The Haunted

  The Haunted

  A MacKinnon Curse novel,

  book two

  by

  J.A. Templeton

  Copyright 2012 @ Julia Templeton

  ISBN: 978-0-9837367-4-5

  Kindle edition

  This book is a work of fiction. Characters and events portrayed in this book are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

  Cover illustration by Kimberly Killion

  Photograph by Amanda Johansen

  ***

  Other books by J.A. Templeton

  The Deepest Cut (a MacKinnon Curse novel, book one)

  To Kip Brandon—

  For having the ambition and fortitude to go after your dreams. Son, I am so incredibly proud of you.

  Chapter 1

  “I will never leave you alone. Unless you forget about Ian MacKinnon. Forget about him, Riley, and I shall leave you and your family in peace. I will kill those you love if you continue.”

  Laria’s warning to me before I’d broken the curse that had bound Ian’s spirit to the world of the living rang over and over in my ears. I knew for a fact I had crossed Ian over. I had proof of that…especially since both my mom and Ian had visited me afterward. I had also seen Laria being led out of the castle dining room by a spirit, a man who I assumed was her father. So if I’d broken the curse, then why was she here, standing thirty feet away, staring at me like she wanted to kill me?

  “How about that ride?” Kade asked, and I glanced at him, forcing a smile.

  He reminded me so much of Ian with his shaggy dark hair and brilliant blue eyes. Everything about him, from his tall, athletic build to the grin and dimples, was spot on.

  I wish Ian were here now. Granted, I was glad we had broken the curse and he was able to move on, but I needed his help.

  Desperately.

  I walked with Kade toward the parking lot. I could see Laria in my peripheral vision, walking, or gliding in that inhuman and oh-so-creepy motion, right along with us.

  Kade cleared his throat. “I understand your brother is on the football team.”

  “Yeah, Shane’s really excited about it. He played back home.”

  “We’re happy to have him on the team.”

  I saw a flash beside me, and when I looked, Laria was gone. The question was—where had she gone? Apprehension and an almost overwhelming panic rushed through me.

  Kade reached into his pocket, pulled out his keys and hit the car alarm. The lights on a black Range Rover blinked twice. He opened the passenger door for me and I slid in, shut the door, and walked around the car to the driver’s side.

  My heart pounded hard against my chest as I scanned the parking lot, looking for any sign of Laria, the ghost who had terrorized me this summer. At least it was easy to pick her out in a crowd with her long, waist-length brown hair, green old-fashioned gown, and bare feet.

  Kade opened the driver’s side door and got in. “Ready?” he asked, dark brow arched, soft smile on his lips.

  Seeing that smile, I immediately relaxed.

  He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

  “Are you going to the glen later?”

  “Megan’s picking me up at four,” I said, finding it hard to keep focused when my mind was racing.

  “I’m glad to hear it.” There was that grin again, all deep dimples and straight white teeth. I couldn’t help but smile. I liked Kade…a lot. From what my friends said, he was a genuinely nice guy, and he was a total hottie, which didn’t hurt either.

  “Maybe we can hang out sometime,” he said, his top teeth brushing over his lower lip. My pulse skipped a beat. Ian used to do the exact same thing.

  “I’d like that.”

  “Sounds good.” The words hadn’t left my mouth when a cool breeze made the hair on my arms stand on end. My short-lived good mood plummeted as the inn came into view. My dad had moved us to the three story brick inn this summer. It had taken some time to get used to living in such a huge, centuries old building, especially since it was so different from the house in Portland, Oregon. I would always consider Portland my home, even though I had started warming to the small Scottish village of Braemar.

  Kade pulled into the driveway and stopped right before the front door. “I’ll see you at the glen in a little bit.”

  “I’ll see you there.” I reached for the door handle. “Thanks for the ride. It was really nice to meet you.”

  “It was nice to meet you, too, Riley.”

