Ghost of a Chance Book 1 in Above the Grave Trilogy (24 page)

“Like I said,” He said seriously again. “I don’t know
if it is possible for us or not but as long as I am here, for as
long as I can be with you, that is where I want to be, with you
and only with you.”

They heard Drew’s body stirring on the couch and
knew that they had to hurry.

“Drew?” Liza said. “I’m sorry to break your
sweetheart’s ballad here but we have to hurry the hell up. You
have to tell me what you can while you can. We can’t save you
if we don’t know what is going on.”

Drew reached for the pointer again. She felt the tears
falling but knew that no one would see them. He loved her.
He really, really loved her, and his love for her was bringing
him life. She could see it in his eyes and she could see it in his
flesh.

The pointer circled…

 

T…H…E…C…E…M…E…T…E…R…Y…

 

“What about the cemetery, Drew? Is that where you
are?”

 

W…A…S she responded.

 

H…E…R…E…N…O…W

 

“Of course you are, Sweety.” Liza said. “Who is at
the cemetery?”

M…A…R…Y…A…N…N there was a long pause.
Drew didn’t know how to tell Brendan that it must be his
brother that was buried in his tomb.

T…W…I…N…E…V…I…L

 

“Twinevil? Who is Twinevil?” Liza asked Brendan.

 

Brendan shook his head. “I couldn’t say.”

 

The pointer pointed to NO on the Ouija board. Drew’s
body stirred again and Lezetta tried to open her eyes.

 

E…V…I…L Drew pounded on the board then to let
them know that she was done with that word.

 

“Evil?” Brendan asked.

 

YES Drew pointed. T…W…I…N

Brendan’s hand flew to his mouth then. Drew felt
something tugging on her. She knew that if she didn’t leave
soon someone else could come through. She had been there
long enough. She had to leave.

S…A…Y Drew Spelled out then pointed at
GOODBYE on the board.

 

“No!” Brendan screamed. “You can’t leave. You
can’t go back there.”

Liza took his hand then. “We have to say good
-bye,
Brendan. She is right. We have to close the connection or
someone else could get in. Someone not so nice.”

“Let them come in then!” He yelled. “I can’t let you
go back there!” Just then he felt her hands on his cheeks and
then her lips on his.
He sighed.
He wanted that feeling
forever.

She pulled away
and
tapped on
the board
again.
P…L…E…A…S…E

Brendan didn’t care how m
uch of a man he was
supposed to be then. He couldn’t stop the tears. S…A…Y
GOODBYE Drew wrote again.

“NO!” Brendan yelled. He couldn’t bear to let her go
back. He was afraid that he would never get her back again.
Just then Lezetta awoke. She sat up quickly then rubbed her
head. “What is going on here? You poisoned me you bitch!”
She said pointing at Liza.

Lezetta tried to stand but the potion was still in her
blood and she couldn’t feel her legs. Liza heard the Ouija
board knocking again and looked down. T…K…O Drew
spelled out. Liza smiled, said “Good-bye, Drew, we will see
you soon.” And grabbed the Ouija board and smashed it over
Lezetta’s head.

“NO!” Brendan screamed. “What have ye done?”

“Listen to me, Brendan, very carefully. We have t
o get
Drew’s body back to the cemetery. Drew was trying to protect
us or she wouldn’t have told us to say good-bye, someone else
must have been trying to get in.”

“Crazy woman! You just sent yer best friend out in to
a world of nothing! Do you have any clue as to what she may
be going through right now? We may never see her again!”
He was frantic. He didn’t remember feeling this sick when
Lezetta was killed. He felt emptier than he had ever felt his
whole life and in the one hundred and fifty years that he had
been dead, alone.

“Brendan, what did you want, huh, for her to stay in
limbo with you? What kind of life could that be for either one
of you?” Liza said taking his hand.

