It started like any other, just a normal weekday morning. The warm smell of hot buttered toast lingered in the large dining room as Charlotte, her parents and sister Bella sat around the long table as they finished the first meal of the day.

Charlotte sat quietly, several slices of hot buttered toast on a plate in front. Thoughts from the previous night flowed freely around her mind. Ghosts weren't real. Were they? She found herself thinking about Beatrice. She remembered feeling the chilling drop in temperature that happened a few seconds before she appeared. A normal girl wouldn't cause that to happen. She recalled the spirit's appearance, her pale colourless skin, the darkness that clung underneath her dead, blank eyes. Even the nightie she wore made her appear ghostly and out of this world. No. There had to be more to it than that. After her second slice of toast, Charlotte stood to leave.

Dad looked up from his newspaper and put his empty cup of coffee back on the coaster. "Charlotte," he called her name, "where do you think you're going?"

Charlotte thought quickly and said the first thing that came to mind. "Err... library. If we get into that school we went to see, I don't want to look like some thick bimbo who doesn't know anything. I thought I'd revise."

"That's great to hear," he paused for a moment and gently scratched his thinning hair, "do you mind waiting for a few minutes? The post is due and we're expecting your results today. School starts again next week, I've asked for them to be fast-tracked. That way we'll know one way or another." He paused for a moment and turned his attention to his eldest daughter.

Bella put the final piece of toast in her mouth and dusted the crumbs from her jeans. She reached forward and poured herself a coffee.

"What are you planning to do today, Annabelle?" Dad asked.

"Probably getting the bus into town to check out some car showrooms. I mean there's no amount of money left in the world that can fix my car, and you did say you buy me a new one." Bella stood, and pushed her empty chair closer to the table. "Now if you'll excuse me, the bus goes in a few minutes. And it's one every three hours so if I miss it, that's it."

Bella headed towards the door, and as she left, she closed the door behind her.

"Oh which reminds me," Dad continued, "your Mum's going to be busy interviewing staff today. You know, groundsman, housekeeper, that sort of thing, so do her a favour and keep the noise down."

As Charlotte waited for the post to arrive, she reached forward and picked up another slice of toast. But as she did something caught her attention. She couldn't think why she hadn't noticed it before. A huge portrait hung on the opposite wall. Encased within a golden frame, it showed a mother and several young girls, sitting on a picnic blanket on the castle grounds. What was once an image bursting with colour, the years had taken its toll. Now the colours, the reds, and the ambers, the greens and the blues faded and most of the colours had taken on a brownish tinge.

She cast her mind back to the night before, and the strange encounter with Beatrice as their conversation returned. The Grey Lady, that's what she thought about. The long-dead Lady Mary Greyson. Didn't she have six daughters? She looked again at the image of a mother surrounded by her offspring. Charlotte found herself counting each girl. Three. Four. Five...

Two heavy knocks banged against the old wooden front door. Mum leapt up from the table. She tucked her hair behind her ears and smoothed down her skirt as she headed out of the room. Her footsteps sounded through the hallway as she made her way towards the door.
"Oh," Charlotte heard her say, "sorry, I thought you were the postman. Come in and welcome to Castle Stone."

Mum's footsteps, followed by that of at least two other people headed towards the dining room. Voices ahhed in amazement at the grand splendour of the castles' mainly Georgian interior. Charlotte looked up. She took a sip of her milky tea as she finished the final few drops. She placed the pretty floral cup back on the saucer and as the door began to open, she looked up to catch a glimpse of their visitors.

Her mother entered the room first, followed by someone who Charlotte and her family hadn't seen for a long time. The last time she'd seen her Aunt Anne, was several months before the covid pandemic, during a family holiday to the south of France.

A slim woman entered the room, her shoulder-length dark blonde hair partly concealed by a chestnut brown fedora. Heavy dark-lens sunglasses perched on her nose, and she wore pretty diamond stud earrings in her ears. She reached up and took off her sunglasses as she headed towards Charles.

