Page 17 of Cordelia Manor
Inez looked at Elisa and laughed. “Yes, because every newly married man wants nothing more than another woman and newborn baby to live with him.”
Elisa smiled. “Jim wouldn’t care. He likes you, and what happened to you makes him sick.”
Inez nodded. “I’m a woman without family. He knew he could do what he wanted and get away with it. At least he disappeared. That at least gives me some time to figure this out before I’m homeless.”
“What about young Andre?” Elise asked.
Inez shook her head. “I shudder to think, but I’m not his mother and he’s too old for a nanny, even though I’m barely even that now considering the state I’m in.”
The two women sat silently, staring out toward the distant sea. I could feel Inez’s pain, her concern. Elisa, too, seemed distraught.
I assumed the baby belonged to the irate man I’d seen in my previous dream, the one who’d beaten his little boy.
That’s when it hit me harder than that ghost smacking me in the face. I woke and sat up in bed. The entity who’d attacked me.Hewas the father who’d beaten his son, and shit… he was also the father of Inez’s child. The child who would become my grandmother.
A sickening feeling overcame me with that realization, and I barely made it to the bathroom before throwing up.
14
Cary
Iglared at Christiethe moment I entered the bed-and-breakfast, and she had the good grace to look chagrined. For the most part, people didn’t mind Christie’s shenanigans, especially when they knew us personally. Most people outside the magical community didn’t even know what was happening. She didn’t know all that’d happened to Evan since the whole thing started, but she couldn’t have picked a worse time to use her power on him.
Regardless, we had bigger fish to fry than Christie throwing her charms around. Al was in her crafting room, a huge sunny addition to their bed-and-breakfast, where she spent most of her time perfecting her spells.
Compared to Al’s crafting room, my solarium was tiny. Not that I needed a big space for what I did. In fact, I thought it’d make me uncomfortable.
“So, what’s going on? I can feel something dark hanging around you.”
“I was attacked by—”
Al turned around, interrupting me. “Even after we spellcast it, it was still strong enough to attack you?”
I nodded. “I went into the basement to speak with it, but Evan secretly followed me and that’s when all hell broke loose. I think because he’s descended from the nanny who inherited the place, well should’ve inherited the place, Evan both infuriates the entity and gives it strength.”
“Do you think he’s somehow related? Descended?” Al asked. I shrugged, and my shoulder twinged slightly where the scratches were.
“Not according to the press. I’ve followed the whole thing, and according to them, the estate should’ve legally passed to the nanny. She’s Evan’s ancestor.”
“Poltergeists tend to be more powerful when their descendants are around. I’m going out on a limb here and stating the nanny must’ve been doing the nasty with her boss.”
I stared at her a moment in contemplation as my stomach dropped. “Or something more sinister, more like.”
Al’s face darkened, but she nodded. “That would explain the anger and the attacks. You said you were attacked. Let me see.”
“I already took care of the scratch—”
“I didn’t ask, Cary,” she said, interrupting me. “As your coven leader, I need to know how bad this is. Show me.”
I nodded and pulled my shirt off. She lifted the muslin poultice and sighed. “It left actual cuts inside you. That means—”
“It means he could get inside, and he did. He possessed me while I slept and scared the shit out of Evan. Fortunately, I’d cast a protection spell around myself before I went to sleep, but he was still able to use my body without… without my consent.”
“I was afraid something like this would happen. There’s never anything good that comes from having an angry spirit running around unchecked,” Al said, shaking her head and rubbing her temples. “We need to exorcise the thing, but this is more thanour coven can handle. I’m going to call in a favor from the Chemeketa witches.”
It’d only been a couple of years since we’d all been asked to go down to Chemeketa to help with a nasty curse that was plaguing some brothers from the area. Hell, it was so powerful, it almost caused a volcanic eruption.
Chemeketa was an old, established witch community with powerful practitioners in all four elements. I’d grown up visiting the town, especially on holidays when they hosted big events, although my family weren’t directly involved with the witches living there.
