Magnolia Magick

Prologue

November 1, 2008

Lissa knelt at the base of the old Yew tree. It was almost midnight – the witching hour. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Hopefully the rain would hold off. It had taken some unusual abilities to locate Jesse’s grave, not to mention locating the spell itself. Thanks to Gemma’s unique abilities, she already had the supplies and ingredients she needed.
Making a circle with black candles, Lissa began laying everything out. She had a charm, which contained shavings from an Alder tree and the petals of an Iris, along with various herbs.
Lissa pulled out her small cauldron and placed it in the center of the circle. Glancing at her watch, she saw that midnight was only a minute away.
Reaching into the pocket of her jeans, she removed a small box of wooden matches. Lighting the candles, Lissa cast her circle. Facing the grave at the base of the tree, she began her incantation.
Goddess Hela,
I beseech thee.
Release this soul
From Heheimr.
Dropping the charm bag into the cauldron, she lit the bag on fire. It burned quickly, leaving behind the ashes Lissa needed to complete the ritual. Dipping her fingers into the cauldron, she spread the ashes on her forehead and cheeks. Spreading the remaining ashes across the grave, she continued;
In life he knew not love,
In death he roams the earth.
I beseech thee,
Release him into my care.
Lissa continued to chant her spell until she was exhausted. An hour after she had begun, she collapsed at the foot of the grave. Had she still been conscious, she would have felt the ground begin to shift.
 