  I loved his accent and the way he said my name. Shutting the car door behind me, I waved and walked toward the inn, looking up at the thick-paned windows. Instantly a heaviness fell over me and I knew exactly what it meant.

  Laria was here…waiting for me inside. I felt her.

  I didn’t want to walk inside, but it’s not like I had a choice. I stepped inside.

  “Miss A, I’m home!” I yelled louder than necessary.

  Miss Akin, our housekeeper appeared in the hallway, wiping her hands on her apron. She was short and wide, always wore dresses and loafers, and I adored her. “How was your first day of school, my dear?”

  “Good,” I said, sliding my backpack off my shoulders.

  “I knew you’d do just fine,” she said, sounding pleased. “Are you hungry?”

  “I might have a snack in a little bit. Megan’s coming by at four to pick me up. We’re gonna hang out for a while.” I refrained from telling her about the glen, knowing she wouldn’t be thrilled to hear I was partying in the woods with my new friends.

  “I need to drop by and pick up the mail,” she said, untying her apron. “I’ll make you a snack when I get back.”

  A part of me wanted to ask her to stay until my friend Megan got here, but I didn’t want to worry her or let on that anything was wrong. “Thanks, Miss A.”

  I walked up the steps, my legs feeling as heavy as lead. Taking a right at the top of the stairs, I stared at the door to my room, nervous to go in. Who or what was waiting for me inside? My hand actually trembled as I turned the doorknob and stepped inside.

  I released the breath I’d been unconsciously holding.

  My room was completely trashed.

  Papers, books—basically everything that wasn’t nailed down was on my bedroom floor. The comforter had been ripped from my bed, and in the middle of my mattress sat a matchbox.

  A familiar matchbox that I knew with a certainty held my razor blades.

  The hair on my arms stood on end. No way. I had thrown that matchbox away when Ian was still here.

  Crossing the room, I snatched the matchbox off the bed, opened it up…and the blades spilled onto the mattress.

  Do it.

  The female voice rang in my ears, over and over, a chant that grew louder by the second.

  You know you want to.

  Laria was right. There was a part of me that craved the release of cutting, but I had promised myself, Shane and Ian that I wouldn’t.

  I dropped the matchbox and took a quick step back. Slapping my hands over my ears, I closed my eyes. I could control this. Despite the fact Ian was no longer here, I could control Laria and get rid of her once and for all.

  And I wouldn’t cut.

  With a trembling hand, I picked up the matchbox and placed the razor blades back inside. I fell into the chair where Ian would always sit when he visited me, closed my eyes and wondered what he would do if he were here now. When I saw him that time after h
e’d passed over, he had told me to think of him and he would come. I was thinking of him now…and yet I didn’t feel or sense him at all.

  I tried to clear my thoughts and focus, control my breathing—basically all the things I’d read in the psychic How To books Miss A and her friend, Anne Marie had given me, but it was no use. I couldn’t get the image of Laria standing in the schoolyard out of my head, no matter how hard I tried.

  Ian please…Mom please…I need you guys.

  It took a few minutes, but I started to feel a sense of comfort, which had to be my mom since I smelled vanilla, her favorite scent. I breathed in deep, savoring the smell, and the feeling of warmth and contentment that surrounded me.

  Mom, I don’t know what to do. Please help me.

  I immediately calmed, feeling the panic wane by the second.

  A strange sound alerted me that I wasn’t alone. I opened my eyes, hoping maybe I had a sign from Ian or my mom. Scanning the room, I looked for the source of the scratching, and it took me a few seconds to realize where the noise came from. My headboard, where someone had carved the word DIF.

  DIF?

  The F slowly became an E.

  DIE.

  Chapter 2

  I had just finished picking up the mess in my bedroom when Megan walked in without knocking. I bit back a scream.

  “Sorry. I knocked but no one answered. I could hear Miss A singing in the kitchen when I walked up the stairs though.” Megan’s lips quirked. “If you ask me, that woman is tone deaf.”

