Chapter 12 -- "Midnight at Wildwind"

It was a dark and stormy night.

It hadn't been a stormy night when everybody had entered Wildwind, but the clouds gathered quickly once they were inside. As thunder clapped and lightening flashed, a cold wind began to blow and a steady, unforgiving rain began to fall on Pine Valley. Outside Wildwind it was miserable. Inside Wildwind it was worse.

Maria had set up a table and chairs in the middle of what used to be her living room, when her family was still in the business of living. "But that was several centuries ago," she thought. Or at least it felt like several centuries ago. She had toyed with the idea of holding the séance in the Main Ballroom. But how could she? Every square inch of the Main Ballroom was filled with Edmund's possessions, soon to be auctioned off at the Estate Sale later that day. The Estate Sale. "Something to look forward to," she thought sardonically. "Oh, how I love my life!" Outside the wind was howling, as if trying to distract her from the business at hand. No chance of that. The room was dark save for the light of the dozen candles she had lit to heighten the spooky mood. She gazed around the table at her friends and Brooke. Damn Brooke. What was she doing there? This was Maria's last chance to win back her family. Brooke could only mess things up. As usual. And she looked terrible. Edmund's death had aged her unmercifully. "She never stopped loving him," Maria realized. "I wonder when I stopped?"

"Okay!" she addressed the group, so that she could stop thinking. "Opal, how do we get this show on the road?"

"There are eight of us," Sam counted. "I thought you said sit-down séance for six." He glared at Maria. "Another day, another lie," he thought darkly.

"I wasn't counting Opal," Maria explained. "And I didn't know Brooke would be here." She glared at Brooke across the table. "You weren't supposed to be here until later today when you auction my life away," she thought darkly.

"I didn't know I would be here either," Brooke spoke up, still extremely confused. She had no intention of telling them that Edmund's torn photograph had ordered her to be there. Actually, she had every intention of forgetting that had happened. Or at least, trying to forget.

"The more the merrier," Opal soothed, patting Brooke's hand. "Oh, Maria honey, do you have a sponge handy? There a few kernels of… what is that?.. popcorn I guess, on the table. I wouldn't bring it up, but we need a neat and clean temporal plane in order for our dearly beloveds on the other side to properly manifest."

"Opal, I'm already properly manifested," Edmund's ghost reminded her. He was standing right behind her chair. "And I don't mind a little popcorn on the table. Honest I don't."

"Whew!" Zartz thought. "That was a close one!"

The other two popcorn kernels nodded telepathically.

"Is whatever this is ever going to get started?" Maddie whined. "I'm missing 'Leno'!"

"Darling, it will be worth it!" Marian assured her. "We're going to contact your father!"

"My father is Bobby Warner," Sam volunteered, although nobody had asked him.

"Well, we'll try to contact Bobby the NEXT time," Opal said. "Tonight is Edmund's night."

Brooke began to sob uncontrollably.

"Brooke, please don't cry!" Stuart begged her. "We know how awful this is for you! All of us know how much you loved Edmund!"

"Bitch," Maria said under her breath.

"Brooke isn't a witch," Lily pointed out brightly, not hearing exactly what Maria had muttered. "Brooke is a journalist. Some people might call Opal a witch because she can contact the dead, but I don't think she is. I just think she's extremely gifted."

"Thank you, honey," Opal thanked her.

Lily smiled.

"You're so cute," Sam told Lily. "Are you seeing anybody?"

"She's seventeen and her father is Jackson Montgomery, so I'd be careful if I were you," Opal told Sam. "Brooke, cheer up. Things aren't always as gloomy as they seem to be at first sight."

Brooke continued to sob.

"I'm seeing everybody," Lily answered Sam. "My vision is twenty-twenty. Sam, is there somebody you're not able to see? Besides Edmund, I mean. I know you can't see him because he's dead and only Opal and I --"

"Maria, before we begin can I have a glass of water?" Opal interrupted, but not fast enough.

"You think you can see dead people?" an astounded Sam asked Lily. "You think you can see my father?"

Brooke stopped sobbing.

"Yes," Lily admitted. "He's standing there, right behind Opal."

"Opal, is that true?" Maria gasped. "Do you sense Edmund standing behind you?"

"Slut," Edmund said under his breath.

"Maria isn't a nut," Lily laughed, not hearing exactly what Edmund had muttered. "Maria is a neurosurgeon and neurosurgeons aren't allowed to be wacky."

"Lily, can you see Edmund?" Brooke asked, her voice filled to the brim with her heartbreak. "Is Edmund here?"

"Brooke, leave the child alone!" Opal implored her. "I'm the only professional medium on the premises." She cleared her throat. "Shall we begin?"

"This should be good," Zetz told the other Galioscians.

"And if it isn't," Zartz began.

"We'll jazz it up a little," Zift finished.

Will the séance actually begin already? Could Sam and Lily be cuter? Lots of chapters, lots of surprises still to come! Please read on! Your Review is welcome!