13
Widow could feel the stares at her back. She ignored them and continued to watch the stars in the heavens through the window of the blue room.
“What did you say?” Baby asked.
Widow lifted her chin ever so slightly and answered, “I don’t want you to call me Widow anymore.”
“Yes. That we caught, but what was the last thing you said?” Beauty rolled her eyes and waited for her response.
“My name is Mirabella Nata Esposito. You may address me as Mirabella or Miss Esposito—whichever you wish.” Widow turned with interest to see the look on both their faces.
Baby had her hand over her mouth, staring at her with eyes wide. Beauty sat higher over the chair with a scowl on her face.
Beauty rose to her feet and broke the silence. “You did not scare her?”
“I tried. It did not work.”
“Then try a different method. She has to leave!” Beauty placed her hands on her hips. “How did you find out about your name?”
“She found my journal, translated it and read it aloud.”
Baby placed her hand over her heart and looked as if she would cry. “Your memories? You have memories?”
“Yes.” Widow—or rather, Mirabella wanted to giggle with delight, but kept it from spilling out to keep Beauty from blowing up at her.
“Do you think I cou—”
“No!” Beauty shrieked, interrupting Baby. “You cannot help this woman find things out about us! She has to leave! We need to run her out of here!”
“Why? Are you jealous?” Mirabella asked with new confidence.
“Jealous of what?”
“The master, of course. She spends an awful lot of time snuggled into his side.” Mirabella folded her arms.
“Why would I be jealous of someone I cannot have? Preposterous.”
“Do you think she would read my journal?” Baby asked Mirabella.
“No,” Beauty said, and Mirabella answered with a, “Yes.”
Baby lowered her head in thought. “If only I knew where it was. Or if I had one.”
“I forbid you from helping that woman again.” Beauty’s eyes narrowed. “You cannot encourage her to stay.”
“You cannot order me about. I do as I please.” Mirabella stood straight as a rod with her fist at her side.
“She cannot stay.” She waved her arms about. “Am I the only one who sees that?”
Mirabella’s voice rose. “Is it wrong for us to wish to know our life?”
“Why? So, you can forget it over the next hundred years?” Beauty’s pompadour hair wiggled as she shook with anger. “You cannot help her! Stick with our plan of running her out of here, and I don’t want to see or hear of you assisting her in any way! If you cannot agree then I will make you sorry for the rest of your life.” With her eyes ablaze, she spun around. The air swirled in a flurry as she left the room.
Mirabella scowled at the door she’d floated through. “What life?”
Baby leaned into the chair below her and sunk too far through it to the floor. “And that is that.”
“No, it isn’t. I do not follow orders from the French. I come from a family of wealth and prestige.”
“Do you?”
Mirabella lifted her chin with pride. “Yes. I don’t know how she expects us to scare her anyway. Most of the time, he won’t let us in the same room as her. It was luck that I found her alone. Now come.” She waved and started for the wall.
“Where are we going?” Baby asked.
“To Jessica’s room.”
“To do what? You heard what she said.” Baby gestured toward the direction Beauty had vanished. “We cannot help her.”
“I’m not going to help her.” Her chin lifted. “I’m helping you.”
Babe paused with surprise over the declaration of comradery then followed after her. They traveled through walls to reach Jessica’s room and found her breathing deep and long under her blankets. Mirabella floated closer and hovered horizontally over her.
“What are you going to do?” Baby asked. “How can you help me?”
“I’m not sure. I have this idea. Once, when Bridgette took a nap on the sofa, I was bored and pretended I was her. This was years ago. I floated my spirit inside her body and saw her dreams.”
“Really? What happened?”
“When she woke, she relayed the dreams to the Master and spoke about how lifelike they were.” Mirabella waved Baby closer. “Come here. I want you to go inside her body. Stay there for a few minutes, and we’ll see what happens.”
“Are you sure about this?” Baby asked and nibbled on her lips, unsure.
“I’m sure. Now don’t be faint-hearted. Hurry.”
Baby drifted closer, swung her body to lay herself upon the bed, then lowered into Jessica.
A breeze caught my hair and blew into my eyes. The color of my chestnut strands turned lighter in color until it was golden blonde. They shortened into ringlets and piled on my head. My jeans and T-shirt became a gown that tightened under my chest. A bonnet sat upon my head.
I looked like a Jane Austen character. Weird.
