3 From the Ashes (2 page)

The young girl gave Darcy a quick hug. “How was your weekend? Did you and Jon get up to anything exciting?” Sue took off her Fall jacket, smoothing out the wrinkles in her blue top, her blonde head bobbing up and down. Sue was a college student on a break from her studies for a year while she decided whether she wanted to continue with her law degree or not. Darcy was glad that Sue had decided to spend the time working in the bookstore, which she seemed to love doing. Sue had proven invaluable as an employee on more than one occasion. She was a whirlwind of energy and could often brighten up the darkest day.

“We had a great weekend,” Darcy answered her now. When Sue smiled in that coy way she sometimes did, Darcy swatted at her shoulder. “Not like that. Well. Mostly not like that. Actually, I have something to show you.”

Darcy went to the desk in the office and grabbed her bag as Sue followed her in. She carefully removed a couple of old looking books with dark, worn leather covers and placed them gently onto the desk. Their pages were a faded and mellow off-white, and other than the wear on the corners and around the spine, they looked to be in quite good condition.

Darcy enjoyed books for their own sake. In a world where the printed word was being rapidly replaced by mass-produced e-books, finding treasures like these here was getting harder and harder to do. “I visited a rare book store while we went out for lunch on Saturday and found these.” She indicated the books lying on the desk. “I’ve been searching for something like these for quite a while now.”

Sue was looking at the books with interest. “What are they?” She picked one of the books up carefully, like she was handling fine china, reading the faded gold lettering along the spine, then opening the cover to the title page.

“Histories,” Darcy said with a smile. “They are histories of the old towns in this area and Misty Hollow is mentioned in them a few times. I haven’t had time to read them yet, but I hope to soon.”

“Oh yeah?” Sue asked her, that coy look in her eyes again. “What kept you from reading them? Hm?”

“Sue,” Darcy emphasized her friend’s name, laughing as she did.

“What? I like to live vicariously through other people.” She humphed and carefully placed the book back down on the desk.  “Randy and I broke up. Again.”

“Oh, Sue.” Darcy didn’t know what else to say. She knew that Sue and her on-again off-again boyfriend were never going to work out their troubles, but it wasn’t her place to say so. “Want to go over to Maxy’s after work and talk about it?”

Sue thought about it. Maxy’s had recently opened and was the only bar in Misty Hollow, a nice place with low lighting over tables that served red wine more often than it served domestic beer. Finally she shook her head, though. “No, that’s all right. I was just going to have an early night. Some other time though okay?”

Darcy nodded. The bell over the door jangled as it opened announcing the arrival of a customer. Sue took the opportunity to end their conversation about Randy as she went to see what Beatrice Miller, one of a group of elderly women living in the town’s assisted living complex, might want to buy today. Beatrice waved at Darcy. She was one of her book club members and a good friend. Sue was already lost in conversation about what book Beatrice might like to try today.

Darcy shook her head and made herself realize that Sue’s life was her own and that Sue needed to make her own decisions about her love life. She shrugged and turned to pick the books up to put them back in her bag.

The one closest to the edge of the table shifted suddenly like it had been shoved and started to fall to the floor.

Darcy lunged to catch the fragile book, managing to save it in midair before it hit the floor. She let out a quick relieved breath. Just then she caught a ghostly whisper of a playful laughter echoing through the store. “Millie,” she said under her breath. Aunt Millie had left her the bookstore, too. She just hadn’t gotten around to leaving the place after she’d died.

Darcy tsked at the woman’s shadow, knowing that her aunt had always loved to play pranks. She put the bag with the two books in them on the floor where there was no place for them to go. Unless Millie decided to pick them up and move them somewhere else.

“Good to see you, too, Aunt Millie,” Darcy whispered as she went to help Sue.

Chapter Two

Lunch time came around very quickly. Darcy had plans to go and get something to eat with her friend, Linda. She found Linda walking down the street toward the book store and waved in greeting. Linda was a tall woman, graceful, and always quick to smile. Her red hair bounced in tight curls as she came toward Darcy in a flowing pink dress.

