Woman Bewitched chapter 3

                                                                CHAPTER THREE





Autumn cleared her throat wondering if she was supposed to say something. This had to be a first. No man that she knew of ever broke into rhyme while discussing jewelry before. She looked from the necklace on the table to him uncertainly.

Sloan saw the look on her face and couldn’t stop the chuckle that slipped out. Something that was beginning to be a habit around her. She was priceless. He wondered if he should explain that it was a promise not to put her under any spells but laughed and decided she could figure it out for herself.

“You’re supposed to wear it.” He told her, choking back another laugh as she glowered at him.

“I gathered that much.” She picked it up again, smiling when she started whirling in a circle, utterly charmed. Her eyes were warm when she glanced up at him and fastened it around her slim neck. “Thank you, I love her.” 

“My pleasure. Ok, back to business. Part two of my deal is that you have to stay here while writing the article.” His expression was back to it’s inscrutable mask as he waited her reaction.

“No.” She said simply. 

“Yes.”

“Why?” She fired back instantly.

“Because I want to be on hand if you have any questions. I don’t have a phone remember?”

“So send me a psychic message or something. Isn’t that part of what you do?” Autumn raised a cool brow but poised to get whatever words that came out of his beautiful mouth.

“I can but it would be easier to have you here.” Sloan bristled a bit at the sarcasm but let it pass.

“You mean so you can read over my shoulder while I’m writing.”

“So you’re a mind reader now huh?”

“It doesn’t take psychic ability to see that you think you need to control this.” She snorted. “My guess is that you’re feeling a bit defensive.”

“And what would I have to be defensive about?” Sloan tilted his consideringly. He crossed his arms over his still naked chest and waited.

Autumn gulped. Her brain wiped out for a second before righting itself. He really needed to put on a shirt or she wasn’t going to be able to put two coherent thoughts together let alone put together a whole interview. A small grin crept across her face as she considered what Dana would say if she told her that she couldn’t finish the interview because the subject kept flashing his chest at her. Autumn stifled a sigh and leveled her wandering eyes on his amused ones. Not that that was a whole hell of a lot better.

“Even if your name won’t be included, the article is still about you and your personal life, thoughts and…activities. I think you’d be awfully concerned about what I was writing.” She stared at him narrowly. “While you’re not all that interested in all your businesses, I bet that you guard your personal life real close.”

“My businesses?” Sloan narrowed his eyes right back at her. “What did you do have me investigated?”

“Me? Lord no!” Autumn grinned sassily and waited a beat. “Dana did.”

“Oh, well that makes me feel better.” He rolled his eyes. “All right. You got me there. I do want to be on hand to check out how it’s coming but it’s not like I’ll be bothering you every five minutes. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Well, there’s another problem besides that.” Autumn smiled a bit triumphantly and tapped her bag. She didn’t want to sleep in the same house as him. “You don’t have any electricity. I can’t work without it.”   

“I have a generator.” Sloan grinned. He knew exactly what she was doing. The more determined she was to leave the more he was to have her stay.

“Oh.” She frowned. She probably should have figured on that one. After all who could live on an island without ever having electricity. “What if I need something from the mainland?”

“Relax. I have a boat I can use if it’s necessary.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “See, you have nothing to worry about.”

“I’ll have to go back and get my clothes.” Autumn told him a bit desperately.

“I’ll take care of it.” He winked at her, them looked towards the door.

“But…”

“Hello.” A petite, dark-haired woman danced through the door carrying a small bundle in her arms. “I didn’t interrupt anything did I?”

“Only what you meant to.” Sloan smiled at her fondly. He rose from the chair stretching his arms over his head as he did. Then rolled his head to work out the kinks in his neck. “Autumn, this is my sister Breena.”

“Nice to finally meet you.” Autumn replied as soon as she could get her tongue unstuck from the roof of her mouth. Man, he’s hot!

“You too.” Breena replied with an amused grin. Her eyes shifted from her brother to his guest, who looked a tad overheated. “Showing off your muscles again, big brother?”

“Huh? Oh, my shirt was dirty.” Sloan shrugged. “After we got talking I forgot about it. I’ll be right back.”

Autumn watched as he jogged out of the room to the back of the house. A small sigh whistled through her lips. She shook her head glanced at Breena with a wry smile. The other woman’s smile just widened.

“So, how come he’s not modeling or something?”

