Chapter 1

Zara Rossi, sat at her desk in the historical society working. No one disturbed her. No human that is, as suddenly the air got chilly, and Zara knew that this was the start of a ghostly manifestation.

That was her ability, the ability to see ghosts, and she was the only one in her family that had gotten it at least so far. The ability to see ghosts was even rarer than the ability to heal. She was so used to the chill when a ghost began to appear that she barely noticed it anymore.

Zara was thankful that she was the only one of her family that had gotten the ability to see specters, as it was a very uncomfortable ability to possess, especially as a child and then, a teenager. She definitely had her struggles when it came to her ability and had been considered odd or weird or strange when she was a child, because she often seemed to be talking to herself.

It had taken her mother and her aunt forever to figure out why she often seemed to be talking to herself, as seeing ghost didn't run in her family as far as either her mother or Aunt Shonda knew.

Still, despite her rocky childhood, she had turned out just fine and that was what mattered. Despite the fact that she had seemed to be talking to an imaginary friend occasionally, her family had still loved and cared for her and no child could ask for more than her family had done for her.

The fact, that her family parents, siblings, godparents and cousins had treated her exactly the same as they had everyone else meant a lot to Zara. Her family had never teased her, and that had meant a great deal to her.

Besides, it wasn't like she had encountered a ghost every time she had left the house just once in awhile, which was one reason it had taken her family so long to figure out about her ability.

Her parents, Dave and Jazz Rossi had accepted her ability once her mother had realized that Zara just wasn't talking to herself or an imaginary friend, but to ghosts which she could not see, she had no trouble accepting it. She hadn't known the ability was within her family DNA, not that it mattered. That the ability to see spirits came as a surprise mattered not at all. At least, if it happened again, the family would know what to expect. After all, there were now four healers in the family and at one point, there only been three so talents did reoccur and considering how many children immortals had throughout their lives it wasn't be a surprise if talents repeated. Of course, there were a lot of other healers in her sisters Aleah's branch of the family, as well as Aeon's, but as for her parents, only four had been born into their branch of the family.

"Hello Jerry," Zara greeted the ghost without looking up. Jerry was from the Civil War era and had died during the first battle of Bull Run.

"Miss Zara," Jerry greeted. "Zara an unusual name, pretty though."

Zara simply smiled, as this was not the first time that Jerry had commented on her uncommon name. She couldn't even disagree because that name hadn't even existed during the Civil War in the late 1700s when Jerry had been born at least not in his part of the world, and he had been born and lived his whole life in Massachusetts.

"It wasn't unusual when I was born Jerry," said Zara simply not even getting annoyed at the ghosts often repeated comment. "You know this."

Gerold Baskin had been a soldier in the union army and had fought for the freedom of his country and the end of slavery. Unfortunately, he had died during the first battle of Bull Run so he had never had a chance to see his children grow. Jerry had been married to a lovely southern belle named Edith and had had several little ones by the time war had broken out, but he had done his duty and signed up for the union army without having to be drafted.

Soldier Jerry Baskin had been stuck on this side of the veil ever since he had died quite a few centuries before.

"I suppose so," Jerry finally agreed.

"What can I do for you Jerry? I have a ton of paperwork to finish," Zara questioned the spirit. "I'm just glad that most paperwork is on the comp nowadays and isn't actual paper."

"I was just wondering if you were ever going to settle down Miss Zara," Jerry told her in a brotherly fashion and Zara laughed.

"Why are you so interested in my love life Jerry?" Zara lightly scolded.

"Because I don't like to see you so lonely, Miss Zara," Jerry said. "All you do is work, so isn't it time for you to find yourself a man? To get married and have children?"

Jerry's Southern accent came through loud and clear, but Zara had no trouble understanding him.

