresponded with the painting. Shaking off the emotions that threatened to distract her again, Kat settled down with the other women to watch the men figure out how to access the secret area.
The four of them tapped, tested, poked, and prodded every nook and cranny of the trim surrounding the small spot. Finally, Zack reached out and simply shoved his hand hard against the flat panel. When it slid back and up, he turned with a broad grin and hoisted his fists in the air to indicate victory before stepping aside to let Julie take his place.
Already prepared, she pulled a small flashlight from her pocket to shine into the recess. A quick look had her passing the light to Tyler before reaching in to remove a box from the space, which she carried to the desk. Everyone gathered around to get a better look.
A complicated series of five small, lettered, combination lock dials formed a circle around a larger, numbered dial. The lettered dials spun easily but the numbered one refused to move off zero.
Julie’s dust dry comment pulled a giggle from Kat that finally broke some of the tension, “Overkill much?” As always, Julius was prevented from speaking until the search was completed. At his exaggerated scowl, some of the heavy atmosphere slid away.
“ARHTE? What kind of word is that?” Reid tried the combination in clockwise order but nothing happened. “I’m assuming we have to dial in the correct outer combination before the inner dial will move.”
“It’s an anagram. Try the word earth,” Amethyst suggested.
Reid spun the dials, spelled it out. No dice.
“Heart?”
This time there was a soft click and now the middle dial spun free.
***
Gustavia handed Julie the box. “Hurry up and open it.”
The dial spun and Julie felt the slight vibration as each tumbler locked into place. 9-22-5.
With no idea what might be inside, she slowly lifted the lid to see a stack of thin, leather bound diaries. Flipping the first one open, she read her great, great grandmother’s name in flowing script.
“My mother’s diaries.” Finally freed to speak, Julius smiled at his great granddaughter with affection. “She was quite a woman. You remind me of her.” It was his highest compliment and delivered in a voice gruff with emotion. He had come to love this group of young people and hated to leave them but it was time. Julius stepped back to let Estelle say her goodbyes
Tears flowed from both ghostly and corporeal eyes as Estelle surveyed the room. “Take good care of each other.” Then her eyes locked onto Julie’s, “My love will be with you always, darling girl.”
“And mine with you,” Julie choked out the words and waited for the spirits to fade away.
And waited.
Nothing happened.
Estelle looked over at Julius, “I thought Galmadriel would be here.”
“I haven’t seen her since we brought Kat back across the bridge.”
“Uh, Daddy?” Samantha felt it first, a prickle of energy that started at her toes, and quickly worked its way up through her whole body, “Something’s happening.”
Before she finished her warning, everyone else felt the sensation and a booming voice not unlike Galmadriel’s filled the room. “Galmadriel has fallen. The pair of you caused this; you will work together now to fix it. She will be your first charge.”
It seemed like everyone in the room gave a collected shiver as the sound faded away taking most of the prickling energy with it.
“Why do I still feel…?” Julie trailed off as her attention became riveted to the spot where Julius and Estelle stood. Estelle had one hand up and was slowly turning it in place, staring at it with a look of wonder. Her hand, and the rest of her, glowed with light. An equally glowing Julius seemed less surprised. It appeared they had earned their angel status after all.
Estelle closed her eyes, concentrated, and the light faded to leave her looking more solid than ever. She turned to Julius and punched him as hard as she could in the arm. “I’ve wanted to do that since you talked me out of going into the light,” then went to Julie and embraced her tightly to start a second round of goodbyes that included hugs for everyone.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Once the pair had finally gone, a long moment of silence threatened to turn maudlin until Amethyst, who was closest, turned to glance at the cavity where the box had been resting. A flutter of paper caught her eye.
“Jules, there’s something else in here.” It was enough of a distraction to pull the focus back to the present.
Finn stepped past Amethyst to reach in to pull out an envelope containing several folded sheets of paper which he handed over to Julie who flipped open the first and scanned it.
“It’s a dispensation allowing Julius to own several troy ounces of gold for the purpose of creating his inventions.”
“In 1933, the president signed and order making it illegal to own more than a small amount of gold without permission,” Tyler explained.
The rest of the papers were gold certificates.
“You won’t find it.” Nine faces turned in surprise to see where this new voice had come from.
Julie recognized her from Estelle’s pictures. “Mary Lou?”
“Yes.” Mary Lou nodded.
“That gold is long gone and those certificates? They’re worthless.”
Mary Lou had been a woman of medium height with a long but gentle face.
“Arrogant man thought he was doing the right thing, keeping his wealth safe from his own son. Well, I knew all about that gold. Pried it out of those worthless clatter traps with his own tools once I found where he’d stashed his plans.”
“Behind the plaque in the kitchen,” Julie breathed.
Had Julius known any of this? Kat didn’t think so and now she knew who had been whispering apologies into her ear every night that she’d stayed at Hayward House.
“Turns out Julius was right, Edward went through the money so fast I don’t think Estelle ever knew he had it.”
She shrugged, the weight of confession heavy on her shoulders.
“But that wasn’t as bad as what I did when I told that young man about the gold certificates.”
The ghost dropped her head into her hands, her voice muffled, “I had no idea things would turn out the way they did. I thought I was helping.” Mary Lou’s head came up to show her face a mask of anguish.
“You have to know I only meant to help,” she repeated, “figured maybe after all this time those certificates might still be somewhere in the house and worth something. Maybe enough to fix up the roof, anyway. So I told your young man, the one that gave you all the trouble, all about the certificates. I was the cause of everything bad that happened to you.”
