Lucy nodded that she understood, but Greg knew the look on his sister’s face and decided that he was glad the hospital was all the way across the country. If it was closer, they would have a problem on their hands.”

  The rest of the conversation was about what Lucy and the rest were up to while they were gone. There was that at least. Greg didn’t want to have to worry about what they were going to do next as far as the Empress and her Reapers. He just wanted to be home, see his dad, and then fall asleep in his own bed, hopefully with Emily beside him again.

  Man, he was tired.

  Once his plate was cleared, he shoved his chair back and took it to the sink where he rinsed it off and then placed it in the dishwasher. Emily appeared just as he was shutting the door of the dishwasher.

  “Hey.” He reached out his hand for her plate. She handed it over and he repeated the process that he had just finished with his own. “I’m going out to the cemetery to see if my dad is around. Would you like to come with?”

  She shook her head and he could tell she was ready to decline. “It will be fine. I’d like you to come with me.”

  “I couldn’t see him last time. It was weird. I could feel his presence, and see some shimmers, but I couldn’t actually see him.”

  The last thing he wanted was for her to feel uncomfortable. “Okay, I get that. Why don’t you meet me out there in ten minutes and take a walk with me.”

  “I can do that,” she told him. “I’m sorry … I.”

  “No, don’t be sorry. I totally understand. You don’t have to explain, okay.”

  “Thank you. I’m going to go grab a sweater since it’s getting chilly out there.”

  Even the very short time that they were in Florida, the temperature difference was insane. Especially at night when the sun went down. It wasn’t cold in Summer Hollow, but compared to Florida, it definitely felt like it.

  Emily disappeared up to his room where she had, again, placed her suitcase. He slipped out the side door from the kitchen and hurried across the lawn over to the cemetery. The souls were out and about, their shimmering clouds glowing blue in the growing darkness.

  He hurried up the trail, head moving from side to side as he searched for his father. “Dad,” he called out. “We’re back.”

  It wasn’t long before one of the glittering orbs pulsed, it’s light growing brighter as it began to pull together into the shape of his father.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  “Thank goodness, you are all home safe again.”

  “Did one of the others tell you we were on our way?”

  Greg Sr. nodded. “Yes, Lucy and Steph came to tell me as soon as they knew you had left Florida.”

  “It wasn’t pretty … what happened there. And the Empress is still alive, which means we will eventually have to deal with her again.”

  “Yes. But, of course, that is to be expected.”

  Greg narrowed his eyes, not understanding what his father meant by that. Apparently, seeing his confusion, Greg Sr. elaborated. “The prophecy says that the Chosen One will bring forth an end to the warring between the Keepers and the Reapers. If that is truly Lucy and Jack’s child, then simply killing the Empress will not resolve it. You would still have to fight, even if it wasn’t with her. There would be more threats in store for us in the future.”

  “Ah. I see.” Greg nodded and shifted his weight. “It would sure make our lives a little better right now not to have to worry about what she has planned next, though.”

  His father laughed. “Oh, I’m not saying otherwise. I have never wished death on anyone, but her attacks on you kids … my kids … one way or another she has to be eliminated.”

  “Sometimes I hate what we have become.”

  Again, Greg Sr. nodded his understanding, but didn’t say anything. He appeared to be contemplating a response.

  “I don’t want to be a killer. I’m a good person, I save souls for crying out loud.”

  “You are a protector,” his father said. “You have only killed in defense of your family.”

  “Until we went to seek out Jack’s mother and murder her.”

  “In defense of your family.”

  “I am struggling with this, Dad. Is it terrible that I am almost happy that we failed the mission? I didn’t want that kind of thing looming over me for the rest of my life. And people did die in that blast. We inadvertently killed people who were inside the mansion.”

  “I can’t take away the guilt just because I understand it. All I can tell you is you have to live with it now and not to let it eat you from the inside out. Learn from the lessons, but always understand that you were protecting your family and so many of the souls that those Reapers would have fed on. That is your birthright, son, to protect the souls.”

  His father was right. He was given this gift through his bloodline, but he was also chosen to be a champion for those who could not protect themselves. And his family, he couldn’t let anyone harm them. “I’ll try,” he promised his father. “This is just a tough one for me.”

  His father smiled. “Well, sometimes good comes out of bad things. Right?”

  Greg almost asked what the heck his father was talking about when he realized that he was looking past him. He turned and saw that Emily, wearing jeans and wrapped up in an oversized hoodie, was heading up the path toward him. Twisting toward his dad again, he grinned. “Yes, in this case there is definitely something good.”

  “Well, son. I am going to head out now so that you and the Seer can have some privacy. Love you, kid. I’m beyond happy that all of you are home safely.”

  “No, Dad, it’s okay…” Before he could finish his sentence, his father had already let go of whatever force kept him in solid form and the glowing blue molecules scattered in a glittering burst.

  “Hey,” Emily’s voice came from behind him. “Is he still here?”

  Greg shook his head, turning to face her. “No, he just disappeared.”

  “I bet he’s happy to see that you’re back.”

