The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw (19 page)

'That's just so... so incredible. It's unbelievable. But how did we get there? Mum and Dad always told us that we were just found on the island as babies?' asked Emma, as she continued to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

'Before Baraka and Abraham died, Della was...'

'Della?'

'That was your mother's name,' smiled Eleanor kindly before carrying on, 'She was fun loving, a little eccentric and she loved to do the unexpected. So she first sent you, Lana, in a little hot air balloon across the water so that you landed almost on your parents doorstep.'

Lana's eyes widened in disbelief, 'She put me in a hot air balloon? I could have died!' she blurted out.

'Shaking her head, Eleanor continued, 'That was impossible. You see, like I said before, the angels have many special abilities, some might call it magic. You were safer on that balloon than anywhere else on earth, Lana, she made sure of that....'

'Hang on a minute,' Lana suddenly blurted out, standing up and pacing up and down the room, 'I dreamed it, I did, I dreamed about it fairly recently. I remember it so clearly now, the balloon drifting through the night sky and eventually landing in the back garden. Oh My God... that was me, that was real,' she shrieked.

'Yes, Lana, that was you. It was real. And as I was saying, a few days later, she sent you, Emma, in a miniature boat down the Thames and out into the North Sea. You were bound for Andilyse Island, for the Morgans. You too were incredibly safe. Della was determined about that.'

'What happened to her?' Emma asked as Lana finally sat back down.

'You must remember that she was absolutely heartbroken. She'd lost the two men that meant the world to her. She needed to mourn her own way and she couldn't do that with two babies. She knew that your lives would be so much better with the Morgans and so she had to let you go. Once she knew you'd arrived safely, she returned home,' Eleanor said pointing upwards.

'But how is that possible?' Lana asked.

'What do you mean?' Eleanor replied.

'When you chose love over your work as an angel, they - whoever they are - cast you aside and cursed you. Why didn't they do that to our mother?'

Eleanor looked sadly at both the girls before sighing loudly, 'When the angels come down to earth, they are given a limited amount of time to spend here among the humans. To learn, to love and some to reproduce, but they must eventually return home. They are usually given between five and ten years. Della was here for two years before she returned.'

'You mean... she was going to leave us anyway?' Emma said, distraught.

'I'm afraid so.'

'But that sucks,' Lana muttered.

'Yes, well. That's the way it's always been. And if you try and do something about it, you end up like me,' sighed Eleanor as she re-arranged some papers on her desk before Lana spoke again.

'Is she still alive?' breathed Lana.

'I believe so. But once the angels have come and gone, I don't think they are able to return. I'm sorry. But you've had wonderful upbringings, haven't you? I know that Audrey and Patrick Morgan were chosen for a reason.'

'If Della really is our mother, how come we have different birthdays?' asked Emma, pouting.

'Like I said before, Della was capable of very strong magic. Lana came first, and you Emma, weren't ready to come into the world for another few days. She had a long labour,' Eleanor smiled. 'I know this all sounds like fiction but their world,' she said pointing upwards, 'is very different to the world we live down here.'

'But what about you? Did you lose all of your abilities when you chose to stay here?'

Eleanor nodded, leaning back in her chair, 'Most of them. They left me with a few but I can only use them in my younger state. But enough about me, it's almost five o'clock, I should prepare myself for the change. Do you have any more questions?'

The girls stood, shaking their heads.

'I know you will have more once you've had time to take it all in. Just know that my door is always open for you, for both of you, okay?' she said as the girls reached the door.

Just as they were about to close it behind them, Lana turned back and asked, 'What about your child, Eleanor? What happened?'

Eleanor shook her head, 'My daughter was taken from me. I never knew what happened to her,' she said sadly, turning away from them, indicating they should go.

Lana quietly closed the door behind her, just as the clock struck five o'clock. A deep long groan could be heard as they walked away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The following day, the group were given a 'pass' day, where they could do whatever they wanted, so the girls decided to go shopping. Before they left the boat, Declan handed them an envelope, 'Your Mum and Dad asked me to give this to you for when you had some free time. Have fun today, but remember, don't use your abilities in front of anyone. See you later,' he said before disappearing back indoors.

As they stepped off the boat, which was moored at Westminster Pier again, they avidly opened the envelope to find a card from their parents and a rather large stash of 50 pound notes.

Lana gasped, jumping up and down, while Emma giggled along with her before reading the card:

'We hope you're both enjoying your work experience in the city, girls. We know that shopping on the island isn't much fun for you both (especially you Lana!). So here's some spending money to buy whatever you want in London. Don't spend it all at once! We love you lots, see you soon. Love Mum & Dad xxx'

'Come on, let's hit the shops,' giggled Lana as she literally dragged Emma along beside her.

'Would you mind if I came along,' said a voice out of nowhere.

'Joe!' squealed Lana, 'Where have you been? We didn't see you at all yesterday? Of course you can come with us.'

Grinning shyly, Joe floated alongside them, 'I was with some of my own kind.'

'What? Like other ghosts, you mean?'

Josiah nodded as they stopped at traffic lights waiting for them to turn green.

'Yes. I found a cemetery where there are quite a few of us.'

Once the lights had changed, and the three of them had continued across the road, Emma made sure no-one was watching when she turned to look at him, 'Do you know why you're still here, Joe? Do all those others know too?'

But he looked at the floor and shook his head, 'I wish I knew.'

'Hey, let's not dwell on that now, we're here to have fun today!' squealed Lana again, as she practically ran down the road, as if she could hear the shops calling to her.

'Wait up!' shouted Emma as she sped up to catch up to her.

