Page 19 of Black Willow Witch
After a long walk down a hallway, Emberlyn arrived at her destination. She swung open the door. And sighed, her shoulders slumping. It was empty. Nothing that had once remained of her room was here. ‘Millicent probably burned it all,’ she mumbled.
‘Uh . . . Emberlyn?’
The odd note in Paisley’s tone had Emberlyn snapping her gaze to her friend. ‘What is it?’
Paisley didn’t look at her, but focused on the end of the hallway. ‘We ain’t alone.’
‘What?’ Kage tracked his sister’s gaze, swore beneath his breath and then pointedly looked away. ‘I don’t see dead people, I don’t see dead people, I don’t see dead people.’
‘You’retotallyseeing a dead person.’
Peering down the hallway, Emberlyn noticed a partly transparent dark-haired woman in an old-fashioned blue gown, pointing at a certain door. She smiled. ‘Don’t worry, that’s just Betty. She’s one of the nice ones.’
‘Niceones?’ repeated Kage. ‘So there are bad ones? Hey, you never said this place was haunted.’
‘Because it isn’t,’ Emberlyn told him. ‘Mostly. Some ghosts do hang around, but none are bad. It’s theothersthat you have to watch out for.’
‘Expand,’ he urged.
‘Millicent summoned many dark entities. Whenever Betty told me to hide, I’d know that Millicent was up to somethingnotso good. I’d head straight to my room, and the house’s magickwould keep any entities out. Though they left shortly after being summoned, some were able to return via whatever rip she made in the veil between our realm and theirs.’
As they began walking down the hall toward Betty, the spirit faded from sight.
‘So this house, amazing though it is, wasn’t always a safe place to be for you growing up,’ Kage surmised.
Stopping in front of the last door in the hall, Emberlyn confirmed, ‘No, it wasn’t.’
‘What is this room?’ asked Paisley.
‘The master.’ Emberlyn twisted the knob, pushed open the door and stepped inside. She double-blinked, caught off-guard.
‘Ooh, I love all the different shades of deep purple with splashes of teal,’ said Paisley as she pushed past her. ‘It gives the room a moody, witchy look. Totally. Adoring. The vibe.’
‘Look, there’s a reading nook built into the turret,’ Kage said to his sister. ‘My God, the woman had alotof books.’
Paisley gasped in delight. ‘Aw, there’s a little velvet footstool and built-in sofa in the nook – I could sit here for hours and justbe. Oh, and those silk drapes are fabulous.’
‘They are,’ Emberlyn said absently, skimming her fingers over the weathered French dresser. It was constructed of the same rose wood as that of the nightstand, wardrobe, four poster bed and dressing table.
Moving further into the room, she ran her gaze over the nearby shelf. A gold candlestick stood either end of it, bordering a collection of crystals, stones and ornaments.
Kage sank onto the chaise longue that was propped up against the foot of the bed. ‘Your grandmother had good taste.’
Emberlyn lightly fingered the pearl earrings sitting on a gold trinket dish on the nightstand. ‘This is my stuff.’
‘What?’ he asked, smoothing a hand over the elegant lacy bedding.
‘This is my stuff. All of it. The furnishings and knickknacks, I mean.’
Paisley turned away from the ornate cheval mirror. ‘You’re saying Millicent moved your things in here?’
‘No doubt using magick, yes.’ Emberlyn let her gaze touch on the glass-art lamp that she’d wanted to take with her when she moved out. Millicent had refused to allow it. ‘It belongs to the house, not you,’ she’d said.
Kage sat up. ‘That’s crazy. And confusing. Unless she knew her time was almost up.’
‘By the looks of it, she did.’
‘Maybe she foresaw it,’ Paisley suggested.
