Paradise Island: Complete Edition (45 page)

“To whom?” I asked, really interested in what she was talking about.

“The other ghosts I met around here. They told me to stay away from witches. I knew Margaret was one, but I thought you were just a psychic or something. Now, I’m not so sure.”

“I’m not a witch, Lucy. I don’t even know what that entails, exactly,” I said looking up at Margaret. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Margaret said. “And no, Lucy,” Margaret looked down strangely at the cup. “Your friend is not a witch. Though she certainly has potential to become one if she wanted to and found a willing teacher.” She smiled ever so slightly in my direction. It seemed like an invitation, though I wasn’t so sure I wanted to find out to what. Margaret didn’t seem like a very happy woman, and it seemed knowing about the supernatural carried a deep price. I wanted to ask her about what she meant about hurting Jack to keep him from knowing the truth, but now was neither the time nor place.

Margaret went back to her circle of salt and kept leafing the old looking book. Its pages yellowed with age. It looked like it’d been passed down through the generations. I tried to focus on the pages but as soon as I looked directly upon them they became a blur. Perhaps because of the protective circle the book was in? I couldn’t tell you.

“I’m looking for a banishment spell,” she said. “I know it’s in here somewhere.”

“No!” Lucy wailed. “Please no! I’ll leave you all alone from now on just put me back in the stream.”

“Shut up ghost,” Margaret said sternly. “You’ve done enough damage. There’s nothing you can say now to save your plasmatic body-stealing ass.”

“Your son killed me, you know. Point blank range, bullet in the head.” Lucy said, seeming pleased with herself.

There was surprise on Margaret’s face but just as quickly it was gone. “I’m sure if he did, you more than deserved it.”

“She did,” I said, though I still felt guilt about what had happened that day, and all the bodies that dropped thanks to my and Jack’s actions.

“Sophie, you will pay for this! And you too, hag! I have friends on the other side who will make your lives a living hell!” She hissed, obviously out of her depth.

“Huh,” Margaret said. “I’m so scared. Oh, here, I found it. It’s been years since I had to use it. On the ghost haunting this very house, if you can believe that. I’m pretty sure it’ll work just as well for your friend Lucy here.”

I was happy to hear that. Anything to get rid of Lucy and any other ghost that wanted to haunt me was a good thing in my book.

I watched as Margaret collected herbs from jars around the attic and ground them together in a mortar and pestle. She chanted words I did not understand and when she stopped she looked up at me and smiled. She handed me the metal bowl, which held the herbs now. “I think you should do it. She has wronged you the most.”

“What should I say?”

“Tell her what you want her to do. Banish her from your life, from the earthly plane with your words, and then pour the herbs over the teacup.”

I looked down at the teacup within a mini salt circle and I felt sorry for the disembodied head within the water.

“Don’t you dare, Sophie! Please, I promise I won’t bother you again, just please don’t do this!” Lucy begged and begged, like I’d never seen her do before. She knew she was the one who was powerless in this situation. She no longer had a card up her sleeve. It was die or die time, and Lucy was going to die again.

“Lucy, I banish you from my life forever. And as I banish you from my life, I also banish you from the earthly plane and all those who are living. I banish you forever, Lucy!”

“No! Stop it you stupid cunt! Stop!”

I poured the mixture of herbs in the teacup and watched as little by little Lucy’s reflection burned away. Her screams were almost deafening, but then she was gone, and only sweet silence remained.

“We shall never speak of this again,” Margaret said as she closed the book. I wanted to reach out and grab it and pore through its pages, learn all its secrets, but I knew that wasn’t possible. I wasn’t even sure I wanted that complication.

Margaret locked the door behind us and I knew, somehow I knew don’t ask me why, if I stole her key again and opened that attic door again that the only thing I’d find there would be a bunch of junk, like I saw the first time.

It was already dark by the time I entered the kitchen. Hunter and Jack were talking, beers in hand. I want to the fridge and took out a bottle of cold water and drank and drank and drank.

“Are you okay, Sophie?” Jack asked me.

I looked up shocked that he’d even seen me. “Yeah, everything’s fine now. Thanks for taking me back here Jack. Hunter, about the other day...”

“No worries, Sophie. Jack explained everything.” Hunter said.

“He did, did he?” I asked as I looked pointedly at Jack.

“It’s okay, Sophie. It’s over now.” He got up and put his arms around me. It was good to feel his warmth and comfort again, but I did not like the idea of him telling lies about me. I managed to get out of his grip without actually pushing him away.

“I’m hungry,” I said.

“Dinner should be ready in half an hour,” Hunter said.

“I’ll go lie down until then,” I said.

“I’ll join you,” Jack said as he started to follow me.

“No,” I said. “I’d like to be alone.”

Jack looked deflated but he stayed back and didn’t push the issue. I wasn’t in the mood for anything but closing my eyes. I felt incredibly sad for some reason. Something was different now. The fact that Jack didn’t believe me when I told him about Lucy’s ghost hurt more than I thought it did. But what hurt more was that he actually had me locked up, “for my own protection and that of others” no less. I closed the door behind me and laid on the bed. Hot tears came of their own accord and I let them. I let them take all the sadness and doubt with them. I couldn’t wait to leave this place and go back to the island. I just hoped Brandon felt well enough to be left behind by at least one of his brothers. Maybe if I had a family, brothers or sisters, maybe I’d understand this incessant need to be there for each other. It seemed strange to me that Brandon needed his whole family there. One brother wasn’t good enough, so all three had to be there?

