Page 28 of Wallflower Witch
He shivers slightly before turning to face the stairs. “My apologies, ma’am.”
The ghost smiles. “He has good manners. I like him. Most people just ignore me. Always have,” the woman says.
“She appreciates you talking to her,” I tell Matt. Then I turn to address her. “I think most people can’t see you.”
“Yes, yes,” she answers. “You never see the help. At least the children haven’t learned that yet. The adults completely ignore me unless they need to order me to do something, but I haven’t seen them in a long time.”
“I’m sorry you were treated that way,” I tell her, stepping closer to the stairs. “Have you been working here for a long time?”
“Yes.” she nods. “I was hired to be the children’s governess. I taught them, bathed them, played with them, and took them to see their parents for a short time every day. But then everything changed.”
I wait to see if she will tell me more before prompting her. “What changed?”
“The twins. They came back,” she whispers.
“Twins?” I ask. “The little girls upstairs?”
“No, those girls are sweet,” the woman answers. “The twins are the progenitors of the O’Byrne family. They had been fighting since the witch trials. I don’t know how they survived everything. I do know Adair’s twin brother turned on her to save himself. She was burned at the stake, but managed to cast a spell, so she didn’t actually die.
“When she came back, she started fighting with those who betrayed her and split the family in half. Eventually, she passed after she lost her family’s power stone, but it seems that has come to you.
“Adair was still in Spell’s Hollow that fateful night. In Morfran’s stand against the coven, the brother cursed us to get on his good side.. Used each family members’ magic against us. We were lucky to get some of the youngest children out of town. Putting them outside the wards, so they could come back and break the curses when they were strong enough. The witches who took the children away came back to a land depleted.
“Now the curses are acting up. There used to be more of us around here. Stuck repeating our days over and over. Never aging. Never changing. But since the last blood moon, people are disappearing. It’s like something is stealing them away, but I don’t think they are crossing over. There’s no light, and if you go near the family crypt, it feels wrong.
“I keep finding myself walking that way, drawn to it. Whenever I get closer, I feel the wrongness and retreat, but I hear screams and calls for help coming from inside. Voices that sound familiar. I think the missing ghosts are stuck in the crypt and that it is somehow calling to those of us who are left so it can trap more of us.”
Isuck in a deep breath, my mind reeling from everything the ghost woman is telling me. All that death, the pain, and the horror these poor people have been through for centuries…
“But why would ghosts be getting trapped in the crypts? How does that have anything to do with those twins and the curses? And I saw a ghost crossover just this morning in the garden, so some of them must be able to go?”
The woman shook her head. “It was because of you. You healed the O’Byrne crypt temporarily when you opened it. It released some of the spirits of those trapped inside—those still able to be saved—and gave them the opportunity to move on if they so desired. You met Marsica outside. She told me many have lost their way, the curse’s draw too strong to fight against. It drains their soul, ripping their spirit apart until it’s damaged beyond repair, and they lose their minds.
“Only those who were extraordinarily strong, or those recently captured, were able to escape through the gap you made for them. Unfortunately, that hasn’t completely destroyed the curse either. I can still feel the pull of evil, just weaker now. I believe it is also coming from the other eight family crypts as well.”
The woman gestures up the stairs, back toward the room the girls are playing in. “Please, you are the only one left. I wish I did not have to put such a terrible task upon one as young as you, but you are our last chance. Take control of your family’s magic and destroy the curse placed upon us. I fear losing the girls every day. Please, don’t let them get taken away.”
“I didn’t even know I had magic until a few days ago. How am I supposed to save everyone from something I know nothing about?” I ask, my voice rising with each word as panic clouds my vision.
“Woah, woah. Easy there.” Matt pulls me back against his chest as Patrick and Josh step in front of me, protecting me from the ghost calmly standing across from them. “What’s going on, Mor? Who are you saving? Is that ghost attacking us or something?”
I blink, feeling comforted by their instant support even against something invisible, like a ghost. Then I reach forward and grab the shoulders of the men in front of me, gently tugging them back from their protective stance.
“It’s okay. It isn’t like that. She said I healed the crypt a little when I saved Patrick from the vines, then released some of the spirits who were trapped with Josh. But the curse isn’t completely over.”
A headache begins pounding in the back of my skull, and I wince, feeling a little lightheaded from everything accumulating over the past few days.
“Apparently, I need to heal all the crypts in town fully to stop this family curse. Otherwise, all the spirits will be captured, and their souls will be fuel for the evil to use.”
“That’s insane. Why should you be the one forced into something like that?” Matt’s voice is incredulous. “It’s not like you had anything to do with what’s happened here. Why should you have to clean it up?”
The ghost woman looks down, a sad smile crossing her face. “I’m sorry, Morrigan. I truly wish there was another way. But you were called here to take on the O’Byrne name and overcome this curse once and for all. It is not something you can walk away from. You’ve suffered from this curse ever since you were conceived, and it only grows stronger with each passing day. One day, it will destroy you, like it has every other O’Byrne.”
She drifts closer, as if to reach out and touch me, though she holds back when she sees me flinch. “You have the gift; spirit and healing magic flows through your veins. I know you are strong enough to be our savior. Now you must look into your heart and find that truth for yourself.”
With that, her hand brushes my cheek, and I faint, feeling the arms of my men catching me as my consciousness fades.
***