Village of Nowhere (Rick Thane Book 5)

Chapter 2: Silver Box

Chapter 2: Silver Box

It had been three days since I received the letter from Sylvia Gap who had requested my help. Edgar had flittered into my office the day before and had given his opinion which was to go and help her. However, I had been stewing in guilt. I didn't want to leave Penny and then again, I didn't want to take her with me.

'You can't tell her not to go,' the old London spirit said as he watched over my shoulder as I responded to a few emails out of hundreds. 'She has her own mind.'

I sighed heavily and was about to argue with him but found I was unable to. I had enough of the negativity that surrounded this heated topic. I had to just come out with it and have a proper discussion without any shouting.

Penny was in her usual position in the living room; feet up, a bowl of cereal on her bump, wearing thick woolly socks, a large sweatshirt watching TV. This time she was watching a mid-morning chat show.

She muted the TV when I entered the room. 'We have to talk,' she said. 'Sit.'

I knew something bad was coming though I didn't know what. I sat at the end of the sofa and waited for her to speak.

'I've been thinking about this bloody letter you've got. I'd heard Edgar muttering to himself while he's paced around the hallway.' She paused then said, 'Edgar you can come out, I won't bite.'

The spirit appeared beside me, he looked at the floor, hunched over although ashamed. 'Hello, Penny.'

'Why so glum?' She asked.

Not looking at her, he replied, 'You don't want to speak to us or acknowledge that you can hear us. Sorry but it's upset me.'

I saw Penny's face drop. 'I know,' she replied just as gloomily. 'It's not that I don't like our conversations but... I want to live a normal life, Edgar. I feel like I'm an idiot for contradicting myself. For years I've wanted to be able to see and hear the dead and now I can and... I don't like the scary aspect of it. I can't have that in my life, not at this time. I've been possessed by a witch and by my own husband. I've been shot at and killed! I've had my memory wiped. I've been haunted and stalked and seen Demons and felt them around me. Hell, Rick got possessed by the Devil! It's just not safe to be part of that side of the veil. It does frighten me and it frightens me more that we're bringing a child into that type of world.'

I could almost hear Edgar's mind say, "I know, you've told me this before," but he didn't say anything. Instead, he nodded and then vanished then and there and his sadness left the room.

'And now I've gone and upset him!' She yelled. 'Edgar, I'm sorry!'

'Leave him,' I told her. 'What did you want to talk to me about?'

She took a few deep breaths then said, 'I think I should go with you to Northumberland.'

'What?'

She put her hand out. 'Let me have my say. Yes, I'm pregnant, and no I'm not an invalid. I can still walk, I can still be useful and-'

'Why?' I interrupted. 'Why come with me? It's an abandoned village. There's bound to be spirits there and you don't want to talk to them, so what's the point?'

She shrugged. 'Yes, but I still have all the equipment.'

I shook my head. 'It's not a Spirit Search episode,' I told her. 'I'm not going there for money; I'm not going there for fame and glory. I'm going there to help.' I heard the post got pushed through the post-box and stood.

'We haven't finished our conversation.'

'Penny, I love you, but really you need to think about what you are saying. Look, I get the fact that you want to have a normal life. For years I wanted one too but, I can't have one because of what I can do. Gift, curse, whatever you want to call it, you take the good with the bad. There are hundreds of living people who want to know the truth about their loved ones, whether they are at peace or whether they are haunting them because of "unfinished business". But the fact of the matter is that I can't switch off this talking to the dead and the sad fact for you, is that you can't either. I accept that you want to ignore the dead, hell, many of them have been ignored for most of their afterlife, so what's the difference being ignored by someone who can see and hear them right?' I made to move to the hallway, but she reached out and grabbed hold of my arm.