Chapter 31

As the last vestige of the demon disappeared, Fiona took Bailey’s hand. “Come with me.” In her red cloak, she moved like a beacon among the ghosts in the clearing. Many were waiting to pass over. Others simply wanted to return to their haunts. All of them parted as Fiona pulled Bailey toward the edge of the clearing.

“Come talk to Anna,” she invited him.

Though he had seen his sister when the demon released her, Bailey found it hard to face the flickering, small spirit who looked at him with Anna’s eyes and smiled with Anna’s smile.

He stepped toward her. “Oh, my God. It’s you, Anna.”

Her form wavered, but held steady. “Hello, Bailey.”

He dashed away the tears that welled in his eyes. He could barely believe he was seeing her or hearing her voice. “I’m so sorry, Anna. I wish I had—”

She held up a hand to stop him. “Please don’t, Bailey. I’m not angry with you. I’ve never been angry or blamed you. I’ve always just wanted to tell you that I’m okay.”

“If you were okay, you’d be alive.”

“That wasn’t meant to be.”

“If I had done as I promised and looked after you, you would be alive.”

“You always thought you could run my world.” Anna looked at him with the same sort of derision she often displayed when they were young. “If not that night, I could have been taken later. He was waiting for me.”

Bailey’s heart quickened. “Did you know him? Who was it?”

She shook her head. “I never knew his name. When the storm started, I ran. My friends went to a pavilion, but this guy kind of swept me into the video arcade. He looked like a college guy. I thought he was cute, and I didn’t get scared until he led me through a door at the back of the arcade. I screamed, and he hit me. The storm was so loud no one could hear me. He dragged me down the beach.”

“How do you know he had been waiting for you?”

“He told me,” she whispered. Her eyes were deep pools of pain. “He knew my school, my name, and our address. He knew who Mom and Dad were. He knew your name.”

“He found you in our perfect little community,” Bailey murmured. “Mom and Dad would have been better off living in a mansion with guards.”

“Sometimes evil just finds a way.” Anna turned to Fiona. “You have to realize that, too, and stop blaming yourself for what’s happened in your family. The demon and his daughter—they’re waiting for one of you, the same as the man who murdered me was waiting.”

“I want to believe I didn’t make any of this worse,” Fiona replied. “I’m not sure I can.”

“Don’t waste any time on regrets,” Anna advised. “That’s one thing I’ve found on this side. There’s never enough time.”

Bailey said, “I should have tried harder when I first felt you near me, Anna. Maybe we could have caught your murderer. You could have moved on.”

“Sometimes there are good reasons to wait. Maybe you needed to wait for Fiona.” Anna looked at Fiona and smiled. The light around her began to glimmer. “I want to go now,” she told Fiona. “Can you help me?”

“Of course.” Fiona’s glance at Bailey was uncertain. “Are you okay?”

“Mom and Dad…” he said to Anna. “Don’t you want—?”

“They let me go long ago,” she murmured.

He nodded, emotion clogging his throat. He would never again feel Anna waiting for him to turn around and see her.

“I’ll still be watching,” Anna told him. “Be happy. Or I’ll see if I can come back and haunt you again. I won’t be nice this time.”

His laugh was half sob. “I love you, kiddo. I always will.”

“Love you, too.” Anna said and reached up to touch his cheek.

Bailey felt a tingle on his cheek. Then Anna was gone. Really gone.

Fiona gripped his hand. “She’s at peace.”

“Thank you.” He pulled her hand to his lips. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

He wanted to sweep Fiona away, but first she had to greet her grandmother. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Should you be out of bed?”

“It was nothing serious,” Sarah assured them. “Just a little enchantment helped along a bit by Willow.”

At her side, Brenna gasped. “What did I tell everyone about that sneaky faerie?”

Sarah explained she had come out of the enchantment while the demon and Albert were focused on Fiona. “I knew something was wrong. I woke up and told Brenna to gather the coven.” An impish smile crossed her face. “I’m afraid there’ll be reports of UFOs on the radar tonight over Mourne County.”

“So you can fly,” Bailey said. “I figured as much.”

Sarah glared at him.

“Before you say anything, I want you to know I love Fiona,” Bailey said, “and I will do nothing to hurt her or her family.”

“We can ensure that you don’t,” Sarah warned.

Bailey put up his hands. “I don’t need amnesia.”

“Just so you know it’s always on the table.” Sarah’s burgundy cape swirled as she stepped away.

Brenna laughed.

“I really don’t believe any of you could make me forget loving Fiona,” Bailey told her.

Brenna patted him on the arm. “I still don’t trust you, Hollywood, but you came through when it mattered tonight. How did you know Fiona was in trouble?”

“That’s the strange part of the story,” Bailey admitted. “I was in my room at the inn, sulking and thinking about leaving town. As soon as I packed my bag, I knew I couldn’t leave. I had to find Fiona. I felt compelled to find her.” He slipped an arm around Fiona and pressed a kiss to her temple. “I wasn’t sure how I would find this place again in the dark, but I knew if I headed east, I’d find you.”

“Thank the Goddess you did.” Fiona smiled at him. “Now I have some unfinished business.”

She moved to the ghosts who still waited for her help. With infinite care, she helped several cross into the light. To her Uncle Van, she gave a sad smile. “I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through.”

He looked at the gathered coven, gaze lingering on Maggie. “Break this curse,” he told them. “I know you can.”

Fiona held out her hands to him, and his essence drifted into the stars.

The ghosts were gone, and the witches were headed for the home place as Fiona wrapped her arms around Bailey’s waist and laid her head on his chest. “Are you sure you want to stay around for more of this?”

“Are you kidding? I’m thinking I’ll take six months off from the production company, follow you around, and write an incredibly scary ghost story. It’ll start when a mild-mannered Hollywood producer arrives in a small town in the Georgia mountains. I see the Oscars in our future.”

“Sounds good.” Fiona snapped her fingers, and a lit candle appeared in her hand.

As they walked away, he said, “Do you think Sarah would ever agree to fly on television?”

“You’re just determined to be turned into some kind of animal, aren’t you?”

“Maybe a crow,” Bailey suggested.

“Absolutely not,” Fiona said as she pulled him to the path toward home. “After these last few days I could never kiss a crow.”