Read Online How to Survive a Killer Seance by Penny Warner - Free Book Online

little after five in the morning. She found herself trapped here for several hours, unable to get out. The rest of the house suffered major damage. The top three floors had collapsed, and this room essentially shifted, blocking her exit. She was lucky to be alive, but she was terrified, as you can imagine, certain this was a sign from the spirits who supposedly suspected she was nearly finished building the house.”
    “Poor woman,” Mother said. Most of us native Californians just roll with the occasional quakes. But Mother was terrified of them, having experienced several over the years. She glanced around the room. “How did she get out?”
    “At first the servants had trouble finding her because, like I said, she tended to sleep in a different bedroom every night, in an attempt to escape the spirits,” Mia said. “They finally heard her screams and were able to clear the rubble and debris. They got her out, but it took hours, and she never really recovered from the scare. She boarded up the front thirty rooms in an attempt to trap the spirits forever. Then she added more bedrooms, more chimneys, and continued new construction.”
    I shivered again. Granted the house was chilly with no heat and I had my black leather jacket on, but this room in particular creeped me out, in spite of the bright and colorful windows. I was also feeling a little claustrophobic. Time to wrap up the tour, I thought, and made a show of checking my watch.
    “Well, I’ve seen enough,” I said. “What do you think, Jonathan?”
    Jonathan looked lost in thought. “What happened to her fortune after she died?”
    It figured. He was all about the money.
    “Sarah had spent a good deal of it by then, with the continuous construction. There were rumors that she’d hidden a fortune in a secret vault, but when it was opened, all they found were mementos from her life, including a lock of her baby’s hair.”
    “How sad,” Mother said, still focused on the death of the baby. We followed Mia out of the Daisy Room and down the stairs.
    “But the property? Surely that must have been worth a fortune,” Jonathan said.
    “Most everything was sold off—furniture, personal belongings, even materials from the house itself. Then some investors bought it and turned it into one of the most popular tourist attractions in the state. It’s been declared a California Historical Landmark and it’s registered with the National Park Service.”
    “Boy, they must really rake it in,” Jonathan said. I could practically see his eyes rolling dollar signs like Scrooge McDuck.
    We found ourselves back in the gift shop at the end of Mia’s tour. While Mother shopped for souvenirs and Brad snooped around, Jonathan and I chatted with Mia.
    “So,” Jonathan said, straightening his tie, “what’s it going to cost me to put on a séance here? Name your price, Ms. Thiele.”
    She did.
    I tried not to gasp.
    Jonathan barely blinked. “Great! I’ll write up a contract and have it sent here tomorrow.” He turned to me. “One for you too, Presley. I’d like to set the date. How about four weeks from Saturday. Are you in?”
    Sweat broke out on my forehead. How could I possibly host a Séance Party—something I’d never done before—in that tiny room, for a bunch of bigwigs—in just a month?
    “I’ll need to check my calendar—I have some other events coming up—if the date is clear, I suppose that would work.” Then I named my ludicrous price, with the stipulation that an additional ten percent be donated to a worthy cause. Raising money to support research and cure diseases was the main reason I’d gotten into this business.
    “Do you mind if I choose where the donation goes?”
    I didn’t have anything currently in mind. I’d already raised money for the Alzheimer’s Association and for Autism. “I suppose . . .”
    “How about the American Stroke Association?” Jonathan suggested. “In honor of my father.”
    “Of course,” I agreed