Every Breath You Don't Take
October 28
Lester sat back and rubbed his eyes. “It would be great if someone would take the time to digitize all this so people could do a simple search on it,” he muttered. “Microfiche? Seriously?”
“Yes,” the professor agreed with a half-smile. “Though I doubt a newspaper this small has the budget to pay someone for the work.”
“I haven’t found anything beyond the initial reports that Bart Macy went missing. Have you?”
“No. As far as I can tell, he simply disappeared. The police seemed to believe at the time that he might have run away. Apparently they weren’t aware he was dead.”
“So this was a bust?”
“I’m afraid so. Let’s hope the others have found out more information than we’ve uncovered.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Caleb, darling, do sit down and quit making such a fuss. I’m sure it was an honest mistake.” Alicia Belden waved one carefully manicured hand in the air and shook her head slightly. “Honestly, girls,” she said in quieter tones. “One day that man is going to give himself a heart attack over some trifling thing, like the kitchen serving mashed potatoes instead of baked. Really! He gets himself worked up into these ridiculous states over nothing.” She reached out and picked up the plain, white teapot on their table and poured herself another cup, then added two sugar cubes.
“He does seem… upset,” Honey murmured diplomatically.
Trixie snorted softly at that. “The man’s blown a fuse. Who knew putting a lemon slice in a glass of water was such a big deal?”
“It’s a control issue,” Alicia said as she idly stirred her tea. “Men like Caleb, they want to control everything and everyone, I’m afraid. I once briefly dated an Englishman, Sir Alex Raven. He was like that. Needless to say, our relationship was short-lived, for all that he was an excellent lover. I’m sure he still remembers the sting of my riding crop!”
Trixie and Honey traded uncertain looks, not quite sure how to respond, but fortunately Alicia abruptly changed subjects. “Beatrix, dear, how is your mother? The last time we spoke, she was sounding a bit frazzled over some issue with Robert.”
“Um… she’s fine. There’s kinda always one issue or another going on with Bobby.”
“Yes. He does seem to be one of those kinds of children. I can’t quite imagine why. You and your other brothers aren’t so difficult.” She sipped at her drink and her expression became thoughtful. “Are we sure he’s Peter’s? Perhaps a different father would explain it?”
Honey’s eyes widened at both the insinuation behind the question and the completely casual way in which it was asked. She looked over at her friend, wondering what she was thinking.
Trixie supposed she should have been offended on her parents’ behalf, but she found herself fighting the urge to laugh instead. “No, Aunt Alicia. I’m pretty positive Bobby’s my full brother,” she said with a suppressed grin.
“Hmmm. Just an unfortunate combination in genes, I suppose. Oh, well. He’s still young. Perhaps he’ll improve as he matures. Well, girls, as nice as this visit is, I can’t imagine you came to see me on a school day without some particular reason?”
Trixie slowly nodded. “I’d like to… ask you some questions. About our family history.”
Alicia’s mildly curious expression sharpened. “I see.” She set down her cup and signaled to their waitress. “This sounds like it may be a conversation that would be better suited to a more private location. There are some old biddies here that spend all their time eavesdropping on others, hoping for a bit of gossip. We can go out and have a seat on the lawn. We’ll know then if anyone is close and attempting to listen in.”
After signing the check for their small meal, Alicia led Trixie and Honey out a side door and onto a wide veranda. “This is a lovely building and community,” Honey remarked as they walked down a short set of stairs and into a well-maintained formal garden.
Alicia nodded her head and smiled. “Yes. It costs a fortune, but a certain wealthy gentleman friend set me up before he died. His wife was furious, I’m told, but his will withstood her attempts to challenge it. She made some threats to go public and ‘ruin’ his memory for all his fans in the theater world, but apparently her children convinced her no one would be terribly surprised or even care.”
They found an available bench underneath a towering gray birch. Alicia fixed Trixie with a keen glance as she took a seat. “So, dearest, you have questions about the Beldens and have come to me rather than your father.”
