Ghost of a Chance Book 1 in Above the Grave Trilogy (15 page)

“Oh, fun!” That seemed to perk Liza up a bit. “I get to
pick the movie though. I will bring some crawfish pasta also.
That should go good with whatever wine you can dig up.”

Drew had a lot to tell her friend. About Jack, Brendan,
the cemetery, her experience with Wicca or not with Wicca,
whatever, it was endless and she told Liza that she may as well
plan on spending the night.

Friday was only two days away. That gave Drew a
little bit more time with Brendan and to hopefully talk him into
being have his self when she had company. After such a rotten
day she was actually feeling pretty good and couldn’t wait to
get back home to him.

When Drew reached her front door she noticed that it
was wide open. Surely she hadn’t been that spacey had she?
Maybe Brendan was just being nice and left it opened for her.

“Honey, I’m home!” She said then saw the words
spray painted on the wall and dropped the bag that she held in
her hand.

“Brendan?” There was no answer so she ran to the
kitchen for some rags.
Someone or several someones had
ruined her antique gold wall paper with some kind of gibberish
and she was quite pissed about that.

When she came back to the living room she realized
that what was written wasn’t gibberish after all. She
recognized some of the symbols from the shop that she had just
visited that day. She grabbed her sketch pad off of the end
table and began to copy
the symbols down before
she
attempted to wash them off for good.

“Don’t bother.” Brendan said from over her shoulder.

“Could you please refrain from sneaking up on me like
that?” Drew asked after almost jumping out of her boots.
When she turned around she saw a faded light in front of her
that went from the ground to about a foot above her head.

“Um, Brendan? How tall are you?” Drew said looking
up towards the top of the light.

 

“I’m six foot six inches, why do you ask?” He said.

“Well, because I believe that I can s
ee your form. It is
kind of creeping me out a little; I’m not going to lie.” She
studied him a moment longer then turned back towards the wall
and her sketch pad.

“I’m going to find out what the hell this means.” She
said as she sketched the symbols frantically.

 

“Leave now. You have been warned.” Brendan said.

“Haven’t we already established that I am not going
anywhere?” Drew said turning back around. “Besides, I
thought that we were becoming friends.” She said hurt.

“That is what the wall says,” Brendan said quietly. “At
least, up to the w, which was when I yell at them, they stopped
and ran from the house.”

“Oh,” Drew said turning to look at the wall again,
“Well, who the hell were they?”

“Witches I imagine, as the words that they wrote are of
Theban alphabet. Witches used it to hide their spells from nonwitches.”

“Those damned bitches.” Drew said angrily and tossed
her sketch pad onto the couch.

“Witches Love, not bitches.” He laughed. “What have
you done, Miss Drew?” He said seriously then. “What have
you done to cause women in black to desecrate our home?”

Our home
, she thought. She wondered if he had heard
himself say it as well. She shivered a little. It was a good
shiver she thought, but then remembered he was a damned
ghost and she was losing her mind.

“I’m not sure exactly. I was just asking some
questions in town and one of my interrogates just happened to
be in a Wiccan store when I dragged her off to the corner and
drilled her. The bitch or witch at the counter charged me triple
for a stupid crystal ball that broke when I walked into the door.
It wasn’t even my fault and I offered to pay for it.” Drew said
innocently.

“What is a Wiccan store, Miss Drew?” Brendan asked
worriedly. He was pretty sure he knew, but wanted to clarify.

“It’s a store that sells witchy supplies. You know
crystals, brick
dust, very
expensive and breakable crystal
balls… Wiccan is a religion that came about after you died,
although it has been around a long time, they just called it
something else Ithink. I’m honestly not really sure about the
history of it. My Wiccan 101 was a very short class.”

“Why is it
that
you are interrogating
witches,
especially in their own territory?” Brendan said angrily.

“What? You think that they can hurt me? A
little
spray paint never hurt anyone. That was beautiful wall paper
though,and I will never be able to replace it.” She said sadly
staring at the wall.

