“I was,” Galen confirmed. “Time moves differently on the other side. Hadley was gone an hour to her reckoning. We’re estimating the difference is about one hour on that side to twelve hours on this one.”
“You saw your mother?” Marjory’s eyes brimmed with pity when they locked with mine.
I nodded. “At least she looked like my mother.”
“That had to be some sort of illusion,” she demanded of Galen. “She didn’t really see her mother.”
Galen lifted one shoulder. “Obviously we don’t know for certain.” He darted a worried look to me. “It’s not unheard of for souls to be trapped on other planes.”
“Yes, but in Emma’s case, how would she get there? She died giving birth to Hadley … on the mainland. There was nothing paranormal about her death.” Her gaze moved to me. “Was there?”
“How is she supposed to know?” Galen barked. “She was a newborn.”
“Her father was present. He would have seen a monster rushing in to harm his wife,” Marjory argued pragmatically.
“To my knowledge, there was nothing paranormal associated with my mother’s death,” I offered, choosing my words carefully. “My father isn’t great at keeping secrets. He knew my mother came from a paranormal family, but he doesn’t know much about the paranormal world.”
I considered it further. “Even if he didn’t tell me before I came to Moonstone Bay, he’s visited since. He would have told me then when he realized that I was embracing magic.”
Galen, his hand moving over to squeeze mine, agreed. “He would’ve used it as a reason for you to leave the island and return tothe mainland. He didn’t, which means there was nothing paranormal about your mother’s death.”
That made me feel marginally better.
“That’s all well and good,” Marjory said pragmatically. “If it’s true, the creature Hadley saw on the other side couldn’t be her mother.”
My heart absorbed a hard punch with her words. “She knew things,” I countered. Why I was clinging to the idea that my mother’s soul was trapped on a different plane I couldn’t say.
“What did she know that other people wouldn’t?” Marjory asked. Her tone wasn’t accusatory but her ruthless pragmatism was meant to trip me up.
“Don’t answer that,” Galen instructed. He jabbed a finger at his mother. “Do not push on this, Mother. If Hadley believes that was her mother?—”
“Galen, I’m not trying to hurt Hadley,” Marjory fired back.
“I don’t believe it.” Galen glared at his mother. “You don’t mind hurting people if it means you accomplish your goals.”
“I’m being realistic,” Marjory snapped back. “If that was a trap designed for Hadley what better way to draw her in than to dangle the mother she’s desperate to know in front of her?”
I expected Galen to continue arguing with his mother. Instead, he snapped his mouth shut.
Galen didn’t want to hurt me so he was going along with whatever I said regarding my mother. He didn’t believe it was her.
I should have taken what the freaking sheriff — he knew things that I likely would never understand — believed and internalized it, accepted it, but I couldn’t.
“She said I got my sense of humor from May,” I insisted.
“You do sort of have May’s sense of humor,” Marjory said. She acted surprised, almost disappointed that she hadn’t seen it herself before.
“See.” I didn’t break out in an end zone celebration, but I’d proven my point.
“That only proves this creature got information from someone who knew both you and May,” Marjory argued.
Galen snapped his eyes to her. “What do you mean?”
“Hadley does have May’s sense of humor,” Marjory acknowledged. “She’s snarky and loves banter. There are plenty of people on this island who have interacted with both Hadley and May.”
“That would mean someone on this side is working with the shadow on the other side,” Galen said.
“Isn’t that a given?” Marjory sounded logical rather than condescending for a change. “The symbol was burned into the ground. That would have happened on this side. There was a spell attached to it. That would have happened on this side too.”