“Yes. I… I’m not sure he’d even know the answers, or, if he did, whether he’d tell me.”
“Hmm. Peter’s a good man, but a little old-fashioned sometimes. Has the archaic notion that he needs to protect his family. Especially you and your mother.”
Trixie studied the older woman intently for a moment, then decided she might as well simply get straight to the matter. “What do you know about the pact your brother made with the Mundy family?”
Alicia’s brows quirked up. She opened her small handbag and removed a package of cigarettes and held it out to the girls. “No? Smoking has lost its popularity with the younger set. Pity.”
“Probably because of that whole nasty cancer thing,” Trixie pointed out dryly.
“A cigarette, particularly after a good romp in bed, is one of life’s little pleasures, Beatrix, darling. I’d rather go to an early grave than waste my entire life only pursuing those things deemed ‘good’ and ‘healthy’ for me.”
Honey kept her lips tightly pressed together, deciding it wasn’t worth adding her own thoughts to the conversation. In her opinion, the “nasty cancer thing,” was only a part of the problem. Cigarettes also tended to make smokers smell vile, as far as she was concerned, and she hoped the breeze was blowing enough to keep her downwind as Alicia lit hers and took a long drag.
“The pact,” the older woman said finally, her gaze becoming distant. “I haven’t even thought about that in years.”
“But you know about it?” Trixie prompted.
“Oh, yes. Of course. What a dreadful situation that was!”
“Did… did it have something to do with the death of Bartholomew Macy?”
“It had everything to do with it. Beatrix, are you absolutely certain you want to open this can of worms? Nothing good could possibly come of it.”
“The can’s already open, Auntie. At this point, it’s more like we’re trying to catch all the worms as they wiggle away.”
“Unfortunate.” Alicia held her cigarette to her lips for a moment and breathed deeply. “Very unfortunate,” she murmured.
“I know I’m a witch,” Trixie said flatly. “And… I can see dead people. There’s a ghost hanging out over there by the fish pond right now.”
“Is there really? I should imagine we’d have quite a few of them in a place like this.”
“So, you aren’t surprised by what I’m saying? You aren’t all, ‘Witches and ghosts? Impossible!’ or thinking I’m crazy?”
“Why should I be surprised or disbelieve you? You’ve asked me about the pact and alluded to trouble… It’s obvious you’ve learned the family secret.”
“Does my father know?”
Alicia sighed softly. “Only if he learned it on his own. Your grandfather swore he would never tell and made me promise the same.”
“Because of what happened? With Bart Macy?”
“Hmmm. It’s quite a story. Stella Macy and I were very close when we were schoolgirls. Inseparable. We had a pact of our own, actually. We swore we would never marry. We were never going to surrender our freedom to any man. It’s funny… really, how we did see that through. What I didn’t understand, at first, was that for Stella, her dislike of men extended beyond a general, early feminist quest for equality. I was young and sheltered and didn’t even know what a lesbian was at that time. People never spoke of that sort of thing back then.”
“Wait,” Trixie said, frowning. “But she has a son.”
“Yes. Dear, some people do sleep with members of the opposite sex, even though they’re typically attracted to their own, and vice versa. Stella took up with Philip’s father the summer I told her that I wasn’t interested in the kind of relationship she sought with me. She carried on with him for a few years, off and on.”
“So you know who Philip’s father was?”
“Oh, yes. He was some awful creature who fancied himself a musician and a poet. I can’t recall his first name off the top of my head. He was one of the Lisgard boys.”
“Lisgard? As in Lisgard House?”
“Yes. That rackety old place! What a monstrosity. That’s part of our family history, too, you know. Sarah and her husband. Old What’s-his-name Sligo…”
“Luke.”
“Luke Sligo. They had two children before he mysteriously died. When she was killed by the mob, the children were taken in by Sarah’s parents and raised as Beldens. We’re a direct line from the boy. The girl grew up and married a Lisgard. They took over the estate. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to live in the home where her mother was so brutally murdered, but our family lore says there was always something not quite right about Sarah’s daughter.”
