Lucky Stars (Ghosts and Reincarnation #5)(148)

“I think Miles is unlikely to do that,” Belle remarked and Lachlan stood.

“Then he’ll have to be convinced to do it,” he stated firmly and both Belle and Jack went still then Jack’s body went solid when he saw Angus’s demented smile.

“Lachlan has another gift. My laddie here has a way about him. He can convince folk to do a lot of things,” Angus declared.

“Do you hypnotise them or something?” Belle asked curiously.

“Yeah, they go into a trance, a trance caused by his fists,” Lorna muttered.

“Holy heck,” Belle breathed.

“There’s another option,” Cassandra put in at this point and Jack, holding close to his dwindling patience and trying to ignore his increasing unease, looked to her. “We kill the soul he carries.”

Belle gasped and Jack’s body petrified but his mouth moved to say two words.

“Absolutely not.”

“It won’t kill him,” Lorna added quickly.

“How could it not?” Belle asked, her voice rising with each word.

“He’ll change, definitely,” Cassandra explained. “From what we can tell, though, only some of his less appealing traits will be gone. Though, we can’t know that, of course, since he was born with Caldwell in him. But it could be he is how he is because he carries Caldwell’s soul. If we release that, he could just be… him. Whoever that is,” she ended on a mumble.

“It’s a ceremony,” Lorna stated. “Mega power and mega cool. But, to be honest, the traces of a soul being torn from you isn’t the most comfortable thing and, usually, you’d have to be captured because no one volunteers. And you’d also have to be bound to endure the ceremony because it can get a little intense. But the good news is, it holds no lasting effects. Except, of course, if the personality being torn away makes up most of your own. Then you can end up being a little, erm… addled.”

Jack frowned at Lorna then transferred his frown to Cassandra.

Then he declared, “You are not performing this ceremony on my brother.”

“Lad, we get you,” Angus said quietly. “But what you need to get is that, even after those children are released, Miles carries the trace of Caldwell. If he doesn’t agree to take Cass’s potion for the rest of his life, Caldwell could conspire to do harm against you, Belle and your kin. Your brother wouldn’t even know it.” He saved his kill shot for last. “Your brother probably doesn’t know what he’s already done.”

Likely because of all that was happening, and the entirety of it being beyond mad, Belle had not come to understand the fullness of the situation.

Until then.

And Jack knew she did when she whispered, “Oh my God, it was Miles who pushed me.”

Jack curled her close, moving his other arm so he could hold her in both even as Angus said gently, “No, lass, no’ Miles. Caldwell.”

“I don’t believe this.” Belle continued whispering and Jack lifted a fist to below her chin to tip her face to his.

“If this is true, my love, it’s as Angus says. It wasn’t Miles. It was Caldwell.”

And he said that because he had to believe it. If he didn’t, he, too, would go mad but it would be a far different madness than the benign lunacy sharing that room with him and Belle.

She pressed into him, sliding her arms around him. “We have to get him to take that potion, Jack.”

“We do,” he agreed though how they would manage that he had no f**king clue.

“Joy is going to need to talk to him, Jack,” Cassandra stated quietly and Jack’s mouth got tight before his gaze moved to her.

“I don’t want my mother involved in this,” Jack returned. “Hell, I don’t even want her knowing this.”

“You’re no’ going to convince your brother to talk with us, lad,” Angus replied cautiously. “And from what we know of the situation, Belle and Yasmin will have no better luck.”

“It has to be Joy,” Cassandra reiterated. “But I’ll go with her. There’s a few tricks I have up my sleeve.”

“Lachlan has a way about him,” Lorna put in, “and I’ve got a way about me.” She grinned cheekily. “I’ve been known to be good at slipping in a potion here and there without detection. We make him docile, he’ll be easier to talk to. We give him a talking potion, it’ll all come out.”

“See, laddie, we’ve got it covered,” Angus announced, throwing his arms out and grinning his demented grin.

Jack wasn’t certain he agreed.

However, he was certain he had no choice.

And he bloody detested it.

“Right,” he said. “We’ll talk to Mum. We’ll call to Myrtle and Lewis and then we’ll reconvene to decide what’s next once we speak to the children.”

“Uh… Jack, that we would be Lorna, Uncle Angus, Cassandra, Belle and me talking to the wee ones,” Lachlan told him. “You can’t be there.”

“Pardon?” Jack asked low, his eyes narrowed on the younger Scot.

“As you know, we’ve been asking around, gathering intel,” Angus cut in. “No master of this house has ever seen the children. They appear freely in front of others, members of the family, servants, guests. But no master. Not only no current master but also none of the sons. We think there’s a reason for this. Though we canno’ say for certain why, whether it’s their wish or if seeing a master puts them in some danger. What we can say is that we need to abide by it if it’s their wish or, if it’s the other way around, no’ forcing their appearance in front of a being that might place them in danger.”