Page 31 of The Seven Rings
He took a sip, then shrugged. “It’s not bad.”
“That’ll do.” Cleo sat.
“Sonya went through the mirror,” Trey told him.
Owen looked at Sonya. “You okay? You look okay.”
“I’m definitely okay. Sit, relax. I’ll tell you. I decided to start the serious search in the attic. I’m marking pieces I’ve been through with sticky notes. Cleo, I didn’t tell you about this gorgeous chifforobe. I think it’s a chifforobe. We’ll want that downstairs.”
“So it begins,” Owen muttered.
“It’s never going to end in this house,” Trey added.
And there, she thought, that (almost) cheerful acceptance.
“But the real find was the desk and desk chair. I want you to take a look at it, Owen. You’ll know what it is, besides beautiful. I was thinking of it for the guest office, but now? I’d love to put it back in Lissy’s room, if I can find her room. The wallpaper… I didn’t recognize it.”
She held up a hand. “And I’m getting ahead of myself. I know it was Lissy’s desk because I found some of her things in it. Writing paper, hairpins, photographs, and so on. Then someone helpfully pulled the dustcover off the chair that goes with it.”
She took a drink. “Then, the mirror was there. Just there, and I had to go through.”
She told them all she’d seen and heard and felt.
“She didn’t see you like she did that night in the music room?”
“No.” She shook her head at Trey, then turned to Owen. “I was the ghost, like we were at Lissy’s wedding.”
“More, she didn’t see Dobbs, and neither did you,” Trey continued. “But you felt her, and you think Lisbeth felt her, too.”
“I’m sure of it. It got cold, and dark. I don’t mean the light changed, but the air, it just felt dark, dark and heavy, where it hadn’t.”
“Sonya was really pale and shaken when she came out. I was on the point of texting both of you when she did,” Cleo told them. “I didn’t know how long she’d been in there, over there. Whatever the hell it is.”
“I always feel a little off for a minute after, but this was more—going in and coming out.”
“Because you didn’t stay in the attic. You didn’t go just back, you went where the desk was.”
“Yes!” Pleased and relieved he understood, Sonya reached over to squeeze Trey’s hand.
“I want to see this desk.” Owen got to his feet. “In the attic, and uncovered, right?”
“Go on up, the three of you.” Cleo rose. “I’ve got a couple of things to do for dinner. We can eat when you get back. Go show him, Sonya. Bring Lissy’s stuff back down, and we can take a look at it after dinner. I left the boxes up there.”
Jones, as always, went with Owen. The other four-legged creatures decided to tag along.
Owen stopped in the kitchen to sniff at the simmering sauce. “Smells good, but it doesn’t look like pulled pork.”
“That’s for tomorrow.” Cleo smiled, and made it sultry. “We have plans for you.”
“Chifforobes,” he muttered, and kept going.
“Probably not.” Sonya patted his shoulder. “It’s huge, and I don’t know where I want it yet.”
When they reached the library, Trey turned in. “Hold on a minute.” Walking over, he studied the mood board, hissed out a breath. “This is one time I wish you weren’t so damn good at what you do. So I’m still not going to think about it.”
Owen took another moment. “We keep the gear?”
“You keep the gear.”
