Not Quite Right (A Lowcountry Mystery) (Lowcountry Mysteries Book 6) by Lyla Payne

Author:Lyla Payne
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Author Published
Published: 2016-04-25T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

I’m startled awake in a pool of sweat, my hair stuck to my face and neck, and my body in the grips of a massive chill. My first thought is that I’ve somehow entered early menopause in addition to all of my other awesome issues, but then the unmistakable feeling of being watched has me wide awake and searching the room for Henry.

It’s not him. The little boy from Drayton Hall, the one who says his name is Charles, stands near the bed, his big eyes inquisitive.

My fingers clutch the sheets to my chest, even though I want to cast them off and stand in front of an open window to dry up my sweat.

“Hi,” he says, as though he’s been waiting for me to wake up for a while now.

Children are not known to be patient, and neither are ghosts. A hard combination to bear.

“Hello.” I cock my head to the side. “Why can I hear you?”

“I don’t know. Some of us are better at getting through than others. Or maybe…” He trails off, fear widening his eyes as he peers into the dark corners of the room. “It could be because of Mama Lottie. She does spells at Drayton Hall, where I live most of the time.”

“How old are you?”

“Nine.”

Older than I’d guessed. He’s small for his age. “And your name is Charles. Which Charles?”

“Charles Henry.”

Part of me wants to relax, to ask every question I have about the things that happened at Drayton Hall over the past two hundred years, but the rest of me is scared he’ll disappear. Terrified that whatever is allowing us to communicate with such ease will flutter away, as impossible to catch as it was with Anne and Glinda, then Henry and Dr. Ladd. I can’t afford that. I need to ask the right questions.

“Are you Charlotta’s father or younger brother?”

He makes a face. “I will be her father. Right now, I am only a boy.”

“You know Mama Lottie. She’s your friend. Would you tell me about her?”

“I knew her my entire life. She came to the plantation when I was this age, and she wasn’t old, either. That’s why we still play together like this, sometimes now.”

It’s odd, talking to a boy about the life that he would lead when he grew up—how he would deal with his daughter, what he thought about her affair. He’s my best shot right now at learning more about Mama Lottie, though, so I’ll take it.

“She has her,” he says. “Your kin.”

My heart stops beating, and a second chill seizes me. I stare at him for several seconds before words stutter out past my lips. “Mama Lottie has Amelia?”

He nods. “You made her angry. She wants to take something from you that you love more than anything else, so you’ll understand how she feels about us.”

“About the Draytons?” I keep repeating what we already know like some kind of idiot, but my thoughts are numb and sluggish as I struggle to wrap my mind around his statement.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.