"Oh Charlie," Aunt Anne gushed, "and how's my favourite brother?"

Dad looked up from his newspaper, "I'm your only brother, Anne. Well, I never." He stood up and the siblings embraced, rightly. "You didn't say you were coming."

Aunt Anne pulled out a chair and sat down at the dinner table as she poured herself a cup of tea.

"Auntie Anne?" Said Charlotte, "what are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, Lottie." Anne sighed, "Nellie's ill again, so we're up in this freezer of a country to look after her, again. Then I've got a new contract for work. It's more money, which comes in handy now that Seb's in his third year of medical school, and William's starting at St Benedict's next week."

"That's near here isn't it?" Questioned Charlotte, "the boys boarding school?"

"Yes, that's right." Anne took another sip of tea, "with Jonathan's batty old aunt on yet another cruise, I need to ask you something, Charles."

Dad put down his coffee.
"Could you not have done this over the phone? I mean we only spoke yesterday."

"Oh but Charles, it wouldn't be for long. I thought it would be easier for you to agree if I asked you in person. And it doesn't have to be for long."

"For goodness sake, Anne. Spit it out."

Anne ran her hand through her hair and took a deep breath. "The job I was telling you about. More money. More responsibility. I'd be running the whole law firm."

"You already have a majority share in it."

"It's in Sydney."

"Well, that's very nice. We'll have to come and visit when you're all settled."

She took another breath, "I need you to look after Clementine. You know how much she hates flying."

"Oh yes," Dad replied, "I still haven't forgotten that time she became ill on the flight to France."

Charlotte began to chuckle, "yeah," she said, "all over your flip-flops."

"So..." questioned Anne, "I mean you can't say you're short of rooms. This place is a palace. I can't believe our ancestors lost it all those years ago. Can she stay here? You know how well Charlotte and Clemmie get on, and it wouldn't be forever. She got her acceptance letter from Lady Elizabeth's college the other day, so she'd be at school during the day."

Dad looked at Mum, "Sally...?"

"She's your niece, Charles and if she needs a roof over her head then who are we to say no?" Mum replied, "anyway, Anne's right. Charlotte and Clem were very close as children. It would be nice for them to be that close again. She's been so lonely since falling out with Emily."

Dad looked across at his sister, "go on then. You'd better go and tell Clementine the good news."

Anne stood. The heels of her stilettos tapped against the ancient mahogany floorboards as she quickly headed towards the door.
"Clemmie!" She called, "they said you can stay."

Charlotte watched as Dad's eyes grew wider. He dropped his newspaper on the table.
"You mean she's here already? Dear me Anne, that was more than a bit presumptuous. What would have happened if we weren't able to help?"

Anne walked back into the room and picked her fedora up from the table. "Oh, but you can, and I'm so grateful. Clemmie's just getting her stuff out of the car. So, I'll check in later to make sure she's behaving herself. See you all soon, bye!"

And with that, the woman known by the family as Hurricane Anne was gone. Charlotte leant back and looked out of the window to see her Aunt scurrying away. A human shape outside, which she thought was a cousin, headed towards the front door. Charlotte leapt from her seat and hurried out into the hallway. She reached for the front door and pulled it towards her.

Clementine Burton-Hewitt stood in the hallway. Her long dark blonde hair was pulled back into a long ponytail. Her body was cocooned inside an extra large beige puffer coat, that must have been at least two sizes too big. The girl, who was only a week older than Charlotte, stepped into the warm castle, pulling a heavy silver suitcase with her.

"OMG! Charlotte!" She screamed as she wrapped her arms around her cousin.

"Clem! I can't believe you're here!"

"Yeah, Mum's taking over a huge law firm in Aus and Dad's going to be doing some banking there as well."

