Ghostsnaps (Knead to Know Book 4) (9 page)

I got up, mostly satisfied with my plan, while consciously ignoring the Phoenix issue. I laid out everything I needed to wear and eyed it with wary respect. Women today got off so much easier than women back then. I was just putting on Josephine’s too small shoes when there was a soft knock at the door. Josephine was on the other side, looking just as refreshed as she had the night before.

“Good, you are awake. I like an early riser. You must be like me. I function perfectly well on three hours of sleep a night, but if I miss it I am a veritable bear.” She grinned as she came into the room, carrying two bags. “I decided that we should put on a little show for the housekeeper to explain your arrival. You will pretend to have arrived early this morning and then have breakfast with me. Now I think you will be our cousin on Mother’s side. We hardly know them at all. Jeanette will have no idea whether or not you are.” She motioned toward the small bench in front of the vanity. “Sit.”

I sat at the dressing table again and she worked on my hair and makeup until I hardly recognized myself in the mirror. She pinned the ends of my hair underneath, giving me a mock bob, and positioned soft curls around my face and neck. Matte foundation, dramatic eyes, and ruby red lips completed the look. Looking at my reflection, even I almost believed that I belonged here.

Next, Josephine showed me how to wear a hat, then helped me pack everything we brought up last night, plus my original clothing, into the suitcase. She inspected the bed to make sure it was just as it had been and fluffed the unused pillows once more before we left. She left me in the hallway for a brief moment while she put her makeup back into her own room, then I followed her downstairs as quietly as I could. She handed me a purse that matched my shoes.

“I have put some pocket money in here for shopping just in case Jeanette decides to come with us.” She really had thought of everything. “Now go outside and ring the bell.”

I stepped outside, waited a moment or two, then pushed the doorbell.

“I’ll get it,” I heard Josephine call out. She flung the door open. “Maggie.” She embraced me, kissing the air on either side of my cheeks. “You’re early. I didn’t expect you for at least another week. Do come in.” A feeble looking older man in a perfectly pressed suit stood behind her. “Mr. Wentworth, my dear cousin Maggie has come to stay with us. Isn’t that wonderful? Please take her bag up to the blue room.”

“Yes, Madame.” He took the suitcase from me before I could object and teetered up the stairs.

I watched him, worried he’d fall. “I could do that. It’s really no problem.”

She nodded. “But it’s his job and he would be offended if you did it for him. Come, let me tell Cook there will be another for breakfast.”

I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror and shook my head. How the hell was I going to make it in this world?

The morning went by fast, and it was lunchtime when I met Jeanette, who looked breathtakingly similar to Josephine. The only real difference I could see was that they wore their hair in difference styles. Josephine’s was slightly shorter and she wore it in a slick wave. Jeanette’s hair was straight and cut at chin level with thick bangs.

“Jeanette, Maggie arrived early,” Josephine said as her sister came into the room.

Jeanette eyed me, then looked back to Josephine. “Were we expecting…Maggie, did you say?”

“Yes, silly.” A lively smile that matched the gleam in her eyes took over Josephine’s face. “I know I told you all about her. She is the granddaughter of Aunt Prudence. Remember, she wrote us ages ago and I have been conversing with her.” She looked back to me. “I swear my sister has the worst memory.”

“It’s very nice to meet you,” I said to Jeanette. “Though I feel like I already know you both so well after all of Josephine’s letters.”

Jeanette shook my hand. “She never mentioned a word about you, but you are very welcome. How is Aunt Prudence?”

“She’s…” Josephine shook her head ever so slightly as she sipped her coffee. “Well, I guess she’s in a better place now. Her funeral was hard on the family, but she would have loved the flowers,” I said, holding my breath that I had gotten Josephine’s meaning right.

Jeanette nodded. “We regretted that we couldn’t attend.” She poured herself a cup of coffee. “What brings you to Chicago?”

“Is Maggie to expect the inquisition at every meal?” Josephine said with an edge to her voice. “I invited her. We spend so little time with our relations I thought it was important that we formed a relationship with at least one of them. I thought she might like to stay through the party.”

Deep frown lines etched across Jeanette’s mouth as she glanced back at me. Finally, she forced a hard smile and nodded. “What are your plans for the day? More experiments?”

“No,” Josephine said. “I thought maybe some shopping. Would you like to come with us?”

“I would love to, but I have the Children’s Hospital Committee meeting and the dinner with the Women’s Club.” Jeanette focused on me. “I am sure we will have plenty of time to get to know one another better. Are you an academic like my sister?”

“No,” I said truthfully. I liked college okay, but I was more than ready to be out of it. “It’s actually my dream to own a bakery.” Josephine kicked me under the table.

Jeanette raised a thin dark eyebrow. “But what will become of it once you are married?”

I bit the inside of my lip, trying to come up with an answer that would be both the truth and not back pedaling on my dream. “I suppose I shall be very busy.”

Jeanette’s cold mask finally cracked and she laughed. “Yes, I can see why you and my sister get along so well. Very busy indeed.” She set her empty coffee cup in its saucer and stood. “I’m sure I shall see you this evening.”

When she was out of earshot, I breathed a sigh of relief. The first obstacle had been overcome. Maybe we could pull this off after all. We spent most of the day shopping and exploring Chicago. It was amazing how different yet ultimately similar the city was. After a few hours of the fast talking rhythm of speech in everyone around me, I started to automatically copy it.

“How shall we spend our evening?” Josephine asked as we walked back toward the greystone.

“There’s someone I know who might be able to help us with our problem of reconnecting to the future.”

She gave me a curious look. “Anyone you know from your time cannot possibly be here now.”

