Chapter 15

D anica woke up in the wee hours of the morning, startled and unsettled. She bolted out of bed and peered around the curtains to see what was upsetting her. The house appeared normal, and she need not worry about Nana, safely inside the house, because Danica knew damn well that the house would protect her. It wouldn’t even allow Danica entry, unless there was a problem with Nana. Otherwise Danica would have a hell of a time convincing the house to let her in. Yet, for the moment, Nana would be fine, as long as she was inside. It’s when she left that she could get into trouble, which was what happened in the garden recently.

Sending a message mentally to the house and feeling like an idiot, Danica warned, Something is afoot. Take care . There wasn’t any response, but, then again, what response did she really expect?

It was a damn house, and every time she did something like this, it made her feel like a fool. But she couldn’t deny that the house had a soul, a spirit, so to speak. The question was how? And why?

Of course there were never any damn answers.

That was one of the things that really bothered her, not to mention the fact that, if anybody found out, they would just label her as crazy. She’d spent enough of her childhood listening to people call members of her family crazy. She would do a lot to avoid that, particularly if it was pointed in her direction.

Uncertain, Danica quickly dressed. With Benji leading the way, she headed outside into the predawn coolness and walked around the property. There didn’t appear to be anything amiss, but her nerves had noted that definitely something was going on—someone, somehow—yet no danger was visible. However, the unseen was here, the unseen that she often refused to even acknowledge, just because of shit like this.

When she heard a man call out to her, she turned to see a stranger walking toward her. She frowned, as she called Benji closer. The man stopped a good distance away, and it was hard to see him. An eerie glow was around him. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” she snapped. “This is private property.”

He shimmered before her, making her even more unnerved. She bent down and picked up Benji, knowing that he would provide absolutely no defense, yet he gave her comfort.

When the glowing presence replied, “I mean you no harm,” his tone was soft, gentle, caring—almost.

She frowned as she asked, “Do I know you?”

“In a way, maybe,” he replied, with a chuckle, “but then again, maybe not.”

She shook her head. “Can’t say I like cryptic conversations,” she muttered. “Again, why are you here, and what do you want?” She started backing up. Then she froze, with this sense of being restrained. “What’s going on?” she gasped.

“I would like to talk to you, but don’t be afraid.”

“That’s nice,” she snapped. “I’ve spent a lot of my life afraid. What is it you want from me?”

He replied, “How about an open mind?”

She sneered. “At five o’clock in the morning? Is it even five?”

“I don’t know.” He chuckled. “You tell me.”

The note of amusement in his tone confused her. She glanced around at the predawn light, just starting to soften the world around her. “Close to sunrise, yes,” she confirmed, “but that’s got nothing to do with anything. What are you doing here?”

“There is an easy way to do this from my point of view, but it might be harder from your point of view.” She glared and he nodded. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

And then came an instant clap in her head. She dropped Benji and slapped her hands over her ears. “What the hell was that?” she cried out. When the man spoke this time, his voice was inside her head.

My name is Stefan. I keep an eye on your grandmother , he explained in a soothing tone. She’s not long for this world. In order to get her through her days and nights, I sometimes come and help .

Danica’s jaw dropped. “Did you just speak inside my head?” she asked in an ominous tone.

He sighed. You know, if there was an easier way to get people to accept this, I would definitely use it . He sounded amused. Yet there isn’t. In your case, you need to be aware and to get rid of some of this defiance that you’re so quick to send out .

“Defiance?” she repeated, her tone turning bleak. “Is that what it is to you?”

No. It’s fear. I recognize it. I’m sure if you were to look, you would recognize it as well. You’ve had good reason, and maybe you still have good reason , he added. I don’t know. I do know that your grandmother needs you, but you need to realize that she needs you on another level that you haven’t been able to help her with .

“No, of course not,” she retorted. “She wants me on that woo-woo level.”

Which you already are a part of. You just haven’t told her.

She frowned and asked, “How do you know?”

Because I can see your energy . His laughter ran through his tone. I am talking into your mind right now. Your grandmother likes to talk to me while she’s asleep .