“You’ll have to ask him.” Breena laughed. She turned towards the counter and started unloading the stuff she brought with her. All the items were laid out and separated either by bag or by jars.

“What’s that?” Autumn leaned against the counter and stared at the various dried weeds, colored oils and candles.

“These are herbs, special oils and of course, candles. They can be used to help with certain spells.” Breena laid the herbs aside gently. She looked at Autumn and grinned. “Nope, no wings of bat or dragon’s teeth.”

“Sorry.” Autumn flushed and looked momentarily confused. She hadn’t realized she had spoken out loud. “It’s just that, well, it’s quite a bit to swallow you know.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Breena replied kindly.

“So are you witch too…I mean do you cast spells and stuff?” Autumn picked up a small bottle and sniffed it cautiously.

“I can if I wish but it’s a little different for me than it is for Sloan.” She paused and glanced at the bottle in Autumn’s hand. “That’s essence of lavender. It can help in love, happiness, peace, purification or protection.”

“Protection from what exactly?”

“Well, it depends on what you need protection from. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no, nothing. I was just curious.” A bit flustered and off-balance, Autumn set it back down and picked up her ever-handy notebook. “How is it different?”

“My gift is physic ability but I can also cast spells. I just have to work at it a bit more. It’s like your gift with writing. You can still do other things but you’re just really good at writing. You see what I mean?”

“Yeah, I get it. So, that would mean Sloan can tiptoe through my head if he chose to.”

“He could but it would be awfully rude of him to do without permission.”  Breena paused and looked at her. “Has he?”

“How could I tell?” Autumn looked at her intently.

“Well, most wouldn’t be able to tell but if you’re a particularly sensitive person you could feel him. You probably feel a bit uncomfortable, self-conscious.”

“Well, hell. That doesn’t help much.” Autumn laughed. “I’ve felt that way since I met him.”

“If you want to try it I can show you. I won’t poke into anything private, just think of something you would normally tell me.” Breena suggested.

“Ok. Just out of curiosity. How do you do it?”

“It’s called linking. I can pick up on mental thoughts, emotions, pictures, things like that.” Breena reached out and touched her hand.

Her eyes darkened and fixed on something that Autumn couldn’t see. Autumn blinked and could’ve sworn that some kind of light swirled through her dark blue eyes. Her hand started to tingle like it had fallen asleep and was starting to wake up. Autumn started as she felt a small pressure in her head, like just before you get a headache but there was no pain. She jerked her hand away and stared at Breena wide-eyed and then at her hand.

“Wow!” She swallowed, then looked back at her. “I could tell you were in there.”

“Like I said some people can, others can’t. You might want to try and develop it.” Breena smiled at her shocked expression.

“So what did you see?” She was almost afraid to ask. She felt like she took a detour into the twilight zone.

“Well, since I wasn’t probing for anything in particular I saw exactly what you wanted me to see. You were thinking about your parents. They’re somewhere in Europe, probably England. I saw the house you used to live in. Nice digs by the way.”

“Uh, thank you. They’re in London. My parents. I mean.” Autumn shook her head as if to clear it.

“Showing off Breena?” Sloan called from the doorway.

“Not quite dear brother. I was showing Autumn how to tell if you were poking into her brain.” She smirked. “Even though you’re not very good at it, I thought she should know just in case you get nosy.”

Sloan straightened away from the door jam and scowled at his sister. He sauntered towards the counter. He changed into a fresh tee-shirt and jeans after taking a quick shower. His hair was slicked back into loose waves that brushed the collar of his shirt.         

“I’m never nosy.” He protested, then arched his eyebrow. “Well, almost never. How are your spells coming by the way? Still having problems.”

“Very cute.” Breena scowled back at him.

“Sibling rivalry?” Autumn’s gaze bounced from one to the other until she felt like she was in the middle of a Ping-Pong match.

“Just a bit.” Sloan grinned. “Poor Breena has always been rather jealous of my ability to turn a spell while she has problems with the simplest of charms.”

“Tit for tat.” Breena made a face at him. She turned to Autumn. “When you get tired of his ego feel free to come on over. I’ll tell you all about how much trouble he was before he learned to control himself.”

“You got yourself a deal.” Autumn flashed a teasing smile at Sloan. “I’m sure I wouldn’t want to miss that.”

“Don’t forget, my house, this Friday Sloan.” Breena told him. “We having a small gathering, family mostly. You’re more than welcome to come with.”