  “Yeah, definitely. It really tears him up that he’s stuck in this graveyard. He would be ghosting along with us everywhere if he wasn’t.”

  “I don’t blame him. I would, too.”

  Emily stared up at him, her eyes huge and dark, shining in the lamp light. Her long dark curls fell over one shoulder and spilled down her back. He reached out and took a lock between his fingers. “So, are you going to stay with us for a while?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He appreciated honesty, but that wasn’t the answer that he wanted to hear. He released the lock of her hair and let it fall, then let his thumb brush over her jawline. “I’d love it if you stayed with us through Christmas.”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh, I don’t think that’s a…”

  “You would not be imposing. You are invited.”

  She was silent and he sensed that she wanted to say yes, that she wanted to be with him and the rest of his family, but that her manners were telling her it would be rude. “Don’t make me tell the girls that I invited you to stay and you won’t give me an answer.”

  She gasped in mock horror. “You wouldn’t!”

  “Oh, I would. And my sisters are relentless when they want to get their way. So, you probably better just agree to stay.”

  She grinned. “I’ll think about it. How is that?”

  “I’ll take it.” He moved closer, so that their bodies were nearly touching, and gently pushed her jaw upward so that her head tilted at the perfect angle for him to lower his lips to hers. It was a soft brush of a kiss but, nevertheless, little tingles erupted all over him. “Unless of course you really don’t want to stay, I don’t want you to say you will if you don’t really want to.”

  “Well…” She reached up and wound her arms around his neck. “How are we supposed to try this dating thing if I’m not even around?”

  He nodded. “That is a good point.”

  She threw her head back and laughed, then stood up on her toes and kissed him again. Greg tightened his grip around her waist and let all the heat that had been building within him release as they kissed more passionately than they had ever kissed before.

  The souls swirled around them in a dance of glowing blue and shimmering orbs. Greg, sighed against Emily’s lips and murmured, “You make me happy. With all the darkness we face, you bring light and make me feel happy. I hope you stay.”

  Emily locked gazes with him. “I’ll stay. Because you make me happier than I’ve ever felt before. I don’t want to lose that.”

  “Neither do I,” Greg whispered. “Neither do I.”

  THE END

  Please Read on for an excerpt from, Summer Hollow (A Graveyard Guardians Prequel)

  EXCERPT FROM SUMMER HOLLOW

  (A Graveyard Guardians Prequel)

  This is from the perspective of Gregory Estmond Sr.

  (The Estmond siblings’ father)

  CHAPTER ONE

  GREG

  The souls were mingled among the mourners. Some were fully solidified, and the rest were clouds of blue mist that shimmered beautifully, even if the day was cloudy and gray. It hadn’t rained yet, but Greg knew a storm was coming. The sky overhead was dark and ominous, threatening to open up and unleash a torrent of rain at any moment.

  This was a sad and emotional day for many. The entire community of Summer Hollow had gathered together, along with the Keepers from all over the state, to mourn the death of his parents.

  He was seventeen years old and burying his parents. It just wasn’t right. He had never before felt a sorrow so deep as he had since the night the sheriff pulled into the driveway and told him they were gone.

  But, along with the heartache, there was something else. A feeling that wouldn’t go away. A feeling that only grew with each passing moment. He was angry, really angry, and every ounce of that anger was being used to fuel his thoughts of revenge.

  Those who knew his parents and were not part of the Keeper world all thought his parents had been shot in a gas station robbery gone wrong. They were told that it was one of those wrong place wrong time things. That was the story the press was reporting. It was the cover up they were instructed to tell.

  Everyone else knew what really happened that night.

  They were murdered by Reapers.

  It wasn’t uncommon for Keepers to lose their lives at the hands of a Reaper, but it was a rare occurrence in his town. Summer Hollow was extremely small. A place where everyone knows everyone. In fact, the town was so small that Reapers rarely even visited their graveyard.

  Larger cities had more than one Keeper family to patrol the many cemeteries. This was a necessity since the more populated areas had more traffic. But, Summer Hollow, it didn’t have a high population and it was barely on the map, so those Reapers, they had to have been just passing through and come across his parents by chance.

  His mother and father had always fought the Reapers just to keep them away from the souls. They rarely killed, and if they did it was in pure self-defense, not because they were out for Reaper blood.

  And likewise, the Reapers they had come across in their graveyard were rarely life threatening. Both factions knew that killing was a last resort. It was an unspoken rule. The task was hard to clean up, hard to cover up, and left you guilt ridden for the rest of your life.

  Well, Greg didn’t actually know that it would leave one guilt ridden, he had simply always felt that he could never kill. But once he found out his parents had been murdered, all of that reluctance faded away and was replaced with a smoldering rage that only grew with each passing day.

  Furthermore, his parents were gone, and they had to make the world think it was something different than it was. How was he supposed to do that? How could he look his friends and fellow townspeople in the eyes as they told him how sorry they were for his loss, when they didn’t know the truth?

  There were many times in his life he disliked being a Keeper, but this was by far the worst of those times.

  He was alone. He had no family to stand beside him as both of his parents were lowered into earth. He was only alone in that sense, though. In reality, he was surrounded by those who had loved his mother and father.