“Yes,” she murmured. “That was how she used to call me in the nights when I was younger, when I had horrific nightmares.”

Don’t forget the times when you were older and still had horrific nightmares , he murmured, his tone full of compassion.

“What do you know about me?” she asked, trembling. “Did she tell you?”

She didn’t have to tell me. I can see it. Unfortunately for me, sometimes I see too much pain from too many people, and the secrets that they want to hide aren’t something that can really be hidden. Not with somebody gifted like me , he shared. So, can I see your past? Yes. Do I look? No. Can I see your future? Some of it. I really don’t look at that though. What I can tell you is that your grandmother is quickly fading. She’s not done today and maybe not done tomorrow. However, she doesn’t have long, and there are things that she needs to tell you. What I need from you is for you to shut up and listen . His tone brooked absolutely no nonsense at that point. I know you don’t want to hear it, but she needs to explain some things to you. And you need to hear them. Do you hear me?

“I hear you,” she replied, aiming for calm in a world that was anything but. “I don’t understand what this has to do with you. Or why it matters so much that I listen?”

Because it’s your heritage—a heritage that you are utilizing to some extent, but she doesn’t know that, and it would make her rest so much easier if she did , he explained. There’s also some secret she’s hiding. You need to know what that is. You can’t make a decision if you aren’t fully informed .

“You mean, she would have peace if she knew that I was using some psychic ability?” she questioned. “I don’t even know what I’m doing,” she muttered, with a wave of her hand. “And if it means having people in my head like this, I really don’t want to know either.”

He chuckled. On the other hand, you’re never alone , he noted. In case of emergency, there is always somebody to call. You’ve been alone so much of your life, and, with your grandmother’s imminent passing, you will be alone in a way you’ve never felt before , he noted. Yet there are things that need to be dealt with first, and this house is one of them. I’ve never seen anything quite like it .

“Yeah, well, it’s also one of the reasons why I can’t not deal with some of this stuff,” she snapped. “Do you know what it’s like to have a house that has control over whether you get to go inside it or not? I threatened once to burn it down. I think that’s why it holds a personal grudge against me.”

Stefan’s laughter rippled through her mind, making her smile.

“I don’t know who you are or why you care. Yet I know the house looks after my grandmother. So, for that reason, I tolerate everything.”

Of course , he agreed. For you, your grandmother is your heart and soul. She has been there for you all this time, and she’s doing everything she can to stay longer. Yet you also know that her time is coming very quickly .

“With all this information,” Danica asked, “why is there no way to stop that from happening?”

Because it’s the Circle of Life, child , Stefan stated, a bit of exasperation in his tone. No matter. Nothing you or I want matters. This is a circle that will continue until time ends .

“Will time ever end?” Danica asked, the tears choking her. “Because that is not a time period I want to have happen. She’s very special to me.”

She is, and you are very special to her. But she will not die in peace, and she will not leave you in peace, if you do not give her a chance to tell you everything that you need to be told. Then you have a big decision to make.

“What difference does it make?” she asked, a weariness that she hadn’t expected filling her soul. “It seems like life, so far, has just been incredibly hard. If she’s about to dump more on me, I’m not sure I can take it.”

You can take it , Stefan declared in a soothing tone. You’re young, and you have perseverance, and you have the will. Not only can you take it, you need to take it. She cannot be asked to carry more of the load when you are perfectly capable of taking some of it from her , he asserted. So, remember that your grandmother has done more than her fair share, and now she needs time to rest. When it’s time for her to go, she needs to go with a clear conscience and to know that you are capable of handling what she leaves behind .

On that weird cryptic note, he disappeared from her mind, leaving her almost bereft, and yet, at the same time, overwhelmed with joy.

She was so exhausted that she walked back to her RV and crashed. She managed a few hours of sleep. By the time she woke up, rushed inside the family home, and made breakfast for her grandma, it was later than her usual routine.

While they sat at the table, Nana studied Danica intently, as if thinking what was on her mind. “What are you so heavy in thought about?” her grandmother asked.