He grabbed her shoulders then and turned her around
to face him. For a brief moment she saw his dark eyes again in
the light that was before her. “Drew they can hurt you and they
will if you don’t mind your own damned business and leave
them alone. Do you want to end up in a cemetery like my
sister… like me?” She heard his voice crack at that.

“Everyo
ne ends
up in
the cemetery
eventually,
Brendan.” She said cautiously. “Sometimes that is the only
way two people can be together.”

“Och! You speak foolishly!” He said pushing her
away gently. “Dying to be together such as Romeo and Juliet,
I suppose? Such a romantic, such an idiot! Do you know how
many times I thought of ending me life to be with Lezetta?
Now look at me. Oh, that’s right; you can’t see me because I
am a bloody ghost. I am a prisoner in my own home. Invisible
chains wrapped around me ankles so I only feel their wrath.
Where ‘tis Lezetta now? Her ashes are lying in my cemetery in
the cold tomb that I placed them in. I haven’t laid eyes on her
for one hundred and fiftyone years and I never will again.”

“You know you sound more Irish when you are upset.”
Drew said sarcastically. “What makes you so sure that you
would want to be with Lezetta anyway? How do you know
that she didn’t kill your sister, Brendan, and if she did, how
could you still love her?”

She watched his glow as it floated up the stairs and into
a doorway. She guessed that meant that he was done talking.
Well, that was fine with her. She had a wall to wash anyway.
She didn’t care what those dumb witch bitches did or said, she
wasn’t going anywhere and she sure as hell wasn’t done asking
questions.

Though she was happy for the time alone to think,
something about watching him float away, angry with her,
touched her down deep. It was almost like a husband and wife
going to bed angry at one another. She didn’t like it.
She
wanted to make up.

Drew wanted badly to go back to the cemetery. There
was so much that she needed to know. Unfortunately, as much
as her life seemed to suck at the moment she wasn’t quite ready
to end it. Besides, her hand was still oozing from the last visit.

As she lay at the edge of the pool listening to the
sounds of nature around her she wondered how she could have
gotten so lucky and yet so terribly unlucky at the same time.
How many people did she know that lived in a beautiful,
sturdy, very expensive home for so cheap?
How many people
did she know that were being threatened by witches and lived
with over protective ghosts? The thought of trading him in for
a yellow lab made her grin.

It felt good to be outside in the sun. Every now and
then she swore that she heard yelling and screaming from
somewhere nearby, but she couldn’t imagine where in the
world it would be coming from. She did her best to ignore it
anyway. It dawned on her then that she had yet to explore the
woods around her new home.
She jumped up and headed
inside immediately to get dressed.
She was excited that there
was a new venture ahead of her. Brendan may be trapped in
this place via “invisible chains” but she wasn’t by George.

She remembered her tarots once again and the fact that
Chains were one of her major arcana. She supposed that being
bound by a past that she would never be able to break free from
was her own punishment. Falling in love and having a family
of her own was out of the question for her because of it. She
had her own chains she supposed, but they weren’t going to
keep her from living her life. She needed to get out and do that
exploring and she needed to do it now.

Chapter 6
The Lovers

As she started out of the front door in jeans and boots
she saw his glow at the bottom of the stairs. “I’m sorry that I
was so hateful earlier.” She said. “I should be more respectful.
I don’t know anything about what happened back then, after
all. I don’t know anything about the two of you, and I suppose
I am a little jealous maybe.”

He came closer to her then. “Where are you going?”
He asked her quietly.

 

“I was just going to go check out the woods nearby. I
love to explore!” Her eyes brightened at the thought.

He had to laugh at her childish animation. She was
very beautiful and sassy yet sweet and innocent at the same
time. “The last time I was in those woods I saw an alligator
sneaking up out of the swamp.
You seem to be prone to
walking into danger. It may not be a good idea for you to go
there alone.”

