I would be. The problem was, I’d never believed in ghosts. I enjoyed hearing a ghost story shared in front of a fire, but I’d never seen anything to make me believe spirits wandered the Earth. So, there had to be an explanation for what Catherine had been seeing.
“What do the ghosts look like?”
“I can’t always see them. Sometimes there is just a feeling in the air. A chill and a creepy feeling in my stomach.”
I turned to look at the house through the tree branches. The windows on the side of the house rattled in the wind off the moors. I remembered the gust I’d felt in my room upon arrival. “The house is drafty, Cat. It’s an old place. It could just be—”
“I know what wind feels like.” Catherine turned away from me and walked to the edge of the path. “And I know you think I’m insane. Everyone does. Even when I nearly died, no one believed me.”
I snapped my attention back to her. “What do you mean you nearly died? Are you talking about the birth? Do you think a ghost complicated Hazel’s birth, because Catherine, that is madness.”
“No,” she snapped, spinning back around. Her coat had fallen open, revealing the white cotton of her nightgown, and Catherine looked a bit like a ghost herself. The dying light of the sun cast the grounds in a blue light, and her nightgown seemed to glow. That, paired with the paleness of her skin, made her seem spectral. “Hazel’s birth was complicated for natural reasons, I know that. But during my recovery, I was weak and exhausted, but I was still conscious. I could hear things. I heard Charles weeping next to my bed in worry. I heard him tell Nurse Gray to do all she could to save me. I heard Charles’ sister say it wasn’t safe to allow me around the baby.”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean that.”
Catherine shook her head. “No one trusted me. They didn’t trust me around the baby, and they didn’t trust me when I told them what I saw.”
“What did you see?” I whispered.
Catherine looked back at the house, and I realized I could see her window from our position. She had a perfect view of the trails from her room.
“Flashes of movement in the trees,” she said. “Charles told me they were dreams, but I know what I saw. I saw smoke and hooded figures. They looked up at my window in the night and chanted things to me. When I tried to open my window, they disappeared.”
Catherine sounded certain. Confident of what she’d seen.
But it was impossible…wasn’t it?
I could allow for shadows moving in the trees. That could have been any number of wild animals scouring the moors for their supper. But hooded figures and chants were more difficult to explain away. Those were not a trick of the eye, but a trick of the mind.
“I saw them again. In person,” Catherine said, moving closer to me. Her eyes locked on mine. “Nurse Gray said what I saw was an effect of the medication, but once I had regained my strength and was going for daily walks, I didn’t need the medication anymore. My mind was clear, and I saw a hooded figure in the flesh.”
I knew Catherine could see the doubt in my eyes because I could see the hurt in hers. She wanted me to believe her so badly, and I wanted to believe her, too. She was my sister, and I wanted to be on her side, but I also couldn’t indulge these visions until I knew what they were. I couldn’t blindly tell her I believed her when I had no proof to back it up.
Catherine was standing so close to me I could feel her breath on my face, but I didn’t pull away. Even if I didn’t believe her story, I wanted her to know I wasn’t going to run away. I wouldn’t flee back to London and leave her here with her nurse and her overwhelmed husband. I wouldn’t leave until things were right in Catherine’s world, whatever that meant.
“Charles thinks I grew weak from my walk and struck my head,” Catherine said, turning her head and lifting her hair to reveal a still-red wound behind her ear. The cut was jagged and fresh, though mostly closed now. “He thinks I fell, landed on a rock, and had a dream. But I know the truth.”
“What is the truth?”
“I was attacked,” Catherine whispered. Her blue eyes went glassy with emotion, and she reached out and took my hands. “I felt the blow to my head and saw the flash of the robes. Whatever spirits remain here, they do not want us on this land. They want us to leave. If we don’t, they’ll try again. I know they will.”
My sister glanced over her shoulder towards the trail that had gone dark as the sun sank below the horizon. I saw a shiver work down her spine, and I reached out to comfort her.
Immediately, Catherine jerked away from my touch. “I’m not mad, Alice. I know you and Edward always thought I was silly because I liked pretty things and going to parties. None of that makes me simple-minded.”
“I know that, Catherine. I’ve never thought—”
She held up a hand to quiet me. “I’ve only ever wanted a peaceful, comfortable life, so I would not make a story like this up. My first thought when it all started was that I was seeing things. But I can’t believe that is true anymore. I’ve seen and experienced too much, and now I know the truth: we have to leave this place, or we’ll all die.”
I wanted to say too much. I wanted to tell Catherine that I’d always admired her and that neither Edward nor I ever thought she was simple. I wanted to tell her I loved her and I was worried for her. I wanted to tell her she should go inside and rest, but
