After what seemed like an eternity, Isolde said, “Harold, I’m getting old here. What have we got?”

There was a sharp knocking and the whole table except for Isolde jerked back.

“Oh, my God! It’s the spirits!” Kelly said.

“It’s your front door,” Isolde said, her voice flat. “This keeps up, Harold’s going out for a cigarette and not coming back.”

“I’ll get it,” Andie said, and got up.

When she opened the door, she saw a tall blond man in the darkness holding out his arms to her, and her heart did a little surge for a split second until she realized it was Will.

“What are you doing here?” she said, annoyed.

“Andie, this is no way to end things,” Will said, coming in, still trying to hug her. “I tried to call you back, and your phone is out-”

“Look, I told you not to come,” Andie said, ducking his embrace as she closed the door behind him. “I’m busy.”

“North’s here, isn’t he?”

“No. We’re having a séance. You can come in, but you have to be quiet.”

“A séance? What the-”

“I don’t have time to explain this right now. Come in and don’t talk, or go home.” She went down the hall and heard him following her.

“So who’s this?” Isolde said as they came in and Andie dragged the extra chair back to the table.

“This is Will Spenser,” Andie said. “He’s not invited but he’ll be quiet.”

Will shot her a sharp look, but he pulled the extra chair over and sat down.

“Will Spenser?” Kelly said, flashing her teeth at him. “The writer? We must talk.”

Will looked at her politely until Andie said, “This is Kelly O’Keefe from Channel Twelve,” and then he smiled back. Good PR, Andie thought and ignored both of them.

“Another unbeliever,” Isolde said, looking at Will. “You’re killing me here.” She tilted her head at him. “Okay, look, Sparky, you gotta lose that anger or you’re out of here. Ghosts’ll grab on to that emotion like it was a porterhouse with a side of cheese fries. We want to talk to them, not feed them.”

“I’m not angry,” Will said.

“Right.” Isolde turned back to the table. “Okay. Hold hands.”

Will glared again as Dennis and Isolde took his hands, but that was his problem. Andie concentrated on Isolde and the breathing. After a shorter time, Isolde nodded.

“Okay. They’re here. Two of them.”

“I thought there might be three,” Andie said. “Two women and a man?”

“Harold says two,” Isolde said. “You want to argue?”

“No.” Andie looked around, but she couldn’t see anything. “Can he ask them to leave?”

“We just got them here,” Isolde said.

“No, I want them out of the house,” Andie said, and Will said, “What the hell, you believe this stuff?”

“Nice job, asshole,” Isolde said to him. “Harold lost one of them.” She closed her eyes again. “Harold, what’s going on?”

There was a loud knock, and Kelly said, “What does that mean?”

“It means there’s somebody else at your fucking door,” Isolde said.

“I’ll get it,” Andie said, pushing back her chair.

She made the trek down the hall and opened the door and saw her mother, looking damp and frazzled.

“Baby!” Flo said, coming in. “What’s going on? The cards are going crazy and I can’t get you on the phone!” She pulled off her Ohio State bomber jacket, shook the rain off it, and handed it to Andie. “And then I almost died on that driveway. Plus the storm is terrible. This is just so bad.”

“We’re having a séance,” Andie said, giving up.

“A séance!” Flo picked up speed down the hall and turned into the archway, following the candlelight. “Oh, wonderful.”

“This is my mother, Flo Miller,” Andie said as they reached the table. “Flo, this is Isolde Hammersmith.”

“Oh, it’s a pleasure,” Flo said, sticking out her hand. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Hello, Flo,” Will said, getting up, but Flo frowned at him and said, “What are you doing here?” before she went back to smiling at Isolde.

Isolde held on to Flo’s hand for a minute. “You can stay.” She nodded at Will. “He has to go.”

“Wait a minute,” Will said, but Andie said, “Come on, Will, you can meet Carter and Alice,” and he followed her out of the Great Hall and down the corridor to the library.

“Have you lost your mind?” he said. “You can’t believe in this, this is crazy.”

Andie gritted her teeth and kept walking. “I told you not to come and you barged in here anyway, and now you’re calling me crazy without even getting my side of the story?”

Will looked taken aback. “I’m just saying… ghosts? That woman is a charlatan.”

“Kelly? Yeah, I know.”

“No, the medium. Kelly O’Keefe is a professional.”

“Oh, good,” Andie said as they reached the library. “You can bond with her later. For now, meet the kids. Don’t upset them.” She opened the library door and shoved him in.

Then she went back to the Great Hall. He could sink or swim with Alice and Carter. That’s what he deserved for not listening to her.

“This one’s a good one,” Isolde told Andie, jerking her head at Flo as she sat down. “We can work now.”

“Great,” Andie said, and took Dennis’s hand as Southie took her other one.

“So let’s breathe,” Isolde said, and they did another couple minutes of hyperventilating until she said, “Harold says they’re here. Three of them. He says one of them is hot.”

“So they’re real?” Flo said. “How exciting!”

“There are ghosts here?” Kelly said, her voice too bright to be honest. “You really believe there are ghosts here?”

“There are no such things as ghosts,” Dennis intoned, sounding at the limit of his patience.

“Tell them to go,” Andie said to Isolde.

“Have some respect, they just got here,” Isolde said to Andie.

“They’re squatters. Tell them to get the hell out.”

Isolde shook her head. “They’ve been here longer than you have.”

“How long would that be?” Kelly said to Andie. “You know, generally speaking.”

“I don’t care how long they’ve been here,” Andie said. “It’s time to move on. Tell them to go toward the light.”

“They’re tied here,” Isolde said, her voice serious now. “Harold says the man feels… injustice.” She listened for a minute. “This is his house. To him, you’re squatters.”

“I’ll get the paperwork and show him,” Andie said, looking around for a supernatural squatter. Nothing. Damn.

Isolde listened again. “No. You don’t own the house.”

“No, I don’t,” Andie said. “But-”

“Then he doesn’t care about you,” Isolde said, and Andie started to say something and then stopped because Isolde was listening again. “Oh. Oh, boy.”

“Now what?” Andie said.

“There’s a woman. She’s looking for her baby.”

“Baby?” Kelly said, leaning forward. “There’s a baby?”

“There’s no baby,” Andie snapped at her.

“She lost it a long time ago.” Isolde was deathly serious now, all the sneer gone from her face. “There’s a child here.”

“Alice and Carter.”

“She wants Alice,” Isolde said, her face grim. “She thinks Alice is the baby she lost. She’ll never give up Alice.”

“Oh, no,” Flo said, horrified.

“Fascinating,” Kelly said, avid.

“It’s all right,” Dennis said, bored now. “None of this is real.”

“The hell she won’t give up Alice.” Andie looked around the room. “Okay, wherever you are, you cannot have Alice. Alice is mine.”

Something moved behind Isolde in the darkness.

“Don’t do that,” Isolde said sharply, and then the knocking started again. “Damn it.”

“She can’t have Alice,” Andie told Isolde. “Tell her to get the hell away from my kids.”

“Get the door,” Isolde told her quietly. “And get control of yourself. This is very bad.”

Kelly leaned forward again. “So the ghosts want the children?”