“She was Luke’s. Sarah’s son wasn’t. John Mundy was his father, but he died while Sarah was pregnant and she married Luke.”
“Really! How on earth do you know that? And a Mundy of all things!”
“I saw it. In a dream. But I know it’s the truth.”
“Now, that is quite interesting,” Alicia said thoughtfully.
“We’ve been wondering what happened to that part of the family. So, Sarah’s daughter became a Lisgard, and they were in Sleepyside at least until one of them fathered Philip. We had no idea.”
“Well, that generation was the last of the Lisgards in Sleepyside. They moved away after that. Stella’s lover, the Lisgards’ middle boy… he was obsessed with witchcraft. He held these dreadful parties where he and his friends took some kind of hallucinogens and conducted séances. I really don’t know what exactly they thought to accomplish. I believe his friends all thought it was a joke and an excuse to get high and run around naked in the woods with young girls, but I know he fully believed in whatever it was he was trying to do. He got Stella interested in the so-called dark arts, too. Poor thing. There’s not an ounce of magical ability in her.”
“Really? Because, uh… I went to see her with a friend and she got angry and said she cursed us.”
Alicia tossed her head and laughed. “You needn’t worry on that score! The only curses Stella Macy is capable of hurling at anyone involve four-letter words. Not that she didn’t try her hardest.”
“That’s actually a relief,” Trixie admitted. “We weren’t really sure.”
“Humph. It’s all an act. She does have some people convinced she’s a psychic with an evil eye, but the truth is she’s as harmless as a puppy.”
“So what happened with her brother? What happened to Bart? We met his ghost and he said he was killed and then Stella claimed that our families were responsible. Uh, ours and the Mundys.”
Alicia breathed in and out for a moment. “That’s true,” she said quietly. “Your grandfather and Erik Mundy. They killed him.”
Trixie felt as if she’d been physically kicked. “My own grandfather was a murderer,” she whispered.
Alicia glanced at her sharply. “If you trace anyone’s history back far enough, they likely have at least one murderer in the family. There’s no sense getting hung up on that! In this case, though, it was entirely justified.”
“It was?”
“Stella Macy has no magic in her, but her brother was something else altogether.” Alicia shivered as she spoke. “When Stella’s lover realized this, he tried to use it to his advantage. The boy was only a teenager, but he had power. It was a power that was too easily corrupted, and together, they summoned… something. Something wholly evil. It possessed Bart. Consumed him. Your grandfather and Erik were able to defeat it by working together, but only just barely, and Bart was sacrificed in the process. After that? They vowed to set magic aside for good. They believed it was too dangerous to meddle with and so the pact was formed. The Lisgards moved away and Stella mostly withdrew from the public eye to raise her son.”
“But they defeated it?” Trixie pressed. “Whatever this evil was?”
“Yes. I don’t know all the details there. I wasn’t present that night at Lisgard House. Stella was, though, and a few others.”
“Could it come back? Could that evil return?”
“I… suppose. I’ve never much cared about our witch heritage. I’ve cast a few spells in my time, but generally, I prefer my wits over using magic to manipulate people or events. My understanding of it all is limited. Why do you ask? Beatrix, what have you gotten yourself into?”
“It’s insane, Auntie. We have a friend. Dan. He got a job working as caretaker at Lisgard House. Mart and I went over there with him at the beginning of the month and Mart found an old journal that belonged to Sarah and Dan found this weird amulet and-“
“You have Sarah’s journal and her amulet? Oh, my dear. I always agreed with my brother on this account. Some things really are too dangerous to mess around with.”
“It was an accident,” Trixie said defensively. “No one ever told us anything and we had no idea any of this was even real. Mart read some spell out loud and all of a sudden we could see dead people and… it’s just gotten crazier and crazier.”
