Page 14 of Shadow Running
“Erin?What a coincidence,” I said.“Erin was my mother’s name.”
“Yes, well…I suppose it was popular.Anyway, I always thought she would come home, but then…one day…I just knew she never would.”
“You said the house has always been haunted?”Carson asked.
Konstantine gave him a nod.“Yes, even back when we were little.My mother knew it was haunted, but she engaged a witch to protect us.The spirits were always around, but they never bothered us.At least, most of them.”
“Did the spirits ever try to hurt you?”Penn asked.
“Not when I was young.I remember one night when I had to go to the bathroom, and I walked past the spare bedroom upstairs and glanced in.There was a woman in the room, staring into the mirror, primping like she was going out for a date.I yelled and she turned around and raced at me, like wind blowing through a piece of cloth.There was blood flowing down from her throat, but I don’t know if she realized it.”
“You said your mother engaged a witch to protect you?”Dante asked, then pointed toward the desk.“What the?—”
A letter opener had risen off a desk resting against one wall.It began to spin in mid-air.
“Watch out!”I leapt out of my chair and jumped forward, knocking Konstantine off of the sofa to the floor.He yelped as the letter opener sailed past, above us at head-height.It sailed past, hitting the marble around the fireplace.It careened off the marble, spinning until it abruptly fell out of the air and landed on the carpet.
“Are you okay?”I asked, jumping to my feet.I extended a hand to Konstantine.He accepted my help and I pulled him to his feet.
“Good gods, you’re strong.And thank you.Yes, I think I’m okay,” he said, patting his chest and thighs.“Nothing broken.”
“Do things like that happen often?”Penn glanced at the desk.
“Things like that happenall the time,” he said.“I’m used to it, but they’re ramping up in frequency and now, the energy is changing.It always felt melancholy, but now I sense an antipathy—a lot of anger.”
I walked over to the mantel and bent to pick up the blade.It seemed a standard letter opener, and didn’t feel magical.And then, I glanced at the photographs on the mantel.There were several pictures of Konstantine when he was younger.In one, he—I guessed it was him—was about nine, standing with a girl who looked to be sixteen or seventeen.They were on the shore of Puget Sound, by the docks, and her hair was blowing long in the wind.
But the location wasn’t what threw me.There, staring back at me from the picture, was my mother.
CHAPTERFIVE
“What the hell?”I grabbed the frame.“Where did you get this picture?”I whirled on Konstantine.“When was this taken?”
He looked puzzled.“I was about eight.That’s my sister, Erin.She was fifteen.Why?”
I stared at the picture, hard, then looked at Konstantine.And sure enough, now that I studied his face, I could see the resemblance.
Dante and Penn both crossed to my side.
“Are you all right?What’s wrong?”Penn asked.
I showed them the picture, barely able to speak.Reeling, I tried to make sense of why Konstantine would have a picture of my mother and insist it was his sister.
Penn looked at it, then froze.Dante peeked over my shoulder and gasped.Both had seen the pictures of Erin that I had kept.
The color drained from Dante’s face.“Oh good gods.That can’t be…”
I showed Carson the picture and he blinked, but said nothing.Turning to Konstantine, my heart raced as I tried to find the right words.“You said Erin vanished when she was twenty-two?”
He nodded.
I mentally did the math.My mother had been thirty-seven when she died.I’d been fourteen.She had me when she was twenty-three, in 1984.
I’d never met any of my family on her side—I didn’t even know their names.She told me that they had abandoned her when she got pregnant, but I’d looked up all the Sarasans I could, and none of them fit the bill.In fact, most of the Sarasans I came into contact with originated from Thailand.
“Konstantine, have you ever met anyone else besides me who has the last name of Sarasan?”I asked.“It’s important.”
He frowned, thinking.“Actually, my grandfather was named Sarasan.But it was his first name.Sarasan Crow.He was an odd duck.Why?”