What he was really thinking of was the fact that there
was a cult of witches that she had unknowing pissed off.
He
didn’t want her leaving the house or his sight.

He watched her face turn from sunshine to darkness in
a matter of seconds. He felt a pang of guilt, but knew that he
was right at the same time. “Sorry, Love.” He said.

She walked towards the ballroom. “Oh, it’s ok. I
mean, you aren’t my father, if I really wanted to I would go
anyway. I’m not really much on people telling me what to do
and what not to do. I suppose you are right though. I haven’t
had much luck lately in the safety department.” She said as she
looked down at her hand.

“Did you ever dance in here?” She said as she pushed
open the heavy
French doors to the ballroom. “I have
imagined a room filled with ladies in gorgeous gowns with
their hair all done up in pearls and feathers, and gentlemen in
their finest suites swaying around and around to the sound of a
three piece band.” She twirled around then and mocked her
imagination.

Brendan laughed. “It was a one piece band most of the
time actually. The piano can do wonders all by itself.
Close
your eyes, Miss Drew.” He said. Even though he wanted to
come inside, he didn’t want the mirrors to give him away.

“You play beautifully.” She said closing her eyes.
“Will you play for me? I’ve dreamed of this room a few times
and I would love to hear…” Before she could finish the music
began. She kept her eyes closed and imagined the room full
again.

“Keep your eyes closed.” He whispered in her ear.

Somehow the music continued to play when he took
her hand. He led her into a dance that made her feel like she
was flying. She didn’t dare open her eyes for fear that her feet
may really not be touching the ground. They spun around and
around until she began to feel light headed.

For a light beam he was strong, and his body was hard
next to hers.
She could smell him.
He was very manly in
every way she noted. She had never really slow danced with
anyone before, unless you counted Stuart, which everyone
called Stud, at their high school homecoming dance. Not that
Stuart really was a Stud. The preppies just started calling him
that to make fun of him, more as an antonym of his true self.

Dancing with Stuart was nothing like this though. She
was literally being swept off her feet. When she fluttered her
eyes open and saw herself in the large mirror in front of them
she saw herself in midair.
She was about two feet off of the
ballroom floor. As she looked in the mirror she saw him as
well.

He was beautiful.
He took her breath away. He was
much better looking now than he had been in her paintings.
Her Prince Charming was real. He was right there, holding on
to her. That was the great thing about dreams. You could do
just about anything that you wanted to. She smiled and closed
her eyes again and laid her head on his chest.

He saw her see him. His eyes widened with freight.
He was afraid that she would try to run. He was afraid that
seeing that the man in her dreams wasn’t entirely all that she
had really dreamed of after all. She didn’t run though. She
smiled and snuggled up to his chest to let him continue to lead
her across the floor, or the air as it were.

He ran his hand through her shiny silk hair that she had
let down at the pool. She was so soft. He knew that she was
hard inside though and he wanted to help her let go of that. He
wanted her to love him even though he knew that she would
just be hurt eventually because, what good could a ghost be for
her? What could he really do for her? His thoughts brought
him back to reality. As badly as he didn’t want to let go,
Brendan knew it was the only right thing to do.

She felt him set her back on the ground and when he
stopped moving she sighed and said, “Is it time to wake up?”

 

He let go of her then with a kiss on her forehead and
walked away so that she wouldn’t see him again in the mirror.

Drew stood still for a moment with her arms raised as
if she were still holding on to him. When she opened her eyes
she realized that she was all alone. She looked in the mirror to
verify that fact. She had let her imagination run wild again.
She glanced at the piano. There was no light. There was no
sound. Where had Brendan gone? She wondered.

Her sleep was restless that night.
She tossed and
turned and dreamed of her childhood it seemed. He lay beside
her and watched her as her face twitched in sorrow and in
anger. She tossed her pillow and blanket aside and when he
tried to put his arm around her she thrashed at him as if he were
a monster.