Charlotte's parents walked through.
"Hey, Auntie Sally, Uncle Charles. I don't suppose you can bring my stuff in? There are a few cases outside." Her attention quickly shifted to Charlotte, "you must show me around this place. I mean I thought Aunt Eliza's place was grand. But look at this..."

Clem's suitcase banged loudly with each step as the girls quickly headed upstairs. As they moved, Clem slowed to look at the portraits that hung on the walls. Her blue eyes were wide with amazement as she commented on each one she saw.

"Hey Charlotte," she said, "that one looks like you."

Charlotte shook her head and laughed as one of the many images caught her attention. "Yeah, and that one looks like you."

It was of a woman older than the girls, more their mother's age. Her long dark blonde hair ran across her shoulder and down her chest as it covered her bare flesh. Positioned in front, underneath her navel was a bright red rose bush. Strangely enough, the woman depicted did look a little bit like Clementine.

Charlotte walked across the landing and Clementine followed closely behind, as she dragged one of her many suitcases along the floor.

"So, which one's my room?" Clem asked.

"Mum and Dad are down there," Charlotte replied as she pointed in the opposite direction. "Bella's there, Bethany is down there and I'm in here." She reached forward and opened the door to her bedroom.

After living at Castle Stone for just over a week, Charlotte's bedroom finally felt like home, and as she stepped inside she felt warm and comforted as only the sense of home could give her. Clem looked around the room, and her eyes locked on the state of Charlotte's unmade bed. The duvet was twisted in different directions, and the bottom sheet had come away from the mattress, even the pillows were slipping away.

"OMG, Char, I can't believe your parents haven't made you clean your room. I mean look at the state of it, hun."

Charlotte's face flushed a shade of red as she looked at the state of her room. A pile of clothes lingered in the corner, trousers, tops and unwashed knickers. A bra hung from the top of the double four-poster bed. A mountain of books sat on the desk. Old towels looked as if they'd been glued to the floor and several dirty cups and plates were littered near the bed.

"Yeah, well," she reached up and using an old hockey stick, managed to hook the bra down from the bed, "I wasn't expecting visitors. Was I?"

Clem put her hold-all down on the floor, and cleared a space on the chaise lounge, placing the cups down on the floor below. She took a seat.

"Not even... err... What was his name again? You know. You met him at that Christmas do last year and you..."

"Clem! Shhh." Charlotte's voice dropped to a quieter tone, "you mean Chad. And no one can find out about that. I don't want my parents to find out that I kissed Emily's boyfriend. That's why she won't speak to me, and that's why she's gone abroad."

"Yeah, what exactly did happen? You never told me how she found out."

Charlotte sighed, it wasn't really something she felt like broadcasting, but Clem was as close to her as her sisters, closer than Emily, and as long as she kept her trap shut, there wasn't an issue.
"She walked in on us, didn't she? I've never seen her so upset. She said she'd rather go back to the states as soon as possible. That's why she went. That's why she blocked me."

"Yeah, I wonder what would have happened if she hadn't, though?" Clem laughed, "oh well, just leave mine alone."

"I can't snog someone who doesn't exist, Clem."

Clem stood up and grabbed the handle of her wheeled trolley, and then picked the hold-all
of Charlotte's bed. She paused for a moment and turned to look at her cousin, "come on then. Which is the next best room?"

Charlotte followed her cousin out of her bedroom and for the next few minutes, the girls opened every room on the landing. The bedrooms at Castle Stone were huge, and each one seemed slightly bigger than the next. Clementine always loved painting and having a room big enough to accommodate all her art equipment was something she needed. Clem opened a door and stepped into a large airy space. Its floor-to-ceiling windows looked out onto the forests at the front of the castle, and at the sweeping Scottish highlands.

"It could do with a lick of paint." Clem commented as she put her bags down on the floor, "and there's a bit of a musty smell." She walked across the room and opened the window wide enough so the cool fresh air entered and the curtains swayed in the wind.