I don’t know. And the whole thing with Margaret? Magic. Witchcraft. Whatever the hell that was. I didn’t know what to think of any of it, and of course I couldn’t talk to Jack about it. One, because he wouldn’t believe me. And two, because Margaret did everything in her power so her sons wouldn’t know anything about the supernatural power she was so accustomed to. But why? Was it dangerous for them to know? Or was there another reason?

“Dinner!” I heard voices yell out. I even heard the bell and its chime reverberating through the air. I made myself decent, or as decent as I could and joined them in the dining room. Margaret was back to her old self. I sat down by Jack. Everyone was there, though when I entered I noticed that Hunter, Aidan, and Brandon looked at me weird. What had Jack been telling them? We ate in silence mostly, though the thoughts in the air were becoming louder and louder. I could almost hear what they were thinking when a bell rang, I’m not sure from where exactly because no one at the table did anything, and dinner was over. My stomach was full and Jack took my hand and guided me back upstairs, telling me that it was too late to drive out, that we were leaving tomorrow.

Jack wanted to but I wasn’t in the mood, so he just put his arm around me and we fell asleep.

B
right morning sun woke me out of my slumber. I was alone. After a quick shower I was ready to face the world again. In the daylight, everything that had happened with Lucy and then with Margaret in the attic seemed like a distant dream. Maybe it was, I don’t know. If Jack was right, I was crazy and the pills the doctor gave me would make me better. I wasn’t so sure about that. Whether what happened in the attic was real or not, it helped.

We said our goodbyes.

I stood to the side with Margaret. “Thanks for everything,” I said.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” she said, but I could see in her eyes that she knew what I was talking about.

I left that place behind with the only man that I really cared about: Jack. Yes, I had slept with Hunter, but I only did that because Jack had slept with that random girl whose name I didn’t even know. I hoped he learned his lesson. On the drive to the airport he told me he had gotten tickets to paradise island. I looked forward to seeing Rory again, and to relax in the sun. I didn’t know what to think of the trip to New York. It felt weird looking in the mirror as Wood House disappeared in the distance. As soon as it disappeared from view, it seemed that everything that happened there was erased. I breathed a sigh of relief and Jack smiled when he saw me.

The moment we touched down on the island I immediately felt better. We took a taxi to the house and Rory greeted us at the door, looking a shade or two darker than when we left him.

I hugged him and I felt like I was finally home. It felt good to feel another human being again. One who didn’t think of me as crazy.

“I missed you, too” he whispered in my ear as he slowly let me go. He went on to give a quick hug to Jack. I knew he missed him, too. I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like if I’d stayed back here now, without Jack by my side. Rory was wonderful, but Jack was Jack.

It didn’t take long for us to get a proper welcome back. I awoke entangled in Jack and Rory and I felt like I was finally home. I was happy because all the bad things were behind me now.

That morning we were eating breakfast and Rory told us about his own adventures. Ours weren’t that interesting, especially since we didn’t dare mention my stay in a mental health facility. It would only lead to too many questions. Plus, it’s not like I could tell Rory that his girlfriend was haunting me. I wondered what he thought really happened to her. I hoped he still believed that she was somewhere in London, trying to make it in acting or some other art form. It was much better than the truth, that was for sure.

“I met someone. She’s lovely, but it’s not serious or anything,” Rory said as we drank our tea and ate our toast together.

“Good for you, man,” Jack said, seeming genuinely pleased to hear that Rory had met someone. “Is she a local or an expat like us?”

“Local. She owns a bar stand not too far from here. Her name is Malia.”

“You really like her, don’t you Rory?” I asked him, seeing it in his eyes as he spoke of her. Pretty soon we might lose him to a local girl. It should have made me sad, but I was just happy for him. If he found someone he felt about like me and Jack felt about each other, I saw nothing wrong with that.

We spent the rest of the day swimming. I got back into the swing of things and I was even ready to go into the ocean. Rory and Jack were close by at all times, so I felt pretty safe. It was good to be in the ocean. It couldn’t really compare to how it was in the pool. Pool was stagnate water, but this was pure living, breathing, moving water that could sweep you away without notice if you weren’t careful. I even summoned up the courage to duck my head under water a few times, but I wasn’t quite ready to open my eyes under the water yet. I made a mental note to get some goggles for next time.

The rest of the day was spent in the sun and we had a lot of fun.

Days passed, but Rory drifted away, little by little, like the sea as it recedes from the beach. I was happy for him, and so was Jack. It’s not like we thought it would a be a forever thing, the three of us, anyway.

It was on a day that Rory was out with Malia that I found myself lying in the sun, under a big umbrella, just admiring the view. No, not the ocean. I had gotten used to that by now. No, the view next to me of a man on his back, with nothing but wet swimming drunks on, almost revealing everything. Jack was a beautiful man, with a beautiful face and the body of a god. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was that he had chosen to love me, out of all the women in the world. He was even willing to deal with my crazy. I knew most men would run as fast as they could at some of the things I did or said, but Jack was still here by my side, and that was all that mattered.

I still had no idea what I was going to do with my life, but did it really matter in the end, if I had Jack by my side? I don’t know why I caved into the pressures of the world before. Isn’t the whole idea of me and Jack that we don’t really care what the rest of the world thinks, so why should I try to live by their rules?

The thoughts of Jack’s mother also came to me, and the thing that happened in the attic. As the days passed that event in the attic seemed more and more like a dream or maybe one of my “episodes” as Jack would have me believe if I told him. Was his mother really some kind of witch? It was hard to believe, but then again I did talk to a dead woman for a couple of days there, and she did manage to take over my body. No matter what Jack or any doctor tried to tell me, I would believe that happened until the day I died.

But for now I was content to enjoy life in the sun. Paradise island, indeed!