I went with the change and took in my surroundings. I no longer stood in a school hallway. I no longer worried about my forgotten locker combination or the test I hadn’t studied for. I now stood outside a familiar stone castle. The day was bright and crisp.
This is so real.
A bird overhead chirped, and I gloried in its flight. A noise to my left brought my attention around.
“Forgive me for startling you, Miss Bergsten.” The darkhaired man drew closer, his hand clasping a horse’s reins. The large beast followed behind. “The stable boy said you wished for your horse.”
“Did he? I did not ask for it, Mr. Barret.” The words that came from my lips sounded foreign and heavy in accent. German? Swedish?
“Will you turn down a chance for a ride? Even after I tell you my news?”
“Vhat news?” I tugged on the gloves I hadn’t noticed I wore before.
“I spotted a nest that I believe belongs to a Ross’s Gull.”
My heart quickened. “Really? Vhere?”
“Not far. I can show you.” The man pulled on the reins to bring the horse closer. My stomach twisted. Uneasy feelings fluttered about inside and I knew I shouldn’t go somewhere alone with this man who’d paid so much interest in me, but the idea of seeing a rare bird was too great and glorious.
“My riding habit. I should change,” I said. This man had tried to flatter me with his words once. Could I trust him now to keep his thoughts to himself?
“No time. I believe the baby birds are ready to take flight, even as we speak.”
Oh! To see a nest of Ross’s Gulls!
He helped me up. The feel of the horse between my legs seemed so real I wondered if I really dreamt. Even the dress tightening on my legs was solid. My body bounced with the rhythm of the horse hooves. The castle fell out of sight the further we rode, farther than I felt comfortable. The wind picked up, and a rumbling to the west brought the darkened clouds with it.
“It looks as though it might rain!” I called to the man on his horse ahead of me.
“Just a little farther!” he shouted back.
I followed, unease prickling at my skin the longer we traveled.
After some time, the man stopped and dismounted. He came to me and helped me down until my feet sunk into the soft grass.
“Vhere is the nest?” I held my bonnet upon my head as the wind continued to blow.
“Here.” He took my hand and guided me closer to a grouping of trees. His arms slipped around my waist and pinned me against his chest.
“Vhat are you doing? Sl?ppa! Sl?ppa fri! Let go!” I pushed against him. He tried to kiss me, but I turned my head from side to side.
No! It’s a dream! I can control this! I just need to wake up!
“Oh, Karina, I love you! Don’t you see? We are destined for each other.” His lips came down on me again.
“Sl?ppa! Stoppa! No!” I wiggled my head to free me from his lips. I leaned my head in and bit down on his neck.
His right arm let go of me and slapped over the teeth marks in his skin. He growled in pain. I twisted out of his grasp and ran. Rain smacked my face and stung my eyes. I could hear his footsteps fall behind me.
This is too real! It has to be just a dream! Run faster! Fly! Do something!
“Aaron! Save me!” I called out in desperation at the sound of the man’s labored breath behind me. I screamed when his hand grasped my dress at the small of my back. My foot slipped, and my stomach dropped when my feet no longer touched ground. Something slammed against my side. I free-fell for a few seconds before I hit ground. Pain shot up my leg, and my body stung from scratches caused by the tree roots I’d landed in. All was black except for the dim light that fell on me from above.
“Karina?” The man’s head came into view at the narrow hole several feet above. “Are you hurt?”
“My leg.” I called up to him. My heartbeat in my ears sounded like waves crashing against my skull. Narrow cold walls surrounded me. Walls that once could have been an old well centuries before. “Get me out!”
“I will, my love.”
“Do not say that! I am not your love!” His words boiled my blood.
“Karina, my love, I did not wish this to happen. You should not have fought me. If you say you will be mine—give yourself to me—then I will help you.”
“Aldrig! Never!”
“You do not know what you are saying. I cannot give you a grand castle, but I will shower you with love until we grow old together. Isn’t that what you want?”
“I want Aaron! He is my love!”
“Lord Wrenthal is a fool! He does not see you the way I see you. You belong to me. Please accept my proposal. Give me your hand, and I will help you out.”
“Never! Ruttnar i helvetet!” I slapped the narrow walls of my cage to search for any form of escape. Pain throbbed in my leg at each shift, but desperation shoved the ache aside. A cold breeze blew up my back, but when I pushed and pulled the rocks and dirt at the spot I only found a dead-end.
