Happily Never After (18 page)

Pain erased most of the thoughts from my head
but I was aware of the fear. Whenever Catherine attacked me, I
feared in my heart that it would be the last time. Twice now, I'd
said my goodbyes and made peace with the death drawing close.
Something always stopped it. I was afraid this really was the last
time. I was also afraid it wasn’t and I’d have to wait for the next
attack. I was afraid the relentless scorching of the invisible
flames would chase away my sanity.

Through the fog of my waning consciousness I
saw the shape of Catherine, vaguely human in form, coming at
me.

This is finally it, I thought.

I said goodbye to Jason in my head as the
shadow moved to envelope me.

It didn’t have a chance.

A bright light burst into the room, same as
before. The pain let up slightly and I knew Margaret was there.
Catherine was forced back into a corner but she didn’t stay
there.

She must have gained power since the first
time because she merely gathered herself back up and came at me
again. I worried Margaret didn’t have the energy to hold her back
twice and the tiny spark of hope I had of getting out alive,
faded.

This time, the shadow came up short. My
thoughts clouded over as excruciating pain sliced through my body.
On my left, I detected someone else in the room.

Jackson.

Little by little, the burning faded and the
wind died down to a heavy breeze. I dropped to my knees and curled
up, wrapping my arms around myself protectively.

Jackson walked into the room and stopped in
front of me, blocking Catherine’s advance. I watched as her shadow
pulled itself together into the shape of a woman. Briefly, I wished
I knew what she looked like. I got a sense of long flowing brown
hair, but it disappeared as quick as it came.

“Catherine, you cannot do this.” The soft
voice of a young man echoed on the breeze.

A quiet sob burst out. “Jackson,
darling.”

He cut her off. “You must stop. This isn’t
you. The woman I loved more than life itself would not kill an
innocent girl.”

I was familiar enough with Catherine’s moods
to realize that ticked her off.

“How dare you stand there and judge me,” she
snapped. “You can’t begin to imagine what I had to endure. No one
cared at all about what he did to me.”

Jackson took a hesitant step towards her. “I
would give anything to change our past, you know that.”

“I died trying to run away to meet you. He
caught me and beat me and dumped me in the river like trash. You
told me you’d protect me. You told me you’d take me away from
him!”

I wondered if this was the first time they
were speaking of the tragic events surrounding her death. Their
spirits appeared to exist under the same roof for so long. Were
they aware of each other? Was this the first time Jackson was able
to communicate with her? It made me sad for some reason.

“Sweetheart, I would have killed him to save
you. I would’ve gladly given my life for yours, but that has
nothing to do with Quinn. She is an innocent.”

The breeze picked up again and I felt her try
to force him out of the room. Jackson did not move which only made
her more irate. Once again, the house vibrated with her power and I
believed it would come crashing down. Jackson stood his ground,
though.

Catherine screamed in frustration and
abruptly, everything stopped. The silence was deafening. By the
time I realized it was over, all I saw was Marietta walking out of
the room, staring vacantly ahead.

But I heard Catherine’s voice in my head.
This is far from over. You will pay for this!

Great, now she probably thinks her guy picked
me over her. Not a good sign.

I glanced in the direction of Jackson,
finally getting a good look at him. He was gorgeous.

His dark blond hair curled around the edges
of his Confederate hat and even though he was a mere spirit, his
blue eyes stood out from a chiseled face. He also had a few days
worth of stubble and holes in his uniform. I could see why
Catherine fell so hard for him.

I had to have been in shock to even notice
something that foolish after what happened.

Jackson’s spirit faded dimmer and dimmer as I
sensed him kneel down beside me. An intense wave of calmness rolled
over me. My thoughts cleared, giving me the chance to double check
whether or not I’d actually been on fire.

When I felt strong enough to stand, I got a
good look at the dining room. Or what was left of it. The glass
doors of the hutch were busted and so was every piece of heirloom
china inside of it. Glass shards scattered the floor and the
hundred year old dining room table lay shattered in hundreds of
pieces.

