"Good morning, Katie." Archie was all smiles as she entered the kitchen. "Coffee is ready. Would you like some?"

"I'll get it, Archie." She grabbed a cup from the cabinet and started to pour. "You're busy."

"It's just breakfast." He motioned to the waffle iron. "That Blake, he loves his waffles."

"Yes. Yes, he does." Katie nodded. She sipped her coffee and watched as Archie washed and cored fresh strawberries at the sink.

He must have felt her eyes on him because he chuckled a little. "Something on your mind?"

"Actually," She put her cup down and leaned on the counter so she could see his profile. "I was thinking about something."

"I could tell." Archie continued to move with the speed that comes from many years of practice. "Something I can help you with?"

"No. Well, maybe." Katie hesitated. "When I first got here, you said this house had spirits..."

Archie's hands slowed. "I said that."

"I need to know..." Katie was unsure what it was she needed to know, but she felt Archie could help. "I've heard some things..."

Archie didn't answer. He just continued with his work. But she could tell he was listening very closely to her.

She lowered her voice instinctively. "You said you felt spirits moving around in this house."

His tone was serious, careful. "Yes ma'am."

"Have you..." She paused. This was going to sound crazy. "Have you ever had one speak to you directly?"

Archie turned to her slowly. He tried to keep his face neutral, but his eyes gave him away. She had frightened him. "Have you?"

She nodded slowly, unsure of how much she should tell him. "But I'm not like Miss Bonham. I'm not imagining things."

"I never said Miss Bonham imagined things." He said. "I said she wasn't emotionally equipped to handle the things she saw."

Katie lowered her voice even further. "Archie, have you ever seen them? Have you ever had one speak to you directly?"

He was fully engaged now. "Katie, have you been talking to ghosts?"

She stared at him silently for a full thirty seconds. Then she nodded slowly. "I think... yes."

Archie seemed to take a moment to collect his thoughts. Then he spoke softly, but very seriously, his tone concerned. "I don't know that it's such a good idea to be talking with the spirits in this house."

"Why not?" Katie thought back to the voice in the dark, calling her name. That spirit seemed to be warning her, helping her. "Am I in danger?"

Archie sighed. "I will tell you two true things. The first one is Walter doesn't believe in ghosts or the supernatural. And he doesn't want people who believe in such nonsense to influence his children."

"Yes. Of course." Katie nodded. "What's the other thing?"

"Ghosts lie." Archie frowned. He looked around, as if he feared Walter would walk in any moment and catch him telling tales. "When my grandson was four or five and he'd be over here to visit, a lady used to call to him at night—come outside and play with her. Couple of times, he set off the alarms trying to go out the door."

A shiver ran up her spine. Delia disabled the alarm, even in her sleep. "Where did it call to him? From the garden?"

"No, Katie. The staff rooms are on the other side of the house, overlooking the pond." His voice was low, fearful even now. "She called to him to come to the pond."

"Did you ever see anyone?" Her throat became suddenly dry and narrow and she had to clear it to speak. "Did anyone see her? What did she look like?"

"Not me. I told Walter about it. He said the house was too well insulated for a voice to carry from the outside." He tapped his temple lightly. "But this wasn't really coming from the outside, so much as it was coming from inside Elvin Jr.'s head. In his dreams."

Katie nodded. Like Delia.

"Like I said, Walter doesn't believe in the supernatural." Archie leaned in. "But Mrs. Barrington, Dierdre, she believed. She put a stop to it."

"How?" Katie leaned in, as well. Maybe they could do whatever Mrs. Barrington had done to protect Elvin Jr. "What did she do?"

He shook his head, drew himself up. His voice was firmer now, respectful. "I don't know. But whatever it was, that ghost lady never bothered my grandbaby again."

Katie nodded. She needed to find out what Dierdre had done. Would Ravensong Music know?

Archie raised his eyebrows. "Are you hearing the ghost lady calling to you?"

"I think maybe Delia is." Katie was sickened by the thought of it. "And I'm... hearing something else."

"Little Delia." Archie shook his head sadly. "And no Mrs. Barrington to help us."

"I'm not going to let anything happen to Delia." Katie straightened. "I'm not going to let anything happen to any of the children."

Archie searched her face a moment. Then he nodded. "I believe you, Katie."

**

"Bill!" Katie called out to him as he passed by in the hall. Delia and Blake looked up from their work curiously. She nodded at them and pointed to their studies to get them back on task.

Blake snickered and shot Delia a look.

"What is it, Katie?" Bill stepped into the library.

She stepped close and lowered her voice. She looked at him significantly. "How's it going?"

He shook his head. "I haven't done it yet, if that's what you mean."

She raised her eyebrows. He hadn't done it? What if Arabella called to Delia again tonight? They had to do whatever they could to make sure Arabella was stopped. If they couldn't figure out what Mrs. Barrington had done before, they would just have to try the method from the television show and hope that it worked.

"I can't do it in the broad daylight." He frowned and half shrugged, a frustrated gesture. "I doubt Walter would approve of me digging up his ancestor and destroying her bones."

"Sh." She glanced back at the children. That was not the kind of thing they needed to hear. Luckily, they both appeared to be working and not listening to the adults. "I know that."

"I need to find a time when no one is around." He glanced at the kids, too, and spoke softer.

"Okay." Katie nodded. The cemetery would be hidden by the lightly wooded area at the edge of the garden, but it would still be visible from the second floor of the house. Bill was right. If Walter caught Bill digging in the family graveyard, he would not hesitate to fire Bill on the spot. "Let me work on it."

"You okay?" Bill studied her face, genuinely concerned. He touched her elbow and glanced down at her hand, where she was gripping her pen so tightly, the plastic was bent.

"Yes. Fine." She relaxed her grip, a little embarrassed by her lack of composure. The feeling flooded back into her fingers. Her voice didn't sound confident at all, even to her. She gave him a helpless smile. "There's just a lot of stuff going on around here."

Bill laughed humorlessly. "Tell me about it."

"I think there are more forces at work here than we realize." She sighed deeply. "I think there are more ghosts in this house than just Arabella."

Bill frowned. He thought about it a few seconds, then nodded. "The one you're hearing at night?"

"Yes." She hesitated. "But also... this is kind of crazy... I think maybe my grandma is trying to tell me something."

"Why would your grandma have anything to do with this place?" If that surprised him, he didn't let on. He just seemed curious.

"I don't know." Katie sighed. "She was from Willow Grove, a long time ago. Maybe she's trying to tell me something."

"What is she trying to tell you?" Bill whispered.

"I don't know." Katie chewed her lower lip. "But Ravensong says my grandma was a witch."

Bill raised his eyebrows quickly, then lowered them just as fast. "I don't know that I would put very much stock in what that old hippie says."

"I can't ignore her advice, Bill." She shrugged. "She knew about my grandma. She knew a lot of things."

He scowled. "Did she know about Arabella? Or Davicus? Why didn't she say something?"

"I don't know." She shook her head and shrugged. "Maybe she doesn't know everything. Just some things."

Bill seemed to think about that for a moment. Then he nodded. "Just like us."

Just like them. Working with partial knowledge. They would just have to do their best and hope that it worked. Katie sighed. "I'll try and think of something to get everyone out of the house."