Ghosts of Halloweens Past

Chapter 6

They went straight to Jade's after Nick's shift was over, still in his hotel uniform. She answered the door before he had a chance to knock. She had on a black fitted t-shirt today with a moon on the front and a long dark red cardigan over it paired with blue skinny jeans, black ankle boots, and a wide brim black hat.

Nick lowered his hand, still paused in the knocking position, as he walked inside, her plethora of necklaces and bracelets jangled as she led the way into the kitchen. "You're ESP is really freaky sometimes," he said.

"I saw your car pull up," she said smirking.

"Oh."

The kitchen table was covered in papers, some printed and others handwritten notes. "What is all this?" He asked, picking some up. They had names and dates written down as well as connections to other names.

"I went back to the cemetery today."

"What? Without me-us?" he asked, a pit forming in his stomach.

She waved a hand, "It was fine, don't worry."

"It's not fine," he said, throwing the papers back down. "You saw what happened last night. You could've gotten hurt and no one would have even known until hours later. You could've died and I-" he cut off, the pit in his stomach moving to his throat.

"And you what?" she stood straight, folding her arms in front of her.

After a moment, he swallowed the frog in his throat. "And I wouldn't know what happened to you. I would've come here to an empty house and been worried sick. If I found you dead in the cemetery because I wasn't there..."

Jade's arms relaxed by her sides, her face softened as she watched his anxiety take control, because of her. She knew this wasn't just about her going to the cemetery alone, but he had a point. She hadn't considered him when she had gone. She didn't realize he cared that much about her to have this kind of reaction. She fought the urge to smile.

"I didn't mean to worry you. I should've texted." She didn't need a man to come to her rescue, she knew more about what she was doing than he did, but she didn't get the feeling that was what he meant. It probably would've been a smart idea for someone to have known where she was in case something did go wrong. People didn't go walking through that cemetery every day. Well, except Nick.

He nodded and fidgeted with his hands. She walked over and placed her hand on his, calming them. "I found some cool stuff. Could help us."

He nodded and sat beside her at the table. She handed him a cup of tea she had prepared just before his arrival. "So you did know I was coming," he said.

She shrugged and tilted her head. "Maybe," she said, smirking.

The edges of his mouth lifted into a slight grin as he sipped at the tea.

Jade explained that when she did more digging into Abigail Hart's story, she discovered that during her torture, she had outed several others as witches. Most of them were acquitted, all but two, Sarah Bishop and Millicent Bishop. Their tombs were only twenty feet from Abigail's.

"I think that's why Abigail didn't want to help us, why she said she can't and that it'll only come back. I don't think she was the one who placed the curse. If I'm right, it could have been either Sarah or Millicent. They could have cursed Abigail for ratting them out."

"How could this help us?" Nick asked.

"Well," Jade went on, "If this theory is correct, then it's a different kind of curse, and Rose's friend Eddie would be right, only the one that placed it can remove it." Jade watched as the light faded from Nick's eyes. Rose's soul broke into dozens of pieces, a century's worth of hope crushed in mere seconds. The despair she made him feel was unbearable.