Right, she was human. She wouldn’t understand unless I explained the Abyss to her. I weighed my options. If Olivia was right, then no matter what we did now, it wouldn’t change the fact that Josephine was going to die. So if I told her about the Abyss, it probably wouldn’t make a huge difference.

“You mentioned ley lines before.”

“Yes.” She perked up, talking excitedly with her hands. “The invisible lines that run through the earth and align significant geological, manmade, and cultural items. They also attract supernatural phenomena and disasters. It is a terribly interesting field of study and relatively new. Alfred Watkins has written two books that touch on the subject, but there is still so much to explore. Learning of them gave me the idea that I could contact the future if everything lined up and I did, for here you are.”

At least she mentioned the supernatural. That had to be a good sign. “Do you believe in ghosts?”

She nodded. “I was once visited by Uncle Henry just after he passed. He told me everything would be okay and the key was in the flour tin.”

“Was it?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, it was quite baffling what other flour tin he could have meant. Jeanette was positive I was dreaming, but I know what I saw.”

“Right.” We walked a bit further. “Do you believe in angels?”

She nodded. “Of course.”

“Great, how about monsters?”

She frowned. “Are you feeling well, Maggie?”

“Um, yeah, I’m fine. I know these questions seem strange, but there’s something I need to tell you, but I’m not sure how to do it.”

“And it has to do with the spiritual world?” I nodded. “Well, don’t beat your gums, just get right to the point. That’s the best way to give bad news. Otherwise the message could get lost in the words.”

I drew in a deep breath. “There’s a supernatural world parallel to this one—though sometimes they overlap. That’s how I can know someone who is alive both now and in my time. Everything I asked you about is real. In fact, I am pretty sure what you are doing with the mirror is a form of witchcraft.”

Josephine’s smile grew uncomfortable. “Are you quite mad?”

I shook my head. “I promise I’m telling the truth. If you can use a mystical ley line to reach through time and space and pull people through it, don’t you think there could be a lot more going on in the universe than you are aware of? Heck, in my time there is technology that would seem like magic to you. There is so much in the world that has yet to be discovered.”

She was quiet for a couple blocks. “What exactly are we talking about?”

“Ghosts and angels and vampires and demons and jinn. You name it, it’s there.”

Her eyebrows rose again. “And do you have some sort of proof you could offer?”

Coming up with something to convince her wouldn’t be hard. It was not scaring her that would be difficult. Would she think I was evil if I showed her my red eyes? She was the only way I had to get home. Turning her against me now would be horrible. “I don’t want to scare you.”

“I want to see,” she said. “If I don’t witness it with my own eyes, I will forever doubt you. It’s the only way to be sure that you are not completely bonkers.”

I nodded. Fair enough. “I’ll show you inside.”

We made a beeline for her office where she shut and bolted the door. “I’m ready.”

I poked around on her desk until I found a letter opener that looked sharp enough. I steeled my nerves. I hated these demonstrations. I could heal from most wounds, but they still hurt initially.

I held up my hand, then I stabbed the opener through my palm and pulled it out, gasping a little at the shock of pain. I let her watch as the wound closed.

She came closer, inspecting the front and back of my hand, then felt the blood on the knife. “That is remarkable. May I?” She took the opener from me and ran it hard down my palm, making me hiss, and then watched it heal again. “It ties itself back together. There isn’t even a mark.” She ran her fingers over the back of my hand, shaking her head. “I believe you, but what are you? Do you age?”

Well, that was a story in and of itself, and I wasn’t quite ready to dive into all of that tonight. The Abyss revelation was quite enough to handle at the moment. “I was just a normal girl who met an extraordinary man. He opened my eyes to the supernatural world and I was scared. I thought I wanted to know, but ultimately I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to see. Because once you know, really know, there’s no going back. I had a choice: I could live my life in fear and depend on him to protect me, or I could find a way to take care of myself. I chose the latter.”

Josephine’s eyes widened. “You accomplished this transformation on your own? Remarkable. Such independence. I envy you.”

I shook my head. It wasn’t at all as magical as she made it sound. “I found a vampire who was willing to turn me, but halfway through the transformation an angel intervened. Now I am half vampire and half human. My heart beats and I can go in the sunlight, but my vampire half is strong, too strong, actually. Sometimes it gets the better of me.”

She backed away. “Am I in danger?”

I sat on the edge of a chair and crossed my legs, giving her space. “Not at all. I can only feed on dark souls. I don’t know if that is a product of the transformation or if the angel did that on purpose. Regardless, that’s my reality now. I’m no threat to humans. In fact, I try my best to help them.”

Josephine dropped down into the same green velvet chair she’d sat in the night before. “The person you want to find, is it the vampire who changed you? How can a vampire help? Well, I guess, depending on how old he is, he could be quite knowledgeable on many subjects.”

I shook my head. “Not a vampire. I wouldn’t know how to find him even if I wanted to. The man we are looking for is the one who revealed the Abyss to me. He’s a good person—smart and ancient. If anyone alive knows something about time travel, it’s him. Or he’ll know who to talk to about it. He’s our best chance.”

Josephine’s breath was shaky but determined. “Where will we find him?”

Now that was a good question. It wasn’t like there was a phonebook or anything in 1923—though even if there had been, Baker, no doubt, would’ve had an unlisted number. My mafia knowledge was mostly lacking and I didn’t have Google at my fingertips. “Does O’Banion mean anything to you? The North Side Gang? They wouldn’t happen to have a hangout or you wouldn’t happen to know one of them, would you?”

“You intend to involve
criminals
in this?”

I shook my head. “Not directly, but Baker worked for him at this period in his life. If we can figure out where they meet, maybe we can find Baker. I just need to talk to him.” A board creaked in the hallway by the door, but Josephine didn’t seem at all troubled by it. She carried on just as she had been.