Page 96 of Dark Embrace

Ian began shaking his head mutinously. “I want Papa! I want to come home. Tell him to rescue me.” He was angry and annoyed now. He reminded her so much of his father.

Ian didn’t know that he was dead and he thought he could come home. Brie fought not to cry.

Tabby kept murmuring.

Ian began to fade.

Brie couldn’t stand it. “Ian, you have a new home now, a wonderful place filled with warmth and light where the gods live, where all your ancestors are!”

He was the barest apparition, and his next words were really hard to hear. Brie was certain she had misheard them. “I’m not dead.” And he was gone.

Brie cried out, and looked at Allie and Claire. “What did he just say?”

“He said he wasn’t dead,” Claire said. “Unless he said, ‘I’m dead.’”

“I thought he said he wasn’t dead, too,” Allie gasped, her brown eyes huge.

Tabby said softly, “He is alive.”

Brie saw the color returning to Tabby’s waxen face. The odd glow left her eyes and Tabby blinked as her body relaxed. Then her golden eyes widened. “We did it!”

Brie released Claire’s and Tabby’s hands, standing. “You just said Ian is alive.”

Everyone got up, Tabby looking surprised and standing more slowly. “I did?”

“You don’t remember?” Brie cried.

“Brie, I was in a deep trance. I only know that Ian was here. What happened?” She glanced at everyone.

“He seems to think he’s still alive,” Allie said. “And you just confirmed it.”

Tabby was stunned.

Brie confronted her, shaken to the core of her being—the depths of her soul. “I’ve seen you in trances hundreds of times. Sometimes your spells work, sometimes nothing happens or sometimes the opposite happens. Sometimes your guides give you great advice, and sometimes they have sent us into traps and we’ve barely avoided death!”

Allie interjected, “That was then and this is now. Tabby is really powerful, Brie.”

Brie whirled, aware she was becoming hysterical. “So she’s always right? Her spells always work and her guides never screw up?”

Tabby touched her. “I know you’re upset.”

“Upset?” she cried. “Upset doesn’t even come close!”

“I’m usually right,” Tabby whispered. But she was stricken, and Brie knew she was afraid that this time she was wrong.

“How could he be alive? I mean, do the math,” Brie cried.

Claire said, “He should be seventy-five years old, not nine.”

They all exchanged confused glances.

Brie moaned. “What am I going to tell Aidan? Am I going to tell him we had a séance, we spoke with Ian and that maybe his son is alive and wants to come home? No, wait! I’ll tell him we think he’s alive but we’re not sure.” She started to cry.

“Ghosts often think they’re alive,” Tabby finally said tersely.

“Your guides said he’s alive!” Brie screamed.

Tabby paled.