The Whispering Dead (Gravekeeper #1) - Darcy Coates Page 0,49
much time left in Blighty and probably won’t ever be coming back. But so help me, I’ll give this everything I have.” No answer. “Well…okay. Good talk.”
She turned back to the cottage. As she walked to the door, it was hard not to feel dozens of eyes following her back. So many spirits. Some that I can’t even see clearly. They must all have a reason to linger; I wish I had the time to help them. The door opened with a groan, and Keira stepped inside, feeling as though her heart were breaking.
Something small and warm rubbed across her leg, and it eased some of her pain. Keira smiled as she bent to pick up the cat. “Hey, Daisy, did you miss me?”
The cat, nearly invisible in the cottage’s dark, purred heartily and tried to lick Keira’s chin. Keira chuckled as she took her pet back to the fireplace, then cleared away the empty dinner plate, and set about rebuilding the flames.
“Adage found a place for me to stay,” she said. The cat stood, tail twitching, watching the flames, then lay down in the same headfirst free fall she’d used when Keira had first found her. She seemed thoroughly unconcerned with Keira’s situation. “I’ll be leaving the day after tomorrow. Which means I’ll need to find you a new home.”
She sat on the rug and pulled her knees up under her chin. The fire was growing quickly, but it did little to warm her. “The lady at the bed-and-breakfast probably doesn’t want any pets. And…” Her throat hurt, so she swallowed the pain. “And it’s probably best for you to stay in Blighty anyway, in case your real owner is eventually found.”
Keira glanced at the cat to see her response. Daisy was borderline asleep, and one eye slowly drifted in the wrong direction. Keira didn’t know whether to sigh or laugh, so the two mixed together into a weird, mangled cough. She scratched behind the cat’s ears and earned fresh purrs for her efforts.
“I’m starting to think you’re not magical after all. I’ve just been talking to a normal stray this whole time, haven’t I?”
The cat lifted her head to look at Keira, her lips parted, and for a fraction of a second, Keira actually expected Daisy to speak. Then she burped, rolled over, and closed her eyes.
Keira threw her head back and laughed. The chuckles shook her, refusing to abate until tears pricked at her eyes. She wiped them away as she finally managed to regain her breath and stretched her legs out to warm them. “Okay, I think that’s enough with the pity party. I’ve got work to do.”
The clock above the mantel said it was nearly ten. Keira didn’t trust Blighty’s streets to be completely deserted, so she rose and began gathering equipment as she waited.
There wasn’t much to put together. She set the flashlight and a small kitchen knife on the round table, then pulled on extra layers of sweaters and pants. After swapping Adage’s donated sneakers for her thicker boots, she paced.
The clock seemed to move agonizingly slowly, and Keira, trapped with her thoughts, felt half an inch from insanity by the time it chimed eleven. She’d intended to wait for midnight for caution’s sake but figured eleven was close enough.
“Don’t wait up, Daisy.” Keira tucked the flashlight and the knife into her jeans’ pockets. The night was bright enough that she wouldn’t need the flashlight until she reached her destination, and she hoped the knife wouldn’t be necessary at all. She crept out of the cottage, put her chilled hands into her pockets, and hurried through the mist.
The tendrils clung to her like hundreds of disembodied fingers. She kept her eyes focused ahead until she’d passed through the bushy divider that separated her cemetery from the normal world. Just like she’d noticed the day before, the air was a degree or two warmer away from the tombstones.
Adage’s windows were dark, but Keira still took care to keep her footfalls quiet as she slunk past. She picked her pace up again once she reached the lane and hurried toward the main street.
As she’d hoped, the town was silent. A few buildings still had lights on, but there were no cars or pedestrians on the road. Keira pulled her hoodie up to hide her face just in case. What she had planned wasn’t strictly illegal, but it would probably be frowned upon and prompt a series of questions that wouldn’t be easy to answer.