Page 41 of Witch Unexpected
Anna’s jaw jutted. “We, as the original witches, have the prerogative not to move on. Grimswood is an anchor for us if we choose to remain.”
Her tone was sharp with annoyance, but I didn’t think it was at my question, more aimed at the predicament. I mean, whoever had come up with the you-can-hang-out-here-for-all-eternity obviously hadn’t thought it through too well.
Outlier souls went somewhere different from human souls, but I had no clue about the rules. “So, the residents of the east wing are ghosts.”
“The oldest of our kind,” Anna said. “The first elder council.” She squared her shoulders. “It looks like I’ll need to speak to them myself.”
The maid melted back through the wall, and Anna continued down the corridor to a set of double doors where she stopped to retrieve a key from her pocket and unlock the doors. She took a deep breath and pushed them open.
A gust of musty air hit me as we stepped through into a gray, dismal corridor. Grimy windows with stone ledges made up the wall on the right. There were cobwebs and dust, and it looked like this wing hadn’t been lived in for years.
Well, not by the living anyway.
“I’ll have the maids clean up the wing,” Anna said, setting off at a clip again. “But they’ve prepared your quarters.”
“Her quarters?” A wizened figure appeared by the window, ethereal and silver. “This isourdomain.”
“Meredith, please…” Anna said.
“We had a deal.”
“Things have changed,” Anna said. “The potentials for this year were all murdered.”
“This year…” Meredith frowned. “What year is this?” Her face crumpled in confusion.
“It doesn’t matter,” Anna said. “All that matters is we make the new anchor comfortable.”
“Then make her comfortable elsewhere.” Meredith’s expression set mulishly. “The manor is filled with empty rooms.”
“It would be if any of you agreed to pass over,” Anna bit out.
“As ifyouwouldn’t opt to stay,” another voice said.
I scanned the corridor, but the speaker didn’t materialize. I switched to othersight, and the world bloomed silver and gray. Several spectral forms appeared, all wizened and annoyed.
“Geraldine, she’s looking right at me,” one of the ghosts said.
“Impossible, Dottie, we’re in veil.” Geraldine patted her buddy.
I arched a brow and crossed my arms.
“No. No, she’s looking at us.” Dottie eyed me warily.
“Oh…” Geraldine locked gazes with me. “Oh, well…”
“You can see them?” Meredith asked me.
“Yeah. I can see them.”
Anna blinked at me in surprise. “How?”
I shrugged. “Just a thing I can do. Look, guys—” I smiled sweetly. “You’re right, this mansion is big enough for all of us. I mean, this wing is huge, right?”
They watched me guardedly.
“And I’m new and feeling kinda lost. I mean, I’d hate to be shoved in here all by myself.” I widened my eyes in a lost girl way. “I could use the company, if you’ll have me.”
Wren chose that moment to poke his head over my shoulder.
