Wherever She Goes (Psychic Seasons, ReGina Welling [novels to improve english TXT] 📗

man looked familiar but for once, his trained memory failed him and he could not remember where he had seen that face before.

“Maybe you’d better sit down, Zack, and I’ll introduce you.”

Since the floorboards probably would not open up and swallow her whole, Kat decided the just-rip-off-the-Band Aid approach was probably best. “I’d like you to meet Julie’s grandmother Estelle and this is her great grandfather, Julius.”

A dull silence fell over the room as Zack assessed the two entities seated at the table; Kat could see the wheels turning as his agile brain made connections and conclusions. When it fell into place for him, he pushed away from the table to stalk across the room where he stared at a shelf lined with vintage teapots without seeing any of them. He ran a hand through his hair making Kat wonder if it would feel as silky as it looked.

The tension coming off of Zack was palpable, his posture still and unyielding. Meanwhile, the two ghosts continued to sit calmly.

Suddenly he turned, “But you’re…”

“Departed? Dead, deceased, mortally challenged, ti…toes up,” Julius changed gears when Estelle’s elbow jammed into his ribs, “yes we are.”

Twinkling eyes accompanied a slightly smug smile from Estelle when Zack said, “But I can see you.”

Julius burst out, “About time, too.” His voice seemed loud in the room. “Your young man, here, is the last part of the circle. I don’t know how you expected to go on keeping him in the dark.”

Kat took umbrage at the censure she detected behind his words and the insinuation that Zack belonged to her.

“We didn’t think he could see you so what would be the point in telling him we’ve been in contact with the pair of you all this time? He’s nothing like Gustavia. His mind is closed.”

That got his attention.

Zack turned to defend the part of his mind that was insisting this could not be happening, but found he had nothing to say. He remembered where he had seen this man before, immortalized in oil in that painting on Julie’s mantel. In rapid fire, his mind produced several scenarios, each more implausible than the one before, for how or why they would go to these lengths to play out a hoax but those were nothing more than smokescreens to protect a willing suspension of disbelief.

“Lay it out for me. The whole story,” he commanded; the order proving his mind was not entirely closed. Kat had to give him credit for that much, anyway. The harp-backed wooden dining room chair thumped against the floor when Zack pulled it out somewhat forcefully and dropped into it.

“It all started when I died.” Julius began.

“Do we really need to go back that far?” Kat thought the full narrative might be too much for Zack.

“It’s important.” Estelle assured her. To Julius she said, “Try to keep it short, though.”

As concisely as possible, Julius recounted the story of his spoiled son, Estelle’s first husband Edward and how he had felt it prudent to hide the majority of his valuables to keep them being squandered before they could be passed down to future generations. When he got to the part about how he had devised a treasure hunt of sorts to ensure that only an heir of sufficient intelligence would find the heirlooms, Kat hoped he would elaborate. There was still one cache left to find and so far, Julius had provided no clues for Julie and her friends to follow.

She was doomed to disappointment because Julius only explained how his plan to leave a set of written clues had been derailed by his untimely demise.

“My last thoughts were regrets that I had not left Estelle enough information to follow through with, and then I was dead. But, when I tried to go into the light, something held me back and I was stuck where I am now, halfway between the living world and the afterlife with that harpy of an angel shouting at me for being an idiot.”

“Galmadriel?” Kat wondered.

“You talk to angels, too?” Zack wished he had a pin to poke himself with because he was sure pinching would not be enough to prove whether he was awake or dreaming.

“Not me, Amethyst.” Kat gestured for Julius to continue despite Zack’s incredulity.

“Is every spirit that visits me an earthwalker?”

“No,” Julius looked away as he told an uncomfortable truth, “we could have contacted you just as easily from inside the light but by the time I figured that out, the damage was already done.”

Estelle took up the story. “Julius tried to contact me for years but I was not sensitive enough to hear or see him. When I died and started to go into the light, he was there to try to explain things but it took too long and I missed my window, then I chose to stay and help.”

“Thought the angel was going to explode. Seems that kind of thing just isn’t done on the other side. I’m in a fair amount of trouble over it.”

“We’re both in trouble now, thanks to him and as punishment, they are going to make us both guardian angels.”

Kat raised an eyebrow, “Punishment? Sounds more like a reward to me.”

“Not according to Galmadriel. She says they’re going to assign us to the most hapless humans they can find for the first five centuries or so.”

“Fair enough, sounds like a perfect fit to me.” Kat wondered, “Does that mean Galmadriel is Amethyst’s guardian angel?”

Estelle and Julius exchanged an uncomfortable look.

“Not exactly. Galmadriel has other duties but she got dragged into our drama because she happened to be around at the time. None of us counted on Logan or the earthwalker getting involved.”

There was more, Kat sensed.

Over the course of Estelle telling the story, Julius had become paler and quieter until he burst out, “It was all my fault. I should have gone into the light and when I didn’t, the doorway held open just a tiny bit longer than it should. Billy must have been hovering around hoping for