Ashdown Island

Chapter Nine

Cicely and Ace didn't stay with Kalila and the others, choosing instead to go back to their hut. They sat a while in silence. Neither of them felt like talking.

It was an hour before Cicely finally spoke up.

"She seemed so real." She whispered.

Ace nodded. "I know. And... she never really did anything to hurt us."

"She's trapped." His cousin said quietly, pulling her blanket around her. "Trapped within the walls of a cage made by a murderer. She needs help."

"We can't help her." Ace said, his voice held a hint of finality. "We'll stay here until the mainland comes to get us. Then we'll forget this ever happened."

Cicely stood up. "We can't just leave her. She needs us. She needs to rest peacefully."

"There's Nothing we can do! We can't go up against a... a ghost!" Ace shot back. "That's the end of it."

"We can try!"

"And get ourselves killed in the process? I don't think so! Cicely, what could we do?" Ace massaged his temples. "We were lucky to get out the first time. What if we're not so fortunate the second?"

Cicely bit her lip and thought for a moment. "We could burn the house."

"What!?"

"We could burn the house." Cicely repeated. "Thomas Ashdown's spirit and Victoria's ghost are both tied to it. Destroy the house, destroy the ghosts."

"Destroy the house, risk setting Lord Ashdown's spirit free."

Cicely and Ace looked up, not having heard Kalila enter. She stood there, candlelight dancing off of her deeply tanned skin and hair scarf. Her eyes had a spirit of their own, and she looked between them silently.

"Thomas Ashdown is caught in his own eternal torment inside the house. He is eternally searching for a daughter he will never find. The only way to free his spirit is to reunite daughter with father."

"So reunite Victoria's ghost with Thomas's spirit?" Ace asked.

Kalila nodded.

"How do you know so much about the house..?" Cicely asked.

The woman stiffened, her eyes closing briefly. "There was a tradition of the Ashdowns," she began. "When they would go to other lands, they would take those in need of a better home back with them. Those who were being abused, mistreated, those who were homeless and alone. My grandmother was very young when she was brought here by Victoria. She had been abandoned to die alone in the desert because of her appearance."

"She was the only one of the girls to escape that day, she disguised herself as a man and ran, making it to this village." Kalila took a deep breath. "She returned several years later and spoke with Victoria."

"I see." Cicely whispered. "So... it is possible? To put them both to rest?"

Kalila nodded.

Ace and Cicely looked at each other and nodded.

They knew what they had to do.