The Thorne family
An epistol was dropped gently on their kitchen table. Samantha had only just poured the tea.
Arthur, her son, leapt to his feet. The fragrant red liquid shook in the china saucers, and a hot drop spilled, spreading a stain on the tablecloth.
Before Samantha's inner sight there flickered and shivered a flock of red-gold threads, like crows come to flap around their kitchen.
She stared, frozen, at her son and granddaughter across the table. The old floor clock tick-tocked from the living room.
Kit-Kat shook herself.
"Granny, look."
She stood and snatched a piece of paper from the middle of the epistol.
"You may speak to any of the dead you choose. They are under one obligation only – take no bodies. What's that?" She pointed to something on the page.
She showed it to her dad. Arthur said weakly, "I don't know. Mom?"
He handed Samantha the letter.
There it was.
The sign of the Ennis Hus. Her own mother had shown it to her a long time ago.
"It's the priests."
Samantha lay her elegant hands on the table to try to stop their trembling. As usual, she turned to her son in order to make sense of her own opinion. "What are you thinking, Arthur?"
But he was silent as he took the letter to read again, huffing and dragging a hand over his hair.
Samantha composed herself. "Katherine, call your cousin and your aunt down here."
The girl ran to obey.
"I'll call Nick too." Arthur glared and got up. "Seeing as we're married."
"And Nick too," Samantha said contritely.
In their absence, she pulled the book closer. Words appeared on the first page she opened to.
Hello Samantha. I'm Ilium, Rafael's grandmother's eldest brother. Although I never got the chance to know your dear husband, as I was forced to cross before he was born, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
Hello Samantha. I am Astor. You know Maeve, my daughter.
Maeve. That lovely old crone who'd stolen Rafael right from Samantha's bed. So this was her father.
Samantha reached for her cup of tea. Rage and confusion and a little bit of fear continued to push tremors into her hands, but the habit of years kept her expression calm.
Samantha. It's me, Gemma. Please let me talk to my daughter.
Samantha covered her mouth.
Gemma had died no more than ten years before. It had been Samantha herself who told her to cross.
That was how it was. That was what was done. Samantha never could have imagined ...
Kat and Zachary clattered into the kitchen. She slammed the epistol closed before they could read it over her shoulder.
She didn't want Kat to know her dead mother was here. Not until they decided whether the letter was to be obeyed.
Mabel, Samantha's daughter and Zachary's mom, and Nick, who was Arthur's husband and Katherine's step-father, followed at a more sedate pace.
YOU ARE READING
Ghost Silk (Ghost Perfume, Book 2) | ✔
Paranormal**COMPLETE** Rose grows into her ability to help ghosts and cross portals. The Alistairs pursue a bloody diplomacy in the soul realm. Between Rose and the Alistairs, love grows strong despite their secrets, the demons and nightmares that haunt them...
