Page 44 of Tall, Dark and Haunted

“But—”

“Don’t you worry about me. I’m going to be just fine.”

I shake my head. How can he be just fine if he’s going to die? Forever?

“Trust me,” he whispers.

I’m nodding my head, even though I know he’s wrong. There’s no way that he’s going to live. I’m literally watching the life drain out of him, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I glance around, hoping that someone can help.

Except everyone’s attention is still focused on Henry Jones. My mates are strong-arming him back into the castle, and Juniper is fast on their heels, casting the binding spell that will keep him trapped.

There are other witches about, but the coven doesn’t seem particularly interested in my great-, great-grandfather. Not when they’re planning on killing us all, anyway. One or two of them do give me sympathetic glances, but they don’t move from their positions with the rest of the coven.

“I’m glad I got to meet you, Margam,” Grandfather says. “Because of you, I’ve finally fulfilled my duty.”

“Your d-duty?”

“To protect the shifters from Henry Jones.” His voice is distant now.

Even though I’m sure he’s in a lot of pain, he smiles up at me as I cling to him. His smile is tender, and then he seems to look past me, and that smile grows.

“I can finally go home to my family,” he murmurs, and then he takes a final croaky breath.

For a second, I think he really has become a ghost, but then I realize what he means. His family. He gets to go home to his family… all of whom must have moved on. To wherever it is that ghosts go after being ghosts. To some sort of afterlife.

Holding him, I stare down into his now lifeless eyes. He’s gone. Finally at peace.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I look up to find Topher coming to kneel beside me. The look on his face is sympathetic as he forces me to release my grip on my grandfather’s corpse.

“Come on, Rhia. We don’t have much time.” Topher takes the stone from my hand and gives it to Red before pulling me to my feet.

In some distant part of my mind, I know that he’s right. We need to use the stone to stay alive. But my body is shaking and my heart feels like it has been crushed by a heavy weight. Because my grandfather is dead.

I barely knew my great-, great-grandfather, and yet I feel his loss profoundly. Perhaps it’s because my parents have told me about him repeatedly or because he died saving my life. I’m not sure what it is. All I know is that it hurts.

Burying my face in Topher’s chest, I don’t say anything as he scoops me up and carries me away from the body.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the deputy mayor shouts. “It’s time for everything to return to where it belongs. Including you!”

I don’t have to look up from where I’m hiding against Topher to know that she’s about ready to breathe fire. I can almost hear the steam escaping from her nostrils.

“We’re not going back,” Topher says, and I listen to the way his voice seems to rumble in his chest as I grip his tear-stained shirt.

“Like hell you’re not!” one of the coven members interjects. Her blonde hair is cut in a harsh bob that barely moves as she shakes her head in annoyance.

“This way everyone wins. The town returns to America. The castle stays in Wales. We don’t die. And you don’t become murderers.”

“Murderers?” she scoffs. “You’re already dead.”

“Actually, no. We’re not.” Topher sounds so confident. So insanely sure of himself. “Our hearts are beating. We’re flesh and blood, and if you force us to go back, you’ll have our blood on your hands.”

“We’re not—”

“We don’t have time for this, Blossom,” the deputy mayor says before turning her attention to Topher. “Mr.—Sorry, I don’t seem to know your name.”

“Christopher Talbot,” he replies, and he somehow manages to bow, even with me in his arms. Ever the gentleman.

“Well, Mr. Talbot, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do.”

“And why not?” Davy asks angrily.

“You don’t belong here,” Blossom snaps.

“I don’t see how any of this matters,” Topher says. “We have the means to stay without the castle or the poacher. We’re not a danger to the town, and you know as well as I do that sending us back is a death sentence.”

“Er—” The deputy mayor hesitates.

“Of course, if I were you, I’d be worried about getting re-elected once the good people of Silver Springs realize that you’re a murderer.”

The deputy mayor splutters before her shoulders seem to sag. “Give your magic stone a rub or whatever the hell you plan to do with it, but if it doesn’t do the trick, it’s out of my hands.”

“Thank you, madam.”

Topher turns away from the deputy mayor, the coven, and the crowd that has turned up to watch our execution. And then he’s murmuring sweet nothings in my ear as he lowers me back to the ground, holding me close until my feet hit the stone beneath me.

“Everything is going to be all right,” he says, taking my hand in his.

“So long as you hurry up,” the deputy mayor adds. “Because when the sun rises over the horizon, the coven’s spell will be complete.”