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Chapter Nine
After hours lookingthrough the diary and working hard to read the faded ink, they had several pages of notes that they thought might be helpful in vanquishing Charles and Clarissa.
“Let’s see what we’ve got,” Jake replied, moving closer to her side. His warmth radiated onto Layla’s skin, causing a shiver to run down her spine.
Layla read the notes aloud, feeling more drawn into the lives of the murdered women than she’d imagined possible.
“All right, let’s go,” Jake said, his protective instincts kicking in as he sensed Layla’s urgency.
The sun was shining brightly as they arrived at the Mexican place for their Sunday lunch. Max, Fiona, and Bella were already seated, their excited chatter filling the air. As Layla caught Fiona’s eye, she couldn’t help but smile at her dear friend, now married to Max, the town’s sheriff. Both women had come so far since their last adventure together – Fiona with her ability to see and talk to ghosts, and Bella with her powers over the moon.
“Hey guys,” Layla greeted them as she slid into the booth next to Fiona. “We found something that could help us.”
“Really? What is it?” Bella asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“It’s a diary,” Jake explained, pulling it out of his bag and placing it on the table. “It belonged to one of the murdered women. It has some interesting information about the man who seduced her.”
“Let’s hear it,” Max said, his brows furrowed with concern.
As they read through the diary, each revelation sent shivers down their spines. The woman had loved the man deeply, only to be betrayed by him in the end. Her death was the result of his lies, and now they needed to find a way to stop him from hurting anyone else.
“Bound by love, bound by blood...” Layla whispered, remembering the ominous phrase from the plaque. “We need to find a way to break this cycle.”
“Agreed,” Max said, determination etched onto his face. “We’ll figure this out, together.”
“Absolutely,” Fiona added, squeezing Layla’s hand.
With a newfound sense of purpose, the group began brainstorming how they could put an end to the tragic chain of events set into motion so long ago. Layla’s heart swelled with love for her friends, knowing that together they could face any challenge— even restless ghosts.
“Roy, you know you’re not supposed to follow us out of the house or the bookstore,” Fiona said admonishingly.
Max started to laugh. “Roy says that if we keep getting together and eating every time we work on this, we’re all going to be as fat as Fiona in six months.”
Fiona shook her head. “I’m not going to be fat, Roy. I’m going to have a large baby bump. Very different.”
Layla was laughing when the next vision hit her.
She stood at the edge of a cliff, her red hair whipping around her face as the wind blew from the north. She closed her eyes and let the visions unfold before her like a play on the stage. The ghosts of Charles and Clarissa Harrington appeared, bound by love and blood, their twisted souls entangled in darkness.
“Only through a union of souls can the darkness be undone,” Layla whispered to herself, opening her eyes to see Jake approaching her with a determined expression.
“Did you see anything new?” he asked, his voice barely audible over the raging wind.
“Nothing we didn’t know already,” Layla admitted, frustration evident in her voice. “Just that thing about the union of souls again. We’re going to have to figure that one out before we can truly move forward. But I have a feeling that we’re close to finding a way to break the cycle.”
“What thing?” Bella asked, feeling lost.
Layla shook her head. “This phrase keeps popping into my head. I can’t remember when we first came across it, but now I feel like it’s a big piece of the puzzle. ‘Only through a union of souls can the darkness be undone.’”