  I laughed under my breath and fluffed the pillow, making sure the word DIE on my headboard wasn’t visible.

  “You know, we should have a sleepover here some night. I’d like to stay. But I’m telling you now that we will not be going down in the basement.” She gave a shudder. “That place gives me the creeps.”

  The basement gave me the creeps, too, especially since Laria had attacked me there. I hadn’t been down there since, and I had no plans to venture down there anytime soon. “You can sleep over whenever you want. Maybe Cassandra could come, too.”

  “Really?” she asked, checking herself out in the mirror on the back of my bathroom door. Megan was tiny—just a little over five feet tall. She weighed roughly a hundred pounds, and had the largest boobs I’d ever seen on a girl her size. Her shoulder-length auburn hair was a mass of curls and she had pretty brown eyes. “I’m glad you’re warming to Cassandra. She’s actually really sweet when you get to know her. Maybe a little too opinionated, but you’ll get used to it.”

  I completely understood why Cassandra had an attitude with me when we’d first met. She liked Johan, and Johan had been interested in me when I first moved to Braemar. Emphasis on had. He’d been decent today at school, which was good. Since we ran in the same circles, it made sense to get along.

  “Speaking of Cass, let’s go,” Megan said. “We have to pick her up.”

  “I thought she couldn’t go out on school nights.”

  Megan’s lips quirked. “She can’t, but apparently she’s going for it.”

  I grabbed my jacket out of the closet and followed her down the stairs and out the door.

  Megan’s car was still running, and before I opened the car door, I took a good look in the backseat to make sure no one was hiding back there.

  What I wouldn’t give to tell Megan about Laria, to have a confidante who knew what I was going through. Now that Ian was gone, she was my closest friend.

  Or I could tell Miss Akin. After all, she was intuitive to a point…but I could see a certain fear in her eyes when I mentioned Laria before. Especially after the séance we’d had with Anne Marie—where Laria had scared the hell out of all of us. Miss A was the closest thing I had to a mom, and I didn’t want her leaving…for any reason. And a malevolent spirit haunting the place you lived and worked was a pretty good reason to leave.

  When Ian was still here, Anne Marie, a psychic herself, had seemed open to talking to me about Laria. Just yesterday Miss Akin had commented that Anne Marie wasn’t even answering her calls anymore. If things got really desperate then I could talk to Shane. I knew he’d been affected by Laria before. He’d been having those strange dreams and feeling like someone was holding him down when he slept. The dreams had subsided after Ian had passed over, but would they continue again now that Laria had returned? I wondered.

  Megan glanced at me. “So are you going to tell me about Kade?”

  “He gave me a ride home, which took like two minutes from school to the inn.”

  “Seriously, that’s all you have to say?” she asked, looking disappointed.

  Kade MacKinnon intrigued me, and not just because he was Ian’s descendant, but things he’d said made me believe he and Ian were the same person. That, and the physical similarities couldn’t exactly be ignored. I didn’t know a lot about reincarnation, but I was really curious if it was possible for a spirit to be earthbound and yet living at the same time. Maybe that’s a question I could ask Anne Marie.

  “Hey, text Cassandra real fast and tell her we’re right around the corner.”

  I did as asked and immediately received a text back from Cassandra that read. I’m headed toward the gates now. Park at the entrance!

  “She said to park at the entrance.”

  Megan turned onto a long, tree-lined road. I could make out an enormous grey stone manor house in the distance. Manicured lawns, fountains, and a large, wrought iron gate—it was incredible and looked more like a country club than someone’s home.

  “Wow, nice place,” I said, hoping to get a look at the inside one day soon.

  “Cass comes from old money. Her great-grandfather owned a shipping empire. This was just one of his many hunting lodges.”

  Hunting lodge, manor, house, whatever—the place was straight-up amazing.

