Lucky Stars (67 page)

“Aye,” Lorna muttered, coming to stand a few feet away from Cassandra at the other side.

Cassandra looked down at Miles and whispered, “You are brave and I am sorry.”

Jack didn’t think that was a good start and he felt his body get tight.

Without delay, Cassandra lifted both her hands to the ceiling, arms out in a Y, one hand holding a twig. Her neck bent well back so her long hair and the ends of the scarf tied tight around her scalp fell down her back and she started murmuring.

Jack couldn’t hear her until her voice grew stronger and the volume higher. It was mostly rhymes, not gibberish but mad all the same.

The entire thing was mad and he couldn’t believe he was there at the same time he hoped to God this worked and his brother came out of it healthy and sane.

Jack watched as Cassandra spoke more, stronger and stronger, louder and louder.

And this went on for some time. So long, his eyes moved to Lorna who was listening, swaying to the rhyme and grinning like she was at some strange concert and enjoying the hell out of the vibe.

Entirely mad.

“Uh…” Miles muttered and Jack tore his eyes from Lorna to look down at his brother and he saw Miles staring at Cassandra like he didn’t know whether to swear or burst out laughing, “Seriously?”

Jack felt his lips twitch right before Cassandra cried, “
So mote it be!
” and her arms arced down.

She pointed the twig at Miles and Jack froze solid when a heavy, glittering stream of sparks shot right out of its tip and blasted Miles in the chest. The instant it hit, Mile’s body arched unnaturally from the bed, his back at such an angle Jack feared his spine would snap. His wrists and ankles were straining fiercely against their bounds. His neck was bowed back so far his head was well beyond his shoulders. And a painful, guttural, appalling,
loud
noise streamed constantly from his throat.

He did not look or sound in pain.

He looked and sounded like he was in agony.

“Stop!”
Jack clipped as Cassandra kept the beam of sparks aimed at Miles’s chest, her eyes riveted to him, her mouth moving now without sound but constantly. “
Stop!
” he shouted and began to move but Lachlan clapped a hand strong and firm on Jack’s shoulder and didn’t let go.

“Hold steady, lad,” Angus encouraged from his place at the foot of the bed, his eyes on Miles, he, like Lorna and Lachlan, all held a whip in their hands.

Jack looked back to Miles and Cassandra, the latter of which seemed to be trembling. She definitely was sweating even though she wasn’t moving. And her concentration and the stream of magic hadn’t wavered.

Miles was still making that hideous noise.

“God damn it!
Stop!
”
Jack thundered, shirking off Lachlan’s hand but Lachlan was moving, positioning one foot behind the other, raising the whip in his hand and Jack’s eyes shot back to the bed just as the see-through human shape of a man tore violently free of Miles’s body.

The noise died in Miles’s throat and his body collapsed limply to the bed at the exact instant the three
McPhersons
moved, rounding their whips over their heads with swift, practiced movements and striking out. The tips of all three lashed out and whirled, catching the ethereal shape about the waist and holding him captive and floating above the bed. Every inch where the whips wound around the phantom, gold sparks crackled.

“Fucking hell,” Jack whispered, staring at the man whose burning, incensed, frenzied eyes locked on Jack.

Then his mouth moved but the words that came out sounded hollow and sinister throughout the entire room.

“You will not win this time, Bennett.”

“I didn’t win last time, you bastard. You killed my fucking wife,” Jack bit out.

“
You
got
my
wife
with child…
” Caldwell returned then screeched a demented, “
twice!
”

“She was bloody well Joshua’s wife and you know it,” Jack fired back.

“She was
mine!
” he roared.

“She was never yours,” Jack retorted and tired of the conversation he was having with a fucking
ghost
so he moved it firmly on. “Now tell us about the children. How do we send them home?”

“I will not stop until I
best
you,” Caldwell declared.

“Wrong, mate, you bought yourself a one way ticket straight to hell by being a jealous, abusive, murderous arsehole,” Lorna cut in and Caldwell’s ghostly head turned her way. “Your ride on this plane is done. Your eternal ride isn’t going to be too pleasant and you’ve got one chance to help yourself out. And you can do that by telling us how we send those children to the next plane.”

“I will best him,” Caldwell reiterated, exposing his one-track mind.

“
Laddie
, you aren’t getting this but you’re stuck. You got these last minutes to do right before your judgement,” Angus broke in. “Do right. Tell us what you know about sending those children where they can be at peace.”

Jack watched Caldwell’s burning gaze glare at Angus then he looked about the room.

“Fucking hell, that thing was in
me?
” Miles asked at this point, his voice barely above a whisper but it sounded healthy, strong and sane.

Jack relaxed (slightly) and pinned Caldwell with his eyes.

“Tell us about the children,” he demanded and Caldwell held his stare silently. “Tell us about the children!” he repeated, his voice louder.

“The children do not matter,” Caldwell whispered disturbingly.

“If you know something, tell us,” Jack ordered.

Again with the disturbing whisper, “I will best you.”

“You won’t, I always win,” Jack returned. “Now tell us… about…
the children.
”

And right then Jack felt ice fill his veins because Caldwell smiled an eerie, malicious smile.

“I already have,” he kept whispering. “I’ve won. You don’t know. You have no idea. But you’ll never have her.
My
Brenna.”
His grin became more evil and he leaned toward Jack.
“
My
Belle.
If I can’t have her,
you
never will. I’ve seen to that, James. It’s already begun.”

“He doesn’t know anything, Cass, send him down,” Angus ordered.

“What have you done?” Jack asked, not tearing his eyes from the spirit.