'No can do... Oxford Street awaits,' she giggled as she stopped just for a moment to check the map.

'This way,' she laughed, pointing over to the left leaving Trafalgar Square to their right.

After they'd taken a few wrong turns, and Emma had taken over the map reading, the girls, along with Josiah, eventually found themselves on Oxford Street. Once they'd arrived, Lana erupted in a fit of giggles.

'I can't believe it, I'm actually here. I'm finally here on Oxford Street in London,' she said, dancing around in a little circle.

Emma looked at her, embarrassed, glancing at the shoppers who were giving her sister a bit of a wide berth.

'Erm, Sis. People are staring.'

'So?'

Emma shook her head and smiled before she left Lana and carried on walking down the street with Joe beside her. After about a minute, Lana was with them, grinning from ear to ear.

'Where shall we go first?' she asked, excitement bubbling from her every pore.

'Wherever takes your fancy,' Emma replied as they glanced from one shop to another.

'Is that... Zara?' squealed Lana as her feet moved faster than the rest of her in order to get to the fashion store. Emma rolled her eyes as Joe whispered in her ear, 'Your sister is really quite crazy, isn't she?'

Laughing, Emma nodded.

'Why is she going so insane over clothes shops?' he asked as they stepped inside the giant shop, watching as Lana stood still for a second and took a deep breath as she took it all in.

'Because Andilyse Island doesn't have anything like this. You must remember what shopping is like at home, Joe? There's not much choice, not for a fashion victim, anyway.'

'I.. I don't remember,' he stuttered.

'Didn't you ever go shopping?' she asked him discreetly as a couple of young girls walked by giving her a funny look.

'I.. I... don't know. I can't seem to remember anything about the island.'

'Nothing at all?' she asked, alarmed.

When he shook his head, she turned to face him, 'Maybe it happens to all, you know... ghosts?'

'OMG,' shouted Lana from across the shop floor, 'Emma, you have GOT to come and see this...'

When Emma turned back to Joe, he had disappeared.

Shrugging her shoulders, she went to see what all the fuss was about. As she approached her sister, Lana was already bogged down with countless items of clothing and pairs of shoes.

Emma couldn't help but burst out laughing at the sight.

'Lana, you don't have to get the first things you see, you know!'

'I know, I just want to try all these on,' she said almost stumbling over the heap of clothes as she rushed towards the changing rooms.

'Here, let me give you a hand,' Emma offered, taking some of the items of clothing out of her grasp.

An hour later, Emma was still sitting in the changing rooms, watching as Lana paraded the clothes she'd chosen.

'Is this the last one?' she asked, sighing.

'Yeah, this is it and then I promise we can go.'

'You said that twenty minutes ago.'

As Lana swept back the curtain, she stepped out like a model on a catwalk, wearing a cute little white crochet dress, brown knee high boots and a brown hat that wouldn't really stay put on her unruly hair. She bent forward, blew a kiss and continued to strut around the changing rooms.

Emma shook her head and laughed out loud. 'Okay, it is cute. I like that better than anything else you've tried on. I think you should get it, although I don't think much to that hat.'

With a huge smile that scrunched up her cheeks, Lana twisted her shoulder, turned her head and cracked up laughing. 'Yeah, my hair is just too big! Okay, I'll go take it all off, spend some money and we can get out of here.'

As the girls walked out of the store back onto Oxford Street, Emma took in a breath of fresh air, 'It's nice to be outside again,' she said seriously.

Lana swung the carrier bag and hit her with it, 'Hey, we weren't in there that long,' she laughed. 'Where's Joe?' she asked suddenly realising he was no longer with them.

'He disappeared when we walked into the shop. It was weird actually, he told me he couldn't remember anything about Andilyse.'

'That is weird... and kinda sudden? I wonder where he went?'

'Anywhere away from two girls clothes shopping, I expect,' Emma answered as Lana tucked her arm into hers and they walked down the street, occasionally stopping to peer into shop windows, or for Lana to rush indoors to take a closer look at things that took her fancy.

'It's a shame you haven't seen anything for you, Em?' Lana said a little while later, as they walked back down another street.

'Apparently my kind of shops are back in Camden?'

'How do you know that?'

'Because I googled them before we left Andilyse,' she said with a smile.

'Why didn't you say anything?'

'Because I knew how desperate you were to come down here.'

Lana grinned, 'Well now it's your turn. We're on the hunt for goth shops!'

'Are you sure? Have you had enough of these chain stores?'

'A girl can never have enough of these shops, Em, but for you, I'm happy to take a break. Besides, you desperately need some new clothes... I can be your personal shopper,' she beamed while Emma wondered what on earth she'd let herself in for.

After getting off the tube at Camden Town, the girls looked around until they found what they were looking for. Emma certainly wasn't disappointed. Spotting one particular shop from the distance, Emma turned to Lana with a smile, 'Now that is more me,' she said happily as Lana cringed as they walked inside.

The shop was filled with black, deep reds and purple items in velvet and lace. Beautiful Victoriana and gothic black chokers covered in beads, lace and silk. Cameo brooches with pictures of Victorian women, cats and moons. Emma swooned as she inspected item after item before eventually moving along to the clothes section where she picked up a red and black gothic tutu dress.

'Now this is gorgeous,' she sighed as Lana promptly removed it from her hands and put it back on the rail.

'Where on earth would you wear something like that? There must be something a little more, you know, sensible? Subtle? Classy? Stylish? Cool?'

Emma laughed at her as she continued to rifle through the lush fabrics she so loved. 'How about this?' she said as she pulled out a lime green rockabilly vest top.