Page 16 of Once Upon an Enchanted Castle

She didn’t want to touch it again.

A sharp knock on her door startled her. Her hand flew to her throat as she emitted a strangled gasp and spun toward the door, her eyes wide and her mouth suddenly dry.

“My lady?” Emmaline’s muffled voice filtered through the wood.

She blew out a sputtering breath. “Yes, come in.”

Emmaline headed inside and then started opening all the packages, chatting on about the house and how she liked her third-floor bedroom. But Bella didn’t hear much of it as she was too distracted by the oily feeling the book left crawling over her skin. Her hand was still at her throat as she stared at the offending tome, thinking of the dark whisper and the strange shadow she saw in the port.

What was she going to do with the book?

As she recalled, there was a bookshop in town. Perhaps she should take the book there and talk with the owner to see if he had ever seen anything like it before. In this small village, though, he may not have seen anything so unusual. Still, she wanted to give it a try.

Or, even better, offload the book if he was willing to buy it.

“Miss? Did you hear me?” Emmaline asked.

She shook herself out of her thoughts and focused on the girl in front of her. She held two gowns. One a pale yellow, the other a pale green.

“Which one?”

“Oh…” She glanced between the two of them, still preoccupied with thoughts of whispers and ghostly apparitions. “Either is fine with me. Em…would you care to go into town with me today?”

“Town?”

“Yes, I’d like to visit the bookshop.”

Her youthful face broke into a wide grin. “I’d like that very much.”

Then it was settled. She would take the offending book into the shop and be rid of it.

Chapter 7

Afterdressing,sheputthe book in a basket, covered it with a cloth, and headed down to the dining room to find her father. She wasn’t going to tell him she intended to sell the book. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings after he brought it to her from his travels.

But when she arrived in the dining room, he was nowhere about and had already hastily eaten his breakfast. According to Gerald, he received a message that left everyone scratching their heads and took off without his hat or his overcoat muttering something about the morning train and that he’d be back by nightfall.

Odd, that.

But then, her father was often distracted when it came to business.

So, she and Emmaline buttoned on their bonnets and headed for town. The path from Hawthorne Hall wound gently downhill, skirted the farmer’s lush green fields in the late morning light. It was sprinkled with old oaks, casting a long shade across the gravel. The faint breeze carried the distant scent of chimney smoke, roasted meats, and baking bread. All signs they approached the little town of Driftbell.

“Thank you for coming with me, Em.”

“Em.” She grinned beneath her bonnet. “My mum and sister are the only ones who call me that.”

“Oh.” Bella breathed out the word. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”

“I don’t mind.” She continued to grin and then hooked her arm in hers. “I hope that means we can be friends.”

Bella felt the weight of the basket on her other arm and realized she was glad she had the girl with her, though she wasn’t prepared to tell her anything about the whispers or the skulking shadow figure yet.

“I think it does.” She returned her smile.

As they walked, the humming village rose to meet them. The shuddering sound of wheels through the gravel street, boisterous laughter, a dog barking behind a garden wall.

The rooftops of Driftbell came into view through a break in the hedgerow, and with them, the narrow spire of the old chapel and the green-painted sign of the bookshop proclaimingThe Quill and Scrollswinging gently in the breeze.

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