"Now then," she said, "tell me something."

"Like what? I live in a castle, what else is there to tell?"

Clem took a seat on the bed. With no one has stayed in that room for a very long time, the bedding was missing. Thankfully, Clem's mum realised they might need some so had packed a new double duvet, cover, and pillows ready for her daughter's room.

"You know when I stayed with aunt Eliza for the summer holidays?"

Charlotte nodded and smiled. She'd heard no end of tales of Clem's mad old great aunt, Eliza Burton-Hewitt in the past, and each one seemed to be funnier than the last.
"What's she done now?"

Charlotte couldn't help but feel grateful that there was no way she and Eliza were biologically related, as it was her Aunt Anne who was her Dad's sister.

"Her place is haunted, like, properly haunted."
Clem began, "when I was there I saw this ghost. Henry, his name was. At first, I was frightened of him. I mean hello, real-life ghost alert. But then, after a while, he stopped being scary, and we, kinda, sorta, became friends."

Charlotte sat on one of the chairs in Clem's new room, listening to every word her cousin spoke. It wasn't true. It could be possible. Not only was Charlotte sitting with another person who was going through the same things, but this was her cousin and maybe Clem might be able to help her understand things.

Charlotte took a deep breath in, and then out, in and then out as she built up the courage, to be honest about her own experiences conversing with the dead. "Clem," she started, "I can see them too..."

"Wow. How come? I mean I was practically dead when I was born. Eliza said she brought me back to life and that's why I can see them."

"My transplant. Dad took us to see a school we might be going to and that's where my heart donor lost their life. Mum said when I was old enough she'd sit me down and tell me all about them."

The girls spoke for hours that day, laughing and joking and sharing stories of the spirits they'd met. It turned out that although Clem's gift started earlier, it was Charlotte who'd had the most encounters. Well, two.

There was a hell of a lot Charlotte felt she needed to know. Mum was busy interviewing staff and probably would be for a couple of days at least. So, the chances of her finding time to chat with her daughter about past events were very slim to non-existent. If only there were another way of finding some sort of information. She wanted to know one way or another how she came to have such unique abilities, and there was only one way to find out.

"How about you and I go on a ghost hunt tonight?" Clem suggested, "I don't know about you but I want to get to the bottom of why I can see and talk to the dead. Let's see how many we can spot. Are you coming?"

"Oh yeah. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Clem stood for a moment and headed towards a door inside her room. "Is this the loo?"

"Oh, yeah. Dad meant to tell you the toilet doesn't work. You'll have to use the main bathroom if you need the loo."

A loud blood-curdling shriek tore through the castle's ancient walls. The hairs on Charlotte's arms stood on ends, and a frozen shiver ran down her spine. The sound of her heartbeat slamming inside her body echoed in her ears.

"W-w-what the actual fuck, was that?" Clem gasped.

Charlotte headed towards the door and yanked it open. The sound of her loud heavy footsteps echoed through the castle. Her eyes darted into every corner as she struggled to find the source of the scream. There she heard it, the same again. Loud and strong enough to wake the dead. But this time she knew where it came from, and she ran towards the door that led down to what used to be the servants' back stairs.

Mum stood at the top of the stairs, her head facing forwards. No longer did her complexion contain her youthful healthy glow, but now appeared several shades paler. Her mouth was covered by her hands that shook with ferocious force. Charlotte reached forward and placed her hand on Mum's shoulder.

"No!" Mum screamed.

Dad pounded up the stairs, "Sally? Whatever's the matter?"

"Call an ambulance! For God's sake call an ambulance." Mum turned to face her husband and Charlotte, "it's Bethany."

"Mum?"

"She's dead."

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A/N

And that's it. The huge plot twist has been revealed. To Azcozy agroad daniavons I really hope you enjoy reading this chapter. There's far more drama to come from Charlotte and her family. I can announce that the ending has been written. It just needs editing.