shift, as if the floor under her had tilted. Light-headed, she put her hand out to steady herself on the table.
Miss Suze shushed the conversation. “Tabby, are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I must have just stood up too quickly.” But then she was assaulted by a familiar scent. The pungent, thick smell of death wormed its way inside of her and she doubled over, sure that she was going to be sick.
Ella shrank back, hugging her dolls to her chest. Tabby tried to reach her hand out, tried to open her mouth to reassure Ella that there was no need to be frightened. But she found herself powerless to say a word. No, no. Not now. Not here!
She concentrated every ounce of her being on closing her mind, trying to focus on the rapidly dimming table and family around her. But it was no use. Mr. Bishop came roaring into her mind’s eye, a frightful apparition in the black expanse. You lied, girl!
She hardly had time to gather her bearings before his voice was ringing in her ears again.
You summoned me, requesting my help, yet I have no peace, no rest!
If you have no rest, it is not my doing. Desperate, Tabby tried to ground herself back in Miss Suze’s dining room. Where was the pink chintz wallpaper? Where was the happy babble of children, the aroma of sweet yams and hoecakes? She tried to take deep, even breaths, but they came out shallow and fast.
Mr. Bishop was joined by another spirit, and then another. Soon Tabby’s mind was filled with the grotesque faces of the dead, all clamoring for her attention.
I am lost! cried a woman with a gaping wound to her head.
I was laid to rest not three days ago and thieves came in the night, stealing my mortal remains away, lamented another. Tell me, how am I to let go of this earthly plane when my coffin lies empty?
You hear us, you see us, yet you do nothing. Have you no compassion for our plight?
You shall have no rest until we have rest!
Louder and louder they shrieked. Tabby’s head filled with pressure, felt as if it were being cracked open from the inside. She was terrified, but a small, detached part of her could only think of the gathering that was happening around her in Miss Suze’s dining room. What did she look like right now to them? How would she explain her episode when it finally ended?
Just when she thought that she would suffocate in the blackness swirling with death, light gradually pierced the void, the grotesque faces fading away like paint running in the rain.
The world came back into focus, the smell of hot food and summer flowers replacing the thick odor of decay. “Careful now,” Eli said, helping her sit up.
Polly, who was crouched down on her other side, handed Tabby a cup. Tabby gulped down the water, the sharp coldness washing away the lingering bile in her throat. She was scared to know, but had to ask. “What happened?”
“You fainted clean away,” said Polly. “One minute you were standing up, the next you were flopping on the ground like a fish on the dock.”
Ella stared at her from the corner, wide-eyed, her dolls crushed to her chest. Tabby gave her a tremulous smile. “It’s all right. I’m all right.”
But when she tried to embrace her, Ella shrank back as if Tabby were a monster.
Eli and Tabby walked back home through the lingering summer evening, the setting sun gilding the Boston buildings in rosy light. As usual, by some mutually unspoken agreement, they took the back way, skirting the busy areas of the city. It would have been a lovely stroll if not for the pregnant silence that hung between her and Eli. Several times Tabby opened her mouth, trying to form the words to explain what had happened, but each time she lost her nerve. Never before had she experienced such an assault on her mind with so many spirits contacting her at the same time, and she had no idea how to explain it away. It ate at her soul, little by little, not to be able to confide in the man she trusted and loved above all else in the world.
6
IN WHICH IT ALL FALLS APART.
IT WAS NEARLY two o’clock before Caleb arrived outside of the Hammond townhouse. He hadn’t had a chance to change his suit, and when he’d caught his reflection in a shop window, his rumpled clothes had