“You will not be mine?” he called down.
“Never!”
“Then this hole will be your tomb.”
“I will scream until someone finds me! And when I get out, you vill hang for this! Aaron vill see to it!”
“I think not. Adieu, mon amour.”
The sound of rock hitting rock happened so fast that I had not realized the rock was falling before it was too late. Pain shattered my mind, and blackness embraced me, stealing my breath. My life.
Jessica
I woke with my jaw hanging open and a scream echoing in my ears. As I came to, I realized I wasn’t the only one screaming. Some unseen being screeched in my ear before fading into the far end of the wall, exiting the room.
“Jessica?” Danny’s bare feet slapped the hardwood floor as he rushed into my room. “What happened?”
I opened my mouth to speak but no sound left my lips. I gulped and tried again. “I don’t know.”
“Did you see another ghost?” he asked and tied a robe around his waist.
“No. It was a dream, but it wasn’t … I was alive, but then I wasn’t.”
“I’m afraid you’re not making any sense.” He sat beside me on the bed and rested his hand over mine on my lap. I leaned into him.
I wiped the sweat from my brow. “I don’t know. It had to have been a dream, but it was so real. I could feel the wind and smell the dirt.” I held my arm around my waist, sick at the thought of that creepy man kissing me in the dream. “I could feel him.”
His voice was but a whisper, “Him?”
I lifted my eyes to his. “Danny, I was murdered—I mean, she was murdered—I was her!”
“You mean you were Mirabella Esposito?”
“No. I was Karina.”
He rubbed across his beard and sighed. “I’m not following.”
“What time is it?”
“Close to three.”
I moved to get out of bed, and Danny stood to get out of my way. “I need to look her up. She’s a new ghost I haven’t seen yet. I think she might be the one Crystal mentioned on our first day here.”
“Oi. Hold on. You’ll freeze in those pajamas.” Danny pointed out. “You need to at least wrap in a blanket.” He pulled one off the bottom of the bed, laid it across my shoulders, and followed me out of the room.
I explained what happened in the dream while we headed downstairs and started up the laptop. Before diving into an online search, I quickly checked the live feed from the blue room upstairs. Nothing had changed.
“You dreamed all that?” he asked when I finished reciting my dream.
I typed in the time period where I thought I could best find her and waited for the page to load. “Yes, but it felt like I lived it. It was that real.”
“Your hands are shaking. Are you cold or scared?”
“Scared. I guess.”
“Jessica.” He took my hand away from the laptop and held it between his, waiting for my full attention. “I think you should stop and reconsider what you’re do—”
“I can’t stop. You have no idea the terror this woman had gone through. I feel like these ghosts are reaching out to me for help, and I can’t let them down. I owe it to them to solve this.” I pulled my hand free of his and turned my attention to the computer screen. Deep down, their own desperation swallowed me. They needed me. That I couldn’t deny. “Maybe if I solve this mystery, they can move to the afterlife.”
“Why you? M—maybe I should hire someone to come and get rid of them.”
“I don’t know why. But I have to do this. I’ll just have to figure this out.” I can do this. A name caught my attention. My heartbeat increased in hope. I pointed at the screen, pulled up the information that caught my eye, and read through it. I pointed at the screen. “Look. This census says that a woman named Ola Karina Bergsten died here. It’s her. She was born in Sweden and died at
Wrenthal Castle in 1813.”
“Did she die on her wedding day like the other two?” Danny leaned closer to me on the sofa.
My heart skipped. All it would take is to lean ever so slightly and I’d have my lips on his. “No. There’s no connection to marriage. In my dream she mentioned another man that she called her love. His name was Aaron. Ah! Here. Aaron Jonas Pugh, Lord of Wrenthal. He married someone named Elizabeth in 1815 and he died 1854. Well, I guess it’s good he was able to move on, huh. How sad, though.”
“What about the other man? The one that killed her.”
“Let’s see…” It took me some time of digging to find someone with the last name of Barret, unfortunately there were several. “It looks as though a whole family of Barrets worked on staff at Wrenthal Castle.”
He leaned in, pressing his shoulder to mine. “So it does.”
“What I don’t get is why have there been so many mysterious murders in one castle. Is this normal?”
He shrugged.
“None of this makes sense.”