“Are you ready for what comes next?” Larin asked from where he sat on a low wall watching the fire. His arms and ankles crossed.
Gemma moved to sit beside Larin and watched him for a time before she turned to look at the fire. “If what I’ve seen in the last few days is real, do I have much choice?”
“There’s always a choice, but the consequences will always follow. It’s the consequences you need to think about if you haven’t decided.”
“It’s not that I’m not choosing to go. I’m worried about what happens on the other side. My aunt and others never came back, and I don’t know why. Did they
With the main house cleaned up, the group moved off to the crypt to clean up the evidence of the battle there. Hugo pointed out that it didn’t matter because if the restoration experts got far, they would find the other inconsistencies. Which would cause even more awkward questions. Larin agreed, and he offered the option of removing the containers that housed other things that they wouldn’t want to be freed. The idea, they would toss the containers into the portal without a destination. Effectively abandoning them to the abyss between portals. So instead of removing corpses and gore. The group scoured the crypt’s many spaces for the odd little containers. While doing this Angelica discovered a sealed niche that unlike others with their
Exhausted as they were, the packing didn’t start until the next morning and lasted several days. The reason for this was it took longer to come up with wills and letters tying up loose ends with people and businesses. They would not send many until it became apparent that they would not be returning. Evan’s name needed to be transferred to other things so that he could maintain things for himself. During that time, Evan’s wife contacted him through a lawyer insisting on proceeding with a divorce. He informed her lawyer that he’d have his legal representation contact him soon. That he would like to proceed with removing her from his life and his legal representation would handle the negotiations from then on. Evan didn’t need her coming back into his life and making a mess of it. She’d never understood how his life changed in the m
PrologueEight Years Earlier–Helencia Gardens Estate–Great Aunt Esme’s Home Evan and Gemma felt bored in the old nursery. It rained the entire day so they couldn’t play in the garden. They found themselves trapped inside their Great Aunt’s rambling home with its old lamps and rickety pipes. Usually, Aunt Esme would say, the sun was too bright to be wasted they needed to go out and play. This wasn’t one of those days. Today, they explored the house. “Okay, we’ve explored everywhere,
Modern Day–Travel Agency Satellite Office Gemma Conlin and her best friend, Becky Davis, sat in the tiny airless office. Most of the lights were off in a failed attempt to lower the temperature in the room. The air conditioning failed again. “So, Pinky, what are we going to do after work?” Becky mimicked a cartoon character in an attempt at levity. “It’s too hot to take over the world. How about we just go grab a drink and chill at home?” Gemma half-heartedly smiled, while lethargically tapping on her keyboard. There
The next morning, the two girls walked to the lawyer’s office. As expected, they entered the waiting room lobby of the law firm to find a frosty reception from Gemma’s family. They were all there for the money, but no one wanted to share or deal with anyone else. Evan and his wife, Sara, stood in a corner. “Clearly, something’s wrong in paradise,” Becky whispered from behind Gemma. The girls never got along well with Sara. Partly because of what she was doing right now. She was in the midst of telling Evan what he should do and how to do it. Long ago, Gemma discovered Sara acted like this when money became involved. “Well, that’s all the money-grubbing relatives.” &n
Gemma and Becky held back as the rest of her family left. Only Gemma’s brother and John made it a point to say goodbye to Gemma before they left. Uncle John wasn’t happy that she’d agreed and would waste all the resources and the workman’s time. He warned her it wouldn’t turn out well for her or the estate. Sell it to the city or to a private corporation. The family would benefit from its sale in the long run. Mr. Winters took the two women into his private office to continue their meeting. “Now, Gemma. Your inheritance will stay for now at the estate. Currently, the work being done in the house is too great for anyone to stay there. But the servants’ cottage is available to move into. It will need a little further work, but nothing you can’t handle. It’s mostly sorting through years of clutter and keep
“Kevin, shut up for a minute and listen. It’s fine. Just send us our severance pay and we’ll call it a day. No, it doesn’t matter. Because we were going to quit, anyway. No, that does not mean we can date. No, Becky isn’t available either. Goodbye Kevin and don’t call again.” Gemma disconnected the call and looked at Becky. “That was nasty. Thanks for dealing with him, hon. He’s so creepy.” Becky bubble wrapped an empty mason jar. “Yeah, I’m calling to reroute our mail right now. I don’t trust him not to track us down and stalk us. At least he won’t find us here tomorrow if he comes around.”&n
Sure enough, Gemma and Becky woke up to several large burly men at their door, which meant they needed to scramble to get ready and finish the last-minute packing. The men were patient and went for coffee while they got ready. After all, the men were ahead of schedule. Once dressed and the last of the packing done. Gemma packed the new car that arrived the day before. Becky minded the movers and the closing walk-through with their landlord. Gemma went for breakfast for them and returned in time to see the moving truck head out, and Becky waiting on the curb for her. She jumped into the car, and they sped off towards their new home. “Glad you got here when you did. I thi