“This is beginning to sound rather like what happens when parents foolishly believe if they never tell their children about drugs, they never have to worry about them experimenting,” Alicia murmured. “Perhaps if you hadn’t been kept in the dark, you would’ve been much more careful, hmmm?”
“We’ve seen Sarah. She’s appeared to us and she keeps warning us that evil is coming. Could it be… whatever it was that possessed Bart?”
“I would think it’s certainly possible.”
Panic gripped Trixie and she struggled to simply draw in a breath. “Aunt Alicia! What if it possesses one of us? Me or Mart or Dan? We don’t have any idea how to defeat it and I don’t want anyone to die!”
Alicia’s expression hardened. “Then we’ll have to do whatever we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You know, I’m beginning to think Vernon is purposely avoiding us,” Mart grumbled as he and Dan walked into the Lisgard library together. “And now you’re telling me that despite what he told me and Trixie, the professor actually does remember what happened to him and he was attacked when he tried to look in that trunk we found. Sarah says evil is coming. I may not get the… vibes Trixie does, but I’m starting to feel very much like we are on the brink of something very bad happening.”
“Yeah,” Dan muttered grimly. “Me, too.”
“Trixie told me she learned in her dream that Sarah was afraid of her husband. You remember I told you I thought she might be using some kind of code in her journal and that maybe it was in case someone else read it? Maybe that someone was Luke Sligo. Maybe she didn’t want him to know what she was writing.”
“That’s probably the most logical explanation. I guess maybe she could’ve been worried about a servant, too, but it’s very unlikely that a servant would’ve even dared to read her journals, so Luke seems like the most obvious choice.”
Mart walked over to stand before the wall of journal pages. “I think… I think the answer really may be here somewhere, only we’re not seeing it because we don’t understand Sarah’s code.”
Dan cocked his head and turned. “Someone’s here,” he muttered.
“Huh?”
“A vehicle just pulled up. Hang on.”
“Dan? Mart? Trixie?”
Dan stepped back into the foyer, a small frown furrowing his brow. “It sounds like Uncle Bill.”
Regan appeared moments later on the porch. A young, blond woman stood near his truck, looking up at the house. “There you are,” Regan said cheerfully. “We were wondering if you wanted to come to town with us for dinner? Melanie says she’d like to get the opportunity to know you better and I know we’ve both been so busy lately, we haven’t seen much of each other. Mart and Trixie can come along as well, if you like.”
“Uh, well, it’s just me and Mart right now. Trixie went with Honey to visit her aunt in White Plains.”
Regan turned and beckoned to the woman. “You want to come in and take a peek?” he called to her. “It’s a disaster, but you’ve told me how much you like old houses.”
“Oh, uh, maybe it’s not a good idea,” Dan began, “You know… for, uh, safety reasons? Maybe-”
Regan passed through the door and shook his head. “Don’t worry, Danny,” he said with a chuckle. “I saw enough of this place when we worked on it together. I’m not even entirely happy knowing you’re here every day. I won’t let Melanie go-“
With a bang that caused them both to jump, the front door slammed shut.
“Oh, crap!” Dan whirled toward the library. “Mart! Here we go again!”
Regan reached out and tugged on the doorknob. “What the hell?” he muttered. “It’s stuck.” He yanked hard but the door held.
“Bill?” a feminine voice called loudly. “Is something the matter?”
“Yeah! I guess the wind blew the door shut, but now I can’t open it. Dan? Where’d you go?”
“Uh… in here, Uncle Bill!”
Mart and Dan hurried into the foyer, looking around. “Do you see her?” Dan asked Mart urgently.
Mart shook his head. “No. And I don’t hear anything either,” he replied. “Do you? What is going on?”
Regan scowled at them both. “What are you talking about? See who? Melanie’s still outside.”
“Uh… yeah… it’s, um…” Dan cast about for any sort of reasonable explanation. His eyes came to rest on the large mirror and he froze, his breath lodging in his throat and seeming to stick there. The message reflected back at him was only two words but it was enough to make him feel as if his entire world had once again flipped completely over.
