Dae's Christmas Past (14 page)

“I hardly think so. As to why ye’re here, that might be any man’s guess. I assure you, madam, that I am very much alive, and so are you.”

I scrambled to my feet. “You’re not alive. You’re a ghost. That has to mean that I’m dead too. But why am I dead here?”

“Ye’re beginning to sound a bit mad. What makes ye think that I’m dead?”

“Because I’m your great-great-grandniece, Dae O’ Donnell. We can’t be alive at the same time. You were dead a long time before I was born, remember? You wanted me to clear your name because you were hanged for being a pirate, but you hadn’t done anything illegal.”

He stood up straight, towering over me, his hands on his hips. His flinty eyes stared into mine. “I think ye’d best be leavin’. This here beach might not be big enough for the two of us. Off you go. I don’t like killing women as a rule, even the mad ones.”

“I can’t leave. Where would I go? I don’t belong here. I’m from the future. It’s not like I can stay in this time.” I considered what I was saying. “Unless this is heaven—or the other place. Either way, I’m not going anywhere until I figure it out. Where are we supposed to be?”

“It’s not where we’re supposed to be, lass. It’s where we are. This is the edge of the Carolinas that falls into the sea. There’s nowhere to go from here—especially if ye’re like me and ye have a price on yer head.”

I studied him closely. I’d been wrong at my first glance at him. This was a younger version of my ancestor than the ghost that had visited me. He was probably still in his pirate days. He looked lean and mean, doubtless waiting for his crew to come and get him after he’d finished burying his treasure.

“I can see I made a mistake.” I made a little curtsey to him. “You aren’t the man I thought you were. Good day to you, sir.”

“Ye wait up there. Ye seemed so certain of who I was just a moment ago. I believe ye know who I am now. I can’t let ye leave after all. A man like me can’t be too careful.” His cutlass slid out of the scabbard hanging from his belt.

I glanced at the rock formation behind him. It was the rocky outcropping that was shaped like a duck. I was right about why he was here. This was the tiny island off the coast of Duck where he’d buried his treasure. Of course he didn’t want me to leave with that information.

“I thought you didn’t kill women,” I said as I backed away from him.

“I said I didn’t like it. It leaves a foul taste in me mouth. But that don’t mean I won’t do it if I need to. I’m sorry, Mistress O’Donnell, but I can assure ye that a long drink of rum will get rid of that foul taste.”

He kept advancing on me with his cutlass raised high.
Good grief!
I’d been sure that I’d died in that cave with the horse, and now I was facing a brutal death at the hands of my own ancestor.

“If you kill me now, there won’t be anyone to set things right for you after you die,” I warned.

He threw back his head and laughed. “I don’t plan to worry about it. Once I’m dead and buried, that’s it for Rafe Masterson. I’ll take my chances with Davy Jones.”

I had backed into another rock that was behind me. He wasn’t going to let me skirt around it and run away. I was trapped again, only this time I didn’t have faith in the idea that I was actually at the clinic and would come to my senses at any moment.

That is what you get for using your gift. If you’d left it alone, you wouldn’t be about to die at the end of a sword.

I didn’t have as much as a stick to fight back with. So I closed my eyes and hoped something better was on the other side. There was a loud thud that was followed by a painful groan. I opened my eyes, squinting in case the sword was still coming at me.

But now there was a woman staring down at Rafe who was lying on the beach with his eyes closed. She was dressed as a pirate in dark short britches and a tattered blue shirt. She wore a scarf over her hair with a worn hat on top of it.

She turned to face me and smiled. “Hello, Dae. I would have known you anywhere. You look just like your mother.”

“Grandma Eleanore?” I could hardly form words. “I seriously must be dead.”

“No. Not yet.” Her blue eyes were smiling at me as she gave me a big hug. “I had a feeling we’d run into each other at some point. I can’t tell you how good it is to see you. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it until you were born. I knew you would have the gift too. There were so many things I wanted to teach you.”

“But how can I be alive and you’re here?”

“It’s difficult to explain.” Rafe groaned and moved his head. “My knocking him out with a rock is only going to last so long. He’s got a hard head. Let’s get out of here and find someplace we can talk.”

I took her hand, and there was an instant when nothing was there. It was a blank screen—that’s the best way I can describe it. One moment we were standing on the sunny beach, and the next we were in a pleasant room, sitting at a table with a steaming tea pot and two cups in front of us.

I blinked several times. How was this happening to me? Was I travelling through time? I’d seen plenty of things in the past. Had my gift brought me to this place where anything was possible?

“There. That’s much better, don’t you think?” Grandma Eleanor was exactly as I’d seen her in many pictures. But those photos hadn’t shown me the vitality in her face or the curiosity in her eyes. She had a bit of impishness about her mouth that I’d never noticed in a photo.

“I really don’t know. What’s going on?”

She poured us each a cup of Earl Grey tea. I recognized the aroma at once. The cups were matching rose Victorian china, set on matching saucers. “Our paths have intersected for a moment, Dae. Just as yours had with Rafe. It won’t last long. I wish it could so we would be able to get to know each other. When you use your gift, you move through time to see where an object or a person has been. I’m here using my gift from a point before you were born.”

Only one word could do this justice—“Wow.”

Grandma Eleanor laughed. “Yes. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to guide the development of your gift. Your mother, bless her heart, didn’t share it. She tried to understand, but it’s not the same. She must be very proud of you, Dae. You’re a beautiful young woman.”

I sipped the tea. Was it real? I wasn’t sure, but I needed something to keep from bursting into tears. “She’s been dead a long time.”

The blue eyes like mine welled with tears. “She was so young. What happened?”

