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Mourning Moon (A Guinan Jones Paranormal Mystery #2)

Page 17

by Callista Foley


  "Hon, why don't you eat something?"

  I looked at my grandfather. Dark circles ringed his eyes. I wanted to tell him I was sorry for causing him so much worry.

  "We're considering a different school next year," my father said. "In the meantime, you won't go back to Grier."

  I didn't look at him or respond. It wouldn't matter where I went to school. Death would still follow. As though my father hadn't changed the subject, I said, "Luke knew the case against Sinder would fall apart. The food with no peanuts in it...he wanted to create confusion. It really was a game to—"

  "It's been a long day," my mother said, rising from the table. She seemed to materialize beside me. I looked at Granddad as though waiting for him to tell me what to do. He gave a slight nod. I rose and followed my mother upstairs. But I didn't want her to take me up. I wanted Granddad. I was about to say this to her when I realized she was crying. She stopped me at my bedroom door, which was halfway closed.

  "The timing is lousy," she said. "I wish I could spare you all of this."

  I gave a humorless laugh.

  She shook her head. "Oh, Guinan. Mama's journals. You need to read them." She pushed the door open and pointed at my bed. A box that had seen better days sat in the middle of it.

  "I'll stay with you if you'd like."

  My heart raced. She wanted you to wait until you turned eighteen, but it's up to you.

  "I started to burn them, but I knew I had no right—"

  "You've read Grandma's journals?" I said.

  My mother nodded and sank onto my desk chair. "About a week after we brought you back from Ridge Grove. I had to know, you see."

  I stared at her, then I approached the bed as if the box contained a bomb. I peered inside. The black, soft-cover one on top was dated 2009, the year she died. I lifted out the stack and placed it on my bed. I sat down and spread out the books. The oldest one had been on the bottom—1998. A year after I was born. I looked at my mother. She'd leaned forward, her hands covering her face.

  Grandma started keeping a journal a year into my life. There had to be a good reason. I re-arranged the books with the oldest on top and opened it with a trembling hand.

  I watch Guinan toddle around the house, and it makes me so sad to know I can't protect her from the one thing that will pursue her. Why, God? What does it mean? What would you have me do? Spare her, please. I prayed to be free of this burden, but it's remained with me all these years. Will she hear those maddening whispers, too?

  Those maddening whispers? I remembered hearing low voices and turning around to find no one there. I scanned the rest of the entry, searching for the one word I hoped wasn't there. But it was there.

  The whispers of the dead...

  Mourning Moon is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright @ Callista Foley

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  Author's Note

  Thanks so much for reading my book! Please consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads. To receive updates on the newest releases, sign up for the Callista Foley Books mailing list. You can reach me at callistafoley@gmail.com and on Facebook.

  Be sure to check out the first book in the Guinan Jones Paranormal Mystery Series, Black-Eyed Moon.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Copyright

  About the Author

 

 

 


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