Invoke

Chapter 17

Aiden panicked as Scarlett stood motionless, her gaze set upon the spirit in front of her. Fear struck him in the gut, and all he wanted to do was run to her and get the hell out of here. The green of her eyes was shifting, almost changing color, appearing vacant, as if life were absent within them.

Aiden's pulse ticked faster as he watched her reach up and touch the spirit's face, then running her hand in his hair, just as she had with him.

It angered him. He couldn't understand what was transpiring before his very eyes. Frankly, he didn't want to. What he wanted to do was to grab Scarlett and run from this nightmare of a place. But time just stood. Fragments of it seemed to still and grasp onto the hush of the house. Sweat took form on his brow. He wiped it with the back of his hand, still unable to move forward, only lodged in what seemed to be an immovable shield.

He looked again, and the spirit was leaning closer to Scarlett, speaking words he was unable to discern. He wanted to move, to yell at her for not doing so herself. He was growing impatient and his temper was about to get the better part of him. Aiden exhaled, and then turned his head, his eyes focusing on the front door and the light filtering through the cracks. His entire body was contracting, and nausea was taking its hold.

He glanced again at Scarlett. Still, she stood, transfixed with the spirit before her. Suddenly, Aiden felt a flood of cold air strike at his back, unlocking him from the hold he was in. He turned then, only to see the woman he had seen before in the kitchen with Scarlett, days ago.

Her voice collided with the silence.

"He will not harm her. But it is as I said before, she holds the key to all that has happened here."

She drifted toward him with hauntingly solemn eyes. "To every house there holds a past. A story that waits to be told. There are many secrets that lay dead here, but they are being awakened by the life that has returned."

She moved about the narrow hall, the length of her skirt hitting the wood floor. Aiden swallowed, fighting the urge to speak.

"You are his kin." She stopped in front of him, her hand reaching up and stroking the side of his cheek. "That is why you're drawn here just as she."

Aiden felt her energy radiating into him. He couldn't move. Damned if he could even if he tried. "You carry the same blood that flows through him."

Her vision left his, looking upon William and Scarlett, then back to Aiden again.

Aiden attempted to look back as well, but the force of her hand stopped him.

"He sees the soul of his wife. They had loved deep, and a child came from that union. That bond, even death cannot separate."

Her hand released and she floated away from him, gliding toward the end of the hall, then stopping.

"Your eyes only see the woman of this time, of this place... But what you must not dismiss is the story from the soul that is within her now. She lingers inside. She died here, as did the child she bore William."

"What is your name," Aiden asked quietly.

A small smile crept onto her face. "Louisa."

Her hands were linked tightly in front of her. Aiden noticed she appeared quite fragile for being an entity. She seemed nervous and on edge.

"My soul has remained long enough. I want to cross over, but I am shackled to this house − to this land. There is a reason we are here, a purpose behind our misery."

"And we are the lucky ones that get to figure out why?" He knew that statement was riddled with sarcasm.

She simply stared at him, processing what he said. It dawned on Aiden that he was officially having a conversation with a ghost. And much to his bewilderment, this was becoming very normal for him. He shook his head in disbelief and looked upon Louisa who was only feet away from him, lost in her own reflections.