  “I can hardly wait until her birthday, which is coming up next month, by the way. She can do the driving then. She’s been dropping hints to her dad about buying her a Beamer, but Cass said her step-mum has mentioned a few times how she’d like to get a Rolls Royce Phantom and retire her Mercedes.”

  “Poor Cassandra,” I said.

  Megan laughed. “I know. Would be nice, right?”

  “Definitely.” My dad had said when it came time for me and Shane to get cars, we’d have to buy our own…so I knew I wouldn’t be driving for a while. When I did get my own car, it would be like Megan’s—functional and economical.

  “Oh my God, look at her,” Megan said, nodding toward the gate, where Cassandra was squeezing through. She wore four-inch stilettos, skintight jeans and a black Lycra top with a plunging neckline. Her long platinum blonde hair was flatironed and her dark eye makeup was on the dramatic side.

  Megan pulled closer, and hadn’t even stopped before Cassandra opened the car door.

  “Jesus, Cass…you could wait until I came to a complete stop.”

  Cassandra dove into the backseat, and looked over her shoulder at the house beyond the iron gate. “Bitchzilla told me I couldn’t go. I snuck out the servants’ entrance, but I think she’s onto me.” She buckled her seatbelt. Just then her phone rang. She glanced at it and hit Ignore. “Shit.”

  Megan’s eyes widened. “Oh my God, she’s headed this way.”

  A bone thin woman with dark brown hair and a fake tan ran down the driveway, her fake boobs bouncing with each step. She couldn’t be a day over thirty, and she wore a hot pink velour sweatsuit that fit her like a second skin. “Cassandra!” she screamed.

  “Floor it!” Cassandra yelled, and Megan didn’t hesitate.

  ***

  The glen was jammed full of cars, and I had butterflies in my stomach when I noticed Kade’s Range Rover among them.

  “Milo’s not here yet,” Megan said, searching the parking lot for her boyfriend’s van. “Where the hell is he? He left before I did.” She reached for her cell.

  Cassandra rolled her eyes. “Um, he has his license now, so you’re going to have to let go a bit. Plus, he has peopl
e to pick up just like you.”

  Megan ignored her and dialed his number. I could hear the head-banging music that was Milo’s ringtone. She cussed under her breath when he didn’t pick up and dropped the phone in her purse with a heavy sigh.

  I grabbed my jacket, slid it on and followed behind Megan and Cassandra. Excitement rippled down my spine when I caught sight of Kade standing with Johan, Tom, and a group of girls I recognized from the schoolyard. The same girls who had been watching me talk to Kade earlier.

  “You want a beer, Riley?” Cassandra asked, heading for the keg resting on the tailgate of an old station wagon.

  I shook my head. “No thanks.”

  Cassandra lifted a brow. “Seriously?”

  “I have homework I have to get done when I get home.” It wasn’t a lie. I had five pages to read for History, but I also had no desire to drink, because the last thing I needed was to get shit-faced, especially with Laria hanging around.

  My gaze shifted across the clearing to where Joni was stepping out of a car with her older sister and a short, stocky guy with a shaved head who I had passed in the hallway earlier at school today.

  I still hadn’t seen Shane yet, and since he wasn’t with Joni, I had to assume he was with Milo.

  “There’s Kade,” Cassandra said, pointing toward the fire pit. “And big surprise—he’s with Dana and her crew.”

  I could hear the sarcasm in Cassandra’s voice.

  Dana, the beautiful redhead was in my first period class, nonexistent skirt showing off her long, flawless legs and kick-ass body. The guys in the class were checking her out pretty hard. She wasn’t as busty as Megan, but she came in a close second.

  Figures.

  Cait walked up to us and gave each of us a hug. Her jet black hair with chunks of platinum made her stand out in the crowd, and she wore a military looking charcoal shirt with pencil leg black pants and flats. “Took you guys long enough. I was beginning to think you might not show up.”