Sneak Peek of The Haunting of Castle Dune （Book 15）
Morna’s Inn — Present Day
“Forgive me, lass. I know the good ye do, but now it seems that ye are just looking for places in which ye might meddle. Ye dinna have relatives at Castle Dune, did ye? Why do ye feel the need to make it yer business?”
Morna frowned as she looked up from the paper laid out before her.
“Jerry, ye make it sound as if I only care for those who share my blood. No, I dinna have relatives at Castle Dune, but I shall make it my business because there are few on this earth who can change this. I am one of them. That castle has been standing for centuries, and it should stand for centuries more, but it shall be torn down in a fortnight for no other reason than ghost stories that have gone awry.”
She reached for her coffee as Jerry sat down across from her and looked down to read the article.
“Are ye sure ’tis only stories, lass? All legends and fairy tales contain some semblance of truth.
Ye should know that better than anyone. The last four owners have abandoned and sold the castle within three months of purchasing it.
They canna all have had their imaginations get the better of them. ”
Morna sighed. Broken hearts were fertile soil for lingering souls, and if the visions she saw through her spells were true, the Isle of Dune was filled with them.
She had no doubt it was haunted, but that was no reason to go tearing down anything so beautiful.
Besides, what made anyone believe that demolishing the building would rid the isle of its ghosts?
As far as she knew, that wasn’t the way souls worked.
“I dinna say anything about their imaginations, Jerry. The ghosts of Castle Dune are real, but I verra much doubt they are worthy of inducing such fear. Their plans to demolish and repurpose the isle willna work. The only way to get rid of ghosts is to prevent them from forming in the first place.”
“And just how do ye do that, lass?”
“Ye go back and change history, love. What else do ye think I would do?”
Jerry’s brows pulled together in confusion, and Morna could already guess what he was going to say. He knew her spell the night before hadn’t revealed all that she’d hoped, but he didn’t know that a good night’s sleep had been just what she needed to form a new plan.
“I thought the magic over the isle prevented ye from seeing what ye wished to.”
“Aye, ’tis true. ’Twas surprising to see the magic of another already over the isle, but the darkness of it has only made me more resolved to see history changed upon the Isle of Dune.
I canna go back. The last laird lived during my time at Conall Castle—during yer time there, as well.
’Tis far too dangerous to travel back to a time in which you already exist. But there is another I’ve found—one who shall be headed this way verra soon—who can. ”
“And why have ye chosen this particular lass?”
“Because she has just the heart and mind strong enough to withstand the darkness that lingers there.”
“And, naturally, she’ll be single, aye? Just as I suspect ye will tell me the last laird of Castle Dune was, as well?”
Annoyed, Morna stood and stomped away from her husband as she moved to rinse her now-empty mug of coffee.
“All women are multitaskers, Jerry. Is it so terrible that I mean to kill two birds with one stone?”
“No, ’tis not terrible at all. I would expect nothing less of ye, lass. Nothing less, at all.”