“Something I’ll never tell. Something you can’t stop,” Caldwell answered. “Her body will again be broken by rock and sea.”

Jack reached out, grasped Lachlan’s whip and yanked hard, jerking Caldwell’s ghostly frame his way as he roared, “
What have you done?
”

“Send him down, Cass!
Now!
”
Angus boomed.

“
Smothered of air, broken by sea, pure souls taken by the hand of thee, dark spirit, attend your eternal sentence, as I will, so mote it
be
!
” Cassandra cried, a stream of sparks shot from her twig and it hit Caldwell in the gut. His body jerked once, twice, three times then it exploded in white sparks that flew across the room, bouncing off the walls, floor, ceiling and all the inhabitants. The whip ends fell and he was gone.

Jack, breathing heavily, stared into the empty space where Caldwell disappeared until he heard Miles whisper, “Bloody hell,
did
that just happen?”

Turning swiftly and angling low, he put his face an inch from his brother’s and demanded, “What did he do?”

Miles blinked, his head jerking and he said quietly, “Jack, I don’t know.”

“What was he talking about with Belle?” Jack clipped.

“Honest to God, Jack, I don’t know.”

Jack fisted his hand in Miles’s shirt and got nose to nose with him. “He was in you. Search for it, Miles.
What did he mean?
”

He felt Angus’s hand light on his back right before he heard him say, “Lad, step back. Let us see to your brother.”

Jack ignored Angus. “Tell me, Miles.”

Miles shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Jack pulled him up by his shirt than slammed him into the bed. “
Think!
” he roared.

He vaguely sensed Cassandra working at the bounds at Miles’s wrist then Miles, freed at his feet and one hand, pulled himself up the bed but he held Jack’s eyes. Jack moved back half a foot and returned the gesture.

“I’ll think, Jack, but honest to God, I swear, he didn’t communicate with me but I’ll try and I’ll…” his eyes moved to Cassandra, “I’ll work with her.
With them.
See if they can pull anything out.”

Jack straightened and tried to control his thoughts, his breathing and the burn in his gut.

Angus moved in to release Miles from the last of his bonds.

“I know it doesn’t seem good but we have a warning,” Lachlan said low at his side. “It’s always good to have a warning, mate. We’ll be prepared.”

Jack didn’t feel good about this. Not any part of it.

In fact, he felt a burning in his gut that stated quite plainly that something was very wrong.

His eyes drifted to the space Caldwell’s spirit inhabited moments before.

Then he took in a calming breath and looked to his brother who had shifted to sit on the side of the bed, leaned forward, elbows to his thighs.

“How do you feel?” he asked and Miles tilted his head back to look at his brother.

“Like I feel the morning after I’ve had way too much lager, about the same amount of vodka and washed that all down with a kebab that had a side order of grease,” Miles answered.

“Far from pleasant,” Jack told him. “But at least you’re no longer harbouring the spirit of a man who murdered women and children.”

One side of Miles’s lips moved up as he muttered, “Silver lining.”

 
“What’s one and one?” Cassandra asked.

Miles sat up and twisted to look over the bed at her.

“Two,” he replied.

“Your name?” she asked.

“Miles Bennett,” he answered.

“Is it wrong to eat babies?” she asked and Miles muttered, “Jesus. Are you serious?”

Cassandra
nodded,
her face grave.

“Yes, bloody hell, yes, it’s wrong to eat
babies,
” Miles answered then twisted back and looked up at Jack before sharing, “This is fucking insane.”

“And unfortunately it’s not fucking over,” Jack replied then took in another deep breath before he said Belle’s words of weeks before. “But at least that’s one thing down.”

Miles grinned, pushed up from the bed and swayed until Jack’s hand shot out and caught his. Palm to palm, his fingers tight around the side of his brother’s hand, he held strong until Miles steadied.

And he still held strong when Miles again caught his eye.

“All right?”
Jack asked quietly, looking deep into his brother’s blue eyes.

Miles took in a breath, took a moment then he nodded.
“All right.”

“All right,” Jack repeated and gave his brother’s hand a jerk before letting it go.

“Jack?” Miles called and Jack looked at him again. “Nothing will happen to Belle. We’ll all look after her. It’ll be fine.”

Jack kept hold of his brother’s eyes a long moment before he nodded, hoping to God Miles was right.

Then he turned away and said to no one, “I’m getting a whisky. Then I’m getting in my car and getting Belle and my dogs. If you want a whisky, you better follow me because I won’t be taking time over mine.”

And on that, he walked out of the room with five people following him.

* * * * *

“Good dogs,” Jack murmured as both dogs came to him on the landing of Belle’s cottage but neither woofed their greeting.

Jack gave them quick but loving scratches then walked directly to Belle’s room. He moved to the side of the bed and saw her through the shadows sleeping in the middle. The moon was waning, the night dark, her wispy curtains closed. There was little light so all he could see was that she was on her side facing his side of the bed and she had her knees curled slightly toward her belly.

But seeing her peaceful, he decided he’d not wake her and take her home but instead join her in bed here.

Before he did that, he had three things to do.

“Stay with Belle,” he whispered to his dogs and they settled in on their bellies on Belle’s side of the bed.

Moving back out, he carefully closed the door so as not to make any sound. Then he moved across the landing into the living room and closed that door.

Once in, he pulled out his phone and made his first call.

“All right, lad?” Angus answered after one ring.

“Go over everything, Angus, all of you. Every piece of information, go back to every person you talked to, bring in more witches, clairvoyants, soothsayers, I don’t give a fuck what you have to do. Find out what he did. Find it out and find a way to stop it,” Jack commanded.