Linda wasn’t alone. “Hi Darcy,” she said. “Hey, welcome back from your vacation. Um. I hope you don’t mind, but I was wondering if we could talk over lunch? This is Sarah Fender.” Linda held a hand out towards the girl as she introduced her.

"Hello Sarah," Darcy said. The girl gave her a quick, shy nod. She had the smooth, flawless skin of the young. Darcy was a little envious of her beautiful shiny dark hair and deep blue eyes. Her clothes were very simple and plain. She was probably all of eighteen or nineteen, and very nervous about something if the constant twisting of her hands around themselves was any indication.

"Sarah is nineteen,” Linda explained, meaning Darcy had been right. “She lives with her dad, Louis. You know him don't you Darcy? He owns the Hometown Real Estate Company here in town.”

Darcy did know Louis. By sight, anyway, but she’d never had any real reason to have anything to do with him. She nodded. “So, is everything all right? This was just a lunch date, right?”

Linda sighed. "Well, Sarah and her dad are really good friends of mine. I wouldn’t usually do this, you need to understand, but for them…” Linda chewed on her lip, maybe trying to decide upon the right words. "We have a favor to ask you," she said at last.

“Okay,” Darcy said slowly, not sure what they wanted. The other two women were looking at her intently and Darcy got the impression this favor, whatever it was, was very important.

Linda looked relieved. “Well, Sarah’s mother, Angelica, died in a house fire when she was a toddler. You might not remember, because it was years ago but her family lived in that big manor house just outside of town on O’Leary Lane. The fire completely destroyed the house and it took poor Angelica with it.”

“No, I remember that,” Darcy said. “I don’t remember much about it specifically but people talked about that fire for years after.” She caught the look on Sarah’s face and gave her an apologetic glance. “I’m not sure what you could need from me though?”

Linda put a hand out to rest on Darcy’s arm. “Everyone in town knows that you’re special, Darcy. You, well, know things. Things about people that are gone.” Darcy raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything. Linda flushed a little and then quickly added, “Sarah and I have been talking and there’s something that’s bothered her for years. Something she saw that day and she can’t let it go. She’s haunted by it.”

Haunted. Darcy looked at Sarah. She could see it now, in the girl’s eyes. There was something to a person’s eyes who had seen more than they should have. When they had seen something they couldn’t explain. Ghosts, or spooks, or worse. It was a darkness that defied any light to touch it. Sarah had that in her eyes.

The world around everyone was supposed to be normal. Plain, simple, normal. There was more to it, though. The other side. The place where the spirits of the departed went. Sometimes, those spirits stayed here with the living. Not everyone could see them. Darcy could. Darcy had gotten used to it and even been able to use her talent to help others from time to time. More often than not it landed her in deep, deep trouble, but that didn’t stop her from trying. She knew what it was like to see ghosts like Aunt Millie who refused to move on.

She knew what it was like to see the things that were worse, too.

Darcy tried to do the math in her head. The fire had been about fifteen years ago, just before Darcy had come to live with Aunt Millie permanently, so Sarah would have been about four. What could she have seen?  What could a little girl being saved from a devastating house fire have seen to put those shadows in her eyes?

“Darcy?” Linda was saying. “Sarah really needs the kind of help that you can give. Like I say, I wouldn’t usually ask this because I know how you don’t like to talk about these things, but it’s her mother. I knew Angelica, too. She didn’t deserve what happened to her. She was a good, loving mother.”

Tears slowly leaked out of the sides of Sarah’s eyes. Darcy had already decided to help, but seeing those wet trails on the girl’s cheeks cemented her decision for her.

“Do you think you could find out anything about that night for her?” Linda asked.

Hinting awkwardly around the subject Linda didn’t actually come out and ask Darcy if she would communicate with Angelica’s ghost but Darcy knew that was what Linda wanted her to do.

Darcy smiled at Sarah. “Of course. Any friend of Linda’s is a friend of mine.”

Sarah visibly relaxed and even managed a smile. Darcy was glad she had agreed to help. She just wasn’t sure if Sarah would be ready for what came next.

“I’ll need something that belonged to your mother,” Darcy told her.

