Greta and Eric sat, eating their dinner in companionable silence. “So, what do you have in mind to do tonight?” Greta didn’t know what Eric was planning, but if the way the Inn’s restaurant was slowly clearing out and no new patrons were replacing them, she knew he had something planned. “I was thinking we could actually spend some time together without work getting between us. At every turn, it seems to be in our faces. We chase disembodied creatures, but they are acting like a barrier between us.” They were now on dessert, and she’d missed how time had gotten away from them as they’d lingered over their meal. This must have been the first time they’d not shovelled food down in a rush to return to work. Greta was enjoying it. “Did you hire the dining room for the evening?” Greta wasn’t stupid. There were only two other tables occupied beyond theirs, and this was a time when the dining room would hop with diners. “I may have. Look, if I tried to get you to
Kelly Jones, the owner of Page Turners, came armed with several bags. At first glance, she looked like she was coming to stay. But that wasn’t the case. They needed everything she brought with her for the ceremony. But she carefully stored all her equipment and supplies in what appeared to be custom storage containers.Gabby couldn’t do more than block windows and the section of the back garden from the guests as there wasn’t time to cancel bookings and she wouldn’t evict guests in the middle of their stay. They’d been warned of the haunted nature and odd happenings. This was just another odd happening. Or at least that’s how she instructed Jody to explain it. The guests didn’t need to know exactly what was happening in the back garden on a cold winter evening.Eric stomped his feet to get some warmth into them. This differed from being in the on the island. They couldn’t have any electric current close to this location at the time of the ritual for fear it might affect the results of
So much happened over the coming months. Winter inched away, leaving Spring in its wake. The paranormal situation settled down, with much of the weaker spirits disappearing almost instantly. Kelly claimed their foothold in the land of the living wasn’t strong enough to stay and the curse was the only thing keeping them here. Spirits like Olivia and Ian, though, they were invested in the living, and they were the ones unwilling to leave. So, as the programs aired on television, the town stood poised to see how the world would react to their way of life. A town haunted and cursed in the idyllic countryside of Canada. A working modern-day ghost town. That was how the show portrayed them, with snapshots of their lives sprinkled with scenes of ghostly activity. Interviews with local artisans defending their way of life and their continued relationships with their ancestors. It pleased Gabby that the show didn’t portray them as all crazies and lunatics. Greta did
Kelly finally dared to approach the house of one of Evergreen Grove’s original witch families. There were originally fourteen. Thirteen were part of a coven that settled here when they formed the town. The fourteenth was a lone practitioner. The Blue Moon Inn was the home of that family. This house, now the doll hospital, was the family home of the one banished witch family. Kelly had found this mentioned within the coven’s history. Hailey’s ancestor placed the curse, and the coven banished then because she would not remove the curse after she placed it. Oddly this conflicted with another section that claimed she placed the curse because she’d been kicked out of the coven. That would probably never be explained or corrected. That lone practitioner was the only one able to take on the curse. She wouldn’t share the responsibility, nor did she accept a place within the coven. She couldn’t end the cursed spell because she didn’t have control of it. What she did
Gabby could feel Olivia was close. She slipped away from her nice warm spot in the bed beside Donny and made her way down to the secret room, where Olivia died all those years ago. They’d not truly spoken with each other in quite some time and Gabby missed the comforting feelings she received from her ancestor. As she laid out the things that would help Olivia to come through, Gabby felt something different in the presence that answered. The presence wasn’t that of Olivia. Well, not fully. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but the presence felt male. Her mind instantly went to the possibility that it was Ian. Had Ian come with Olivia, or was he there alone? Something felt different. Gabby wasn’t sure if it was because the spirit was different, or their conversation would be world changing. That’s how it felt for Gabby. Both excitement and dread played with the information her intuition gave her. “Hello? Who’s that? I know it’s not Olivia, the one I summ
Chapter One—Welcome to the Blue MoonJody settled down with a large hot chocolate and smiled at the snowfall from the Blue Moon’s front doors. Snow would not stop the people coming to the Blue Moon. Even without the skiing and other winter activities, they would be full. Here was where people came when they needed to escape their lives. They always found something at the Blue Moon that they needed. Smiling, she listened to Gabriella, the owner, flutter almost
With the Germain’s, now interested in doing something together. Jody went on with her day. Gabriella was in her office organizing the bookkeeping paperwork to go offsite for completion. With the inability to use computers reliably. This was necessary. Three hours later, the first of their new guests appeared in a flurry of snowflakes as the main doors opened and shut behind them. A young man st