Page 6 of Hallows End

The garden soothes me. It always has. My mother would find me curled up in a bed of forget-me-nots or under the massive willow tree in the backyard many mornings. I didn’t run to her bed when I was troubled; I ran outside. At first, that terrified her, but then she learned it was my path. This is my safety.

And she cultivated it within me, taught me how to harness the power, how to show my gratitude to the deities and acknowledge the responsibilities that come with my gifts.

Goddess, how I miss her.

Barefoot and dressed only in a flowing green robe, I walk out into the night. My moonflowers are open and reaching for the moon. The sky is clear, and I search for the Sagittarius constellation.

The air is still tonight. I hear a dog barking across town and the water lapping at the shoreline less than a mile from where I’m standing.

Spirits walk through Salem at night, the way the living do during the day. I can sense them, especially as we near Samhain when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is the thinnest. But they don’t frighten me. I’m well protected, and they mean me no harm in any case.

I take a long, deep, cleansing breath and let it out slowly, already feeling much better. Suddenly, I see the glimmer of soft, yellow light in the trees.

Fireflies?

“Awfully bright for lightning bugs,” I murmur softly and step forward to get a better look. The light is building, growing as it moves steadily through the trees, and then I see that it’s aman.

Without thinking, I step through the garden gate and follow him through the woods. He’s walking quickly, but not as though he’s running to or from anything. I want to catch him and ask who he is and what he’s doing. The air is cool on my skin as I hurry after him, and I barely notice the scrapes and pokes in the soles of my feet from the underbrush.

He stops at the small wooden walking bridge that stretches over the creek at the edge of my property and looks back at me. He seems surprised to see me, and I call out to him.

“Wait. Can I help you?”

I don’t know why I think that heneedsmy aid, but it’s the first thing that comes out of my mouth. My energy is so focused on him, so weirdly hell-bent on contacting him, that even the branches of the trees around me reach for him.

Without answering, he turns and crosses the bridge. Once on the other side, he’s simply…gone.

The light blinks out as if flicked off by a switch, and I’m standing by the bridge in the dark.

“What in the world?” I ask softly as I turn back toward home. “Am I losing my mind?”

When I get back to the garden gate, I can hear Nera barking inside the house, and I immediately reach out to him.

I’m okay!I hurry inside and fall to my knees to hug him close. “I’m okay, baby.”

He’s whimpering and sniffing me as if he has to make sure for himself that I’m safe.

“I know I shouldn’t have gone without you. It was the…oddest experience, and we both know that I’ve seen some wild shit.”

He whimpers once more and sits in front of me, holding my gaze with his.

“I’m safe, Nera.”

He presses his face to mine.

“I’m sorry that I worried you. Come on, let’s go back to bed.”

But neither of us goes back to sleep. We lie in bed, Nera with me now rather than on his bed, and we listen to the night around us filtering in through the open windows. Night birds call, and I hear the ships in the harbor.

But I can’t get the man’s glowing light and blue eyes out of my head. It’s as though I’msupposedto know him, but I’ve never seen him before.

Not even in my dreams.

I’m not easy to surprise. I see too much.

But this has me shocked to my core, and I have a million questions.

My mother may be dead, but that doesn’t mean I can’t talk to her. I’m just not a medium, so I can’thearher.