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“She’s been reaching out to me.”
“I know she has, but does that mean we can truly trust her?”
“I tentatively trust her, and so do the others. We’ll see what we see.” She smiled. “And this time we’ll remember we have flashlights on our phones.”
“That would be truly brilliant of us, wouldn’t it?”
The group stopped in front of the mansion that had been home to Clarissa during the years she’d been married to Charles, but before she was taken off to jail. Fiona stopped, and spoke up just a little. “Remember, this time we’ve been invited. We need to be ready to run if Clarissa does something she shouldn’t, but I have faith this will work out for us.”
As they walked into the house, Layla shivered and grabbed her head.
“A vision?” Jake asked.
She nodded, but said nothing as she let the visions wash over her. “I’m seeing one of the kidnapped women and Clarissa is feeding on her neck, it seems. We have to get out of here.”
The door slammed behind them and locked. Fiona put her hands on her hips and glared at the ghost. “You said we could trust you.”
Clarissa laughed, the sound causing shivers to run down Bella’s spine. Karl wrapped an arm around her.
Bella immediately began one of the chants she used, thankful the moon was out, because she knew she could get them safe.
As Fiona told Clarissa to let them out, Bella worked her magic. They could all feel the electricity in the air that came from Bella’s powers over the moon.
Layla clutched her head, as vision after vision struck her. “She’s behind it somehow!” Layla cried out.
At that, Clarissa laughed harder. “And now I have all of you here with me!”
“No, you don’t,” Bella said calmly. The door unlocked and opened on its own, and they all left the house at an easy pace. “We’ll be back, Clarissa. And you won’t fool us again!”
Once they were all in Jake and Layla’s yard, Jake shook his head at Fiona. “It was worth trying.”
Fiona nodded. “I know I’ve been deceived, but this is the first time I’ve felt defeated by a ghost.”
“It’s not your fault,” Max said, stroking Fiona’s back. “You give people the benefit of the doubt, and you believe in them. We all love that quality in you.”
Bella looked up at Karl, thankful he was there beside her. “I think what we all need is some queso to feel better.”
Fiona laughed. “I have a new recipe for queso, and I have all the ingredients at my house.”
They all laughed and started the short walk to Fiona and Max’s place. “I do believe queso is what is calling me,” Bella said with a smile. “But can we eat just queso for supper?”
“There won’t be enough for that. We’ll order a couple of pizzas and have pizza with queso for supper.”
“Don’t have to ask me twice!” Karl said.
As disappointing as the evening had been for them, Bella decided she could finally give them the news of what she and Karl had found in the archives that day. “We found Rebecca’s last known address,” she said as they all gathered in Fiona’s living room.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Fiona asked, clapping her hands together. “Does someone live in her house?”
Bella shook her head. “You know that house outside of town that has no windows and is falling apart? Rebecca disappeared while she lived there, and no one else was ever willing to move in. We could go explore.”
“I don’t want Fiona going,” Max said, surprising them all. “I worry she’ll get hurt in the overgrowth of that house. There’s too much to trip on.”
Bella looked at Fiona. “How do you feel about that?”
Fiona shrugged. “It’s going to take me an hour to fix supper. Why don’t you all go while I cook?”
“I’d feel better if Roy stayed with you,” Max said.
