Page 49 of One Last Regret

I don’t bother to return the sentiment. I don’t think she particularly wants me to. She leaves the parlor, and I sigh and press my fingertips to my eyes for a long moment before returning upstairs to break the news to the children.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

The children don’t take the news well. The life that has only just started to return to Gabriel’s eyes dies instantly when I tell them. Amelia’s lips tremble for a moment before she rushes from the study room, weeping. Gabriel gives me a softly accusing look that twists like a dagger in my heart before he follows her.

To say I am ashamed would be an understatement. I feel like the worst slime to ever slither across the Earth.

But that doesn't mean that I’m wrong. I’ve given too much credence to the supernatural from the start of this adventure. The more I think about it, the more I believe that coming here on what amounts to nothing more than a hunch based on a piece of trash I find in my home allows the worst portions of my imagination to run wild. Perhaps if I had come here purposefully and not simply to have a place to stay while I look for Annie, I would have been better prepared to survive the challenges this household presents and be able to help the children more.

But I can’t. I worry very seriously that if I stay here much longer, I will endanger my sanity. Hell, I’ve already endangered it.

So, a few minutes after the children leave, I blink away my tears and head to my room. The door to Gabriel’s room is open, and I glance inside to see him consoling a very distraught Amelia.

Then my eyes lift to the drawings that cover his walls. The demon Annie’s mocking smile leers at me from a dozen papers. I shiver and continue to my room.

Just before I reach it, I hear heavy footsteps behind me. I turn to see Etienne striding toward me. His face is dark and forbidding, and for a moment, I fear he will strike me. But he stops several feet from me and simply asks, “Why? Why now?”

I swallow. “I’m sorry, Etienne.”

“Damned to your sorry. Why now? Why when the children were just starting to recover?”

Tears well in my eyes. “I thought I could be of help to you, but—”

“You were of help to us. Don’t act as though you’re leaving for our sake. Do me the respect of being more honest than that.”

My face falls. “I… I can’t… It’s too much, Mr. Lacroix. The curse, the music, Claude’s death, the superstition… I know none of it is real, but there were moments when itfeltreal, and that’s a road I can’t risk traveling again. I won’t share details, but I have experienced things in my past that made me question my sanity. Working here has made me question it again, and I can’t afford to put my mental health at risk. I don’t blame you or anyone in your family for this, but Ican’tcontinue here. I’m sorry.”

Etienne takes a deep breath and releases it slowly through his nose. He looks past my shoulder and nods. “I see. Well, I thank you for the help you’ve been so far. I hope that wherever life takes you, it takes you far away from the mental break that you fear. As for us… I think it’s best that you be gone before the evening. The children will have a very rough night, but it will be harder if you’re here resting peacefully in your bed while they weep for the loss of the only good influence they’ve had in recent days.”

I nod. “I agree. I’ll leave within the hour.” I don’t tell him that this is his chance to be the positive influence his children need, and I certainly don’t tell him that I haven’t had a single peaceful night since arriving here.

“Will you be needing the car?” he asks.

“No. I will call a rideshare to the airport.”

He bows stiffly, then turns and walks away, his back ramrod straight, his hands curled into loose fists. I sigh and walk into my room.

I call Sean while I finish the last of my packing. He answers on the first ring as always. “Mary, Mary, quite contrary, why have you called my phone?”

“I’m coming home, Sean.”

His jocular attitude disappears instantly. “What happened? Are you all right?”

I take a deep breath. “No. I’m not all right. I think this is the first time I can honestly say I’ve failed.”

“Uh oh. What happened, love?”

My lips begin to tremble. I try to hold it together, but I’m just so tired and so overwhelmed and so defeated. I sit on the edge of the bed and weep softly.

“There, there,” he says tenderly. “It’s all right. Those fingers you feel creeping over your shoulders? That’s just me giving you a supportive hug. It’s not a ghost or anything like that.”

I chuckle. “Go to hell, Sean.”

He laughs. “I would never put Hell through the pain of dealing with me. But tell me what happened.”

I take another deep breath and explain to him everything that’s happened since I arrived here. I tell him of the dreams I’ve had both sleeping and waking and about the trances I’ve gone into where I’ve developed a sudden skill for playing piano and where I go out into a thunderstorm to retrieve a cursed piece of music for no apparent reason other than to further torture an already tortured family.

I finish by telling him about the conversations I had a moment ago with the family. “And on top of all of it, I’ve learned nothing about Annie. Philippa mentioned her name, but I’m convinced she only heard me whisper it while I was sleepwalking. I know you found that bit about Jacques Poitier mentioning a blonde woman with blue eyes, but he could have been talking about the entire population of Norway for all I know. I just… I was wrong to come here. Through all of myjourneys, I’ve held onto the belief that I am sensible and logical. This was the first time I did something that I know to be insensible and illogical, and I’ve hurt myself and an innocent family because of it.”

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