“Oh, well if it’s a family thing, I wouldn’t want to intrude.” She protested even though she was dying to meet the rest of the clan. She just had to.

“Nonsense. Bring her with.” Breena commanded and pulled the door open. A gleam lit her eyes. “I’ll tell everyone you’re bringing a date.”

“Oh, but…” Autumn never got a chance to finish the sentence. Breena was gone before the words could stumble out of her mouth. She frowned at Sloan. “It wouldn’t be a date.”

“Of course not.” He replied smoothly. “Just out of curiosity…why are you so opposed to the idea?”

“Well…I…because.” Her hands fluttered betraying agitation, which she was sure he didn’t miss. She sat back down at the table and folded them firmly together.

“Because why?” He leaned against the counter, watching her with interest. Unless he was mistaken she was feeling a bit defensive about her answer.

“Don’t take this the wrong way but you’re not my type.” Autumn bit her lip and considered her words. The last thing she wanted to do was offend her subject.

“Because I’m a witch? Or is it something else?” His eyes snagged on her lips as he watched her suck the lower one in. That little flare of attraction he’d felt earlier was back and strong enough to make him a bit uncomfortable.

“No, it’s not because you think you’re a witch.” Her shoulders twitched into a semblance of a shrug. “Can we get back to the interview now?”

“No.” He let the ‘witch’ comment pass without a word. “Come on, tell me. What makes you think we wouldn’t be good together?”

“Do we really have to get into this? It doesn’t have anything do with the interview.” Autumn shifted in her chair and wiped an imaginary crumb from the table. She didn’t look at him even though she could feel him staring holes through her.

“If you remember correctly, we made a deal. I can ask you questions in exchange for your questions.” Sloan pushed off from the counter and walked behind her chair.

“Yeah but isn’t this kind of personal?” Autumn straightened in her chair as if someone had stuck a poker down her back as she watched his reflection in the mirror that hung on the wall.

“So is asking questions about my beliefs but that’s not stopping you. Besides I can always tell you why you’re not my type if that’ll make you feel better.” Sloan set his hands down on the back of the chair, just a hair’s breadth of touching her.

“All right fine! You really want to know, I’ll tell you!” Autumn cried in exasperation, desperately trying to ignore the fact that he was practically breathing down her neck.

“I really want to know.” He whispered, breathing in the sweet scent of her skin. He tried telling himself to stop, back away, but his body just wasn’t listening to his brain.

“I…you’re…” Autumn shifted in her chair, as if trying to shake off the little darts of electricity he was creating through her body. “I want someone who’s stable, responsible…and…um…”

Autumn closed her eyes and unknowingly relaxed against the chair. A shuddery breath escaped through her slightly parted lips. Every thought that was going through her mind just…faded away to be replaced by smoky coils of desire created by the firm lips that traced a line of fire down the sensitive skin of her neck. She arched her neck giving him better access. 

Her heavy eyelids crept slowly open. She couldn’t have brought herself to protest even if the house was on fire. That is, until she saw their reflection in the tall mirror. Shock swept across her face as she saw herself, face flushed, eyes slumberous with desire, lips parted and waiting for his. Reality came crashing down with all the subtlety of a freight train. 

Autumn jerked up causing her head and his chin to connect smartly. She backed away, eyeing him warily and rubbing the top of her head. She kept backing up until she bumped against the wall. She saw clearly the evidence of lust in his expression. She noted with a trace of satisfaction, that she wasn’t about to admit to, that his face was just as flushed as her hers. And his eyes… Autumn swallowed as she stared into them. The wildest hurricane couldn’t have the amount of passion that she saw in the smoldering depths.

Autumn flung up a warning hand as he took a step in her direction. Her ragged breathing seemed loud to her ears as she tried to get it under control. Her eyes remained wide and wary. She wasn’t about to let him come any closer. She didn’t think she could trust herself not to forget reason and just jump him. Way too tempting!

Sloan raked both his hands through his hair and turned abruptly towards the counter. He braced both hands on it and hung his head, letting the rampant feelings that invaded his body fade away. Well, more or less. It wasn’t quite working the way he wanted. He still had the urge to throw her over his shoulder and haul her off to bed. A small grin quirked at his lips as he thought of her reaction to that. She’d probably deck him. Feeling a little more under control he turned around to face her.

