Page 64 of Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
Not just for him.For the house.For the restless dead who deserved peace.
She wanted to help him out of his despair and anguish.She wanted to banish Lenore to the spirit world.She wanted to see these halls restored to their former glory.
With Gabriel at her side.Whether that was as his wife or something else didn’t matter.
Only one question gnawed at her now.
How?
She didn’t know how to do any of that.And she felt lost.Alone.
The bell at the front door chimed.In all her time here at the manor, she had never heard the bell, nor did she know one existed.
Victoria headed to the front door, dropping her pages and the journal on the foyer table.She pulled the door open to find a young man on the stoop, eyes wide and wary.
“Are you Miss Ravenwood?”he asked.
“I am.”
“I was told to deliver this to you.”He pushed an envelope into her hand, folded and sealed with an unfamiliar sigil.
Before she could thank him, he bobbed a quick bow and scurried off, as though his feet were on fire.Likely he had heard the rumors of the haunted manor and did not want to tempt fate.
She closed the door, breaking the seal as she walked back the foyer table.The moment her eyes found the familiar script, her chest tightened.
Her aunt.
The letter was excessively polite, but there was something sharp beneath the gentle phrasing.Lord Charles had business in Crown Hollow, so they returned first thing that morning.They would not, unfortunately, be making another visit to Ravenfell.
Victoria read between the lines.Her aunt was displeased.Disappointed.And perhaps finished with her.
With precision, she refolded the letter, the weight of unspoken meaning pressing through her.No invitation to return to Crown Hollow.No promise of future visits.A door closed, quietly but firmly.
Her dread of having to face her aunt again dissipated, melting away like Spring snow.Now that she was gone, Victoria was free to make her own choices.Free to seek answers and face Gabriel without her interference.
Free to stay.
She headed to her room where she deposited the journal, the papers, and the letter from her aunt on the dressing table.Fatigue hit her, hard and fast, after her long night in the study.She kicked off her shoes and laid on the bed.Moments later, she was asleep.
The dream came.
A memory, long-buried.Now resurfaced.
Her parents were alive.She was a child again.And they were living in Ravenfell.It was late at night.Her mother woke her from a deep sleep.
“Wake up, Victoria,” she said with a gentle nudge.“We have to leave.”
“Where are we going?”She rubbed her eyes as she peered up at her mother, yawning.
But in the darkness, there was another figure.Not her mother.Not her father.Someone else.A woman.With dark hair and black eyes.She had seen the figure once before.Then she was not afraid.Now, she was.
Her mother’s breath shuddered out between her lips.She gasped, reached for Victoria’s hand and tugged her out of bed.Victoria slid out of the bed, her feet on the cold floor.And there, the ghost woman watched.
“Abner!”Her mother’s voice was sharp, fearful.
He stood in the doorway of her room, the light from the hallway pressing against his back and making him nothing more than a silhouette.He waved them forward with urgency.Her mother, holding her hand, hurried from the room practically dragging her.
But Victoria glanced back and saw the ghost woman still there.Watching.Waiting.