She’s here.
Lester sat back and rubbed his eyes. “It would be great if someone would take the time to digitize all this so people could do a simple search on it,” he muttered. “Microfiche? Seriously?”
“Yes,” the professor agreed with a half-smile. “Though I doubt a newspaper this small has the budget to pay someone for the work.”
“I haven’t found anything beyond the initial reports that Bart Macy went missing. Have you?”
“No. As far as I can tell, he simply disappeared. The police seemed to believe at the time that he might have run away. Apparently they weren’t aware he was dead.”
“So this was a bust?”
“I’m afraid so. Let’s hope the others have found out more information than we’ve uncovered.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Caleb, darling, do sit down and quit making such a fuss. I’m sure it was an honest mistake.” Alicia Belden waved one carefully manicured hand in the air and shook her head slightly. “Honestly, girls,” she said in quieter tones. “One day that man is going to give himself a heart attack over some trifling thing, like the kitchen serving mashed potatoes instead of baked. Really! He gets himself worked up into these ridiculous states over nothing.” She reached out and picked up the plain, white teapot on their table and poured herself another cup, then added two sugar cubes.
“He does seem… upset,” Honey murmured diplomatically.
Trixie snorted softly at that. “The man’s blown a fuse. Who knew putting a lemon slice in a glass of water was such a big deal?”
“It’s a control issue,” Alicia said as she idly stirred her tea. “Men like Caleb, they want to control everything and everyone, I’m afraid. I once briefly dated an Englishman, Sir Alex Raven. He was like that. Needless to say, our relationship was short-lived, for all that he was an excellent lover. I’m sure he still remembers the sting of my riding crop!”
Trixie and Honey traded uncertain looks, not quite sure how to respond, but fortunately Alicia abruptly changed subjects. “Beatrix, dear, how is your mother? The last time we spoke, she was sounding a bit frazzled over some issue with Robert.”
“Um… she’s fine. There’s kinda always one issue or another going on with Bobby.”
“Yes. He does seem to be one of those kinds of children. I can’t quite imagine why. You and your other brothers aren’t so difficult.” She sipped at her drink and her expression became thoughtful. “Are we sure he’s Peter’s? Perhaps a different father would explain it?”
Honey’s eyes widened at both the insinuation behind the question and the completely casual way in which it was asked. She looked over at her friend, wondering what she was thinking.
Trixie supposed she should have been offended on her parents’ behalf, but she found herself fighting the urge to laugh instead. “No, Aunt Alicia. I’m pretty positive Bobby’s my full brother,” she said with a suppressed grin.
“Hmmm. Just an unfortunate combination in genes, I suppose. Oh, well. He’s still young. Perhaps he’ll improve as he matures. Well, girls, as nice as this visit is, I can’t imagine you came to see me on a school day without some particular reason?”
Trixie slowly nodded. “I’d like to… ask you some questions. About our family history.”
Alicia’s mildly curious expression sharpened. “I see.” She set down her cup and signaled to their waitress. “This sounds like it may be a conversation that would be better suited to a more private location. There are some old biddies here that spend all their time eavesdropping on others, hoping for a bit of gossip. We can go out and have a seat on the lawn. We’ll know then if anyone is close and attempting to listen in.”
After signing the check for their small meal, Alicia led Trixie and Honey out a side door and onto a wide veranda. “This is a lovely building and community,” Honey remarked as they walked down a short set of stairs and into a well-maintained formal garden.
Alicia nodded her head and smiled. “Yes. It costs a fortune, but a certain wealthy gentleman friend set me up before he died. His wife was furious, I’m told, but his will withstood her attempts to challenge it. She made some threats to go public and ‘ruin’ his memory for all his fans in the theater world, but apparently her children convinced her no one would be terribly surprised or even care.”
They found an available bench underneath a towering gray birch. Alicia fixed Trixie with a keen glance as she took a seat. “So, dearest, you have questions about the Beldens and have come to me rather than your father.”