Brendan stood up then and paced the floor. “I can
never have a life again. I had my chance and it’s too late for
me.” He sighed then and ran his hands through his long hair.
“I love her. So much it hurts but I don’t want her life to end
now.
She is young and beautiful and even though we may
never be able to be together, she still has a chance to feel love
like she has never allowed herself before. Don’t you
understand how special that is?
We have to get her back
somehow. When we do, I will disappear forever. She has to
be able to make a life for herself.”

Liza smiled u
p at him. “Ok. That is all very sweet and
fine but have you seen yourself lately? I don’t imagine that
you are going to be disappearing anywhere. Haven’t you
wondered why all of a sudden you are so human like?”

Brendan looked at his hands then. He walked over to
where Drew’s body lay unconscious on the couch and put his
hand against her cheek. “This is where I belong in another life.
Why would God be so cruel as to show me now what could
have been the best thing for me?
Why would he wait until it
was too late?”

“You aren’t listening to me.” Liza said softly,
watching him made her want to cry. He was so strong, yet so
frail under Drew’s spell. “Brendan, before Lezetta died she left
a curse on you, on this house. The “sisters” were supposed to
makesure that the curse was never broken.”

Brendan looked up at her. “Explain, woman!”

“Well, when you and your sister came here you gave
her what she had been searching for. She finally found a way
to be someone. She was tired of pinching pennies and working
for you was just the start. She had side jobs telling people’s
fortunes and helping people fall in love supposedly, but the real
money was in making a man of wealth fall in love with her and
then marrying her.” Liza watched as Brendan’s face grew red
with anger.

“I loved that woman! I would have given her anything
in the world. How could she have used me so?” He said
pacing back and forth now.

“I don’t know, Brendan. After you died it’s said that
she gathered the sisters in a secret meeting. She told them of
the curse that she had put on your soul and this house. She is
the reason that your spirit can’t leave this house, Brendan. It
was nothing that you did.”

“Why? Why would she wish that misery upon me?”
“I don’t know. The reasoning was never said.” Liza
felt terrible. She didn’t like being the bearer of bad news after
one hundred and fifty years. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t her fault
that her great-great-great grandmother had been a crazy witch.
It wasn’t her fault that it was in her blood and that she had
taken an oath when she was too young to know the difference.

She had known though the day that Drew stood up for
her that they had been tied together somehow. She hadn’t had
a clue about the rest of the story until her grandmother had
called her mother recently.

“What is the answer?” Brendan screamed at her.
“How is this curse of Lezetta’s broken?”

“You have to love and be loved in return, full
heartedly, no fears, no uncertainties.
Lezetta believed that it
would be impossible with you being “dead” and all. She even
killed your only family member that you had left, Mary Ann,
so that there wouldn’t be any cracks in the system. Every curse
is just like a promise though. If one is made there has to be a
way to break it eventually.”

“
Promises should never be broken, Liza.
Why else
would they be a promise?
Why bond yourself if you have no
intentions of holding to it?”

“I agree to a point. I made a promise when I was 13
years old and thought that I knew everything to always uphold
to the laws of the sisterhood and to stand by them as if they
were my only family. I broke that promise the night that I put
that flyer on Drew’s door. I knew that she would be perfect for
you, before I even met you.

She has a way about her that I’ve neve
r seen with
anyone else. She isn’t afraid of anything in the world except
herself, and men, living ones anyway. She has been through
hell and back and the worst I hoped would happen was that she
would get frightened and leave. My Nana knew what would
happen though. She saw it somehow a very long time ago and
never told anyone. My grandmother has a very special gift you
see.
She envisions things.
Not just anything but special
things.”

“Why is it that your family would break this bond to
Lezetta? Whyshould I even trust you?” Brendan asked her
feeling skeptical about the whole situation now.

“You should trust me because Drew saved me once a
long time ago and I owe her for that.
She has been my very
best friend for a very long time and nothing will ever change
that. I would do anything in the world for her as long as it was
in my power.”