Deciding there was no time like the present, she shared, “I had a visitor last night.”

Her grandmother’s eyebrows shot up, and she looked out at the yard. “Like a male visitor overnight?” she asked, with interest.

Danica rolled her eyes at that. “No,” she replied.

“Too damn bad,” her grandmother muttered. “You can’t stay a hermit forever.”

“Yes, I can,” Danica declared, “and I’m quite happy to at this point.”

“No, you’re hiding,” her grandmother insisted.

Not wanting to go down the same pathway again, she waited for her grandmother to stop the old refrain about how Danica shouldn’t be single and how she should move on and have a family, as if that were even an option. “His name was Stefan,” she divulged.

Her grandmother stiffened and glared at her. “You talked to Stefan?”

“I’m not sure that I talked to Stefan as much as Stefan talked to me,” she clarified, with a note of humor.

Nana’s shoulders slumped, and she nodded. “That sounds like him.”

“He seems to think that you need to talk to me about something.”

“I’ve been trying to talk to you since forever,” her grandmother replied, “but you don’t want to hear what I have to say.”

“He says it’s important,” Danica concluded.

Her grandmother nodded and stared down at the plate in front of her. “It might be important, but it’s still not something you want to hear.”

“Doesn’t matter if I want to hear it or not. I don’t want you to take something painful to the grave.”

“Something painful?” her grandmother asked, with a broken laugh. “There has been nothing but pain.”

Danica suddenly realized that she really didn’t know a whole lot about her grandmother. “Then tell me,” she urged. “What is it that I need to know?”

“For one, it has to do with your mother’s abilities,” Nana began but didn’t continue.

Danica winced and, noting Nana’s hesitation, Danica spoke up, for it had been too long to let it go now. “I’m sitting here, prepared to listen.”

“That’s something at least,” Nana muttered. “Anyway, you know that your mother had abilities?”

“Yes, I know that,” she said calmly.

“I suppose that’s part of the reason why you spent so much time avoiding her.”

“That’s not why I spent so much time avoiding her,” she countered, shaking her head. “Yet it was one of the issues I had to deal with as a child. Everybody had their own version of what they thought was my mother’s problem,” she explained, with a broken laugh. “Her psychic abilities were much vaunted and talked about.”

“Yet you had that friend of yours at the fish-and-chips place,” Nana added. “Jerry what’s-his-name?” Danica shrugged, and her grandmother nodded. “He obviously thought you had abilities too.”

“I just answered questions,” she muttered, with a wave of her hand. “Most of the time, they were questions that anybody could have answered. He really liked a girl. It was obvious that she really liked him too. But his insecurity was stopping him. So, when he asked me if she liked him and was somebody who cared for him, I told him yes because that was the truth. She did really care for him, so, yes, it could work. But, of course, like everything, it takes work. It takes time. It takes commitment. If he was prepared to do that, then it would be fun.”

Her grandmother nodded. “So that’s what you did. You just answered basic commonsense questions, with basic commonsense answers.”

“Yes,” she agreed.

“But you also told me that, when Jerry would ask you questions, you had no problem seeing the answer?”

“That’s the truth. I did,” she confirmed, “but I don’t need it to be chalked up to psychic energy or any such gobbledygook,” she added, with a snort. “And if you’re wondering whether I’m using that energy now, yes, I am,” she declared, with a hint of bitterness in her tone.

Her grandmother stared back, a mix of astonishment and joy evident on her face.

“Yes, Nana, but don’t get excited, I don’t use it very much. I don’t use it often, only when it’s necessary. For example, with Stefan last night. He was quite the handful, and, when I gave him a hard time, he ended up communicating directly into my mind,” she grumbled, with a touch of annoyance. “I can’t say I needed that or particularly enjoyed that experience.”

Almost immediately his voice rumbled through her head again. No, but some people are stubborn, and it’s the only way to get through to them .

She glared at her grandmother. “See? He just called me stubborn—in my head too.”

Her grandmother snorted. “You can’t argue with that because you are stubborn.”

Her shoulders slumped, and she nodded. “Maybe, but my circumstances weren’t always the easiest.”