“Yes. I… I’m not sure he’d even know the answers, or, if he did, whether he’d tell me.”
“Hmm. Peter’s a good man, but a little old-fashioned sometimes. Has the archaic notion that he needs to protect his family. Especially you and your mother.”
Trixie studied the older woman intently for a moment, then decided she might as well simply get straight to the matter. “What do you know about the pact your brother made with the Mundy family?”
Alicia’s brows quirked up. She opened her small handbag and removed a package of cigarettes and held it out to the girls. “No? Smoking has lost its popularity with the younger set. Pity.”
“Probably because of that whole nasty cancer thing,” Trixie pointed out dryly.
“A cigarette, particularly after a good romp in bed, is one of life’s little pleasures, Beatrix, darling. I’d rather go to an early grave than waste my entire life only pursuing those things deemed ‘good’ and ‘healthy’ for me.”
Honey kept her lips tightly pressed together, deciding it wasn’t worth adding her own thoughts to the conversation. In her opinion, the “nasty cancer thing,” was only a part of the problem. Cigarettes also tended to make smokers smell vile, as far as she was concerned, and she hoped the breeze was blowing enough to keep her downwind as Alicia lit hers and took a long drag.
“The pact,” the older woman said finally, her gaze becoming distant. “I haven’t even thought about that in years.”
“But you know about it?” Trixie prompted.
“Oh, yes. Of course. What a dreadful situation that was!”
“Did… did it have something to do with the death of Bartholomew Macy?”
“It had everything to do with it. Beatrix, are you absolutely certain you want to open this can of worms? Nothing good could possibly come of it.”
“The can’s already open, Auntie. At this point, it’s more like we’re trying to catch all the worms as they wiggle away.”
“Unfortunate.” Alicia held her cigarette to her lips for a moment and breathed deeply. “Very unfortunate,” she murmured.
“I know I’m a witch,” Trixie said flatly. “And… I can see dead people. There’s a ghost hanging out over there by the fish pond right now.”
“Is there really? I should imagine we’d have quite a few of them in a place like this.”
“So, you aren’t surprised by what I’m saying? You aren’t all, ‘Witches and ghosts? Impossible!’ or thinking I’m crazy?”
“Why should I be surprised or disbelieve you? You’ve asked me about the pact and alluded to trouble… It’s obvious you’ve learned the family secret.”
“Does my father know?”
Alicia sighed softly. “Only if he learned it on his own. Your grandfather swore he would never tell and made me promise the same.”
“Because of what happened? With Bart Macy?”
“Hmmm. It’s quite a story. Stella Macy and I were very close when we were schoolgirls. Inseparable. We had a pact of our own, actually. We swore we would never marry. We were never going to surrender our freedom to any man. It’s funny… really, how we did see that through. What I didn’t understand, at first, was that for Stella, her dislike of men extended beyond a general, early feminist quest for equality. I was young and sheltered and didn’t even know what a lesbian was at that time. People never spoke of that sort of thing back then.”
“Wait,” Trixie said, frowning. “But she has a son.”
“Yes. Dear, some people do sleep with members of the opposite sex, even though they’re typically attracted to their own, and vice versa. Stella took up with Philip’s father the summer I told her that I wasn’t interested in the kind of relationship she sought with me. She carried on with him for a few years, off and on.”
“So you know who Philip’s father was?”
“Oh, yes. He was some awful creature who fancied himself a musician and a poet. I can’t recall his first name off the top of my head. He was one of the Lisgard boys.”
“Lisgard? As in Lisgard House?”
“Yes. That rackety old place! What a monstrosity. That’s part of our family history, too, you know. Sarah and her husband. Old What’s-his-name Sligo…”
“Luke.”
“Luke Sligo. They had two children before he mysteriously died. When she was killed by the mob, the children were taken in by Sarah’s parents and raised as Beldens. We’re a direct line from the boy. The girl grew up and married a Lisgard. They took over the estate. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to live in the home where her mother was so brutally murdered, but our family lore says there was always something not quite right about Sarah’s daughter.”
