Ghouls Gone Wild (10 page)

In an environment like the one we stepped through when we entered Miss Lancaster’s, it was a mixture of all these sensations, but heightened to an intense degree. Mostly due to the quality and abundance of crystals gleaming from every surface, shelf, corner, and countertop.

The place was a feast for the eyes, a rainbow of color really. There were amethyst cathedrals five feet tall, rose quartz lamps, white selenite wands, blue agate beads, and on and on and on. Everywhere I looked, bright humming energy washed over me. I glanced at Heath, and he seemed equally spellbound.

“Cool!” he said when he caught my eye.

“Totally,” I agreed, stepping forward to explore further. “We should definitely be able to find a few crystals in here to help mitigate some of the effects of the spooks. Remember, we’re looking for stuff that’s grounding, so if you hold it in your hand and you feel heavier or weighed down, that’s going to be a good choice.”

“Got it,” he said, eyeing a cluster of fluorite crystals on the far side of the store. I myself moved immediately over to the collection of amethyst cathedrals that were arranged from smallest to largest. The smallest was about two feet tall, and intensely purple, and the biggest was large enough for me to sit in. I couldn’t resist the urge to recharge my intuitive batteries, especially after getting beaten up in the spiritual realm the previous night, so I carefully squatted down and eased myself to a sitting position inside the cathedral.

I closed my eyes and just absorbed the energy. “Hummmmm . . . ,” I sang softly.

“Having fun, are you?” asked a light voice with a distinct brogue.

My eyes snapped open. A plump-looking woman with rosy cheeks and straw-colored hair smiled happily down at me.

“I’m so sorry!” I said, moving quickly out of the cathedral. “I know I probably shouldn’t have done that.”

The woman waved her hand lightly. “Oh, puff that,” she said with a grin. “Of course you’re welcome to sit in the cathedral. That’s what it’s there for, after all. And as long as you’re careful not to break it, I’ll hardly mind.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “You have an amazing store.”

“You like it?”

“Are you kidding?” I asked. “It’s wonderful! The energy here is just . . . whoa, you know?”

She eyed me critically. “Are you sensitive, lass?”

I furrowed my brow. “Am I what?”

“Sensitive,” she said. “You know, can you really
feel
the energy in here?”

I laughed, understanding what she meant. “Yes, actually. I am.” I then got up and extended my hand to her. “I’m M. J., and I’m a psychic medium.”

The woman nodded, taking my hand and giving it a firm shake. “Bonnie Lancaster. Nice to make your acquaintance.”

“M. J.!” Heath called from across the shop. “Come here! You’ve got to feel these!”

Bonnie looked at Heath. “Don’t tell me,” she said with a wink. “He’s also a medium?”

I grinned. “He is. We came here because we were down in the close last night, and met up with some nasty energy. We’re trying to find some protective crystals or charms to take with us the next time we go down.”

Bonnie looked alarmed. “What kind of nasty energy did you encounter, then?”

Out the corner of my eye I saw Heath pick his head up again, probably to see where I was, and spotting me, he began to walk over. “Well,” I said, “I believe we encountered some spirit who thinks she’s a witch. I suppose she didn’t like the fact that Heath—my partner—and I were down there, so she chased after us.”

Bonnie’s expression turned from alarm to abject fear. “Witch, did you say?”

I nodded just as Heath came up next to me. “Hello,” he said cordially. “Are you the owner?”

Bonnie’s eyes swiveled to him. “Did you see her too?” she asked without answering his question.

“See who?”

“The spirit of the witch in the close last night,” I explained.

“Oh!” Heath said. “Yeah. There were three altogether and they chased us clear to the opposite exit. I believe the main witch’s name is Rigella. She’s pretty intense!”

“Oh, my,” said Bonnie. “Oh, my, oh, my!”

“You’ve heard about her?” I asked.

Bonnie fidgeted with a small crystal necklace about her neck. “Yes, of course,” she said. “Everyone’s heard of the Witch of Queen’s Close. And we all know she’ll return someday, but she’s thirty-five years early!”

“What do you know about her?” Heath asked.

