Free Shadow of Hope by Elizabeth Rose, Tina Pollick Page B

cleaned them off. “Do you have any band -aids?”
    She tapped the drawer, smudging the handle red as the wounds began to bleed again.
    He opened the band-aids and antiseptic and covered the wounds. “There you go,” he said, refusing to look her directly in the eye.
    “ I saw the look on your face when you saw my altar.” She would not cry, not for him, not for the man who did this. Her hands shook and she placed them in her lap.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t have any particular expression on my face.”
    She gave a halfhearted laugh. “You did and yours isn’t the first face I’ve seen it on. You think you’re the first person to dislike me because of my religion? No, there have been plenty others. Guess how many friends I had in school because of who I am and who raised me? If you said none, you’re correct.”
    “Wicca isn’t a religion. It’s a form of devil worship.” He started to walk away and she grabbed his arm.
    “Funny you should say that, since I don’t believe in the devil. See the goddess I pray to, doesn’t send us to hell if we misbehave.” She jumped down from the counter. “Ignorance, that’s what it’s called when you believe everything you hear and FYI jackass, Wicca was around long before Christianity.”
    She was utterly disgusted. Looking back she could understand why the kids she went to school with acted in stupidity, they were young and didn’t know better. But he was a grown man. Her body trembled with lifelong rage over who she was, boiling to the surface. She felt him behind her and turned. “Now would not be a good time to follow me. I’m so pissed right now that I’m positive I can take whoever is in there.”
    He took a few steps back , holding up his hand as though to placate her. “I’ll wait right here.”
    Without turning she said, “Good idea.”
    She closed her door and shut out the protests he was making about keeping it open. She needed comfort, she needed her grandmother. “Gran,” she whispered.
    “Gran, I really need you.” She wandered around the room, sorting through the tipped over drawers. She would start packing while she waited and hopefully her grandmother would show up. She opened the closet door and shrieked when her grandmother appeared through the clothes.
    “Zoe! Are you alright?” He banged on the locked door.
    “I’m fine and stop beating down my door!” she yelled.
    She was pretty sure he muttered something about being ungrateful and heart attack. She grinned.
    “You scared me.”
    “I don’t know why darling, I’ve been a spirit for a long time.” Her grandmother floated above the cluttered floor.
    “You’ve never been in my closet before, I wasn’t expecting it.”
    Her grandmother motioned around the room. “You couldn’t find anything to wear?”
    “Funny. Someone broke in and did this.” She pushed some stuff off the bed and sat down, letting out a long breath.
    “What did they take?”
    “Just my necklace.” She reached again for it knowing it wasn’t there, but it wasn’t going to be easy breaking that habit. Her grandmother’s spirit flickered in and out. If she wasn’t already dead Zoe would have sworn she turned white. “Dad, Evan and now you. Tell me what everyone’s hiding from me.”
    “We need to talk and soon, but it’s not safe for me to stay in one spot to o long.”
    “What do you mean safe ? You’re dead.”
    “Listen to me dear, go to the farm you’ll be safe there. I’ll come there this evening and we’ll talk.”
    “No!”
    “Zoe, what’s going on in there?” Evan called through the door.
    “I’m talking to my grandmother, everything is all right.” She knew he wouldn’t understand, but right now she didn’t care. “Give me the short version, give me anything.”
    “I’ll make this quick, but we’ll have to talk more later. Evan is your protector and spirits are disappearing.” Her spirit faded away.
    “Gran! Wait! You can’t say that and