“So you were saying we probably wouldn’t go for each other?” A smug, knowing smile settled and remained.

“That’s just physical.” Autumn crossed her arms defensively and glared daggers at him. “It’s not like I’m attracted to the kind of person you are. I don’t even know you. We met like, what…five minutes ago! Either way it doesn’t matter. All I’m after is a story, nothing else.”

“Maybe.” He muttered thoughtfully. He felt a tug of inevitability that warned him that their might be more to this arrangement than he thought at first. “Do you believe in fate?”

“Oh please. Please tell me you’re not going to fall back on that tired line.” Autumn pushed away from the wall and pointed to the chair. “Sit please.”

She didn’t move until he sat at the table. Better safe than sorry. As she took her spot at the table she noticed the amusement that always seemed to be a part of him when she was anywhere in the vicinity. She schooled her expression into one of cool indifference.

“I’m serious. Do you believe that there might be something that loosely controls the lives of people?”

Autumn frowned thoughtfully. “I guess, maybe. I believe that some things do happen for a reason and if that’s fate, then I guess I do.”

“For centuries people have believed that karma was the balance of all actions throughout all incarnations and it determines future experience, fate or destiny as a result of a persons actions. Kind of like cause and effect.” Sloan paused as Autumn scribbled furiously, even though the tape recorder had caught everything he said.

‘What ye sow, so shall ye reap.’” He quoted. “The same law loosely binds the Craft as well. The threefold law, which basically says that whatever created by magick returns threefold.”

“So if you do something bad someone else or if a spell goes wrong resulting in causing someone pain, something bad will happen to you but three times worse?” She pursed her lips and stared at him.

“Pretty much. Maybe it won’t happen in this life or the next but it will catch up to you. Which is why there is no really strict set of rules but a guideline that all should follow, ‘Do what you will, ‘An harm it none.’ Spell casting can be tricky because you just might get what you ask for whether or not it was what you wanted.”

“If you have this so-called power at your disposal why aren’t you putting it to good use? Like for the betterment of mankind? Say there’s a flood somewhere and thousands are dying. And if you have this power why don’t you put a stop to it?” Autumn was beginning to wonder which of them was more in danger of losing their minds, him for believing he was a witch or her for sitting here and asking him serious questions about it.

“Say I did.” Sloan gestured widely with his hands. “Say I stopped the flood but then three more pop up in different parts over the world and even more people die. It’s the destiny factor. If you alter destiny you pay the price, simple as that. And you can’t really change fate, no matter how much you might want to. Think of it as a power check, like in hockey. You can only go so far with your powers and when your at that point, fate checks you into a wall. Granted those people may have died tragically but that is fate. They were meant to die in that place, in that time.”

“Then what’s the point?” She had to admit that she was kind of disappointed with the answer but then she supposed the days of knights in shining armor were long over. “What’s the point of getting this gift if you can’t use it for what you want?”

“First of all, I didn’t just get it. It’s not like a basketball someone can just hand over. I’ m a hereditary witch. I was born a witch and will die one. When I marry and my wife bears children, they will live and die as I do.” Sloan relayed this little tid-bit rather impatiently.

“Whoa, back up the bus! Your children will be witches too, from birth? Even if their mother is a…um…non-witch?”

“Non-witch?” He chuckled, irritation already vanishing. “Yeah, chances are they will be. Our bloodline is very old and very strong, extending back to the time before Celts even came to the Emerald Isle. Elven and Faery blood run strong in our genes.”

“Um. Ok, next question.” Autumn barely restrain herself from rolling her eyes. Elven and Faery blood? Yeah. Sure.

“First we’ll go for a walk then it’s your turn to answer a few questions.” He interrupted.

“But we just got started.” Autumn protested. “We still have bunches of stuff to get through.”

“We’ll get to them.” Sloan told her reassuringly. He pulled her up from the chair and wove her arm through his. “After all we do have two weeks to finish.”

“Two weeks!” Autumn dug in her heels. “Where did you get that from?”

“Dana. According to her you have two weeks to finish the article and basically nothing else to do until then. So, there you go, two full weeks…with me.” Morgan slanted a glance down at her and pulled her through the door. “Unless, well…unless you don’t think you can handle being with me for that long.”

“And why do you think I wouldn’t be able to handle it?” Annoyance snapped out of her normally husky voice.

