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

Consequently, it was the wee hours of the morning before Kat stepped into the bathroom to brush her teeth and got the first chance for a long look in the mirror. So many years had fallen into the dark that now, in the light, she felt the reflection portrayed a stranger. Adolescent roundness had given way to leaner planes and angles. Of its own volition, her hand lifted to touch first her cheek then the mirror itself.

Wide, dark eyes, rosy skin—slightly pale just now—and hair that had deepened at least two shades from the last time she had seen it; she poked her tongue out at the solemn face then smiled to see remnants of the girl she remembered in the glass.

Don’t be stupid, she chided herself, it’s not like you were in a coma or something. Still, the face that peered back at her would take some getting used to.

Teeth brushed, she walked back into the bedroom and climbed under the covers to let sleep finally wash over her. When it did, it brought a series of odd dreams full of sounds and smells but no visuals.

Sometime in the middle of the night, she woke to the softly slurred sound of a whispered voice. It wasn’t the first time the night had filled with what sounded, “Sorry,” hissing from the darkness.

Chapter 5

Half an hour after his normal feeding time, Fritzie decided it was time to wake up his person who, he thought, was shirking her duties. The food he could live without, but he needed to go visit his favorite shrub and sooner rather than later. Jumping up onto the bed was a no-no. He knew the rules, but maybe if he just stood on his hind feet and rested his front paws on the edge, she wouldn’t scold.

Gustavia felt the cold nose as it nudged her awake. She squinted and looked at the clock.

“Sorry bud. I overslept.” The celebration dinner had gone on long into the night. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and reached down to ruffle the little dog’s ears. He responded with an ecstatic shimmy and wagged his stumpy tail for all he was worth then, very pointedly, looked at the door then back at Gustavia

She took the hint, pulled on her bathrobe and moved to the window to pull open the curtains. A light layer of new snow sparkled like millions of tiny diamonds in the morning sun. Frost coated trees stood like glimmering white sentinels against winter-blue shadow. Gustavia looked out over the fairy landscape and breathed a sigh of appreciation.

Then the sigh caught in her throat as something not bestowed by Mother Nature glinted in the distance. Quickly, she padded on slippered feet into the library where she knew Tyler kept a pair of field glasses and in moments, she was back at the window.

At first, she saw nothing out of the ordinary but on the second pass she found what she was looking for. A compact car, nearly as white as the surrounding snow was parked some way down the drive to Hayward House.

Fritzie and his full bladder forgotten, she raced downstairs to find Julie already in the kitchen.

“Get Tyler and go look out my window. There’s a car, someone’s watching the house.” Gustavia handed the binoculars to Julie with shaking hands. “I’ll get Kat and call Zack.”

_,.-'~'-.,_

“Kat,” an insistent voice hissed in her ear. “Wake up.” Kat batted away the hand that shook her shoulder but it came right back to shake even harder.

“What?” One sleepy eye pried itself open to see Gustavia wearing a neon green chenille bathrobe and carrying a baseball bat. Lit by the sun streaming between the newly opened curtains, the image was beyond vivid.

“We have a situation, get up.”

Senses now on full alert and heart pounding, Kat leapt out of bed and looked around for something to use as a weapon. Though, with her depth perception still off, she couldn’t see herself as much of a threat.

Gustavia motioned for Kat to follow her down the hall to the suite where she was currently staying.

“Situation?” Kat struggled to slip on a pair of sneakers and walk at the same time, slapped a hand on the wall to stabilize herself when she nearly fell.

“It looks like someone’s watching the house. I called Zack; he should be here any minute but so far, nothing from Estelle or Julius. Are they around?” Gustavia spoke in a low voice as though someone nefarious might overhear.

Sensing spirit worked as expected about half the time. The best comparison Kat could name was that it operated in a similar manner to those real estate radio signs. Yeah, you could pick up the vibe but you had to be tuned to the right frequency and also within radius of the transmitter. The difference was that those signs are always fixed in place while spirits move around a lot so it was like hitting a moving target.

And sometimes they didn’t want to talk.

This was one of those times. When Kat’s searching energy field touched Estelle’s it was gently rebuffed. She got only a split second to assess the ghost’s frame of mind.

“They’re outside but they don’t seem worried at all. I could swear Estelle just giggled at me.”

Gustavia sighed and relaxed for the first time since she had spotted the car. She trusted Estelle.

If Zack was on his way to the house, Kat had no intention of greeting him in her jammies so she suggested to Gustavia that they would both be better prepared for what might happen if they were dressed for the day.

Back in her room, she chose a soft sweater, her fingers automatically checking for the button that marked it as blue before she remembered she no longer needed that particular accessibility option. She hardly had time to tie her shoes before the doorbell bonged. Kat met Gustavia on the stairs and together they hurried toward the front door just