"The problem is finding a man Jerry and the right man has yet to appear," Zara stressed her words just managing to not roll her eyes or let Jerry realize how exasperated she was. This was a subject that Jerry brought up nearly every time he appeared and Zara understood that in Jerry's time women were usually married by her age. "You know my situation and know that I can't just marry any man and believe me, I'll happily settle down when my mate appears and he's in on my family's secret, but until then, I'm afraid I'm destined to be alone. This doesn't mean that immortals don't date Jerry just that they dump whoever they're dating unless they are their mate. It's why every immortal keeps themselves very busy until that happens so they don't dwell on the fact that they would like to get married and have families. Some handle it better than others. I might not like dealing with all this paperwork, even if that's electronic nowadays, but it keeps me distracted."

"I don't really understand why you can't just settle down with any man," Jerry said, looking puzzled and confused.

Jerry was a simple soldier and didn't really understand about immortality and mates and Zara couldn't really blame him, as he had been completely mortal and had died way before his time. That didn't mean, he didn't exasperate and annoy her occasionally

"The world has changed a lot since you died Jerry," Zara told him her tone gentle instead of annoyed. "However, the basic human emotions haven't changed, greed, hunger, fear, sadness, guilt, jealousy, and all the other negative emotions you can name. Just imagine if I tell some man who is greedy for example, and wants to announce what I am on national television or in the newspaper what do you imagine would happen?"

Jerry was silent as he worked that out in his head, but then he finally said, "That man would want what you have for himself and so would a lot of other people."

"Exactly, but that's not the whole answer, Jerry," Zara told him. "My whole family would be hunted by those that would want what we have and we would possibly be captured and taken to some lab to be experimented on by the government. We just go and quietly live our lives like normal humans until we meet our mate. We have jobs, hobbies, friends and so forth. We stay undercover for a reason Jerry. All that protects me and those I love is secrecy."

"Do you really think that would happen though?" Jerry asked naïvely.

"Yes, I do," Zara promised him. "In a lot of ways, the human race has gone downhill since you died Jerry. If you ever left here and studied humans, you would see I'm right. Humans have gotten greedier, meaner, bitter, have less morals and ethics than when you were alive, Jerry. It's often dog eat dog out there and while I know a lot of that went on in your time it's gotten much worse.

"In your time, people still cared about others, and that is often not the case now. While there is still such a thing as human decency finding someone among all those that would take advantage of my gifts is the problem, which is why immortals have mates in the first place. Our bodies will let us know when we have met the right person, someone who will love and cherish us, and can be trusted with our secrets.

"Being what I am, having a mate, simply assures that my choice is true, and that that mate is not going to betray me or my family. Personally, I think whoever created immortals, set it up that way on purpose, in order to prevent such a betrayal from happening. Immortals must remain unknown to the general population, and there is a good reason for us to keep our secrets."

"And magic is the same way?" Jerry said, trying to understand.

"Yes, it is, which is why we need to keep it a secret," agreed Zara calmly. "Magic users went underground back in the dark ages for a reason, Jerry, and that reason hasn't changed in all the centuries that magic users have existed. The right man will come along someday and when they do, I promise I'll marry him and have those children I know you want for me to have. Believe me, I want nothing more than to find my mate. Luckily, a lot of my family have found their mates over the last few centuries so hopefully, the same thing will happen to me soon."

"I guess I'll have to bow to your superior knowledge Miss Zara," Jerry finally said before fading out of existence.

Zara shook her head and went back to work, thinking that Jerry was a nice guy, but would never understand her point of view, as it just wasn't in him too. She would gladly help him cross over if he would let her in order for him to see his wife and children again, but he said he wasn't ready to go and so she would respect his wishes.

Zara sighed and thought that she really needed someone to help her out here and while there was Clarissa and Charlie there was often more work than just for the three of them could keep up with. The three of them could really use some more help, but the board had yet to allow Zara to hire anyone.

Here she was in Celina Texas, which was just over 175,000 human souls, but was still relatively small town compared to the big cities and the board expected her and her two employees to handle everything here at the historical society.

