Darkest Journey (Krewe of Hunters #20)(67)

“How old is it?” someone asked.

“Oak Alley was completed around 1839,” Jonathan said. “The property was originally called Bon Sejour and was purchased by Valcour Aime in 1830. Aime was known as the Sugar King, and he was immensely wealthy. In 1836 he traded the property to his brother-in-law Jacques Roman and the house was soon begun—built entirely by slave labor. The house was not damaged during the fighting, but the economy plummeted after the war, Jacques died, his widow spent heavily, and the family lost the property in 1866. It was auctioned off, but the new owners failed to keep it up, and the property fell into disrepair until it was purchased by the Stewarts.”

Charlie watched her father and thought that he was a better showman than she might ever be herself, despite her years of drama school. It wasn’t the words he spoke; it was all in the rise and fall of his voice, and the quick way he responded to questions or turned a heckler around.

“At Oak Alley you’ll learn not only how both the rich and their slaves lived during the great sugar years, but all the details of the running of the house and plantation. So now, if you’re ready, the buses are waiting to take us to the plantation. I’ll be talking to you again once we arrive, and I’ll be available throughout the day for any questions. If I can’t answer them, we’ll find someone who can. And since you’ll need to eat lunch while we’re there, I should mention that the restaurant serves the best shrimp po’boy I’ve ever had.”

A kid in front started waving his hand and asked, “Aren’t we just learning what bad people did?”

“What we’re learning is history, and history is created of both good and bad deeds carried out by people who are mostly a mix of good and bad themselves. As a philosopher named George Santayana once said, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ History happened. We can’t change it, only learn from it. And they weren’t necessarily bad people, they came from a different time. Hopefully, every year that we live, we all learn to become better people ourselves.”

Charlie smiled at her father as he looked up suddenly and saw her. He smiled back, then nodded at Ethan, who was standing right behind her.

She lowered her head. She wasn’t sure her father actually liked Ethan any better. He was just glad Ethan had law-enforcement training, carried a gun and was there to protect her.

As her father turned to lead the guests off the boat, she saw Thor join him. Apparently Jude would be staying behind and would take over guard duties when Ethan went ashore later.

As she and Ethan left the room, Alexi joined them. “Wanna run through tonight’s set and then head up on deck for a leisurely lunch?” she asked. “Maybe Ricky can join us.”

Clara and Jude met them as they headed to the Main Deck and the Eagle View dining room, where Alexi promptly went behind the piano and pulled out their set lists, while the two men walked over to the side of the room and started talking.

Charlie gave her attention to Alexi, but as she listened, she couldn’t help looking expectantly around the dining room. But there was nothing to be seen, just empty tables waiting to be filled.

By the living.

“It’s odd,” Alexi said, looking at her.

“What’s odd?”

Alexi leaned toward her and Clara, though the only other two people in the room were Ethan and Jude, who were still deep in private conversation.

Still, Charlie knew, the walls might have ears. “What’s odd?” she repeated.

“This room,” Alexi said softly. “According to the experts in these things, there are two kinds of hauntings. There are residual hauntings, where, say, soldiers fight the same battle over and over again. And then there are active hauntings, like the ones we’ve all had opportunity to experience. This room seems as if it’s the site of a residual haunting. The men here...lying sick and injured as they did all those years ago, when more than half of them eventually died. But there’s that one man who looks like a doctor. He keeps looking at you, Charlie.”

“I know,” Charlie said.

“I think he wants to talk to you, but it seems like he’s afraid, maybe because you’re always surrounded by other people.”

“I’m not sure why a ghost would be afraid,” Clara put in.

“We need to find a way for him to talk to you,” Alexi said.

“I agree,” Clara said. “But we can’t leave you alone.”

“Maybe if you’re around but not too near...” Charlie murmured.

“We’ll work on it,” Alexi said. “Okay, first up...begin with the medley.” She kept talking, riffling through her sheet music.

Charlie looked around the room again, hoping to see the doctor materialize.

Talk to me, please, talk to me, she thought.

But the room remained empty, so she returned her attention to their practice for the evening’s performance.

She thought how lucky she was to have such good friends. They’d both been through hell very recently—and on cruise ships, no less.

But they were here now, for her.

She turned around and saw that Ethan and Jude had settled at a table.

Even Ethan was back.

For her.

And then, as she watched, the ghostly doctor materialized right behind Ethan. Once again, he caught her eyes.

Then he raised a hand in a solemn salute.