I explained the situation. There wasn’t much to say. Each word was more painful than the last. “Every year I have a séance and try to call her back. I just want one last chance to make things right between us. Is that crazy?”

“Not crazy, sweetheart. But if she had something to say, she would have said it.”

“I’ve heard that.”

“Tell me what you do. Do you have a young man in your life? How is your grandfather?”

I told her everything I could think of from Gramps and his fishing business to Missing Pieces and Kevin. She nodded and sipped her tea. She reminded me so much of my mother.

“I’ll bet Missing Pieces was Horace’s idea, wasn’t it? He was always the practical one. It sounds like you have a wonderful life, Dae. I’m glad you’re thinking about getting married, and hopefully having children one day.”

“Thank you. Kevin is a great person. But what about learning to control these visions? You obviously have a way to do it that I don’t. What should I do?”

“You have to take control of each vision. Before you touch someone or something, get your mind prepared. As soon as you find yourself wherever the vision takes you, make it yours. You have to dominate it. Be the vision, if you will. I know that sounds very Zen, but it’s the truth. My vision had brought me to that island where I found you and Rafe—I’ve run into him before. But I could make this reality from it when I knew we needed to get away.”

“It would be great not to always fall down and pass out.” I grinned at her. “I’ll get it. Thank you.”

“Just remember that you can’t go into the future, but you can go anywhere in the past. If you find yourself in a bad situation, like the horse in the cave that you described, just close your eyes and concentrate on where you want to be. You can do it, Dae. It’s part of your heritage, like the rest of your gift.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m afraid I have to leave. I need to get back. I’m sure we’ll meet again. I love you, sweetheart. Give my love to your grandfather, and your beau. If Kevin’s as sharp as you say, he’ll understand this right away.”

I hated for her to leave me. There were so many things I wanted to ask. “Is there something I can say to Gramps to make him understand? Something only the two of you would know?”

“There is.” She whispered a secret message. “Now I have to go! I love you, Dae.”

Grandma Eleanor disappeared. The table and pleasant room went with her. I was left standing on a beach. It wasn’t the island where Rafe was. Just a beach that I couldn’t identify.

The way she’d described going back to where I wanted to be reminded me of Dorothy and her ruby slippers in the
Wizard of Oz
. I wished there were magic shoes that did the job, and that I was wearing them.

But there were no magic shoes. I closed my eyes and imagined the courtyard in the hospital where I’d last been. I took a deep breath, and saw the space clearly, with me in it. Kevin was there too, with a nurse that I’d seen at the front desk.

When I opened my eyes, I was there. It was exactly as I’d seen it. Kevin was sitting on the ground next to me, my head on his lap. The nurse was worriedly checking my pulse and urging him to get me inside.

“I’m fine,” I quickly told her as I came back to myself.

She jumped. “Are you prone to seizures or forms of epilepsy?”

“No. Not at all. It’s difficult to explain.”

“That’s what I was telling her.” Kevin got to his feet and helped me up. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It was the man in the animal skins again. His name is Osisko. He put his hand on my head.”

“So you were assaulted?” the nurse demanded.

“No. I’m sorry. Is my grandfather back from having the cast put on his leg?”

“I think you should have a complete workup with an MRI.” She gathered her medical bag. “People just don’t go around passing out for no reason.”

“Thank you for your concern.” I shook her hand. “I’m really thirsty. Can we find something to drink?”

As I sipped my can of Coke, I told Kevin about the horse in the cave, Osisko, and the meeting with my relatives.

“That’s incredible. Your grandmother is right about the control. I hope you were able to understand what she was telling you.”

“It’s how I got back here. I think I can make it work for me in the future. Just think of it—my grandmother was dead before I was born, but because she was in the past looking for something, we were able to connect.”

“I can’t imagine what that was like.”

“It means that it’s possible that I could go back and see my mother. I don’t know how to do that right now, but I think it will come to me.”

“What about the horses? Any ideas on the cult background or who killed Tom?”

“Nothing right off hand. I know what the horse statue was used for, but I don’t understand how it relates to what’s happening today. Osisko thought his death would stop the demons from returning. I guess he was wrong.”

A nurse glanced into the lunchroom. “Mr. O’Donnell is ready to go. You’ll need to check him out at the front desk.”

Gramps was woozy from the sedative they’d given him to set his leg and put on the cast. Kevin and I got him into the pickup, but he couldn’t sit upright so I had to ride in the back again.

I didn’t mind. It was chilly, but there was so much to think about. I’d never had a vision that had led to another vision—and actually meeting my grandmother . . . wait until I told Gramps. He’d be surprised.

The drive back was slow, but we finally made it to the house and tucked Gramps into his recliner. He woke up for a moment, long enough to thank me and Kevin and then went back to sleep.

I knew Kevin was busy with his guests and getting his Christmas decorations up, but I didn’t want to leave Gramps alone. I asked him to pick up Gramps’s prescription and Mary Catherine from Missing Pieces.

“Sure.” He kissed me quickly and asked if I needed anything else. Then he was gone and I sat on the sofa, trying to absorb everything that I’d seen and heard.

I’d thought from the beginning that the horse cult was nothing to fool around with. It seemed that there was a good reason the stone horses were buried. The people who’d put them there never meant for them to be out in the light again.

The ancient horse demons that Osisko had first summoned flashed through my mind. Someone knew about them and was actively summoning them back into the world. It had to be one of the workers at the excavation. Anyone else would be too noticeable.

But had that person also killed Tom?

“Dae?” Gramps yawned and stretched a little before yelping in pain. “That’s right. Broken leg. I thought when I gave up being sheriff I wouldn’t have to worry about that kind of thing again.”

I carefully hugged him. “You’ll be up and taking charters again in no time. Want some coffee?”