“We’re both extremely attracted to each other. Don’t even bother to deny that.”

“I wasn’t going to.” She muttered, stomping along the path, not paying the slightest attention to the beautiful scenery around them.

“If you don’t think you can control your baser urges…well, let’s just say I’m open to the idea of helping you out with that.”

Autumn jerked to a stop, her expression stormy with indignation and disbelief. “My baser urges! You conceited ape! You started that whole scene in the kitchen not me!” She turned and stalked off muttering not very flattering things about men in general. She was still ranting, hands slashing through the air, when she came to a clearing. “And he has the nerve to call me manipulative-Oh!”

Autumn stood there stunned. She had never seen anything so beautiful. A high, jutting granite cliff came to an abrupt drop in the middle of the clearing. A triple waterfall skimmed the high wall, eventually falling into a pool below. Wide, flat-topped boulders and smooth round rocks framed the bluish-green water. All of it stood in a perfect circle of tree, grass and wild flowers.

“What do you think?” Sloan came up behind her and wrapped his thick arms about her tiny waist. His thumb idly swept back and forth against her stomach and once again his breath feathered against her neck.

“I’m speechless.” She said breathlessly, partly from the awesome view and partly from the havoc he was conjuring up.

“Hmmm, that has to be a first.” He chuckled.

“Very funny.” Autumn muttered breaking free of his hold and walking to the pool. She knelt and trailed her fingers in the surprisingly warm water. “Fresh or salt?”

“Fresh.” Sloan came and sat beside her. ”The best part of it is that it’s warm year-round.”

“No way! Really?”

“Yep. There’s underground hot springs.” He gestured to it with a nod and challenging grin. “Wanna try it out?”

“No thank you.” She answered primly. Then looked at him archly. “You know, you’re very aggressive considering we just met.”

“I wouldn’t say aggressive. I’d say I was taking advantage of an opportunity.” Sloan leaned back against the rock next to her.

“So, you’re saying you’re opportunistic?” She asked with eyes widened innocently.

“If you mean when I see something I want then go after it, then yeah I guess you could I am. “ His intention was very clear as he leaned towards her.

Autumn caught herself swaying towards him, her gaze focused on those talented lips. She pulled away and stared into the water. A small frown crossed her face and her lips dropped into a thoughtful pout.

“You know if we’re going to coexist peacefully, we’re going to have to have some rules.”

“I hate to tell you this but rules aren’t a very good idea.” To please himself, he stole the clip from her hair and watched in fascination as the fiery waves fell swaying past her shoulders.

“Hey! Give that back!” She demanded holding out an impatient hand. “Why aren’t rules a good idea? Seems to me it would be a sane way to handle this.”

“Can’t have it. I like your hair better when it’s loose.” Sloan tucked the clip into his pocket, eyes dancing with mischief. “See, the bad thing about rules is I’m always tempted to find a way to break them.”

“I hardly need your approval on how I wear my hair.” Autumn glared at him icily. “Some rules are meant to be followed you know.”

“And others are meant to be broken.” He returned easily, winding a lock of hair around his finger. He tugged until she faced him. His eye lids dropped to half-mast, heavy with sensuality. “You start making rules and I might be tempted to break them.”

“And if there were no rules? What then? Would you stop trying to seduce me at every turn?” Her voice dropped several octaves and she realized hazily that he was doing it to her again. He wasn’t even touching her and he was turning her into a quivering mass of nerve endings and dangerous hormones.

“Stop. No, I can’t stop. I haven’t even kissed you yet.” He whispered. As if an after thought, he added. “I don’t know that I could stop even if I wanted to.”   

    Her lashes fluttered then closed over drugged eyes. Autumn’s breathing hitched in her chest and released jerkily as his lips brushed hers…once…twice…then gently coaxed her mouth open. His large, rough hand slid from her jaw to the back of her neck, supporting her while he deftly finessed a response. She shivered as the heat chased the goose bumps that popped up all over.

Sloan’s hand drifted down, trailing lightly down her arm, skimming it up her side. His thumb stroked back and forth just barely touching the underside the underside of her breast. He felt every shudder and shiver and his large body responded helplessly. Regardless of the fact that he just met her a few scant hours ago, he felt as if he’d been waiting for her his entire life.

