“I’ve been in Louisiana, where I live. I didn’t know that she was here. I just found out today, and I came as soon as I heard.” He had to concentrate on his words now, because the little boy’s giggles were returning, and they were louder, much louder.
The machine beside the bed began to beep, and they all turned toward it.
“No.” Nelsa grabbed the call button and pressed it rapidly. “It’s dropping again!”
The little boy’s laughter throbbed in Dax’s mind, and he had no doubt his spirit was nearly ready to come to the plantation, if he wasn’t already there. “What’s dropping?” he asked, stepping toward the bed, and Celeste.
“Her heart rate. Just like it did those other three times. And the doctor said she wouldn’t make it if she went through one of those episodes again,” Nelsa said. She turned to Dax. “She’s been wanting you, and now you’re here, but she’s leaving us!”
“No, Celeste,” Marian Beauchamp pleaded, moving quickly to the bed and grabbing Celeste’s other hand. “Stay with us, honey. Please!”
Dax’s ghost was nearly there, the laughter so loud, so intense, that he barely heard Nelsa, even though she was screaming too. And then he realized what she’d said. Those other three times. Celeste’s heart rate had faltered before, and Dax knew when-when she came to him, to help his spirits cross. And now he had another spirit coming, and she was fading.
“No!” Dax yelled, but his voice merely joined the other panicked ones in the room…and the laughter in his head grew so overwhelming that he gripped the bedrail to stay upright. He knew what was happening, and he didn’t know how to stop it. Celeste was trying to get back to him, with the little-boy ghost. But if her spirit succeeded, her body would fail. He’d lose her for good, because she was trying to see him again. “No!”
17
CELESTE’S MOUTH was dry, her head throbbed and every ounce of her being violently protested any movement, but she wasn’t going to stop. She couldn’t.
Because she was so, so close.
The thick darkness surrounding her grew less dense with every step, and she could almost see some form of light in the distance. She braced herself against the wall, her fingers gripping its coolness as she inched her way forward. Another step, rest, concentrate. Two more steps, stop, rest, concentrate. She could get back there. Stopping was not an option. This was the only way to Dax, and she wasn’t going to let her exhaustion keep her from getting to him again.
She could hear voices from both sides. Voices behind her, from that pathway where she’d heard them before, were once again calling her name. Someone screamed, and someone cried.
“Celeste!” they yelled. “Please, Celeste!”
“No,” she whispered. There wasn’t any way she would give up now. She could see the opening that led to that room in the middle, and it wasn’t dark now. In fact, it was a faint yellow. And she heard voices from the middle too, but those voices were different. One was a woman. Adeline, perhaps? Or was it someone else?
Celeste paused to rest again, tuned out the voices behind her and focused on what the woman was saying.
“Chère, it’s going to be okay,” Adeline said, her voice a little higher than usual, as though she were talking to a child. “Don’t worry, Ike, my Dax will take care of you.”
Dax. Someone-Ike-was going to see Dax, and Adeline was about to send him through.
“W-wait,” Celeste said, but her voice was so weak that it barely formed a whisper.
Did Adeline hear her?
“Sure, chère, you can tell your mama and daddy bye. I know they’d like that, and that they’ll want to know that you’ll be okay. Dax will help you do that, and you’ll like him, but if you don’t mind, I’d like for you to visit with me for a little while before you go. My Dax is taking care of something right now, and he knows you want to see him, but he needs to see a-a friend of his before he goes back home. I can show you some really nice things while we’re waiting for him.”
Thunder roared in the distance, and Celeste heard Adeline again, her voice a bit worried as she spoke to the boy. “I won’t keep you too long, chère, and of course, if you want to go on through, you can. I can’t stop you, you know.”
“What can you show me?” the little boy asked as Celeste licked her lips and tried again.
“Wait, please,” she said hoarsely.
The two people in the room ahead of her continued to talk, and she wanted to cry. No, she wanted to scream.
But she couldn’t.
Celeste braced her hands against the wall and forced another step, then another. Nearly there. Just a few more. She wasn’t going to lose this chance.
“I can show you what the other side of the clouds looks like,” Adeline said. “Or we can go hide in the middle of them and watch the planes go by. Would you like that?”
“Cool!” Ike yelled.
“Wait!” Celeste’s attempt to scream was so weak it sounded more like a whisper, but thank goodness, the little boy heard her.
“Who’s that?” he asked, moving toward Celeste as she entered the middle room, then slumped against the wall.
“Oh, no,” Adeline whispered. “Celeste, dear,” she said, then she frowned and looked behind her as a loud boom of thunder roared through the room. “I thought you’d gone to rest. You need to go back, chère. That’s the way to Dax.”
The thunder boomed even louder, and the middle wall opened, the light filling its center and warming Celeste’s cold spirit.
“I thought I was going to Dax.” The boy pouted.
“You are, Ike, but remember, I’m going to show you a few things around here first. Dax needs to take care of some things, and he’s working on that now.”
Celeste blinked, and fought the way the light pulled her toward it. The entire middle wall was open and glowing and beckoning her now, but Dax wasn’t there. “I want to go with you,” she whispered to the boy. “To see Dax.” Then she looked at Adeline. “Let us through.”
“You can’t go that way again,” Adeline said, frowning as she shook her head. “Oh, chère, please. You have to trust me this time. The way behind you is the only way for you to go now.” She lowered her voice. “It’s the right way, chère. Please, trust me, I can’t tell you more.”
Again, booming thunder roared around them, and the light got so warm that Celeste squinted at its radiance.
“This is it, Celeste,” Adeline said. “You have a choice, but Dax’s way isn’t part of your decision anymore. That path is closed to you now, you’re too weak for it. And you’re not going to be strong enough to go down it again, chère.”
Celeste looked at the light, and then turned toward the dark path behind her, where those voices were still calling her name. She listened to them, the same voices she’d heard time and time again. Every other time, they’d merely blended in an incomprehensible mix of screams and sobs, with none of them really standing out as unique. But now…
She swallowed, leaned toward the sound. Then she turned back to Adeline. “That’s Dax’s voice, isn’t it? Dax is there? Back there?”
“I’m going to keep Ike company for a while so that Dax can take care of a few things before he visits. That’s all I’m allowed to say, chère.”
“Dax.” Celeste started toward the darkened path, but the light pulled her back, caused her to stumble. She held up a hand and saw that her glow was almost blinding now, and her feet refused to cooperate; they wouldn’t move down the path. Instead, she was inching her way backward, toward that vivid, powerful light.
She didn’t want to go. But she was too tired to fight it.
“Help me,” she whispered, reaching out to Dax’s voice.