Sierra squeezed his hand reassuringly. “You look fine.”
“I want her to be proud.”
Shit. Those words hit Sierra hard and took her back to a milestone moment in her past. She’d been in third grade and the school was having a Father/Daughter Day. Sierra didn’t have a father. They usually told people that he was already dead before his actual death.
But on that particular day, Sierra had seen how the other girls had reacted. So she’d asked her mom that evening, “Why did he hate me?”
“Who?”
“My father. Was I bad? Carla told me that her dad is proud of her because she got an A on a test yesterday. Was my father ever proud of me?”
“I’m proud of you,” her mother had said fiercely before gathering her in a tight hug. “Very proud of you. Always. Never doubt that. And you were never bad. He was.”
“Sierra?” Bruce said.
“Let’s get started,” she said gruffly. “We need to hold hands.”
Bruce took her right hand and Pat her left. She was surprised to find that both had cooler skin than Ronan.
“Spirits, are you with us?” Sierra said.
Unlike in her house, she didn’t sense any strong residential spirits here. Maybe the witches kept them away. Sierra had no idea about the relationship between ghosts and witches. She couldn’t think about that now. She had to focus.
“Spirits, are you with us?” she repeated.
Nothing.
“Mother?” Bruce said aloud. “Are you here?”
“I’m here.” She showed up as she had the day before, dressed in circus garb in patriotic red, white, and blue. Her beard was dark brown as was her hair.
“She’s here,” Sierra said.
“Tell him to talk fast, I don’t have a lot of time,” Mother said.
“She wants you to talk fast,” Sierra told Bruce.
“I don’t know where to start.” He sounded nervous. “I wrote a speech with everything I wanted to tell you, but it’s in my shirt pocket and I’m afraid to let go of your hand, Sierra.”
“Just tell her what you’re feeling,” Sierra suggested gently.
“I wanted to thank you for everything you did for me, Mother,” he said in a rush. “I’m a vampire now. Maybe not what you envisioned for me. But I’ve found happiness with Pat here. I’m … I’m … I miss you. You were gone so quickly that I never had the chance to say how grateful I am and how much I love you.”
“I always knew,” Mother said.
Sierra repeated her words.
“I hate that you died alone,” Bruce said. His eyes had the glimmer of dampness. “I should have been with you. We were going to watch a movie together. If I’d been there and we’d gone out to the movie theater, I might have been able to save you.”
Sierra could feel Bruce’s fingers trembling in her clasp and the emotion in his voice was evident.
“My time was up,” Mother said bluntly.
“She said her time was up,” Sierra relayed.
Bruce shook his head, as if unable to accept that. “Are you okay, Mother?” he said. “Do you need anything?”
“I need you to move on with your life,” Mother replied. Her expression softened. “And I loved you, too. You were a good kid.” She turned to look over her shoulder. “I have to go now.”
Her image was fading. “Wait,” Sierra said. “Do you know Adele McCoy?”
Mother shook her head. “But I know of Hal. You’ll find what you’re looking for in his grave.” Then she was gone.
“What? Did she need anything?” Bruce said.
“She wants you to move on with your life,” Sierra said, still surprised by Mother’s final words about Hal.
“What about Adele?” Ronan said.
“She didn’t know her.”
“Can’t you try to reach Adele the way you did for Bruce?” Ronan said.
Sierra knew how desperately he wanted to reach his sister, so she tried to do so. “Spirits, are you with us? I’m looking for Adele McCoy.”
Instead of a luminescent ghost, Sierra saw the dark image of something dangerous. Evil incarnate. She was so startled that she released Bruce’s and Pat’s hands and leaned back in her chair as far as she could go.
The entity disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. It hadn’t been Hal. She had no idea who it was and she really didn’t want to know. She hadn’t seen features or anything other than the overwhelming aura of malevolence.
“What’s wrong?” Ronan demanded. “What did you see?”
Before Sierra could answer, the front door flew open and Daniella rushed in. “Danger and death. It’s coming!”