“That jerk called me a whackadoodle and he’d already seen a ghost?” Gustavia’s voice seemed unnaturally loud in the silence that had followed Mary Lou’s revelation but her outraged exclamation broke the icy silence.
Kat snickered. Then Amethyst giggled and before long, a smile tickled at the corners of Julie’s mouth. Mary Lou sat patiently watching as the entire group of young people slowly sank into a fit of laughter that left them breathless and clutching their sides.
When it had finally passed, Julie waved a hand at her great grandmother and said, “You had no way of knowing and it’s all over now,” while she wiped away the tears laughter had sent streaming down her cheeks.
“I really am sorry.”
Kat looked around the room, plenty of good had come from the events that Mary Lou had set in motion it was time for her to rest. “You’re forgiven. Please, go back into the light, find your son. We’re all fine.”
And now…
Keep reading for an excerpt from Earthbound Bones Book 5 of the Psychic Seasons Series
***
If you are enjoying the Psychic Seasons series, I’m excited to tell you about the Fate Weaver series. In Earthbound Wings, we met Lexi Balefire and her faerie godmothers who were such fun to write, we decided to give Lexi her own series.
Lexi Balefire is a matchmaking witch with a certain something extra. Her story is full of magic, romance, and intrigue.
The Fate Weaver series:
A Match Made in Spell
All Spell is Breaking Loose
To Spell and Back
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Other books by ReGina Welling
The Psychic Seasons Series
Rings on Her Fingers
Bells on Her Toes
She Shall Have Music
Wherever She goes
Earthbound Bones
Earthbound Wings
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Also by ReGina Welling and Erin Lynn
The Ponderosa Pines Mysteries
Cat Killed A Rat
Crafting Disorder
Caught in the Frame
Bait and Snitch
From Earthbound Bones
Angels never sleep—which is why waking up disoriented and draped over a pile of bodies meant something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
Light pounded through my slitted eye, forcing me to close it until my brain could adjust to the onslaught.
Somewhere nearby, a clock ticked away endless seconds while I tried to remember who I was, where I was, and what had happened to me. The buzzing mist in my head amplified the noise from a soft click to an echoing boom. I counted ten, then fifteen seconds before the first memory came rushing back.
My name is Galmadriel. I am—or at least I was—a guardian angel. As if unlocking a door, that knowledge unleashed a literal eternity of memories: watching over my charges; crying for them when they needed to walk through the dark in order to find the light; feeling gutted for those who refused my help, and then devastated for the one I had failed.
Once the memories came back, my mind wouldn’t stop replaying them. The whirling circle closing in around us. The scream ripped from the hell-bound Earthwalker. The mortals who, without hesitation, risked all. The backlash that dragged Kat’s soul away before her time, and the desperate race to get it back. The final moment when I had either been thrown out of Heaven or fallen from grace. It had happened so quickly I couldn’t tell exactly which. Not that it mattered, the end result was the same.
Breaking rules—even for the best of reasons—might have cost me everything: my home; my status as a guardian angel; even my immortality. All of it gone; given up to save two humans from my own folly.
The mortals. I needed to get up and check on them.
Adrenaline coursed through my veins with a jolt that forced my aching body into a sitting position. A soft whine sounded from somewhere behind me, but I dared not turn my head when even the slightest movement spun the world and made me wobble.
Another whine accompanied a flutter of motion while I waited, first for the whirling to stop, and then for my eyes to clear. I turned my head to meet Lola’s liquid brown gaze. What was it about boxer dogs that made them look sad even when their tails were wagging? Before I could turn my head again, she treated me to a swipe of her tongue, and while it was softer and warmer than I would have expected, the experience was not one I wanted to repeat.
I blinked away the last of the fog to bring the sprawl of bodies into sharp focus. A gusting sigh escaped my lips at the sight before me. All eight of the humans breathed rhythmically. They lived. Relief ebbed the adrenaline like a calming balm over a bee sting. Three deep breaths saw it leaving my system, and my thrumming heart began to slow.
In a moment, they would start to stir. There would be questions I didn’t want to answer—probably couldn’t answer, come to that. We had banished an Earthwalker—a malevolent spirit—from a man possessed. A victory to be sure. One worth celebrating if not for what happened next. My hubris allowed Kat’s spirit to cross over while her body still lived. To get her back I broke a cardinal rule by sending Zack across to retrieve her.
Amethyst, the aura reader, led the rest of the humans in anchoring the living side, while the two ghosts helped me sustain the connection to spirit. Holding the bridge in place had proved too much for us and when it let go, I went along with it. Dragged or tossed out of heaven and into this mortal body. All I remembered was the endless sensation of falling.
These were good, caring people. All eight of them with an endless capacity for love. Still, feeling unable to cope with their sympathy, I sneaked out of the house with my head held low to avoid the possibility of seeing my altered shadow. If there was one thing I was still sure of, it was this: fallen angels always lose their wings.
A shaft of sunlight slashed across eyes I mistakenly thought had adjusted to the glare. Not so, I decided, as my temple throbbed straight past ache to pounding, screaming pain. This flesh and bone body seemed so small, so frail, so diminished, so alien.
I could feel it dying around me.
Without thinking, I reached for the power of my grace and willed myself as far from there as I could get. The familiar wash of energy whispered over skin sensitized by its first true taste
of wind and everything went gray for the second time that day.