“She was Luke’s. Sarah’s son wasn’t. John Mundy was his father, but he died while Sarah was pregnant and she married Luke.”
“Really! How on earth do you know that? And a Mundy of all things!”
“I saw it. In a dream. But I know it’s the truth.”
“Now, that is quite interesting,” Alicia said thoughtfully.
“We’ve been wondering what happened to that part of the family. So, Sarah’s daughter became a Lisgard, and they were in Sleepyside at least until one of them fathered Philip. We had no idea.”
“Well, that generation was the last of the Lisgards in Sleepyside. They moved away after that. Stella’s lover, the Lisgards’ middle boy… he was obsessed with witchcraft. He held these dreadful parties where he and his friends took some kind of hallucinogens and conducted séances. I really don’t know what exactly they thought to accomplish. I believe his friends all thought it was a joke and an excuse to get high and run around naked in the woods with young girls, but I know he fully believed in whatever it was he was trying to do. He got Stella interested in the so-called dark arts, too. Poor thing. There’s not an ounce of magical ability in her.”
“Really? Because, uh… I went to see her with a friend and she got angry and said she cursed us.”
Alicia tossed her head and laughed. “You needn’t worry on that score! The only curses Stella Macy is capable of hurling at anyone involve four-letter words. Not that she didn’t try her hardest.”
“That’s actually a relief,” Trixie admitted. “We weren’t really sure.”
“Humph. It’s all an act. She does have some people convinced she’s a psychic with an evil eye, but the truth is she’s as harmless as a puppy.”
“So what happened with her brother? What happened to Bart? We met his ghost and he said he was killed and then Stella claimed that our families were responsible. Uh, ours and the Mundys.”
Alicia breathed in and out for a moment. “That’s true,” she said quietly. “Your grandfather and Erik Mundy. They killed him.”
Trixie felt as if she’d been physically kicked. “My own grandfather was a murderer,” she whispered.
Alicia glanced at her sharply. “If you trace anyone’s history back far enough, they likely have at least one murderer in the family. There’s no sense getting hung up on that! In this case, though, it was entirely justified.”
“It was?”
“Stella Macy has no magic in her, but her brother was something else altogether.” Alicia shivered as she spoke. “When Stella’s lover realized this, he tried to use it to his advantage. The boy was only a teenager, but he had power. It was a power that was too easily corrupted, and together, they summoned… something. Something wholly evil. It possessed Bart. Consumed him. Your grandfather and Erik were able to defeat it by working together, but only just barely, and Bart was sacrificed in the process. After that? They vowed to set magic aside for good. They believed it was too dangerous to meddle with and so the pact was formed. The Lisgards moved away and Stella mostly withdrew from the public eye to raise her son.”
“But they defeated it?” Trixie pressed. “Whatever this evil was?”
“Yes. I don’t know all the details there. I wasn’t present that night at Lisgard House. Stella was, though, and a few others.”
“Could it come back? Could that evil return?”
“I… suppose. I’ve never much cared about our witch heritage. I’ve cast a few spells in my time, but generally, I prefer my wits over using magic to manipulate people or events. My understanding of it all is limited. Why do you ask? Beatrix, what have you gotten yourself into?”
“It’s insane, Auntie. We have a friend. Dan. He got a job working as caretaker at Lisgard House. Mart and I went over there with him at the beginning of the month and Mart found an old journal that belonged to Sarah and Dan found this weird amulet and-“
“You have Sarah’s journal and her amulet? Oh, my dear. I always agreed with my brother on this account. Some things really are too dangerous to mess around with.”
“It was an accident,” Trixie said defensively. “No one ever told us anything and we had no idea any of this was even real. Mart read some spell out loud and all of a sudden we could see dead people and… it’s just gotten crazier and crazier.”