Zara was well aware that here in Celina the population had grown quite a bit from over the last few centuries when it had been less than 25,000. Small towns like this one often died out due to something like their manufacturing base shutting down, but Celina, unlike so many small towns had managed to survive and thrive, not becoming a ghost town like so many places.

~~~~Kip and Zara~~~

Several weeks later

"Look at this!" Zara crowed coming into the kitchen, carrying a piece of paper on what looked like official stationary.

"What's got you so excited?" Clarissa asked, as Zara charged into the kitchen that was part of the historical society building.

"Just that the board finally approved for us to hire another employee," Zara announced to Clarissa and Charlie.

"They finally approved of hiring someone to help out?" Charlie asked with amazement in his voice, even as he looked up from the newspaper he was reading on his e-reader.

Newspapers weren't printed on paper anymore only online, though you still had to have a subscription.

"Yeah," Zara said widely.

"It's about time," Clarissa declared beaming. "We were being positively overrun with requests to place their house or business on the historical register."

"I agree that three people isn't really enough to handle everything," Charlie said, as he took a sip of his coffee. "I mean in the last year alone we've had over 50 request to be placed on the national historic register."

"And a lot of those requests we have to turn down, because the buildings aren't old enough or for some other cause," agreed Zara. "Still, it does take time to determine if a building is old enough to be declared historical and meets all the requirements"

"And we've been operating with a skeletons staff for the last five years," Clarissa added. "I mean ever since Janise died and we were never allowed to hire anybody else..."

Janise Waverley had been part of the historical society and had actually been the boss for a lot of years before she had died suddenly over five years ago. The poor dear had been nearly 100 though, but still had the energy of someone much younger and so had still been plugging away until that dreadful day in October right near Halloween, where her granddaughter had discovered that Janise had up and died in her bed.

After the funeral, Zara, who was the longest standing member of the staff had been put in as the boss and life went on.

Really, despite Janise's being the boss, she really hadn't done much in the last few years other than fill out paperwork and approve requests, but that didn't mean they hadn't needed someone else even before her death, which meant that the workload had been even worse since Janise had died.

They were all feeling the strain and really they needed more than one more person here at the historical society, really they needed at least two if not, three more people. Still all the employees knew that there was no way the board would hire three new people to help relieve the workload and so they would be grateful for being able to hire at least one other person.

"I'll start interviewing people tomorrow," Zara announced after she had drunk her sweet tea that she had poured from a pitcher from the fridge.

Zara was lovely with her dark brown hair the same color as her mother's and her gray eyes but the rest was all her father, including her broad shoulders, slim waist, the cheekbones, skin color and chin.

She did share her mother's height, as well as the shape of her mouth, but the rest of her body was all her father's, which wasn't to say she wasn't gorgeous, because she was, just that she shared her father's body shape and was broad at the shoulder like he was.

"Hopefully, you'll be able to hire someone in a few days," Charlie said, as he went back to his paper. "Relieve the pressure on the rest of us at least somewhat."

"Yeah, I know we could use at least two other people around here," Zara agreed, "but we are lucky they finally gave into my constant requests for help. I mean, I know this is a small town, but 175,000 might be small to most people, but this town has grown so much since it was first built. I'll start interviews tomorrow."

"I know we are lucky that Celina didn't become a ghost town like so many small towns," Clarissa said.

Clarissa and Zara continued to discuss the subject along with what their next project would be while Charlie commented every once in awhile, even as he read the paper to show he was listening.

~~~~Kip and Zara~~~

A week later

Zara stared at the young man that had to come in for an interview and tried not to show her shock. When she had least expected it, she had met her mate in the man who looked around her age sitting in the chair in front of her desk

Christopher Whitethorn was not the first applicant, but he was the best by far and had taken the proper courses in college. Introduction to public history, internship in public history, museum studies, heritage studies, public memory, digital history and several other courses.

"Miss Rossi are you OK?" Kip asked.

"I'm fine," Zara said finally snapping out of her shock. "Sorry, I got distracted," Zara apologized her mind still reeling. "I have a million things on my mind."

"I know you're very busy Miss Rossi," Kip offered.

"Yeah, we are and we've needed somebody else for some time," agreed Zara. "To be honest, we could really use more than one new employee here, but the board hasn't approved of us hiring more than one person. I know we're lucky that they finally gave in to my repeated requests for help."

"Maybe they think that four people is more than enough since this isn't a major metropolis," Kip suggested.