Faintly he felt destiny tug on the reigns and irritation flashed briefly. He was a man that liked to be in control of his own life. Even if he already knew that destiny, fate, call it what you will, always jerked the strings to pull things back in order. Even with his powers there were still things out of his control and it seemed as if she was one of them. Autumn was meant to be his. At least this time he and fate were on the same page. At the moment there was nothing more that he wanted than her. And have her he would, there was no doubt about that.

Sloan eased back, sensing she wasn’t ready. He dropped his head to her shoulder dragging in ragged gulps of air, struggling to get a grip. Even while he was scrambling to restrain himself from going back for more, he felt her tense as reality zoomed in. Passion gradually released it grip on his fogged brain allowing rational thought to replace it.

“So, how long have you and Dana been friends.” Sloan winced as Autumn jerked in his loose hold.

Autumn blinked in disbelief. She had just experienced the most thrilling, arousing kiss in her life and he wanted to talk about her and Dana. Unbelievable. Autumn shook her head, partly in effort to clear it. All right, fine, if he wants to play twenty questions at a time like this. She could play the same game. Autumn cleared her expression of any annoyance or left over desire that might be showing and leaned away to look at him.

“Since high school. What about you? Have any friends?” Her tone told him that she thought the idea was a very distinct impossibility.

“A few.” Sloan caught the grin that was about to surface. Temper was shooting off from her like firecrackers. “You could say that my best friends are family though.”

“I suppose they would have to be, after all you can’t choose relation.” Autumn couldn’t stop the words from coming out of her mouth. They were done gone before her brain could halt them. She shrugged mentally. After all, he seemed to have enough ego to handle being hacked on a bit. “From what I know of you already I have to admit I have to admire your family.”

“Why’s that?” Sloan had the sinking sensation that he wasn’t gonna much care for the next zinger. He figured he kind of deserved it though.

“Well, if you consider them your friends as well as family they must have limitless patience and fortitude.” Autumn smiled blandly. “You know, it must take a lot of stamina to keep up with your manipulative tendencies and massive ego.”

Sloan winced a bit and stood up, offering her a hand. He crooked an eyebrow. “Feel better?”

Autumn grasped his hand and allowed him to pull her up. She brushed off bits of dirt and sauntered towards the path. “Not entirely but give me awhile and I will. And I’m not staying here for two weeks.”

“I have no doubt about that.” He muttered and followed her back to the house. “A week and a half.”

“Not a chance.” Autumn shouted back to him. “Two days.”

By the time that he reached the house she was already seated at the table and scribbling in her notebook. She didn’t bothering to look up at him as he leaned against the counter and stared at her.

“Tell me something, are you like this with all your interviews?”

“Nope. But then most of my interviewees aren’t arrogant self-proclaimed witches bent on irritating the life out of me.” She paused and glanced at him with a self-satisfied grin. “Now I feel better.”

“I walked right into that one didn’t I?” He made a face at her. “A week.”

“Yes, you did.” She replied agreeably, then repeated. “Two days. Besides spells, what else can you do?”

“What else can I do?” Sloan echoed. He didn’t like her tone when she asked that. She made him sound like some sideshow freak or something. “Besides dancing naked in the moonlight and biting the heads off live snakes you mean?”

That brought her eyes up sharply. “You’re joking right?”

“Yes, of course.” He rolled his eyes and leashed his temper. “Except for the dancing naked in the moonlight.”

“There’s no need to be sarcastic.” Autumn frowned at him.

“I didn’t like the tone of your question.” He replied evenly but his eyes were dark and stormy.

Autumn regarded him for a second and relaxed her expression into a more soothing one. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Accepted.” He stared at her broodingly. “Come with me, I want to show you something.”

“Not another pond?” She asked warily.

“No.” He smiled at her sense of caution. He gripped her hand and her tape recorder and tugged her to another room.

Autumn followed him wide-eyed. It seemed like he was leading her through a labyrinth more than just a hallway in an ordinary house. Every time she thought they’d reach the end of a corridor another appeared. It was disconcerting to say the least. She gripped his hand tighter as they wound their way down a flight of circular stone steps.

Her imagination just went wild. A shiver slid up her spine as she thought of the possibilities of where it might be leading. Her heartbeat sped up as she saw a woman, cast mostly in shadow, wearing a diaphanous white gown slowly walking down the steps, one hand gliding along the thick gray stone walls.  Every once and awhile she would glance over her shoulder behind her as if she expected someone to be following her down the stairs that just seemed to get darker with every step.