The Medium (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy #1) (38 page)

Our guests—the
live ones—said their goodbyes. Celia and I walked them to the front door like
old friends. Jacob remained behind in the drawing room, or perhaps he'd already
vanished back to the Waiting Area. At least he would return to give me the name
of someone to contact. It would give us a chance to finally talk. Alone.

I opened the
front door and the familiar feeling of being watched returned. I tensed, looked
left then right. At the corner of the street, peering back at us from behind
the red-brown bricks of the largest house on Druids Way, was a little girl. It
was too far to make out much except that she had black hair, a black coat, and
couldn't have been more than about ten. It was the same girl whose bootlace was
being retied by the man earlier.

"Excuse
me," I said, moving down the stairs past Adelaide. "I must speak to
that girl."

"Emily!"
Celia scolded. "Our guests are just leaving."

I held my hand
up for her to wait and began to run, but before I reached Mrs. Norstrop's house
two doors down I saw the little girl's mouth move, uttering words I couldn't
hear. An edge of something black—a coat?—flapped beside her, but the rest of it
was out of sight around the corner.

Behind me,
someone grunted.

"Adelaide!"
Lady Preston cried out.

I spun round to
see Celia supporting Adelaide and Lady Preston flapping a hand at her
daughter's white face. Jacob hovered anxiously nearby and I knew he wished he
could help.

"She almost
fainted," he said, pacing around her.

Adelaide shooed
Celia and her mother away, but she swayed unsteadily. "Bloody hell," she
muttered, pressing both hands to her temples. "My bloody head hurts."

"Adelaide!"
Lady Preston gasped. "Language."

Celia coughed
politely and looked away. Jacob stopped pacing and stared at his sister as if
she were a creature from another world.

Adelaide put a
hand over her mouth. "Oh! Oh, I can't believe I said that. I'm so sorry,
Mother, really. I don't know what came over me." She closed her eyes and
groaned loudly.

"I think we
should go home," Lady Preston said. "It's been a draining day."

"Would Miss
Beaufort like to return inside and rest?" Celia asked.

"No." Adelaide
sliced her hand through the air. "Let's go."

I suddenly
remembered the little girl. I looked up the street, but she was gone. Curses!

"Until
tomorrow, Miss Chambers." Lady Preston took her daughter's arm. Adelaide's
face screwed up and she regarded her mother with disdain. With a snort and deep
laugh that made my spine tingle, she marched down Druids Way with long,
purposeful strides. Lady Preston had to trot to keep up.

Jacob watched
them go, a frown cutting across his forehead. "Strange," he muttered.
"Very strange."

"Did you
see her?" I asked. "That girl at the corner? Did either of you see
her standing there? I think she's the one who's been watching me."

"Someone's
been watching you?" Jacob asked, his full attention on me. "For how
long?"

"Ever
since..."
you left.
"For about a week."

"Why didn't
you tell me?"

I thrust one
hand on my hip and stalked across to him so that we were close enough to touch.
Dear God, how I wanted to touch him, but he'd made it clear there would be no
more intimacy between us. My frustration made me speak harsher than I meant to.
"If you'd come when I summoned you, I might have."

He had the
decency to look away. "Well, I'm here now," he said softly. "Tell
me about the girl watching you."

"There's
nothing to tell. Today is the first time I've seen her. She was just a little
girl, only..."

"Only
what?"

I shook my head.
"Nothing. She was too far away to see clearly." And I might have
imagined the dark, wild curls and the darkish skin, so like my own.

***
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