Read Online Giving Up the Ghost by Phoebe Rivers - Free Book Online

without so much as batting a fake eyelash.
    â€œThat was the last I saw of her for a very long time. She was promoted to partner, and then left the local firm to join a famous, high-powered corporate law firm in New York. I began reading about her cases in the newspaper. Some of them made national headlines. But she remained a deeply insecure and unhappy person at heart. She grew ever more greedy and became obsessed with her power. I heard through the grapevine that her personal life suffered greatly. She refused to do the hard work necessary to repair her broken relationships. Her husband left her. Her grown children moved far away from her. It became a vicious cycle: the more difficult she became as a person, the more frequently she read others’ minds and heard their negative thoughts about her. She alienated her children’s spouses. She was too critical of the way they raised her grandchildren.”
    â€œSo,” I said, “she was really successful professionally, but lost all her friends personally.”
    â€œThat’s correct.” Another meaningful look my way. “She became very rich, I heard. She won the vast majority of her cases, and she defended some powerful but, shall we say, unsavory clients.”
    She was quiet for a time, lost in thought.
    â€œAnd then what happened?” I prompted her.
    â€œI stopped reading news of her about ten years ago. Her name had been in the papers frequently, and then suddenly it wasn’t. I forgot about her, to be honest. And then, several weeks ago, she reappeared. But she was no longer a living person.”
    â€œShe was a spirit,” I said.
    Lady Azura nodded.
    I wasn’t surprised by this information, of course. I’d seen her as a spirit in my vision.
    â€œShe died lonely and bitter. Her husband had remarried. Her children had stopped speaking to her. For the first time since I had known her, she appeared humble. Contrite. Alas, too late. But she told me what had happened. The last few years prior to her death, her power had reached such strength that she was unable to filter out others’ thoughts at all. Everywhere she went, she heard the thoughts of the people around her. It slowly began to drive away her reason.”
    â€œYou mean, she went crazy?”
    â€œThat’s a harsh way to describe it, but accurate, I suppose. She quit her job. Her children helped her find a retirement community that sounds like it might have been more of a very well-financed psychiatric residency program.”
    I gulped.
    â€œHer spirit told me that while there, she withdrew from the company of others more and more. She simply couldn’t block out their thoughts. Eventually she fell ill and died. But death brought her no relief. Her spirit was stuck here, and bore the same burden.”
    â€œHer spirit could also read minds?”
    â€œYes, and so she visited me late one night a few weeks ago, in February. I wasn’t sure whether I could help her. But she was so remorseful. She begged me to help her. I pitied her. I tried to help her.
    â€œI explained to her how spirits can become trapped here sometimes. I told her that we had to exorcise the negative energy from within her spirit. She had to start by forgiving herself, and more importantly, others. She had to acknowledge that people are flawed—not just herself, but all the people who had once loved her. That everyone harbors thoughts deep inside that are just that: thoughts. Practically everyone has dark thoughts, but these thoughts are not meant to be overheard. They’re a way by which people work through issues in the safety of their minds.”
    I had the feeling that she was talking as much about me as she was about Nina Oliver.
    â€œNina had never understood her power while she was alive. I felt she had to reach that step before she would be able to move on. So we had a session, such as I have never had before with someone who has passed on to the spirit