Page 49 of Ghost Walk
“For the last time, nobody wants to become a troll!”
“Troll powder?” Jamie repeated looking between them. “Is that really a thing?”
Grace waved a “don’t even ask” palm at him. “And this isnota vacation.” She assured her aunt and grabbed an ancient tome on Harrisonburg history, opening it on an ebony table with carved skulls on the top. “I’m being sent back for an important purpose. I know it.”
“Troll powderisimportant. It could help me shut Madam Topanga up, once and for all.”
“An important purpose as insaving someone’s life, Auntie.”
Serenity gave a long-suffering sigh. “Well, thatisusually the reason that this time-traveling power manifests.” She admitted in the superior tone of someone who was always eager to impart her wisdom… whether her audience wanted to hear it or not. “Laws of nature aren’t usually bent just for the hell of it. Only when something’s gone wrong and the Higher Powers want it fixed.” She paused. “Well, there was the one time with Cousin Memory’s thirtieth reunion and the tornado, but Istillsay that was mostly the leprechaun curse.”
“Youalwaysthink it’s a leprechaun curse.” Gracemuttered under her breath.
Serenity had ears like a vampire bat. “When you’re cursed by a leprechaun, it tends to ruin your social life. That’s all I’m saying. Cousin Memory should never have taken his gold and bought that jet ski.”
“Taking a man’s gold is a terrible thing.” Jamie put in, although no one had asked his opinion. “I shall never get over the loss of mine.”
Grace rolled her eyes.
Serenity kept going. “I told Memory it was a bad idea to follow that damn rainbow, but she didn’t listen.” She pointed a three inch long red finger nail at Grace. “It’s a lesson for you, young lady. Psychics give the best advice. If you don’tlistento me, one day you’ll end up with a shamrock-green cyclone sucking up your high school.”
Grace dutifully nodded.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Jamie was beginning to see why she was so keen on being safe and normal. The girl had grown up in a home where every day was Halloween.
“Now then, as I was saying, usually time travelers are chosen to right some wrong.” Serenity continued. “Recompense was supposed to save some serfs from a fire, if I remember correctly. Jackass wouldn’t stop bragging about it. He always was a bit of a tool.”
“I’m supposed to catch this murderer and clear Jamie’s name. I know it. To do that, I need to go back to the nights Anabel Maxwell and Clara Vance died and save them.”
Serenity pursed her lips, disapprovingly. “Wasn’t Clara Vance some Puritanical bitch, who burned witches for fun?”
“There were no witch burnings in Harrisonburg! Why do people keep saying that? I don’t think anyone was executed as a witch in this country since --like-- Salem, a hundred years earlier. The Colonial era was the age of Enlightenment, for God’s sake.”
Serenity frowned, unconvinced. “Some of our ancestors were witches, you know. It’s a noble profession. Cousin Mercy used her powers to cure Methyn’s Syndrome.”
“I’ve never evenheardof Methyn’s Syndrome.”
“That’s because Mercy cured it.” Serenity explained smugly.
Grace made an irritated sound and ran a hand through her shiny, dark, beautiful hair.
Jamie nearly groaned as the strands slid through her fingers. He wanted to feel the thick curls so badly it was a physical ache. And ghosts didn’thavephysical aches. He’d endured two hundred plus years of not being able to touch anything and came through it all without breaking. …But not being able to touchGracewas going to break him. He could already tell.
Grace didn’t notice his torment. “The problem is, we don’t have a lot of information on the last two murders. Gregory Maxwell’s book skimps on some of the details.”
“I cannot believe you think that idiot is an author.” Jamie muttered, trying to focus on anything besides his unsatiated need for her. “He was confused by water being wet and trees being green. I promise you, he didn’t writeHorror in Harrisonburgany more than I did.”
“Well whoever wrote it, they should’ve given us more specifics.” Grace looked at her aunt. “Anabel Maxwell dies next, but saving her would be a lot easier if I found a way to remind the Jamie-of-the-past about things that haven’t happened yet.”
Serenity squinted. “Come again?”
“We need to make sure the Jamie-of-the-past knows whatthisJamie knows. They’re the same person, after all. There has to be a way for both of them to remember the same things.” Grace waved a hand. “Otherwise he’s going to think I’m a raving nut job when I try to explain it to him back there. Can you make a potion?”
“I’ll know you, Grace.” Jamie assured her quietly. “Donea worry about that. Even without the memories, I’llalwaysknow you.” This woman was his. Alive or dead, every instinct told him so. The old him would be far more interested in bedding her than in having her committed. “Speaking of which, if youdogo back again, would you do me a great favor?”
She looked up at him and nodded seriously. “Of course.”
“Submit to every sordid, twisted, wicked thing I want to do to your body.” He endeavored to look grave. “I would dearlylovethose memories, lass.”