"Shows what they know," snorted Zara her tone full of disdain. "They just want to save money and don't care how much extra work they pile on us. It's the same anywhere you go these days as people get away with as few employees as they can. Anyway, welcome to the team, Mr. Whitethorn. You'll be a full employee since you did your internship in California."

"I can't wait to get started," Kip said, sounding eager. He smiled. "You can call me Kip by the way, as Christopher is much too formal, not to mention long."

"It's good to see some enthusiasm," Zara told Kip smiling. "I like my employees enthusiastic, because it means you got into the profession for the right reasons."

"I love history and digging into old files trying to put a timeline or family tree together, even if most things are computerized nowadays," Kip said. "Still, a lot of old family records is still on paper that is likely turning into dust if that family hasn't preserved their family history, which means it has not been put on comp yet."

"Yes, we shuffle paper plenty around here and also digitize old files when we have time," Zara said, smiling, even as she led him downstairs to introduce him to his coworkers. "You wouldn't believe how many families never digitize their records."

Here Zara rolled her eyes to show her exasperation for people who didn't bother to preserve their records and Kip chuckled. "Those families are lucky that the records that are still on paper, haven't turned into a pile of dust by now, something you have already mentioned."

"Or have the writing so faded it's nearly impossible to read. It could even be a combination of both, them starting to fall apart because they weren't stored correctly, and the writing also being faded where it's all almost illegible and you have trouble making out the words," Kip added and Zara nodded in complete agreement.

"Oh yes, Clarissa, Charlie and I have had plenty of those kinds of records," agreed Zara. "They are just some things that technology can't help with and it's not like they can make those records look new, as if they were just printed yesterday."

Zara opened the kitchen door to find Clarissa and Charlie just eating lunch.

"Clarissa, Charlie this is your new coworker Kip Whitethorn," Zara introduced.

"Nice to meet you," Clarissa said rising to her feet and shaking Kip's hand. "We've been needing some help for sometime."

"So I've heard," Kip agreed, as he gazed lingeringly at Clarissa, who was a beautiful woman with her reddish brown hair that looked like burnished copper and her thin pert nose. She was also model thin and her hair was long, luxurious and thick.

"Nice to meet you Kip," Charlie added also shaking Kip's hand.

Zara felt a spark of jealousy the way Kip's gaze lingered on Clarissa, but she smothered it instantly. She couldn't really blame Kip for looking at Clarissa as she was a beautiful woman, and Kip probably thought that since she was the boss, she wouldn't want to date someone who she was in charge of.

However, there were no rules that said that the one in charge of the society couldn't date one of her employees, which was a good thing, because Zara knew that some jobs, especially if one worked for the government that was a requirement, which didn't mean it didn't happen.

"Would you like some lunch?" Charlie offered.

"If it's not too much trouble," Kip said smiling.

"No trouble at all," Clarissa said she quickly dished Kip up a bowl of the soup that she and Charlie had been eaten. "Like some soup boss?" Clarissa asked. "Unless you've already eaten."

"That sounds good thanks," Zara said, and watched as Clarissa dish up another bowl. "Just one rule we need to go over now," Zara added. "You need to clean and dry your hands thoroughly before you touch anything like old paper or use the computer. I'm sure you know that though, since you've already done your internship."

"We don't want stains on the keyboard or paper records," Charlie explained, and Kip nodded.

"At least computer keyboards can be cleaned, but paper records cannot and a lot of them are delicate, because they're old," Zara said. "In fact, you need to wear those plastic gloves for all the paper records, so that they don't attract the oil from your fingertips and disintegrate faster."

Kip nodded in understanding, because the same policy had been in place when he'd been intern so he took no offense at being reminded. Besides, it was good to be reminded to be careful around old records so that you didn't make a mistake and destroy delicate paper. Anybody that took offence at being reminded to be careful was not in the right job, as they wouldn't have the right attitude, even if they had the ability.

"Yes, I do know that, so no worries," Kip said.

"I'll show you where we keep a supply of them," Charlie offered and Kip nodded, even as he ate his soup.

"That would be good," Kip agreed.

~~~Kip and Zara~~~