Page 65 of Winter Lost

At the end of the path was a taller-than-me stone wall with a heavy rustic door that looked so forbidding that I was a little surprised when it opened easily.

Beyond the door, cobblestone pavement stretched from the wall to the side of the lake, half of it covered by a roof, the other open to the sky. Along the edge of the lake were five soaking tubs, and to either side of them were soaking pools built into the side of the lake with what looked like native stone. Steam rose from the lake, the tubs, and the cobblestones as the heat of the lake met the frost giant’s storm.

Against the back wall under the roof were a series of hooks that held fluffy white robes. Elyna walked past those and flipped a switch—and soft moody music accompanied the trickling sound of water. If we talked quietly, even sharp ears wouldn’t be able to hear us.

“I thought the power was out,” I said.

“Everything out here is part of the system that pumps the water into the pools and the resort to heat both,” Elyna said. “That pump is integral to keeping the place habitable, so it’s part of the infrastructure supported by the generators.”

She laughed at my expression. “Jack is…was an architect. He is fascinated by this place. He can’t ask questions, so I have to.”

Still under the roof, if only barely, was a propane fireplace surrounded by benches. Elyna lit the fireplace, brushed the accumulated snow off a bench, and sat down. Adam and I were wearing coats and boots—Elyna was still in her light shirt and trousers. Cold bothered vampires even less than it bothered werewolves.

Adam brushed the snow off the bench next to her, sat down, and lifted his arm for me to sit beside him, because even the fireplace and the heated floor could not fend off the bitter wind.

We’d dropped off our luggage in the room Adam had chosen, but I hadn’t taken time to change. In the warmth of the lodge, I’d forgotten my clothes were damp. I remembered as soon as we stepped out into the snow. I appreciated the windbreak.

“It’s supposed to be haunted, you know,” said Elyna in a thoughtful voice, her eyes past my shoulder.

I didn’t look behind me. I knew what the old building looked like—and I knew it was haunted.

“Jack doesn’t talk about such things,” she said. “I don’t know…how much of him is still left. It occurs to me that I am talking to someone who might know.”

She pinned me with her eyes. It wasn’t a vampiric power—it was raw need.

I closed my eyes against her question, then opened them. She had the right to ask.

“Ethically, I’m in uncharted territory,” I said, and Adam’s arm tightened over my shoulders. His coat was well insulated, so it was just pressure, not warmth. It still felt good.

“I have guesses,” I told her, “but they are only guesses. I don’t know if I helped either of you tonight. Furthermore, I’m not sure telling you what I think is going to—” Make you happier. Add to your peace. Make anything better. “—be useful.”

“I saw him tonight,” she said. “I’ve lived with him—with him as a ghost—for nearly a decade.”

I cleared my throat. “He’s been dead longer than a decade.”

Her mouth tightened unhappily. “Closer to a century. But I didn’t find him again until about a decade ago.” She paused. “When I returned home.”

I nodded.

“I can hear him sometimes, sometimes not,” she continued. “He has opinions and he’s saved me. More than once. But we don’t converse. He seldom touches me, and I can’t touch him at all. I read him books.”

She stopped speaking, and tears welled up in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks.

“I’ve read all the books about ghosts,” she said.

“Most of them are garbage,” I told her. “But I don’t know which ones.”

She gave me an unhappy smile. “I understand you aren’t certain of what you know. But I need to know this is really Jack.” She looked around.

“He’s not here,” I told her.

She wiped her eyes. “I murdered my husband, Ms.Hauptman. And I need to know that he’s forgiven me. That he is capable of forgiving me.”

“Oh,” I said. “That. I have seen ghosts my whole life. I used to think I knew about them. Now I think I don’t know any of the important things.”

All around us, the formless wisps of white that might have once been ghosts blended in with the fog off the lake and the blowing snow. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of them. They didn’t approach us, though. Something, the vampire’s presence maybe, kept them at bay. I tried not to notice them, dropping my eyes to my boots. We were sheltered from the wind and snow, but my toes were cold again.

“One thing I’ve been almost sure of is that a person’s soul is not meant to linger here after the body is gone,” I said. “It’s bad for the dead person—and it is harmful for the living.”

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