Page 47 of When Bones Whisper
Black, half-melted candles flickered to life from the windowsills, casting shadows over the moonlit glass.
Charlotte’s words came out in a long breath. “This is a bad idea.”
“We will be okay,” Katherine replied, tightening her grip. “They can’t hide from us when we’re in their realm.”
Charlotte’s eyes flicked to the door. “Or wecan’t hide from them.”
“They can always see us,” she stated, as if that made it any better. “This way we can see them too. Now, help me recite these words. You must use the correct inflections. Follow my lead. You are my anchor for the spell.”
“Isn’t there another way? I’m not sure I’m comfortable siphoning the dead.”
“No, unless you want to sacrifice a living person. Admittedly, that energy would be much stronger, but I am not in the mood to murder anyone tonight.”
“You jest, but you don’t understand.” Charlotte glanced over her shoulder as goosebumps spread over her arms. “The ghosts here have been haunting me since I arrived. I am certain they will see this as an invitation to get even closer to me.”
“Then stay close,” Katherine warned. “Now, empty your mind and think only of the words on the page.”
That was easy for her to say. Her mind was never calm. If it was, she’d be worried. At a minimum, there were at least three anxious thoughts swirling around in her head, along with some background noise that never stopped.
With a heavy breath, she tried to focus. The words all pulled together as they spoke them in unison.
“Permitte nos hunc mundum transire et in alterum ingredi. Velum quod nos separat solve, et spiritum nostrum a corpore separa donec cum mortuis simus.”
The tension left her body as the familiar pulse of power, from when she had been in the graveyard, shot outward from hercore and into the air. Tatters of gray fell around them like ribbons cut from a sheer curtain they couldn’t see until now.
The library shifted into a decayed monochrome version of itself. The wallpaper, which had just been luxurious gold and black damask, was now a muddy maroon that was peeling from the rectangular panels.
A cold draft whistled through the empty fireplace, sending soot swirling across the stone hearth. Katherine squeezed her fingers, and Charlotte turned her head to look at her. Even in the realm of the dead, her green eyes still shone brightly, while the rest of her outfit had faded into a deep, earthy brown.
A layer of mist covered the marble ground, coiling around their crossed legs. Charlotte coughed as a faint scent of decay and rotted wood crept into her nostrils.
“What do we do now?” Charlotte asked, her whisper bouncing off the walls around them in an echo.
With wide eyes, Katherine lifted a finger to her lips. Her lips parted and she mouthed the words,don’t speak.
They stood together, her knees cracking as she straightened her legs, and they stepped out of their bodies. Their breaths fogged the air, the icy chill creeping in from every side of the fog-soaked ground. The mahogany tables and cabinets were covered in dust and peeling varnish.
Katherine guided her toward the door and past the moth-eaten drapes that moved with no wind and worn shelves filled with the skeletal bindings of books. She glanced back before they walked through the door, staring at their still bodies, covered in an eerie, gray hue.
An icy gust bit at her fingertips, sinking deeper into her core, chilling her to the bone. Her body shook as she suppressed a shiver. With a deep, foggy breath, she followed Katherine into the endless, dark corridor.
Though the hallways were empty, except for the familiar oil portraits that adorned the walls, a feeling of being watched brushed against her senses. She glanced up at the painting depicting the man with a top hat. She’d walked past him several times, even stopping to stare once or twice, but this time was different. An awareness shone from his painted black pupils that made her skin crawl.
With a harsh tug, Katherine pulled Charlotte into an alcove just in time before a harsh, raspy breath sounded from the shadows of the corridor.
Footsteps echoed on the floorboards, the long shuffles growing closer with each step. Charlotte clapped a hand over her mouth, stifling the involuntary gasp threatening to escape.
Her stomach lurched, and her heart hammered frantically against her ribs.
The footsteps were closer now. Just feet away from where they were hiding.
Katherine’s lips were pulled between her teeth, her fingernails biting into Charlotte’s hand.
She hissed out a breath and yanked her hand away, rubbing her fingers over the crimson indents blooming on her skin.
As the spirit’s breath rattled from inches away, Charlotte braced herself to face the ghost from the reflection in the window,and the same who had chased her through the corridor that appeared out of nowhere. Her bottom lip quivered when she envisioned the spirit, with its long dark hair hanging wet around its face, and that too-wide grin filled with rotten teeth.
As the figure rounded the corner, Charlotte noticed her ashen skin and the dark circles under her dull-brown eyes. That ghost was not the one haunting her.