“No, child, they weren’t the easiest, and they may not get easier coming up either.”

“Why is that?” Danica asked.

“Halloween is coming,” her grandmother stated gravely.

It was almost as if she knew the answer to that, but still asked, “And?”

“Your mother died on Halloween.”

Danica paused, then replied, knowing the full weight of that date. “I know she died on Halloween. I almost died on Halloween. No,” she corrected herself, “technically I did die on Halloween. Why do you think I avoid everything to do with that so-called holiday like the plague?”

“Right. Because she died on Halloween, it’s also when you died.”

“Exactly.” She looked over at her grandmother. “Do you ever think it was a mistake that I was brought back?”

“God, no,” her grandmother exclaimed in shock. “I always felt it was a sign. A sign that you needed to do more.”

“Oh, great ,” she responded sarcastically. “So, just because somebody made a medical mistake, I’m now supposed to be some… energy worker or whatever you call it?”

“Not just an energy worker,” she retorted. “And being brought back has its own pain.”

“I know,” Danica snapped. “I’m the one who went through it, remember? Waking up in that drawer isn’t something I care to experience again.”

Her grandmother winced. “I know,” she whispered.

Just then came a pounding on the front door, a pounding so forceful it seemed the entire house rattled. Danica looked at her grandmother in shock, then jumped to her feet and approached the door, whispering, “What the hell?” An unsettling rumble came around her.

“You’d better be on the lookout,” Nana warned.

As soon as she opened the door, Jace raced in, glaring at her in a fury, “You fucking bitch. What the hell are you doing here? Go away. Crawl back into whatever hole you came crawling back from,” he roared. “How dare you come back and mess things up between my brother and me.”

“Jace, I’ve haven’t seen you in God-knows how long. How are you?” she retorted, with as much sarcasm as she could muster considering her shock that the house let him in. “Obviously you’re not doing all that well. Apparently you have issues with your brother again. Now I don’t know what that has to do with me, but, as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t.”

He glared at her. “If you weren’t here, I wouldn’t be having this problem.”

“You certainly don’t belong here in my house,” she reminded him.

“It’s not your house, remember?” he sneered. “It’s your grandmother’s house, or that dotty mother of yours.”

“My mother is long gone, and she may or may not have inherited it, but that isn’t an issue now.”

“So, what then? Are you planning on offing your grandmother now to get the house?”

She stared him down as she shot back, “The door’s behind you. Use it.”

He shook his head defiantly. “I’m not going fucking nowhere until you promise to get the hell out of this town. I want you gone tonight.”

“That’s nice,” she snapped, her eyes narrowing. “I’m not going anywhere. So, get that through your thick skull and get the hell out.”

“You don’t belong here.”

“If I believed the sheriff and his deputies would do anything, I would call them. But I think I’ll skip that step and go straight to your brother.”

Jace continued to glare at her. “Yeah, you would, wouldn’t you? Anything to mess me up.”

“I don’t even know who you are,” she declared, with anger in her tone. “I haven’t seen you in years, and here you are, busting into my grandmother’s house and causing trouble. So, I’ve got no problem telling your brother what you did today. Now get your ass out of here, before I call him right now.”

He shoved his face close to hers. “Do it,” he dared, bellowing in her face. “Just fucking do it.”

Nana called from the kitchen doorway, “Don’t you threaten my granddaughter like that,” she snapped. “I don’t know who you think you are, but nobody comes into my house and does that.”

He turned and scowled at her, then pivoted back to Danica, as if afraid to take his gaze off her. “You’re nothing but a burnt-up old witch,” he said, sneering. “Your days are done. Get the hell out of town, both of you. And you,” he added, turning to her grandmother, “you can just fucking die,… like you should have many years ago.” And, with that, he turned and stormed off.