I gaped at it in wonder, trying to figure out
how I would ever explain this to anyone.

Then, I remembered Jackson. I turned in his
direction. He seemed heartbroken.

“I can’t ever begin to thank you.”

He nodded sullenly and walked out of the
destroyed room.

Exhaustion picked that moment to come
crashing down on me and I swayed on my feet. Every single ounce of
energy was gone from my body. Instead of trudging up to my bed, I
went to the broom closet to try to start cleaning up the mess.

Chapter Twenty-Five

I was sitting at the breakfast bar with a
bowl of cereal when Anna came in and plucked an apple from the
fruit bowl. Instead of turning and leaving as I wanted her to, she
leaned against the counter across from me.

With my spoon halfway to my mouth, I sat
frozen, waiting for whatever would come next.

She looked at the door to the kitchen, as if
making sure we were alone and asked, “Have you noticed anything
weird about my mom lately?”

I looked in her troubled blue eyes and
sighed. This was not a conversation I wanted to be having with her,
mostly because she’d never believe me. The other reason was because
I didn’t need anyone else involved or in danger.

“Not really. What do you mean, Anna?” I saw
she didn’t believe me and I didn’t blame her. My lie sounded very
unconvincing.

She moved closer to me. “I know you read a
lot of books on ghosts. I’ve seen you with them. I think something
is messing with her, something in this house.”

Her voice reflected how uncomfortable she was
talking to me. It took me by complete surprise. I had no clue how I
was going to dodge or even explain this one. Before I could reply,
she spoke again.

“You don’t have anything to do with it, do
you? I mean, Suzie has convinced herself you can do stuff like
that, but not me. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt
here.”

I stared into my cereal bowl and thought over
what to say. Anna was coming to me for help. Maybe she could be
open minded enough to hear some of it. No way would I ever tell her
all of it.

“What have you noticed?” I asked her.

“She’s not there anymore. She forgets things
and sometimes won’t even recognize us. Then, sometimes,” she looked
very nervous. “Sometimes I see this shadow behind her. I don’t know
how to explain it. She even disappears for hours and we can’t find
her. Then, there was whatever happened in the dining room
yesterday. You cleaned it up, but she didn’t even bat an eye. The
table and dishes were old, the kind of thing she keeps track of.
That’s not how she would have normally reacted.”

It was sobering to hear Anna talk about what
was going on with Marietta. The fact that she could see the shadow
surprised me, too. She must be more open-minded than I ever gave
her credit for. As far as what happened yesterday in the dining
room, Anna was right. Marietta should have blown a gasket at that.
In fact, all morning I’d been waiting for it.

I pushed my cereal bowl away, trying to come
up with the best way to talk to her. “I can at least tell you it’s
not the house.”

“How?”

“Look, I’d love to talk to you about this,
but I’m afraid you’re only going to use it against me as
usual.”

Anna took a step forward as she said, “We’ve
done some awful things to you and maybe one day we can talk about
that, but this isn’t about you or me. It’s about my mom.”

I wanted to believe her so badly. If Travis’s
plan didn’t work, Anna and Suzie had a right to hear about how it
would affect them. Whether or not they saw the truth in it was up
to them.

“I think I know what’s going on but I need
you to be open minded. You’ve lived in this house long enough to
know that there are spirits still living here. I’m sure you’ve
heard them before.”

“You mean the doors slamming and the
footsteps and the shadows?”

“Yes. What they do might be annoying but it’s
never anything mean or harmful to you guys.” I paused and had
second thoughts about how much to say. “But there are spirits or
ghosts who are malicious and want to do harm. I strongly believe
one of those spirits has some kind of um, influence on
Marietta.”

“What exactly do you mean by ‘influence’?”
Her face paled and her eyes widened in fear.

I took my cereal bowl over to the sink and
leaned against the counter next to her. “I mean some kind of
possession.”

I thought she was going to pass out as the
implication of what I said sank in. She struggled to speak and I
saw her fighting tears.

“Like the Exorcist?” She finally squeaked
out.

