“Well, it seems my message isn’t needed, but he loves you very much.”
She nods and reaches out to hug me tightly. “This may not be news to me, but it sure is wonderful to hear. Thank you, sweet girl. Now, let’s go eat.”
Chapter Fourteen
Mallory
I’m standing in an unusually chilly rainstorm with Lena and Miss Sophia, next to my Grandmamma’s grave two weeks later. Today is the worst day of the year for me. I grieve, just as if it happened last week.
“I can’t believe it’s been ten years,” Lena whispers and loops her arm around my shoulders. I lean my head on hers as Miss Sophia steps up to my other side and gently takes my hand in hers.
“It’s been a blink of an eye,” Miss Sophia says and gives my hand a squeeze. “Do you see her?”
My head whips around. “No. I can never see her. Can you see her?”
She looks over at me with sad eyes. “I can always see her.”
“So unfair,” I mutter and let all of my psychic walls down, opening myself up completely, hoping with everything in me that I might catch just a glimpse of her. “Can you see her, Lena?”
“Only in dreams,” Lena says. “Seeing the dead isn’t one of my gifts, and I’m perfectly okay with that.”
“You should be, especially when we’re in a cemetery,” I reply and look around us, at all of the spirits that seem to drift between the headstones. It looks like something out of a movie.
But it’s not. It’s real. And I don’t like cemeteries in the least. It’s the one place that creeps me the fuck out, because I can see hundreds of spirits all at once.
But never Grandmamma.
“You can close it up,” Lena says softly. “I can feel the tension, Mal. You don’t have to keep yourself open here.”
“I might see her,” I reply and tighten my hold on Miss Sophia’s hand. “So, on this day, I’ll keep myself open.”
“Well, then we’ll stay with you,” Miss Sophia says with a nod. “She loved you fiercely.”
“Not fiercely enough to stay.”
Her gaze whips over to mine. “Do you think she chose death over you?”
“She chose to continue to use her gifts, knowing that it could one day be too much and take her away.” I shrug, surprised that I’m still harboring so much bitterness. “And it did finally do just that.”
“Children,” Miss Sophia mutters with a deep sigh. “Mallory—”
But before she can continue, I’m suddenly drowned by darkness. I can feel Miss Sophia and Lena, but I can’t see them.
I can’t see anything. But I can feel the evil that has washed over me. It’s absolute and painful. A bright red light rises into the sky, casting everything in the deep, blood red.
Menacing red.
Fucking horrible red.
The other spirits have fled, and I’m trapped where I stand as a dark mass begins to take form.
“Darkness be gone, this child I protect.” It’s Miss Sophia chanting. “Touch her no more, as I command it, so mote it be!”
She repeats the words, getting fiercer each time, until the black mass retreats, and suddenly we are standing in the cold, wet cemetery again, just as we were before.
“It’s gotten stronger,” Lena says, holding on to me like her life depends on it.
“Thank you,” I say to Miss Sophia, still clutching her hand. What in the actual fuck was that? I’ve never felt anything so strong, never experienced anything like it in my life except when we were at the inn for the séance. But this is a hundred times stronger.
“Are you going to finally talk to me about this?” Miss Sophia asks, her eyes fully dilated, her blonde hair still swirling in the breeze that the spell conjured.
My mouth opens and closes, as I’m completely dumbfounded. I turn to Lena. “Did you tell her about before?”
“Oh, I should have,” she replies and rolls her eyes. “I sure should have.”
“How did you know?” I demand.
“Darling, that’s what I do. I cook and I know things.”
“Wasn’t that a Game of Thrones line?” I ask my grandmother’s headstone, trying to lighten the mood while I also try to figure out what in the hell I’m going to say.
“Why didn’t you bring this to me immediately?” Miss Sophia demands.
“Because it wasn’t important enough to tell you,” I reply and wither under her glare. Miss Sophia is the gentlest soul I know.
And the most powerful witch in the south.
She’s kind of a big deal.
I’m prepared for her to let loose with a rare moment of yelling, so I’m shocked when she simply takes a deep breath, closes her eyes to let it out, and says softly, “I should have told you this long ago.”
“Told me what?”
“Yeah, told her what?” Lena adds.
“First, tell me exactly what happened the first time you encountered this being.”
I frown and glance at Lena. “We were at the séance.”
I pause and stare up into the sky. It’s still raining, soaking us, but we don’t run for cover. We hardly feel it at all as I keep talking.
“I had just finished talking with the spirits who had something to say, and I hadn’t put my guard back up yet.” I glance over at Lena. “She was holding my hand to ground me, since I hadn’t done anything like that in years.”
“At least you thought to do that,” Miss Sophia replies.
“It had gone well,” I continue, “and the girls seemed happy with what they heard. And then suddenly there was a…a darkness. That’s the best way to describe it.”
“Did it speak?” she asks.
“No, I slammed the door and it was gone. It happened in less than two seconds.”
“That’s plenty of time.” She sighs and shakes her head, paces away to stare off for a moment, then nods and returns to me. “I should have talked to you about the circumstances of your grandmother’s death years ago. But, I was trying to spare you any fear and pain that would come with the knowledge.”
“I know how she died,” I reply with a frown.
“You know some of it,” she says and turns to walk back to the car. “I’m cold and wet, and so are you. Let’s go back to the house where it’s warm, and I have my things around us to keep us safe, and I’ll explain it all.”
“I don’t think I’m going to like this,” I mutter to Lena.
“I can guarantee you won’t. I don’t know what she’s going to say, but she’s got her stern look on, and that always scares me.”
***
“Have a seat,” Miss Sophia says when we’re settled in her kitchen with hot tea. We take our places and sit, waiting anxiously to hear what is going through her head.
“First of all, I want to tell you that I’m very disappointed that you didn’t come to me sooner with this.”
“I truly didn’t think it was important,” I say again. “It was so fast, and after I shut it out, it hasn’t come back until now.”
“It is important,” she replies adamantly. “Did you feel it too?” she asks Lena.
“Oh, yes,” Lena says, nodding. “And she’s right, it was fast, and then it was gone. Otherwise, I would have told you myself.”
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