Free Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series by T.M. Nielsen Page A

money in the leather
business and had already supplied custom saddles to four of
Thukil’s Cavalry. Megara gagged down the food but pretended it was
good and that she was enjoying it.
    Once Emily laid down in bed in the dark, she
looked around and felt alone. She liked how Chevalier stayed with
her while she slept and held her when her dreams got bad.
    After some time, she finally fell asleep.
    “Emily?” a voice rang out through the dark
bedroom.
    Emily sat up and looked around, “Who’s
there?”
    Her heart almost stopped when a dark shadow
passed in front of the window and then disappeared into the wall.
She jerked to the side when her book slid off of her bedside table
and landed with a dull thud on the floor.
    “Chev?” she whispered, hoping it was him.
    “Emily,” she heard again, but this time she
realized whose voice it was. Exavior stepped out from inside of her
closet and looked at her angrily.
    “Alec!” she screamed.
    Alec blurred into the room and turned on the
lights. Emily was sitting in bed, deathly pale, with the covers
pulled up to her chest.
    “What’s wrong?” Alec asked, carefully
scanning the room.
    Emily looked quickly around the room and then
bent down and looked under her bed while Alec watched her.
    “Is there a problem?” Alec asked.
    “It’s… I saw him, Alec,” Emily answered,
barely able to talk.
    “Saw who?”
    “In the closet!”
    Alec went over and looked in the walk-in
closet, and then disappeared inside. He returned a few minutes
later, “No one’s in there.”
    “It was Exavior,” she whispered as she began
to shake.
    Alec frowned, “You saw him?”
    She nodded and looked out the window when
thunder cracked.
    “He’s dead, Emi.”
    “He spoke, and he looked at me like he was
really mad.”
    “He can’t.”
    “It’s his ghost. He’s haunting this
house.”
    Alec tried not to smile, “I’m sure it was a
dream.”
    She shook her head and looked around the room
again, “I was awake. He called me and then he walked around the
room.”
    Alec thought for a moment and then turned to
her, “Want me to sit in here with you while you sleep?”
    Realizing how immature all of this sounded,
she finally shook her head, “No, I guess not. I’m sure you’re
right, and I was just dreaming.”
    He smiled and then turned off the lights,
“Call if you need me.”
    Emily laid down, wide awake, and stared at
the ceiling until just before dawn when she fell asleep again. Only
once did anything scare her after the initial encounter, and that
was because the lightning made odd patterns on her wall from the
nearby trees.
    She was just making coffee when Alec came
into the kitchen, “Did you get back to sleep?”
    She nodded and sat down with a cup, “Yes,
finally. I’m still tired though.”
    Alec turned to the door, “Chevalier is
here.”
    “You don’t like him, do you?”
    “Not really. Course, I didn’t like Keith
either.”
    “He’s nothing like Keith.”
    “He’s hit you too though.”
    “A long time ago. We had some growing pains,
but we’ve settled down now.”
    “I hope so.”
    Emily looked up when Chevalier walked into
the kitchen, “Morning, Chev.”
    “Good morning,” he said, and kissed her
forehead lightly before sitting down. “Did you talk to Megs?”
    “Not yet. She helped me make dinner and then
forced it down.”
    He cringed, “So she actually ate?”
    “Yes”
    Alec chuckled, “If that’s what you want to
call it. She almost vomited after each bite.”
    Emily had a sudden thought, “Silas said you
all were considering scaring Megara to see if she could ash
you?”
    Chevalier nodded, “It was brought up.”
    “Did you do it last night?”
    “No, why?”
    “Nothing at all? Maybe someone misunderstood
and tried it?”
    He studied her for a second, “No. No one
would do that without telling you. What happened?”
    She smiled sheepishly, “I don’t want to tell
you.”
    “Why?”
    “It’s stupid.”
    “What