Page 142 of Cast in Atonement

How has it been?

Let’s just say we’re all happy to see Mrs. Erickson. She has a calming effect on everyone, and anyone else would be the usual oil and water.

Oil and fire?

Or that.

Bellusdeo’s eyes were red; Teela’s eyes matched Sedarias’s former midnight. Tain’s, on the other hand, were the regular shade of Barrani blue.

Emmerian didn’t come.

Emmerian knew what we’d be asking, and he guessed that Bellusdeo would be happier in his absence.

He can’t think she’d blame him.

Severn offered the mental equivalent of a fief shrug. Kaylin winced. Given Bellusdeo’s current mood, Emmerian was probably right. Bellusdeo had a temperament suited to a vicious, sustained war. Captaining a Tower in a fight against Shadow was the perfect fit for it. She’d even seemed happy—or what passed for happy—when she’d taken the Tower for her own.

But the reason she wanted that sustained, bloody war was in large part the deceased sisters. She’d been thrown off her feet; the pain made her seek a fight; the lack of an opponent was the problem. If the outcaste Dragon left Ravellon now, she could vent pain, rage, fury, and all of the endless sense of loss on him—and he’d deserve it.

Everyone could live with that.

But he hadn’t. No one else deserved her rage and she was trying to bottle it, shut it down. Unfortunately for Emmerian, she couldn’t do that 24/7 and he was living in the Tower.

Still, he’d survive Bellusdeo if she did lose it.

Mrs. Erickson walked quickly to where Bellusdeo was seated. Bellusdeo met the old woman’s eyes. She opened her mouth, her eyes quite orange, but snapped it shut again. Loudly. Mrs. Erickson sat beside Bellusdeo and reached for one of the Dragon’s hands. To the rest of the small audience, Mrs. Erickson apologized. “Bellusdeo has become quite accustomed to this, but I’m sure the rest of you aren’t. I’m going to talk with her sisters for a bit.”

Kaylin poked Hope; Hope squawked a definitive no. He didn’t expect Kaylin to see anything through his wing that she couldn’t see normally. She took a seat stiffly, placed her hands palm down across her knees, and closed her eyes. Opened them again, because when things distracted her, she wasn’t as aware of the pain. She tried not to shiver and failed.

Helen gave her a blanket, wrapping it carefully around her tenant’s shoulders. The blanket literally melted away, becoming part of the dress. “Don’t worry about it. Blankets aren’t going to help.”

“Help with what?” Teela asked, voice sharp.

“Never mind. I want to listen to Mrs. Erickson.”

“I’m worried for Bellusdeo,” Mrs. Erickson was saying.

Bellusdeo didn’t like being the subject of worry; it made her feel pathetic. But she couldn’t engage genuine irritation in the face of Mrs. Erickson. She did glare at everyone else in the room, daring them to join in. Better part of valor was operative.

“I know we’ve spent the past few days together getting to know each other. I’m happy that I’ve managed to allow you all to speak with each other. But at the moment, another ghost needs my attention. I’ve been told the Keeper considers it a threat to the world, not just to Bellusdeo or me.

“He’s asked me to accompany him to meet with this ghost. I probably should have done it the first time, but I ran.” She stopped speaking and nodded sympathetically. “It’s never good to run from things you should face.

“But I know that there’s a risk. I have wished all my life that I could give other people the power, the ability, to speak with the dead—the dead I see, the dead who see me. I’ve tried. I’ve tried so hard. But it’s never worked. When I was young, I gave up.

“The eight of you are not like Bellusdeo, but you are also exactly like Bellusdeo; you’re the strangest ghosts I’ve ever met. My children were trapped in my house; you’re bound to—and anchored by—Bellusdeo. Do you want to leave her?”

Bellusdeo was utterly silent, her eyes having shifted from orange to copper. She held her breath, as if waiting for the answer to Mrs. Erickson’s question—an answer she would never hear, only infer.

“I didn’t think so, either. There’s something about the connection that is so...lively.” She’d clearly searched for the right word but failed to find it. “But I was wondering if you wanted to come with me? I think Bellusdeo wants to go to protect me, because I’m the only way she can communicate with you right now.”

Mrs. Erickson’s eyes widened; both of her brows rose. Her smile was remarkably shy. “Thank you for saying that.” She exhaled and waited until Bellusdeo lifted her head to meet her gaze. “We’ll all go, if that’s all right with you.”

“What did they say?”

“They assured me that that’s not the only reason you want to accompany me. Is there anything else I should know? I did take a nap, but I think I should try to get solid sleep before Evanton arrives in the morning.”

Severn nodded and rose as Mrs. Erickson rose. He offered the old woman her arm as the door opened, untouched by visible hands; she took it, smiling up at him as if he was a child whose display of manners had both touched and pleased her. She really had spent all her life surrounded by children.

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