The house slammed the door shut behind him, but Danica was so irate that Jace had even been allowed entry inside that she turned and started yelling at the house. “What the hell are you doing letting that happen in here? You’re supposed to look after Nana. You’re supposed to protect her,” she roared, “not let some psycho like Jace get in here. If he ever comes around here again or tries to get in, you know what you’re supposed to do. So, ensure you do it. I don’t give a shit about me,” she snapped. “Obviously we both know you don’t either. But letting Jace inside this house was something inconceivable; he is somebody who should never have come through my grandmother’s front door.”

As if in response to her roaring, the house started to slam windows and doors all around, until her grandmother yelled out at both of them.

“Stop it. Stop it, both of you,” she said, glaring at her granddaughter. “The house did his job. I wasn’t hurt. You know perfectly well that, if this had gotten worse, the house would have stepped up and done something about it.”

Danica buried her face in her hands, aiming for control, but it was hard. “How the hell do you argue with a house?” She dropped her hands and looked over at her grandmother. “We can’t let this stand.”

“Absolutely we can,” she replied, “and we will. Jace’s irate and upset, and that’s his fault. However, we won’t add to his pain.”

“Why is he so upset? Why is he upset at us?” she asked, staring at her grandmother. “It makes no sense. Come on. Let’s go back to the kitchen. Let’s sit down again and talk.” She extended her hand.

Her grandmother shook her head. “Honestly, I need to go lie down. I’m feeling pretty tired again.”

With concern, Danica watched as her grandmother unsteadily made her way to her bedroom. “You sure? Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

Her grandmother just lifted a hand. “I’m fine,” she murmured. “I just need to rest.”

That worried Danica, but something else was so unnerving about the house’s blind acceptance of Jace, who had just blasted into Nana’s house, and Danica felt the need to confront someone about it.

She grabbed her phone to see if she could find Cameron’s number. When she couldn’t, she put on her shoes, and, with Benji in tow, headed over to his place. He might not be home, but, if he was, he would get an earful.

As she approached, she looked up to see him standing outside with a cup of coffee, talking on the phone.

He caught sight of her and waved and ended his call, a big smile on his face. But the smile fell off quickly as he took in her expression. “Obviously not a social visit,” he remarked, with a shrug.

“Well,” she replied, “let’s just say it would have been a much more social visit if your brother hadn’t just shown up at Nana’s house. Jace had absolutely nothing nice to say, including threatening me and telling me to get the hell out of town, not to mention shouting at Nana and telling her to just die,” she added, feeling the tears threaten to spill as they choked at the back of her throat.

Cameron’s facial expression turned thunderous as he listened, while she detailed what had happened. “I… I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

“Something has,” she interjected. “He ditched me way back when pretty-damn fast, but I got over it. Believe me that I got over it really, really well. Yet he burst into the house like we were old enemies. I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t have any animosity toward him. I don’t know what he thinks I’ve done or haven’t done, but I need him to leave Nana alone.”

“Yes, of course,” Cameron replied, shaking his head.

Honestly, she couldn’t hear anything but sincerity in his words.

Cameron muttered, “Right.… He has become someone I don’t recognize myself.”

She nodded. “Ditto for me too,” she muttered. “I went through hell before. I really don’t need him giving me hell again. However, his threats were pretty-damn clear.”

“Will you tell the sheriff?”

She snorted. “No,” she replied too quickly, scrunching her nose. “They already seem to think that I beat up my grandmother, an idea you gave them apparently.” She shot him a hard look.

“No, I did not,” he declared. “Benson jumped on that as a possible idea for how your grandmother got injured and why she didn’t have a wound show up at the hospital.”

She nodded. “My grandmother was afraid that would happen, which is why she had been so worried about you going to the sheriff’s office. But I, of course, didn’t listen. So now I am the number one suspect in attacking my own grandmother,” she declared in a fury. Suddenly it was almost too much for her. “Sometimes I wonder why I even came back.”

“I’m sorry about Jace, just adding to everything else for you and Harriet. I too question why I’m here sometimes,” he admitted, with half a smile. “This hospital is pretty small in many ways, and it does need people, but it could be amalgamated into the next county. It would be an inconvenience for some people here, but I’m not sure it would be that much of an inconvenience.”