Bonnie’s hand flew across her chest in the sign of the cross. “She’s a wicked one, that witch,” she said.

“And if you really did encounter her, then I daresay none of my clan is safe round here.”

I blinked. “I’m sorry, but why would your clan be in danger, exactly?”

“Well, because of the curse, of course.”

Heath and I exchanged a look. “Curse?” we said together.

Bonnie nodded. “You’ve not heard of it?”

“No,” Heath said.

Bonnie moved away from the cathedrals and over to a counter where Kim was peering intently at a group of earrings. We followed the shop owner, waiting for her to explain. “Can I see those?” Kim asked innocently.

Bonnie forced a smile and opened the case, pulling out the earrings and handing them to Kim. She then motioned us over to a second counter and began whispering. “Over three hundred and fifty years ago when the village of Queen’s Close was being encroached upon by the ever-expanding city of Edinburgh, a terrible plague set itself against almost all the inhabitants of the city and the village. People were desperate, you see, because this particular plague spread so quickly and attacked everyone from the lowliest urchins to the wealthiest noblemen. No one was safe. No one, that is, except one particular family.

“A woman of significant influence named Rigella, who was both feared and revered, lived just a few streets away from here, in fact. She was purported to be a powerful witch with ties to the devil himself.” Bonnie paused here and made another sign of the cross before continuing. “And when all about there was such terrible suffering, and only her family was left untouched by the plague, the village became suspicious and it wasn’t long afore the terrified residents turned against Rigella and her family.

“It is said that a mob of the village’s angriest residents came looking for her. Rigella and her family sought shelter in the close. They thought they’d be safe down there, as that’s the place where the village used to send all the sick people who showed any sign of having the plague. Rigella didn’t think the mob would chase her into the underground caverns, but she was wrong. The mob came after her and trapped the whole family there, murdering first the witch’s lover, who was beaten and run to death. He simply collapsed and died, probably from a heart attack. Next they stoned the oldest, before the mob caught Rigella’s middle sister and set her on fire, leaving only the witch and her youngest three sisters trapped in the close

“It’s said that she and the two second-oldest begged the mob to spare the life of their littlest sister, who was all of fourteen, but the villagers were too crazed to listen to reason. In front of the witch and her sisters they ravaged the poor girl and left her for dead. Then, they took the remaining three and hanged them together.

“But before the witch and her remaining sisters died, it is said that Rigella set a curse upon the mob. She swore that she would have her revenge and that every one hundred years she would return to claim a life for each of her clan members killed by the mob. She would seek the death of seven souls to atone for the horror that befell her family.”

I felt a chill go down my spine. Like I said, I don’t normally believe in things like curses and spells, but something about what Bonnie was telling us was really hitting home. “You say that every hundred years she comes looking for revenge?”

Bonnie nodded, her eyes large and fearful. “Aye,” she said. “It began within a month of her death. Seven members of the mob that attacked the witch were killed—and not by the plague but through other mysterious circumstances. And then, over the centuries in the years seventeen forty-five, eighteen forty-five, and nineteen forty-five here in this village seven lives have been claimed within a week’s time and all the deaths were mysterious in nature and were never resolved.”

“But why are
you
so worried?” Heath wondered. And I remembered the remark Bonnie had made about no one in her clan being safe. “I mean, this village must have a few thousand in population at least, right?”

“My great-great-great-great-grandfather was a member of that mob,” Bonnie said, her voice no louder than a whisper. “And since that terrible day, several members of the Lancaster family have fallen victim to the curse, including me own uncle who was found hanging right after returning home from the war.”

My jaw fell open a little. “Your
own
family has been a target?”

Bonnie nodded gravely. “Aye. And not just me uncle was taken. One of me second cousins and his oldest brother died in a lorry accident the same week as poor Uncle Curtis.” Bonnie shivered. “Me grandfather used to tell us stories, in fact, of that terrible week when I was just a wee girl. He told me with a tear in his eye how frightened of the witch’s curse he was, but the war was particularly hard on our clan, and we had no money to move away and nowhere really to go even if we did. So we’d stayed here and tried to get through it, and it still cost us three of our kith.”

