When Twilight Comes - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,49

chopper suddenly began to buck. Then the engine died and the craft rolled to the side, dropping toward the dense green forest below.

The trees came up fast through the rain and fog.

Raymond could hear the pilot on the radio. “Mayday, Mayday.”

Raymond thought his life might pass before him. Instead his last thought before the chopper crashed was of his mother. At least she would mourn his death.

DARK CLOUDS HUNG OVER the hotel by the time Jenna saw a red car come up the mountainside and park at the back of the lot. It was raining so hard it was difficult to tell if it was Charlene. No one got out of the car.

Jenna waited, afraid. The wind groaned and raindrops ricocheted against the glass, obscuring her view.

What if it was Lorenzo?

Jenna held her breath as she stared down at the car, waiting to see who got out. Part of her was screaming, “Run! You can’t trust anyone.” Especially Harry Ballantine.

You can’t trust anyone.

Especially your own instincts.

Or even your own eyes.

It was Harry’s voice again in her head. She shivered, convinced she was losing her mind.

Even when she saw the figure finally emerge from the red car, for a split second her brain saw Lorenzo. She recoiled, then blinked. It was only Charlene. No one else got out.

Weak with relief, Jenna clutched the window frame and finally allowed herself to breathe. No one else was in sight as Charlene started through the rain toward the hotel entrance.

AS A BOLT OF LIGHTNING split the dark sky, Charlene looked up at the hotel and almost died.

She barely heard the boom of thunder, followed in a heartbeat by an explosion that lit the sky.

While Charlene had always been a little bit psychic, it wasn’t like being a little bit pregnant. You had to work at the craft, hone your skills. Charlene had never liked work.

At an early age she’d accepted her so-called “gift,” but also knew she didn’t want to foresee her future.

“I don’t have to be psychic to know it’s going to be bad,” she’d often said. “I’d rather be surprised than to see how bad it’s going to be before I get there.” So she’d pretty much learned to block it out.

That is, until the moment she looked up at Fernhaven, saw all the faces in the windows and knew that only one of the those looking down at her wasn’t dead yet.

Her blood turned to slush. She no longer felt the rain pelting her. All she felt was fear gripping her by her throat.

Being a little clairvoyant, she should have known that a tragedy such as the one that had struck the original Fernhaven did more than scar the land. The horror stayed, trapped there often for eternity. Or until something or someone released the poor souls. But she now felt that truth to her very bones.

This place was haunted with the fifty-seven dead. Not only could she see and feel them, she knew enough to fear them. Fernhaven was a graveyard of lost souls and, she realized with a shudder, they’d been expecting her.

Chapter Fourteen

Harry sent a warning to Jenna, but knew he had to stop Charlene. She couldn’t be trusted. He sensed it on some level he couldn’t explain.

As Charlene started toward the steps of Fernhaven, he moved in front of her.

To his astonishment and regret, she walked right through him. He saw her shudder as if she felt something, but clearly she couldn’t see him. Or feel him. Only Jenna and her daughter were aware of him.

Which meant he had no way to stop what was going to happen.

Then, to his surprise, Charlene turned and looked back. Not at him, but at the headlights coming up the road. She quickly stepped into the shadows and waited.

The car stopped at the edge of the trees. The lights went out, the engine suddenly silent.

Charlene moved through the cover of darkness toward the car.

Something shone for a moment in her hand as she neared the vehicle and the man sitting in it, trying to get his cell phone to work.

“Mr. Dante, if you get this message, it’s Alfredo. I’m at that place, Fernhaven, waiting like you told me to.” He snapped off the phone, grumbling under his breath.

The man didn’t see Charlene coming, didn’t hear her steal alongside the car. Not until it was too late.

AFTER JENNA SAW CHARLENE disappear from view, she hurriedly packed up and put her suitcase by the front door.

She checked on Lexi, only to find her