Page 64 of Hallows End
“She was,” I agree, smiling gratefully. “Thank you.”
“So, is this a social call?” Hilda asks. “Not that we mind when a handsome man wants to have dinner with us. Not at all.”
“I do enjoy your company,” I reply and smile gratefully when Hilda places a steaming bowl of soup before me. “But I also have questions.”
“And here I was hoping to gossip,” Astrid says with a sigh. “I heard that Gertrude Griswald from 1834 liked to sacrifice goats in the spring during Litha, and I’m dying to know if that’s true.”
I laugh and then think back. “Did she have black-and-gray-striped hair?”
“Yes.” Astrid leans forward, her eyes shining with anticipation. “And she was married at least seven times.”
“Ah, yes, who could forget her? I believe she did kill the goats, but it was only for food. I don’t remember anyone saying that it was a ritual situation.” I take a bite of the soup.
“Well, that’s just boring,” Astrid says. “Okay, go ahead and ask your questions. We’ll do our best to answer them.”
“But we’d still like to sprinkle in more gossip,” Hilda reminds us. “So, perhaps we can work out a little trade. Information for information?”
“If I know the answers, I’ll share them,” I assure her.
“Same goes,” Astrid says with a wink. “Now, what’s troubling you?”
“I don’t know that I’m necessarily troubled,” I reply. “I think, more than anything, I’m curious. I’ve noticed that the three cousins, Lucy, Breena, and Lorelei, share a connection that goes far deeper than being related through family.”
“I think that just about anyone, whether they have magic or not, could see that.” Hilda nods. “They’re incredibly bonded.”
“Through how many lifetimes?” I ask, not surprising them in the least. “How many centuries?”
“I don’t think it’s possible to measure such things that way,” Astrid says. “We’ve always been told by our guides and angels that souls travel in packs, so to speak. We spend our time with the same souls over and over again.”
“I believe that all of us have been together for a very long time,” Hilda agrees. “But if you’re asking if the girls were together in previous lives, we’d say without question they have. Likely many lifetimes.”
“Perhaps even one that happened in the late sixteen hundreds?”
They both narrow their eyes in thought.
“It could be.” Hilda then turns to her sister. “I wouldn’t rule it out.”
“What has you curious about this, Jonas?” Astrid asks.
“I may be thinking about everything too much,” I admit as I push my empty bowl aside. “But I can’t help but wonder if I couldn’t lift the curse in the past because Lucy and the others are the key to it. Perhaps they were a part of it before, and I didn’t know it.”
“And now that you’ve found them again, you may have all of the pieces you need to finally prevail?” Astrid finishes for me.
“Yes. That’s what I’m thinking.”
The two women share a smile.
“That’s it, isn’t it?”
“We can’t reveal too much,” Hilda says slowly. “The path of this will happen the way it’s meant to, but I will say that you’re not on the wrong road of thinking.”
“I knew it,” I mutter excitedly.
“Now you can answer a question for us,” Astrid pipes up. “Do you know what happened to Louisa Mayfield?”
I blink at her and then frown. “Surely, you don’t mean Louisa Mayfield from Boston.”
“That’s the one,” Hilda says. “She went missing, and it’s been a long-standing cold case in the area. She was in her mid-thirties and unmarried, which was unheard of at that time, and she just suddenly disappeared.”