Rampant

He didn’t respond.

“Why do some people become ghosts and others don’t?”

“That’s one of those eternal questions. It’s open to interpretation, but the common belief is that if a person dies and is at peace with their lot, they pass on to their rightful resting place.”

Did that mean her mother was at peace, Zoë wondered. It had to. She’d felt resentful about her death, the way it happened and the fact that she’d been too young, but now she felt somewhat reassured. If her mother was at peace, maybe she could be as well.

Grayson was still explaining. “It’s a tormented soul who lingers, someone who has an unresolved history, or an unjust end.” He was looking at her intently. “The story goes that Annabel was ousted by a local woman who believed Annabel had put a curse on her family.”

“I wonder if it was true.”

“So do I.” He wanted t

o know so badly.

“I felt something as soon as I arrived, actually. Funny, it never mentioned it in the brochure. But what would they say, ‘cottage comes with own ghost’?”

He chuckled. “She likes you.”

“Likes me?”

“Yes, the psychic atmosphere in there is up and bubbling, since you arrived.”

“So what does being your research assistant involve?” She wanted to talk about the sex-in-the-atmosphere part again. “I’ve guessed that access to my holiday cottage is part of it.”

“I knew you’d be a canny assistant.”

“Hmm.”

“A little bit of sleuth work.” He shrugged lightly. “Annabel’s spirit rises and lingers. If she’s an unquiet soul, I’d love to know why, for the record. She’s communicating with you, or at least she’s trying to, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to um, hang out with you.”

“Do you use that line often?”

“What, I’d like to hang out with you because you’re being haunted by a mischievous spirit?” His eyes twinkled. “No.”

What was he going to say, that he shagged every woman who stayed here? Hardly. “I couldn’t resist.”

“I noticed.”

“So what do we have to do? I mean, if we assume for the purposes of this discussion that I believe it.”

“I’d like to give you a bit of background. I think it will help you understand her when she is around.” There was something measured about the way he was talking to her that made her curious.

“Background?”

“About the craft, as Annabel and her people would have understood it.”

“Okay, I can see why you teach the subject.” She noticed that he was bemused, maybe even slightly embarrassed by that. He didn’t have a huge ego, which was refreshing.

“The true essence of witchcraft is about being close to nature, about healing and wisdom, and about being in tune with the natural forces of the earth around us. It’s a positive force, and pure in its intentions. But, much like any system in life, it is open to abuse. What tends to be reported more often is referred to as the occult, and that’s where practitioners of the craft ally themselves with the dark forces in nature. They are drawn to what they see as more powerful sources, and that kind of magic is often driven by hunger for power.” He paused. “You might have heard this referred to as the occult, or being in league with the devil.”

“This is just background information, right. You’re not trying to spook me right now, are you?”

He broke into a grin. It softened the bold angles of his face, making him more attractive than ever. “No, that’s the last thing I want to do. Consider this—white witches are simply closer to nature than the average person. They continue practices that were widely accepted in the ancient pagan world—worshipping the seasons, the power and pull of the moon, the sun, and the cycle of birth, growth and death. They haven’t lost that connection with the power and magic nature harbors. In the modern world we’ve become increasingly concerned with moving forward, technology, the synthetic and virtual worlds. Those things hold their own appeal, but they can pull us away from the forces of nature…if we let them.”

“Is it like New Age beliefs?” Her mother had bandied about pagan theory and she had a heap of books on the subject, but most people called her a hippie, although it wasn’t something her mother had particularly minded. Zoë always assumed she just wanted to be different.

“These kinds of practices are very close to each other. New generations need to reinvent things to make them theirs.” He paused to smile. “The majority of witchcraft in Scotland is what today we would call Wicca, a pure creative and nurturing form of witchcraft that is very much in tune with the pagan way of life, but even Wicca is a fairly recent label for something very old. There’s also a running pattern of belief about power and sexuality.”