  The large group of mourners, dressed in black and holding open umbrellas in preparation for the inevitable rain that would come, formed a large circle around the dual plots. The pastor stood at the head of the open graves, speaking in a loud voice that carried over the cemetery for all to hear. He spoke of what great people his parents were and what a value they were to this small community, and everything he said was the truth.

  Greg stood to the right of the pastor, head down, staring at the earth beneath his feet instead of the flower covered caskets waiting to be lowered into the ground. Looking at them just made it more real, and he didn’t want it to be true. He had already had a couple of days to let the fact that they were gone sink in, but that didn’t take away the pain … the constant ache to have them back.

  “And now, we will hear from some of Lucas and Josephine’s closest friends.” The pastor folded his Bible shut and stepped to the side as Avery Davis strode up and replaced him. Avery, or Coach Davis, as he called the man, was the high school football coach and a whip cracker who didn’t take any crap. He was basically his dad’s best friend, which meant that Greg had been forced to play football since ninth grade.

  Coach Davis didn’t know his family secret. It was uncommon for anyone who wasn’t in the Keeper community to know what they were. The best way to keep it a secret was just not to talk about it. But, not knowing that huge part of his father’s life didn’t keep the two men from being close.

  He forced himself to lift his eyes so that he could watch Coach Davis talk about his parents.

  “Lucas and Josephine Estmond, who were they to you?” Coach Davis began. “Friends, family, valued members of the community? They were all of those, but to me, Lucas was a childhood friend that I grew up with. There wasn’t a thing in our lives that we didn’t know about each other.”

  Greg held back a snicker at that last part and caught a few of the Keepers doing the same thing.

  “He was a great man who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He was always this way, even when we were kids. After we graduated high school, Lucas decided that he was going to move across the state, and he did. It wasn’t but a year when he returned home with a beautiful, dark-haired woman who was a mystery to everyone in town.

  “Aside from Greg,” Coach Davis’s eyes pointedly met his. “Josephine was the best thing to ever happen to Lucas. She was a breath of fresh air in this stuffy town. She was a carefree soul who could find something beautiful in everything. Josephine became a kindergarten teacher and, in turn, taught all the children of this town to do the same thing.”

  He paused, inhaling deeply, and then shoved his hand into his pocket. He brought up a rumpled piece of paper and smoothed it out. “Sorry, I’ve got to get my notes. Lucas lived right here in this house, like his father before him, running the very cemetery that he and his wife are being buried in. That wasn’t all he did though, he and Josephine both volunteered at the school, helping guide our children into better citizens. They contributed to community events, they delivered basic necessities and produce to the local food banks to help those in need.”

  Coach Davis’s voice caught a little as he spoke his next words. “I just can’t say enough good things about these two amazing people who left this Earth far too soon. There will never be anyone who can take their place in my heart. I know many of you feel the same way, for they meant something to everyone here. We can’t bring them back, but we can celebrate their lives by bringing the values they lived by into our own lives. They are a part of the history of Summer Hollow and we, the citizens of this town, must do what we can to keep their memory alive.”

  Coach Davis folded his paper, shoved it back into his pocket and then made his way back to where his wife and son stood waiting for him.

  Several people spoke next, but it all became a blur to him. He knew these people loved and cared about his parents, but nothing they said would make the pain go away. Nothing they could do would fill the huge, empty hole that had carved its way through his heart.

  A rumble of thunder echoed throughout the graveyard and the clouds finally spilled forth the rain that had been building within them all afternoon. Large, fat drops fell from the sky as if heaven itself was weeping at the loss of these two souls.

  Someone beside him offered him an umbrella and he numbly accepted. His suit was already soaked and his hair was plastered down against his face. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t brought an umbrella to begin with, he just wasn’t thinking about that.

  Lacey Matthews, whom he knew from school, stepped up beside the pastor. She clutched an umbrella tightly in both hands to keep her dry. Her blonde hair lay loosely over her shoulders, falling down to cover the top of her modest black dress. She cleared her throat a bit nervously and then parted her lips to sing as the shiny wooden caskets began their descent into the earth.

  Greg smiled as Lacey’s voice, powerful and strong, soared over wind and rain. She sang, Blowin’ In The Wind, by Bob Dylan. It was his mother’s favorite song. As the lyrics floated on the breeze, he thought of how many times he had come into the kitchen to find his mom singing that song while making dinner or tidying up.

  Each second that passed, his parents were lowered further down. The ache in his heart throbbed like an infected wound, eating away at the flesh and poisoning his blood. The pain and the anger were one and the same. Greg couldn’t tell the difference anymore.

  The mourners lined up, gripping their white roses close to them so the delicate petals wouldn’t be ruined by the heavy rain. Greg waited, he would be the last to let his rose drop down into the graves. He would be last to say goodbye, the last to wish his parents peaceful passage.

  When his turn finally came, he leaned down over his father first. Holding the rose out, he let it fall. It fell heavily with the rain, landing on top of the pile of blooms that already covered the top of his casket. Then, he turned to his mother’s plot and repeated the process.

 

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