“No, no, nothing like that. That was a
demonic possession. A demonic entity can possess a person but so
can a spirit, a ghost. The shadow you mentioned, I think it’s what
controls her at times. Can you tell me anything more specific about
what you’ve noticed?”

She sniffed and wiped her eyes. “I’ve noticed
it for a while now but always thought it was something temporary.
It’s gotten much worse lately. The salon called the other day to
see if she would be in. Apparently, mom hadn’t been in for three
days. She forgets about the pageant and though it sounds selfish, I
don’t mean it that way. Mom had this timetable and schedule of when
our costumes and stuff needed to be done. You know how she was, one
of those over-involved pageant moms. Now she doesn’t even care,
even though I’m only doing it for her and Suzie.”

Her words intrigued me. She always seemed as
excited about the pageant as Suzie. I never would have imagined it
was all a front. I wondered what else about Anna I’d incorrectly
assumed.

“The shadow around her gives me the creeps.
She gets this vacant look in her eyes, like she doesn’t see me
standing in front of her. There are times I don’t even recognize
her. That shadow thing is cold and,” she searched for the word,
“vengeful. It wants to hurt someone.”

“Do you believe that, Anna?”

“How can I not? You said it yourself, it’s
hard to live here and not notice there’s more going on. If you
repeat that to anyone, you’ll be sorry. Now please, tell me what is
going on.”

“The spirit controlling your mama is named
Catherine Roberts. She is one of my ancestors, forced to marry a
bad man who killed her and dumped her in the river. Catherine
blames her family and in turn, blames me. She wants the life she
was denied and to end the Roberts family with me.”

“By ending your family with you, do you mean
to kill you?” I nodded. “So basically, all this is your fault.”

“No, it’s not my fault. I didn’t ask for
this,” I said heatedly. “Catherine has tried to kill me three times
already. I’m terrified that the next time will be the last. If
anything, it’s Marietta’s fault for inviting this thing in.”

“What do you mean? She would never do
that.”

“With this kind of possession she did.
Catherine must have offered Marietta something tempting in return
for her help. In all fairness, I don’t think your mama had any idea
what she would be getting herself into. Catherine is strong because
she feeds off Marietta. I’m worried about how much more she can
take. Catherine grows stronger every day.”

Tears streamed down Anna’s face. I wanted to
offer her some comfort but the thought of it exhausted me.

“How do we help her?” she asked.

“I’m working on that. I've talked to a
paranormal investigator who says he can help rid Marietta of
Catherine’s spirit. We have to lure her to where the grave is.
Regardless of what you think of me, I want to help Marietta.”

“Quinn, I’ve been really hateful toward you
all these years. It’s a little late to ask for any kind of
forgiveness but know that I did feel bad about it, most of the
time. I get caught up in being this person, especially in school
and it’s impossible to get out. I’m not strong like you are.”

“I’m not as strong as you think,” I said as I
laughed ironically. “I’m scared to death about all of this. Believe
me when I say I wish I could run away from here and never look
back. But I can’t do that to Marietta.”

She was quiet for a while. “How did it try to
kill you, Quinn?”

“Which time?” I tried to joke with her about
it, but all I saw were her eyes widened in fear. Probably not the
best approach to take with her. “The first time Catherine strangled
me somehow. I felt the fingers on my neck but it was only shadow.
Next, she tried to bury me alive or at least give me the illusion I
was being buried alive. Yesterday, she came at me in the dining
room but one of the other ghosts intervened.”

It was a lot for her to process and I
instantly regretted saying anything.

“So that’s what happened to the table?”

I nodded, surprised. Apparently she believed
me.

“Let me help.” Anna said with a new
determination in her eyes.

“Help with what?”

“With Mom, I want to be there. Maybe it will
give her more to fight for. It makes sense, right?”

She surprised me again. I was lost in this
alternate universe where Anna and I were equals, maybe even
friends. I considered her idea and saw the sense in it. Marietta
loved her girls. It might be the right thing to compel her to
fight.