“This is beginning to sound rather like what happens when parents foolishly believe if they never tell their children about drugs, they never have to worry about them experimenting,” Alicia murmured. “Perhaps if you hadn’t been kept in the dark, you would’ve been much more careful, hmmm?”
“We’ve seen Sarah. She’s appeared to us and she keeps warning us that evil is coming. Could it be… whatever it was that possessed Bart?”
“I would think it’s certainly possible.”
Panic gripped Trixie and she struggled to simply draw in a breath. “Aunt Alicia! What if it possesses one of us? Me or Mart or Dan? We don’t have any idea how to defeat it and I don’t want anyone to die!”
Alicia’s expression hardened. “Then we’ll have to do whatever we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You know, I’m beginning to think Vernon is purposely avoiding us,” Mart grumbled as he and Dan walked into the Lisgard library together. “And now you’re telling me that despite what he told me and Trixie, the professor actually does remember what happened to him and he was attacked when he tried to look in that trunk we found. Sarah says evil is coming. I may not get the… vibes Trixie does, but I’m starting to feel very much like we are on the brink of something very bad happening.”
“Yeah,” Dan muttered grimly. “Me, too.”
“Trixie told me she learned in her dream that Sarah was afraid of her husband. You remember I told you I thought she might be using some kind of code in her journal and that maybe it was in case someone else read it? Maybe that someone was Luke Sligo. Maybe she didn’t want him to know what she was writing.”
“That’s probably the most logical explanation. I guess maybe she could’ve been worried about a servant, too, but it’s very unlikely that a servant would’ve even dared to read her journals, so Luke seems like the most obvious choice.”
Mart walked over to stand before the wall of journal pages. “I think… I think the answer really may be here somewhere, only we’re not seeing it because we don’t understand Sarah’s code.”
Dan cocked his head and turned. “Someone’s here,” he muttered.
“Huh?”
“A vehicle just pulled up. Hang on.”
“Dan? Mart? Trixie?”
Dan stepped back into the foyer, a small frown furrowing his brow. “It sounds like Uncle Bill.”
Regan appeared moments later on the porch. A young, blond woman stood near his truck, looking up at the house. “There you are,” Regan said cheerfully. “We were wondering if you wanted to come to town with us for dinner? Melanie says she’d like to get the opportunity to know you better and I know we’ve both been so busy lately, we haven’t seen much of each other. Mart and Trixie can come along as well, if you like.”
“Uh, well, it’s just me and Mart right now. Trixie went with Honey to visit her aunt in White Plains.”
Regan turned and beckoned to the woman. “You want to come in and take a peek?” he called to her. “It’s a disaster, but you’ve told me how much you like old houses.”
“Oh, uh, maybe it’s not a good idea,” Dan began, “You know… for, uh, safety reasons? Maybe-”
Regan passed through the door and shook his head. “Don’t worry, Danny,” he said with a chuckle. “I saw enough of this place when we worked on it together. I’m not even entirely happy knowing you’re here every day. I won’t let Melanie go-“
With a bang that caused them both to jump, the front door slammed shut.
“Oh, crap!” Dan whirled toward the library. “Mart! Here we go again!”
Regan reached out and tugged on the doorknob. “What the hell?” he muttered. “It’s stuck.” He yanked hard but the door held.
“Bill?” a feminine voice called loudly. “Is something the matter?”
“Yeah! I guess the wind blew the door shut, but now I can’t open it. Dan? Where’d you go?”
“Uh… in here, Uncle Bill!”
Mart and Dan hurried into the foyer, looking around. “Do you see her?” Dan asked Mart urgently.
Mart shook his head. “No. And I don’t hear anything either,” he replied. “Do you? What is going on?”
Regan scowled at them both. “What are you talking about? See who? Melanie’s still outside.”
“Uh… yeah… it’s, um…” Dan cast about for any sort of reasonable explanation. His eyes came to rest on the large mirror and he froze, his breath lodging in his throat and seeming to stick there. The message reflected back at him was only two words but it was enough to make him feel as if his entire world had once again flipped completely over.
She’s here.