Read Online Against a Brightening Sky by Jaime Lee Moyer - Free Book Online Page B

day.” I recounted my fight to keep an ever-growing number of ghosts away from him, the way dead kings and other royals watched him with knowing eyes, and how near I’d come to being overwhelmed by the sheer number of haunts seeking him out. Relating the story of people who’d never dream of committing violence eagerly joining a riot, phantoms reaching out of the clouds and banshee screams earned me a raised eyebrow.
    At the last, I told her about the princess ghost. By the time I’d finished, Dora was on her feet, pacing the room and scowling.
    â€œYou’ve quite the talent for bringing me pretty problems to solve. First things first. We do need to speak with Sadie and Jack, but she has enough on her plate for today. I’m going to ask you to put it off until after Jack’s home and on his feet. That will give me a day or two to come up with a solution to the problem of protecting Connor. When the time comes, we’ll both talk to them.” She stopped next to Connor’s bed and stared down at him, her face a study in regret and sorrow. “Poor little boy. I’d never have wished this on him.”
    â€œNeither of us would.” I’d been drawn to Connor from the day he was born, my bond with Sadie’s son much stronger than it had ever been with her daughter. Now I understood why. “And I know it’s silly, but I can’t help but think this might be my fault somehow, that … that Connor’s being with me pried open a doorway. He’s so young and I spend so much time with him.”
    â€œYou are being silly, but I’ll forgo teasing you this once. It truly isn’t your fault.” Dora draped an arm around my shoulders. “Spiritual talent can’t be transferred or awakened by associating with a practitioner. A person is born with the ability or they’re not. We both know Esther saw ghosts, but I’d thought that was a result of age and illness. Many times the ability to pierce the veil between worlds skips a generation or two. When the talent surfaces again, it’s almost always stronger.”
    â€œYou’re saying someone in my family saw ghosts as I do.” I twisted my fingers in the soft wool fabric of my skirts, trying to imagine what growing up might have been like if I’d known I wasn’t alone in how I saw the world. Connor wouldn’t be alone. I took comfort in that. “I know neither of my parents saw spirits. A grandmother perhaps, or one of my grandfathers.”
    â€œThat’s precisely what I’m saying.” Dora beamed at me for my cleverness and gave my shoulders an affectionate hug. “Talent runs in families, though it’s not entirely unheard of for it to manifest on its own. I don’t think that’s the case with Connor. Esther is the most likely candidate, but we can’t rule out his having inherited his sensitivity from Jack’s mother either. Aileen Fitzgerald was an extremely powerful spirit.”
    Aileen’s ghost was the first to truly haunt me, strong willed and determined. Without Dora’s help and tutoring, I might have succumbed to the same ghost-induced madness I feared for Connor. “I haven’t forgotten Aileen. There’s little chance of that.”
    She sobered and hugged me again. “No, I don’t imagine you would. We’ll tackle the question of what influences were at work near Lotta’s fountain later. This new spirit is the more immediate problem. Can you summon this princess ghost?”
    â€œNo need to summon her.” I gestured toward the small mirror holding the ghost’s image. That Dora hadn’t known the ghost was watching surprised me. “She’s already here.”
    Dora looked where I’d pointed, her expression changing from interested to horrified. “Oh dear God no … Sunny.” She moved closer, still staring. “I can’t believe it. This girl seems too young, but