Chapter Three

Darcy dropped the pen onto the desk and stretched. She had been slaving over the bookstore’s accounts for most of the afternoon in between serving customers. They had done more business than usual today, and she was glad of that fact. There had been a steady stream of customers in and out all afternoon. Losing a lot of her customers to ebooks meant the book stores revenues had steadily declined over the past few years. This place had been Aunt Millie’s dream and then Darcy’s own dream as well. If she didn’t find some way to bring in more cash flow, however, it might end up being just a memory.

That cold fact sat heavy on her heart but she tried to rationalize that it was just the way of all business. Further back in the store, three books fell off shelves in quick succession,
thump, thump, thump.
Darcy smiled. Aunt Millie didn’t like the idea of losing the shop either.

She looked at her watch and was surprised to see it was almost closing time. The bell over the door jangled once more, and when Darcy looked up to see who it was she saw Sarah approaching the counter.

Cashing out a purchase for a customer, Sue’s face brightened. “Hi Sarah. Wow, I haven’t seen you for ages!”

Sarah smiled back. Darcy guessed it figured that the two of them would know each other, being so close in age. The two of them exchanged chit chat about their lives for a few minutes.

“I actually came to see Darcy,” Sarah said after a minute or two. She rocked on her feet uncertainly.

Sue looked a little confused but took the hint. “It’s good to see you again, Sarah. We should get together and do something some time.”

Sarah seemed to be more at ease around Sue. “The last time we got together to do something,” she said, “we ended up with that boy, what was his name?”

Sue rolled her eyes. “Kevin. Yeah, I remember.”

“Do you remember almost getting arrested?”

Darcy raised her eyebrows at that. She would have never thought Sue was capable of doing anything to get arrested at all.

Sue slid a quick look at Darcy and then away again. “Well, we’ll find something that doesn’t involve church steeples, is all. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Okay.” Sarah watched Sue walk away into the stacks of books and then turned to Darcy. “Thank you so much for doing this Darcy, I really appreciate it. I really know so little about by mother, and what happened that day. I have never been able to really get closure. Anything you can tell me would be such a relief.”

Darcy nodded, reminding herself to ask Sue about churches and getting arrested later. “Can you tell me what you saw? What do you remember?”

Sarah scrunched her face up. “It was a long time ago. And it was dark. Except for the flames, I mean. But I remember seeing two figures at a window while the house burned. Why would there be two?”

Just like that, the good mood Sarah had put herself in while talking to Sue evaporated and the shadows were back heavy and dark in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry about you losing your mother,” Darcy offered. “I’ll try to help in any way I can.”

Sarah nodded at her. “Linda mentioned you could…learn things that no one else could.”

Darcy nodded her head. “It’s a lot to accept, I know. I don’t talk about it much so you’ll just have to trust me, okay?”

The girl nodded at Darcy and then held out her hand. In it was a slim gold chain with little charms hanging off it. “This bracelet belonged to my mother. Will this work?”

“This will be perfect.” Darcy took the piece of jewelery from Sarah’s hand and held it up. The charms dangled and swung. A cat, a heart, a book. Happy things from a happy life.

“Great.” Sarah looked at her watch. “I have to go but please, let me know if you, um, find out anything.”

“Sure. I’ll call you later tonight, probably. Or tomorrow depending on how things go.” Sarah squeezed Darcy’s hands in hers, and then turned quickly and left the store.

Darcy would try and communicate with Angelica as soon as she got home. Jon was working late, and it would be the perfect time. Hopefully she would be successful in contacting Angelica and then she would be able to give Sarah the information and closure she was seeking.

***

When Darcy arrived home later she locked the door behind her as she didn’t need anyone accidentally walking in and disturbing her.

Smudge greeted her as she carefully placed her bag with the treasured books in it on the table in the entryway. He was winding his way around her legs rubbing up against her. “Oh really?” she asked. “Forgiven me just like that, have you?”

Smudge meowed and purred, as if to say, “Aw, how could I possibly stay mad at you?”

He stuck to Darcy’s side as she prepared for communicating with Angelica. She placed six incense sticks in her ceramic holder and lit them. Soon a heady Sandalwood fragrance filled the room