“Why so many victims from your family?” I asked as another chill went through me.

Bonnie grimaced. “There were four main clans that chased the witch’s family into the close. The Lancasters, the McLarens, the Hills, and the Gillespies.”

I did a double take. “The
who
?”

“The Lancasters, McLarens, Hills, and Gillespies,” she repeated. “In fact, Thomas Gillespie and his daughter Donaline were burned alive in a fire that destroyed their home. After that terrible day, the remaining Gillespies packed up everything they owned and moved to America, but the Lancasters and the McLarens and the Hills still have living members of the original families here in the village.”

“Hey, guys!” Gilley said, sidling up next to me, which caused me to jump almost a foot. “Cool place, right?”

Heath and I stood mute for a full three seconds before I finally managed to reply, “Um, yeah. It’s terrific.”

Gilley was too busy taking in all the sparkling crystals in the shop to really notice our alarm, but he seemed to realize that he’d walked in on a conversation, so he extended his hand out to Bonnie and said, “Gilley Gillespie, nice to meet you.”

Bonnie shrieked and pulled her hand out of Gilley’s grasp like she’d been stung. She then made another sign of the cross and shuffled several feet back. Gilley stood there looking shocked. “What just happened?” he asked me.

I took him by the hand and hurried away from Bonnie before she could say something about what we’d been discussing. Heath followed me and we made it outside, where Gilley pulled his hand out of mine and demanded some answers. “What’s going on?”

I looked at Heath, he looked at me, and neither of us spoke for several seconds. “It’s probably just a coincidence,” I began.

“And it may not even matter,” Heath added.

“We’re positive you’re not going to be affected in any way,” I assured, and then, I didn’t know what else to say. Gil was going to freak, no matter how hard we tried to sugarcoat it.

“Will you just
tell
me?” he growled impatiently.

Again, Heath and I shared a look, and at that moment Kim came out carrying a little bag. “I have a gift for you!” she sang.

All our eyes swiveled to her as she tipped the bag upside down and out fell the green peridot earrings she’d been eyeing right before Bonnie told us about the legend of the witch. “Oops, not those, hold on, it’s in this bag,” she said, and tipped out the contents of a second bag into her palm. In her hand I eyed the
very
charm that Samuel Whitefeather had placed around my neck in my out-of-body experience.

“Whoa!” I exclaimed, momentarily forgetting about Gilley and reaching for the charm.

“It’s awesome, right?” Kim asked.

I held it up to the light. “Kim,” I began in a deadly serious tone.

“Yeah?”

“How did you find this?”

“M. J.!” Gilley squealed. “Will you stop it? Tell me why that woman inside reacted like that!”

“Hold on, Gil,” I said, putting him off for a minute. I had to know how Kim found the very charm from my dream.

“Bonnie gave it to me to give to you. She said an American Indian dealer from Santa Fe, New Mexico, had come over here and sold her a bunch of charms and jewelry, and she remembered him telling her that this particular charm had the power to thwart evil spirits. She wants you to have it. She seems to think that if you’re investigating the witch’s ghost, you’ll need it.”

“Free of charge?” I asked, astounded by Bonnie’s generosity.

Kim nodded. “Yes. But between you and me I saw the price tag before she took it off. It was tagged at seventy-five pounds.”

I opened my purse and pulled out all the cash I had on me. “Can you please take this inside and give it to Bonnie with my profound thanks?”

Kim smiled. “Absolutely. That’ll give me an excuse to buy that turquoise bracelet I was eyeing. I was really looking for a reason to go back in there!” With that, she dashed off.

After she’d gone, I turned to Gil, who had his arms crossed and was impatiently tapping his foot. “Out with it.”

I secured the charm around my neck and took a deep breath. “It turns out that the witch that attacked us the other night may be looking to exact some revenge.”

Gilley’s brow furrowed. “What kind of revenge?”

“She and her family were killed about three hundred and fifty years ago when an angry mob blamed them for the plague.”

“Uh-huh,” Gil said with narrowed eyes, as if he was looking for some hidden meaning in what I was saying.