She nodded. “I guess that’s always a possibility, isn’t it? Anyway I don’t know what the answer is regarding Jace, but I wanted to tell you.” She turned to head back, calling out, “Benji, come on. Let’s go home.”

“You sure you don’t want to stay for a cup of coffee?” Cameron asked.

She shook her head. “No, Nana was feeling poorly when I left, saying she needed to lie down. Honestly, she looks like she could go any day now. That head bang has had quite an effect on her.”

“Let me come back with you,” Cameron suggested. “I’ll take a look.”

“She probably won’t even let you,” Danica muttered in frustration. “She’s very against anybody looking after her or finding out about her.” She looked over at him. “You know that everybody thinks she’s a witch, which is why they run away when she comes around.”

“Do they?” he asked, frowning.

“Yes, they do,” she confirmed, her tone odd and sorrowful. “I’m pretty-damn tired of it myself. Forget about selling me the property,” she murmured. “I’ll leave as soon as my grandmother’s gone. Nothing is here for me.” She thought about the house and winced. “Chances are I can’t sell the place.”

“No, you probably can’t,” he agreed, thinking on it. “At least not for a while, until old memories die down.”

“I thought maybe they had died down,” she shared, “but then your brother showed up and proved that nothing has died down at all. He’s still got a chip on his shoulder like I can’t believe, though I never did anything to him in the first place. I don’t know why he’s got such a big hate on for me.”

“I don’t know either,” he admitted, “but I’ll talk to him.”

She nodded. “I don’t know that he’ll listen, but maybe. If so, then I thank you ahead of time.”

And, with that, she turned and walked back the way she’d come.

*

Cameron couldn’t believe what Jace had done, but watching Danica stride back toward her grandmother’s house, Cameron didn’t doubt it. Absolutely nothing in his mind suggested in any way that Danica had made this up. As far as his brother went, that was taking things a bit too far, even for him. Cameron got on the phone, but his brother didn’t answer. So Cameron waited a few minutes and called again. When his brother finally answered, a weariness to his tone made Cameron wonder about what was going on here. “You want to explain what you just did?”

“What did I do?” he asked, his tone belligerent, but the knowing tone was evident, almost like a don’t-ask-me-brother tone.

“You threatened two women alone in their own home. Are you nuts?” Cameron cried out. “That behavior will get your ass thrown in jail.”

“I don’t give a shit,” he replied, “and it’s not me who’ll get put in jail. It should be that bitch for what she did to her mother.”

There was such an off tone to that remark, and Cameron didn’t understand. “I guess I don’t understand what relationship you had with her mother that makes you feel this way.”

There was dead silence at first, and then he stammered, “I didn’t say I had a relationship with her. Don’t put words in my mouth.”

“I’m not. But every time anything related comes up, you’re always talking about Danica’s mother. It’s as if you think you know that Danica did something to her mother. You blame her, as if she is responsible for taking her mother away from you… or something like that,” Cameron explained. “And yet you were dating the daughter, so please don’t tell me you were screwing the mother at the same time.”

“You don’t know anything. You don’t know anything, Cameron. You don’t know fucking anything.” With that, his brother ended the call.

Cameron struggled to identify the emotions, but it seemed to be hurt and maybe grief in his brother’s tone. Fear even?

Cameron glanced around his house, wondering at the wisdom of even coming back to this town. At times like this he wondered why he stayed. He’d been given other offers, and now he had to question if maybe he wouldn’t have been better off taking one of them instead of living here, with all the secrets and mysteries and rumors and gossip.

It seemed that the town had changed in his absence, as if Daisy’s death and Danica’s resurrection had been so horrific that so many people had changed all around him too. His brother had changed, and Cameron didn’t even know how or why. This wasn’t the brother he knew.

Although Cameron had been back, coming up on a year soon, he had thought that they were getting closer. But now? It’s like they were further apart than ever. Yet why? How could Jace possibly have been so involved over ten years ago to care so much about Danica’s mother being murdered or dying by suicide? Either way it went beyond Daisy being dead. It was a fear that Danica had murdered her own mother, and that made no sense at all.

