The Secrets Of Ghosts

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 25 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 26 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 27 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 28 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 29 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 30 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 31 (#litres_trial_promo)

Endpages (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 1 (#ulink_72d3874c-3d4b-59cf-b077-67158f3e7130)

Katie Harper closed her eyes as the last lines of ‘happy birthday’ finished and blew out the candles on her cake. She concentrated with every ounce of her being, and wished more fervently than she’d ever wished before. More fervently than when she’d been in the middle of her horse phase and been hoping for a pony. More strongly, even, than when she’d thought she’d been in love with Luke Taylor and had tried her first real spell. She squeezed her nails into her palms and bit the inside of her cheek to provide a spark of necessary pain, biting hard enough to draw blood. Wishes could come true. There was magic in thought and intention. Katie knew this and when she opened her eyes, she expected the world to have changed.

It hadn’t.

The disappointment thumped through her. She saw a flicker of concern on her aunt Gwen’s face and hastily slapped a smile in place.

She kept the smile while the cake was cut, while her uncle Cam gave her a hug and a cheque, and while she thanked everyone in the little group for coming.

Her face was beginning to ache by the time her mum and dad were saying goodbye. Her mum kissed her on both cheeks and apologised for the millionth time for rushing away. ‘It’s an early start tomorrow,’ she said. ‘And you know I get travel sick.’

‘I know, it’s fine.’ Ruby and David were going on a cruise, their third in two years. They were taking their duties as empty nesters seriously and, honestly, Katie couldn’t blame them. She hadn’t been the easiest teenager to live with. She hugged them both, inhaling the scent of Ruby’s perfume and moisturiser. ‘I’m not staying late, either. I’m working tomorrow.’

‘If you’re sure,’ Ruby said, but she was already halfway out of the door.

‘Positive.’ Katie was picking up every extra shift going at The Grange and, truthfully, didn’t really feel like celebrating her twenty-first at all. Coming into her power. Now, that would be a day worth shouting about.

Katie followed her parents to the door, waving as they walked down the garden path and got into their silver Audi. Gwen had lined the path with candles in jam jars and strung tiny lights through the trees and hedges in the garden.

‘You’re working too hard. I don’t like it,’ Gwen said, coming up behind Katie and handing her a plate.

Gwen’s tradition when it came to birthday cakes was to produce different flavour combinations and you had to guess what they were. Katie had caught a whiff of lime when she blew out the candles and she was expecting something sweet to counteract the acidity so the honey wasn’t a surprise. There was something spicy in there, too, but she wasn’t sure what. She took another bite and let it dissolve in her mouth.

Gwen was looking at her expectantly.

‘Cardamon?’ Katie said.

‘Close.’ Gwen shook her head. ‘Cumin.’

Katie struggled to keep her face neutral. She was rubbish at the herbal stuff. What kind of witch was rubbish with herbs? A crap one, that was what.

Gwen was still talking about her birthday plans. ‘You only turn twenty-one once. At least tell me you’re going out for a wild night with your friends later. Clubbing or something.’

‘It’s almost ten already,’ Katie said, then felt embarrassed. Lots of people went clubbing at ten o’clock at night. Maybe not in Pendleford, but still.

Later, picking her way through the candle-strewn path, she tried to rationalise. Her birthday was an arbitrary deadline, a day like any other. There was no real reason to expect her powers to come in on her twenty-first, any more than there had been on her sixteenth or eighteenth, either. She’d held real hope for her nineteenth — her final teenage year — but, truly, there was no reason to believe that it wouldn’t happen tomorrow or next month or on a random rainy Thursday in October. She sat on the wooden bench at the bottom of Gwen’s garden. There was no need to panic.

‘What are you doing?’ Anna had snuck up behind Katie. She was carrying a glass of sparkling wine and a concerned expression.

‘Panicking,’ Katie said. What if she didn’t take after Gwen after all? What if she was actually just like her mother, Ruby? While her grandmother could read fortunes and Gwen could find lost things, Ruby was about as magical as a bowl of cereal.

‘I’m having a mid-life crisis,’ Katie said, shifting over to make room for Anna.

‘You’re too young for that.’ Anna sat down. ‘Quarter-life, maybe. Although, personally, I’m planning to live to one hundred and fifty.’

Katie forced a smile. It was nice of Anna to try and cheer her up. ‘Have you tried the cake, yet?’

‘Twice. I still have no idea. So, what’s the crisis about?’ Anna said. ‘You don’t want to work at The Grange for the rest of your natural born life?’

‘God, no.’

Anna laughed. ‘Me, neither. I’m going to open my own place. One day.’

‘Are you?’ Katie was surprised. Anna was a brilliant waitress: competent and quick and always smiling. She never seemed dissatisfied but then, Katie knew, she didn’t know her all that well. And, of course, you never knew what was really going on inside people.

‘What?’ Anna looked at her sideways. ‘You think I can’t do it?’