“Andy, darling,” his mother cried. “Tell me what I should do.”

“Let me rest.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let me rest!” the spirit shouted. “You don’t need me. You have Tilly. She can take care of you.”

“But, Andy—”

“Tilly knows what you should do, but you won’t listen to her. Leave me in peace!”

“Oh, Andy,” his mother sobbed.

“Mother, he’s right,” Tilly said. “Listen to him.”

Elizabeth managed not to smile. She’d guessed correctly that Tilly’s mother hadn’t yet accepted the spirits’ admonition to accept her daughter’s counsel.

“Is Cindy there?” her mother demanded. “Can you hear me, Cindy darling?”

“Oooooooo,” Elizabeth groaned, closing her eyes to sway back and forth.

“Who is it?” Madame asked. “What do you see?”

“Blood,” Elizabeth said. “So much blood.”

“Whose blood?” Jake asked, sounding as terrified as he should.

“A knife, a knife,” she said anxiously. “Watch out! Watch out!”

Then she screamed and slid to the floor in a dead faint.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

For a long moment, no one moved, and then the door burst open and Gideon was beside her.

“You can’t come in here, Mr. Bates,” Madame Ophelia was shouting. “It’s very dangerous to interrupt when someone is conversing with the spirits.”

“What did you do to her?” Gideon demanded. “Darling, can you hear me?”

Elizabeth moaned to let him know she was fine and then almost smiled at the irony. Moaning was usually a sign that someone was not fine. He was turning her over and lifting her to a sitting position. She let her eyes flutter open. No sense subjecting herself to the smelling salts.

“What happened?” Persephone cried from the doorway. “Mr. Bates, I told you that you couldn’t come in here until the séance was over.”

Gideon ignored her. “Are you all right?”

“I think so, yes. Can you help me up?”

He did so. Someone had righted her chair and he helped her sit down in it. Everyone but Madame Ophelia was standing, staring down at her in horror.

“What did you see?” Tilly asked. “You must tell us.”

Elizabeth shivered. “I . . . I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do,” Cindy’s father insisted furiously. “I can see it in your face. You remember but you don’t want to tell us. Someone else is going to die, aren’t they?”

Elizabeth shook her head, but when her gaze touched Jake, she froze, allowing her expression to reveal her fear.

“It’s me, isn’t it? I knew it,” Jake said. “What is it? What did you see?”

She shook her head again, this time desperately.

“It was enough to make you scream,” Tilly reminded her testily.

“If you don’t want to talk about it,” Gideon said, “you don’t have to. I can take you home.”

“No!” a half dozen voices cried in unison.

“You must tell him what you saw,” Persephone said, earning a black look from Madame Ophelia.