Just as he went to make coffee and to put on some breakfast, his phone rang again. This time, it was Danica. “Can you come?” she asked, fear in her tone. “I’m afraid she won’t wake up.”

He turned off the coffeepot and bolted out the door, running the last few yards to her house. When he got there, the door was already open, and she stood just inside the kitchen, trembling. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “Please, go see her.”

He bolted through to where the woman was lying in her bed, as if she hadn’t gotten up this morning. She opened her eyes, looked at him, and whispered, “You know it’s time for me to go.”

“I don’t think your granddaughter is ready for that,” he replied gently.

“No, but she never will be,” she murmured. “It’s just that she doesn’t know so much.”

“Then stay,” he whispered, knowing it was futile. “Stay, at least long enough to tell her.”

“I tried. I tried so many times to tell her this morning. That’s what I was going to do. And then—that’s when your brother came,” she murmured. “Just so much anger, so much hatred, and all of it becomes too much.”

He reached out, checked her pulse, and nodded. “You could last a little bit longer, maybe for your granddaughter’s sake. To tell her what you need to tell her, so you can go in peace.”

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “It’s a lot of effort, and I’m so tired.”

He looked down at her and frowned. “How old are you?”

She gave him a ghost of a smile. “Old, so very old.”

He turned back to the doorway to see Danica, her fist shoved into her mouth to hold back the tears. He went to join her there. “She might last another day or two,” he whispered. “Mostly, I think, because she has something she needs to say to you.”

At that, Danica nodded. “We were trying to have that discussion when your brother arrived,” she said, bitterness in her tone.

“He won’t be back again,” Cameron stated, “so I suggest you have that talk now. I’ll leave you to do it in peace.”

And, with that, he turned and walked back out the door.

*

You haven’t told her . The harsh accusation broke through her exhaustion, once Danica had excused herself too.

“I know,” Nana whispered. “I’ve been trying to get there.”

Well, get there faster. You and I both know your time is up.

“You could allow me not to contemplate that every minute of the day,” she snapped.

Too damn bad. She needs to be told, and she won’t like it if we have to do it.

Nana shuddered at that thought. “Don’t,” she ordered. “It’s important that I tell her.”

Then tell her. You are not doing your job, and you need to. You know it, and I know it.

“I know. I know.” She hated the last-minute pressure. To do this—something so awkward and so difficult—would change Nana’s relationship with her granddaughter for the rest of her life.

Your life won’t be very long, so it’s not much of a hardship, came the voice in the darkness of her mind.

“You don’t know that,” she declared. “A lot of things could go wrong right now.”

So fix it. Only then will she be safe.

Nana sighed. “But will she be safe? I don’t know. There’s more animosity and more hate than I have ever seen in my life in this town. I don’t understand why.”

The voice gentled as it responded, Because things are coming to a crux. Every time a big change like this comes, the villagers get restless.

She snorted at that. “You make it sound as if this has been centuries in the making.”

It has been . The voice laughed. You’re the only one who doesn’t seem to believe that. We keep telling you, and you keep thinking that we’re making a mockery of it, but we aren’t. It is true. This is a legacy, and it’s not a bad one.

She wasn’t so sure whether it was a bad one or not at this stage. However, it was well past the time of being able to do anything about it.

You’ve got that right . The voice chuckled. Everybody has difficulty at this time. You’re not alone .

She smiled at that. “I don’t think death is easy on anyone,” she muttered.

And yet it’s only a transition , the voice stated smoothly. The same transition everybody makes when they’re born. It’s just in reverse. Maybe it’s uncomfortable for a few months into the pregnancy, as you learn to grow into the body that you will become. And maybe it’s uncomfortable through the birth channel as you’re born. In the first few years, you are literally this helpless amoeba, waited on hand and foot. Yet that stage ends, and you become that adult, and you are free to make all the decisions you want. With each one you make, there is a related consequence. You don’t make them blind. You make them knowing full well what you’re getting into .

She stared around the room and nodded. “I can’t hide that. I know that. There is no escaping this.”

No, there isn’t, but your end isn’t the same as everyone else’s, though it’s still just as final.