Page 11 of Haunted Heart
Flinching back, I turn sharply to my left, and my skin goes cold.
What once was only shadow is now filled with a dark and menacing specter… She’s as beautiful and terrifying as she has always been on the other side of that mirror.
“Julia?”
Head tipped to the side, dark hair floating in wisps, she looks at me with fully black eyes, gray skin, and an expression of… amusement.
“I don’t think that was the spell you thought it was.”
“I can see you,” I say, standing and taking a step toward her.
“Yes,” she says with a smile that seems to melt and reform on her face as the candlelight dances across her features.
“How can I see you?” I ask.
Julia waves her hands and flickers through various shades of transparency. “Magic,” she says with a little laugh. “You’re a witch. You know how this works.”
I’m starting to think I don’t.
FIVE
Two years ago,this woman invaded my home.
Two years ago, she refused to be scared of me.
At first, I let her stay out of curiosity. Then, her visits reminded me of the world I’d abandoned… Of the world that had abandoned me.
She dusted corners and told me about her life. I watched her take gentle care of my home. I watched her try to take care of me, too.
“You don’t look happy to see me.”
“I am,” she says, her words a rush as she blinks. “The circumstances are… not ideal.”
“They never are.”
I stay in my corner, wishing I didn’t feel weightless, wishing my limbs weren’t numb.
What a cruel joke her arrival in my life has been.
Falling in love with a woman had driven me west all those years ago.
Now, when loving Genevieve is acceptable, it’s not possible.
I haunt this house. She haunts me.
Julia floats close to me.“Let me see the spell.”
We both freeze and look down at where her arm touches mine.
“I guess you can do more than see me now.” She brushes her hand along my skin and then draws her fingers along my cheek.
I twine my fingers in her other hand, holding onto her because I’m afraid she’ll disappear again. She brings our clasped hands up and brushes her lips across my knuckles.
“You’re warm, I’d… forgotten.” Eyes closed, she presses her cheek to the back of my hand and holds me there, but only for a moment before she exhales.
“May I do something I’ve wanted to do for… too long?”
I hesitate, but I smile. “I remember a time when you wanted to kill me. So, it depends on what it is.”