“You didn’t say why it is that your family has broken
their bond with the witch.” Brendan was standing near the
broken window now. He wished so badly that he could be with
Drew. He needed to feel her in his arms. He needed her to
speak to him and to let him know that she was ok.

“Lezetta had more power than she was ever worthy of.
The original intention of every witch is good. No magic should
ever be used to hurt anyone. Lezetta went too far when she
sentenced you to an eternity in solitary confinement. The bond
to the sisterhood isn’t nearly as important as the fact that we
believe in decency and kindness.
The so called sisterhood
evidently forgot that back then or they didn’t realize what
exactly Lezetta had talked them into.”

Brendan believed that he could trust her.
She was
either a very honest and loving person or she was a very good
actor. Either way, he had no idea what to do so really he had
no other choice but to believe her.

“What happens to me when I fall in love and am loved
in return, Liza? Do I earn the privilege of moving on to heaven
or hell, and why is my sister still here? She should have moved
on before I was murdered!”

“I don’t know about
your sister, Brendan. I don’t
understand why she is still here unless Lezetta wasn’t her true
killer. If that is the case then she probably stayed behind to set
the record straight.”

“And Lezetta? Why is it that she would need to be
staying behind? She got everything she wanted did she not?”

“You ask questions of me Brendan that I have no
answers to. I don’t know all of the ways of the spirit world and
up until now I really had no desire to know.”

“Then how in hell do you suppose we get Drew back?
Have ye no idea about that either?” Brendan said, his Irish
fading in and out again.

“I know that we need to get Drew’s body back to the
grave where Lezetta traded places with her soul.
Drew needs
to get back into her body as soon as possible. I also know that
I can’t carry her by myself and I need you to help me.

So, what is it Brendan?
Do you love her or do you
love her not?” Liza asked calmly. She knew that they needed
to hurry but Brendan was the type of man that obviously
needed to know all of the answers before making any major
moves. Any other time she would have respected that but right
now there wasn’t much time for all of the answers.

“Of course I love her, damn it!” He said walking back
to Drew’s body now. He picked her up off of the couch then
and carried her in his strong arms. “It does me no bloody good
though if she doesn’t love me back. I tried to follow her before
remember? I ended up right back in that bloody, God forsaken
room upstairs.”

“Yes, this is true, but look at yourself, y
ou are visible
again Brendan. I think that Drew was just confused about her
feelings. Maybe by now she has decided that she does love
you. Maybe she just needed to hear you say it yourself first!
We won’t know unless we try!”

“No, it’s a bad idea. Wha
t if I walk out of this house
with her and I am sent to the top floor and she is dropped to the
ground? We have abused her poor body enough don’t you
think?” Brendan said staring down at Drew’s bruised head
where Liza had clocked her with the Ouija board.

“You are just afraid of finding out that she doesn’t love
you. What if she does? Are you willing to let Lezetta live in
her place? Brendan, I can’t do this without you!”

“What if she does love me, Liza, and then I am sent
away without her?”

“I see. S
o, this is all about you now. You are afraid to
be alone again. Maybe you weren’t worth breaking the
sisterhood bond after all. Give her to me, Brendan. I will drag
her there myself if I have to!” Liza opened the door and held
out her arms to him.

“’Tis not that! Blast it, woman! I don’t want to leave
her here alone!” He said angrily. “You have no idea what it is
like to roam these halls alone for so long! I can’t let her go
through what I went through even if it is for half the time that I
had to bear. I would spend another hundred and fifty years
alone or burning in hell for that matter if it meant that she
would be safe and happy!”

“Then you need to take all of that energy, all of that
love, and please help me take her to the cemetery. I know that
you can do it, Brendan.
You have to at least try!
If she loves
you then the curse is broken. You will no longer be trapped
inside of this Godforsaken house and no matter where you go
you can at least go there knowing that you saved a life!
That
hasto account for something don’t you think, and wouldn’t you
rather go away knowing that she has a chance for a life with
someone than to stay in this house another one hundred and
fifty years knowing that you could have saved her?