"He must have caught you in the between-place, the place between earth and the Other Side. The place where he was," she said, wheeling back. "He pretended to be the welcomer, the one who guides you to the Other Side. That thing rushing at you at the end-that was probably the real welcomer. But this 'Angel'
got you out of the between-place before it could reach you."
Gillian spoke flatly. "He's not a real angel, is he?"
"No."
Gillian braced herself. "Is he a devil?"
"I don't think so." Melusine's voice was gentle. She opened the book, flipping pages. "From the way you
brought him back with you, I think he must be a spirit. There are two ways of getting spirits from the between-place: you can summon them or you can go fetch them yourself. You did it the hard way."
"Wait a minute. You're saying I brought him?"
"Well, not consciously. I'm sure you didn't mean to. It sounds like he just sort of grabbed on and whooshed down the tunnel-what we call the narrow path-right along with you. Spirits in the between-place can watch us, sometimes talk to us, but they can't really interact with us. When you
brought him to earth, you set him free to interact."
"Oh, wonderful," Gillian whispered. "So on top of everything, it's my fault from the beginning." She looked around dazedly, then back at Melusine. "But what is a spirit, really? A dead person?"
"An unhappy dead person." Melusine turned pages. " 'An earthbound spirit is a damaged soul...' " She shut the book. "Look, it's actually simple. When a spirit is really unhappy-when they've done something awful, or they've died with unfinished business-then they don't go on to the Other Side. They get stuck in-well, the book calls it 'the astral planes near earth.' We call it the between-place."
"Stuck."
"They won't go on. They're too angry and hopeless to even want to be healed. And they can do awful things to living people if they get down here, just out of general miserableness."
"But how do you get rid of them?"
Melusine drew a breath. "Well, that's the hard part. You can send them back to the between-place-if you have some blood and hair from their physical body. And if you have all sorts of special ingredients, which I can't get. And if you have the right spell, which I don't know."
"I see."
"And in any case, that only traps him in the between-place again. It doesn't heal him. But, Gillian, there's something I've got to tell you." Melusine's face was very serious, and she spoke almost formally. "You
may not need to rely on me."
"What do you mean?"
"Gillian ... I don't think you really understand who you are. Did he-this spirit-explain to you just how important the Harmans are?"
"He said Elspeth's sister was some big witch leader."
"The biggest. She's the Crone, the leader of all the witches. And the Harmans are-well, they're sort of like the royal family to us."
Gillian smiled bleakly. "So I'm a witch princess?"
"You told me that Elspeth is your mother's mother's mother. You're descended entirely through the female line from her. But that's-extraordinary. There are almost no Harman girls left. There were only two in the world-and now there's you. Don't you see, if you let the Night World know about this, they'll flock
to help you. They'll take care of Angel."
Gillian was unimpressed. "And how long will that take?"
"For them to gather and everything... check out your family, make all the preparations ... I don't know.
It could probably be done in a matter of weeks."
"Too long. Way too long. You don't know what Angel can do in a few weeks."
"Then you can try to do it yourself."
"But how?"
"Well, you'd have to find out who he was as a person and what business he left unfinished. Then you'd have to finish it. And finally, you'd have to convince him to go on. To be willing to leave the between-place for the Other Side." She glanced wryly at Gillian. "I told you it would be hard."
"And I don't think he'd be very cooperative. He wouldn't like it."
"No. He could hurt you, Gillian."
Gillian nodded. "It doesn't matter. It's what I've got to do."
Chapter 15
Melusine was watching her. "You're strong. I think you can do it, daughter of Hellewise."
"I'm not strong. I'm scared."
"I think it may be possible to be both," Melusine said wryly. "But, Gillian? If you do get through it, please come back. I want to talk to you about some things. About the Night World-and about something called Circle Daybreak."
The way she said it alarmed Gillian. "Is it important?"
"It could be very important to you, a witch with human ancestors and surrounded by humans."
"Okay. I'll come back-if." Gillian glanced once around the shop. Maybe there was some sort of talisman or something she should take...
But she knew she was just stalling. If there were anything helpful, Melusine would have already given it to her.
There was nothing left to do now but go.
"Good luck," Melusine said, and Gillian marched to the door. Not that she had any particular idea where she was going.
She was almost at the creaky front door of the Five and Ten when she heard Melusine calling.
"I forgot to mention one thing. Whoever your 'Angel' was, he was probably from this general area.
Earthbound spirits usually hang around the place they died. Although that's probably not much help."
Gillian stood still, blinking. "No ... no, it w helpful. It's great. It's given me an idea."
She turned and went through the door without really seeing it, stepped out into the square without really hearing the piped-in Christmas music.
At least I've got a place to go now, she thought.
She drove south, back toward Somerset, then took a winding road eastward into the hills. As she rounded a gentle curve she saw the cemetery spread out beneath her.
It was a very old graveyard, but still popular. Steeped in tradition, but with plenty of room. Grandpa Trevor was buried in the newer section, but there were ancient tombstones on the wooded hill.