Lucky Stars (Ghosts and Reincarnation #5)(166)

Backing up, the grey stallion lifted up on his powerful hind legs and used its front hoofs to hammer at the stall door.

Then he did it again.

And again.

And Baron barked, Gretl whined and clawed and Shadow beat at his confines as the other horses whinnied and shifted and the rain poured down outside.

* * * * *

Belle

Exiting the bathroom on the way back to the drawing room, four things came to Belle.

One, there still was no Baron or Gretl.

Two, the children had not arrived. They couldn’t materialise in front of Jack but they could be there in spirit and find their moments to show themselves to Belle and the others when Jack couldn’t see. She knew this, they’d done it before. Not often, they were powerfully fearful of Jack catching a glimpse of them, but they’d done it.

Three, Miles was picking up Olive from the airstrip and, due to the weather, had called some time earlier when he’d learned her small commuter flight had been delayed. But still, even though the weather was worsening, they were later than expected and no call had come to explain why.

And four, Angus had not come down to have drinks and regale them with stories past of “wee ghosties”.

Baron and Gretl could be napping somewhere.

Myrtle and Lewis might be there but since Jack was, they hadn’t shown themselves.

And the weather was bad. Maybe Miles just assumed they’d understand this and didn’t want to interrupt the festivities with an unnecessary call.

But Angus didn’t often miss a chance to imbibe. He left a month ago, promising, like Cassandra had, to continue researching and looking for someone who might be able to assist them in getting Myrtle and Lewis home. That didn’t mean he hadn’t been around, mostly to check in, check Cassandra’s protection spells, eat their food, drink their booze and regale them with stories past of “wee ghosties”.

As quick as her strappy sandals would allow her to do so, she moved to Jack’s study to look for the dogs.

When she got there, she flipped on the light.

No dogs.

“Strange,” she whispered, turned off the light, closed the door and was about to retrace her steps to go to the staircase and Angus’s room when she heard a noise come from the other end of the hall.

That was probably Elaine, Gemma or Carrie. Elaine was cooking. Gemma and Carrie were serving.

Belle smiled to herself. A dinner party at home with family and friends and the women were all in gowns, the men in formal attire and they were being waited on.

“I suppose I’ll eventually get used to it,” she murmured, thinking it wouldn’t be hard. She liked to dress up, especially since Jack so obviously appreciated it. She also liked to see Jack dressed up. He was beautiful always but criminally attractive became (nearly) unbearably attractive when he was in his well-cut tuxedo.

She began to move again toward the stairwell but another noise came from the other end of the hall. She stopped and looked that way.

“Elaine?” she called and there was no answer.

She took one step in that direction.

“Gemma?” she tried and when she got nothing she tried again. “Carrie?”

She took two more steps then suddenly the hall was plunged into darkness as the lights went out. A nanosecond later, the space was lit by a flash of lightning which was followed by a deep, bellowed roll of thunder.

“The storm,” she muttered. “The electricity went out because of the storm.”

She had no idea why she was talking to herself. She only thought it best to get back to Jack. He was protective, she’d been gone for a bit and there were no lights in the house. He’d want to know where she was. She’d go to him and ask him to find Angus and the dogs.

She turned back toward the drawing room just as another flash of lightning lit the hall.

And right before her stood a woman, her wide eyes bright with an unnatural light, her lips curled into an evil smile.

Belle opened her mouth to scream and braced to flee and in her terror missed the fact that the woman’s arm was raised over her head so she also missed that arm slamming down.

She didn’t miss the pain that radiated throughout her skull when something crashed into it.

However, this lasted nary a moment before all went black and Belle Abbot collapsed to the thick carpet covering the stone floor of one of the many halls in Chy An Als Point.

* * * * *

Jack

The feeling seized him, so fierce, he was paralysed for a split second.

Then he moved and spoke, the piercing pain in his gut intensified to such an extreme, it was nearly debilitating.

But he didn’t hesitate.

“Jensen,” he barked, “come with me. I’ll get you a torch. Then you find Angus. Mum, Lila, Rachel, you stay here.”

He was striding to the door as her heard his mother start, “Jack, what on –?”

And Lila’s, “Is something –?”

As well as Rachel’s, “Where’s Belle?”

He stopped at the door and saw Jensen close. The man didn’t ask a single question. He was a man. He was also a father. He felt Jack’s mood and he wasn’t wasting time.

“None of you leave this room,” Jack ordered.

“Jack, darling, what –?” Joy began.

“Do not… leave… this room,” he clipped, jerked his chin up to Jensen and prowled out.