Chapter One

A month earlier

Lissa parked her car in the circular drive in front of the huge house. It was a gorgeous antebellum plantation, or it would be if someone had been taking care of it. Gothic columns stretched up toward the sky across the front of the home. At one point, the house had been a brilliant white. Now the paint had yellowed with age and was chipped and peeling.
Stepping out of the car, Lissa faced the monstrosity. She was starting to question her sanity. She shouldn’t have signed the six month rental agreement without having first seen the house. Then again, it was huge and isolated; her main requirement had been isolation. She didn’t want neighbors who would want to come and visit all the time.
Sighing, she trudged up to the front door. Inserting the ancient key into the rusty lock, she unlocked the door and pushed it open. It opened slowly with a loud creak. Obviously she would need to stop in town to get some oil for the door.
Lissa stepped into the entry and reached for the light switch. Groping the wall near the door, she cursed. Where was the damn switch?
“Let me help you with that,” said a deep male voice in the darkness. A lamp came to life on a table across the entry.
“Who’s there,” Lissa asked, peering into the darkness. She hadn’t expected anyone to meet her way out here.
“Just me,” said the husky male voice, which had a heavy southern drawl. Lissa strained to see in the dark, but she could only make out the faint glow of a male silhouette.
“And who is me?” she asked, starting to get irritated.
“My friends call me Jesse,” he replied, stepping into the light.
He was well over six feet tall, with reddish brown wavy hair and bright blue eyes. He was broad shouldered and muscular. If Lissa had to guess, she’d say he did manual labor for a living. His face had a strong chiseled jaw and a straight nose. His lips were full and looked very kissable. Kissable? What in the heck was she thinking? She didn’t have time for lascivious thoughts about a stranger. She had a deadline!
“I didn’t realize anyone was here. Did the rental agency send you?”
Jesse chuckled. “Not exactly. I sort of live here.”
“Here? But … but I rented the place for the next six months!”
“I guess they forgot to tell you about your roommate,” he replied, looking her over. She was a pretty little thing, curvy in all the right places. If he had to guess, he’d put her at about five foot four inches tall; she had long blonde hair and flashing blue eyes. Her features were delicate, like a pixie’s. Her face was oval with a delicate chin and small button nose. She had a generous mouth, which was scowling at him at the moment.
“You can’t stay here! I rented the place for peace and quiet. I need the solitude so I can finish writing my novel,” she exclaimed.
“You’re a writer?”
Lissa straightened her spine. It had been a while since she hadn’t been recognized. She wasn’t sure if she should feel insulted or happy. “Yes. You may have heard of me. I’m Amaryllis Rose, the romance writer.”
Jesse gave her a blank look.
Lissa couldn’t believe he hadn’t heard of her. Pretty much everyone in America knew her name by now. “You know; the author of Red Roses?”
Jesse still gave her a blank look. Had the man been in a cave for the last few months? Not only had her book been on the best seller list for months, but it was also being turned into a movie. She could barely leave her house without a mob of people asking her for a picture or an autograph.
“Don’t you read the papers or watch TV?” she asked.
Jesse shook his head. “There isn’t a TV here and I haven’t read a newspaper in a while. I’m sorry for not recognizing you.”
Lissa hesitantly smiled. “Honestly, it’s a little refreshing.”
Jesse returned her smile and Lissa almost stopped breathing. If she had thought he was handsome before, he was downright sinful when he smiled. Letting her eyes rove over him, she took in his un-tucked white button down shirt and tan pants. The material of his shirt stretched taught over his broad shoulders. The sleeves were rolled up to reveal strong tanned arms. She could easily see women falling all over themselves to be with him.
Lissa shook her head. She needed to get her wayward thoughts in order. “I’m afraid there’s still been some sort of misunderstanding. When I rented this house, I was assured that it was vacant and isolated.”
“I think they forget about me occasionally.”
“Forget about you?” Lissa was stunned. How on earth could anyone forget this man?
“That tends to happen when you’ve been dead for a while.”
Lissa thought she must have misheard him. “I’m sorry; I thought you just said you were dead.”
Jesse nodded. “I did.”
Obviously the man wasn’t dealing with a full deck. Just her luck, Mr. Gorgeous was crazy as a bed bug. “Uh-huh. I think I’ll just go back to town and get you some help. You must have hit your head or something.”
Lissa inched back toward the door. Jesse sighed. He should have known she would react this way. There was only one thing he could do to prove to her that he really wasn’t alive. He walked over to her until he was standing directly in front of her.
“I guess you’ve left me no choice. Sorry about this.”
Lissa opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get a single word out, Jesse had disappeared. Lissa’s mouth snapped shut. What the hell? She looked around, but didn’t see him anywhere.
“Jesse?”
She heard a chuckle by her ear and turned her head in that direction. Before her eyes, Jesse slowly materialized again. Lissa grabbed for the door frame to support herself. She’d never fainted before in her life, but there was a first time for everything.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. You … you… you’re a ghost!”
Jesse smiled sadly at her. “Yes, I’m afraid that I am.”
Lissa’s eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped to the floor. Jesse shook his head. It would be nice to meet someone for once who didn’t faint the moment they discovered he was dead. Okay, so maybe that was asking a bit too much. Finding out that ghosts exist wasn’t something that most people could handle, especially when they were face to face with one.
Reaching down, he lifted her into his arms. He was surprised at how light she felt. Turning to the large staircase, Jesse carried her up to the second floor. The rental company had sent maids by yesterday to clean and prepare all of the rooms. He carried her to the master bedroom and gently laid her on the bed. She looked like a small child lying in the large king size bed. Brushing her hair away from her face, he looked at her in concern.
Lissa swam back into consciousness. Looking around, her surroundings were foreign to her. Then it all came rushing back to her… she was in the plantation home – with a ghost! She sat up quickly and looked at Jesse.
“Are you really a ghost?”
He nodded, “Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“Wow. I mean … wow. Well, that certainly explains why the rental agency didn’t mention a permanent tenant in the home.” Lissa was still shaken, but her brain was slowly taking it all in.
She was taking this better than he had expected. Jesse observed her in silence.
Lissa looked him over. He really was a handsome guy. Too bad he didn’t have a pulse!
“So, um, how long have you been a ghost?”
Jesse smiled at her sadly. “A long, long time. I was born in 1880, in this very house.”
Lissa was surprised. She had figured that he was tied to the house in some way, but she didn’t realize he’d been dead for so long. His clothes certainly didn’t look like something a man would have worn in the late 1800’s.
Jesse must have read her mind. “I can change my clothes whenever I’d like. If I see a picture of something I like, I can imitate it.”
“How does that work?”
Jesse shrugged. “As far as I can tell, since I’m not really here, neither are my clothes. As long as I can keep an image in my mind, the clothes can look like anything I’d like for them to.”
Lissa was curious. “So, what do the clothes look like if you forget to hold the image in your mind?”
Jesse gave her a wicked grin. “Maybe I’m naked then… want to find out?”
Lissa laughed. “Thank you, but I think I’ll pass. I have a hard enough time having relationships with the living, I’m not sure I’d fair much better trying to have a fling with a dead guy.”
Jesse watched her. She was a beautiful woman. It was hard for him to imagine her alone. Surely there were men falling over themselves just to be near her. Never had he been so attracted to a woman before. She was not only beautiful, but she had spirit and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Jesse found both of those qualities to be attractive in a woman. He was definitely looking forward to the next six months; it wasn’t often he had company in the house, especially beautiful company.
“I’ll let you rest a bit. If you’d like, I can step outside and bring your luggage in for you?”
“You can do that?”
Jesse gave her a cocky grin. “I carried you up here, didn’t I?”
Lissa blushed. “Um, yeah, I guess you did. If you wouldn’t mind, that would be great. The large bag is rather heavy though.”
“I think I can manage.”
Lissa sighed as he retreated out of the bedroom. If she was going to share this monstrous house with a gorgeous ghost for the next six months, she’d better learn to focus better. The last thing she needed was a distraction, particularly of the male variety. If she didn’t make her deadline for the follow-up novel to Red Roses, her editor was going to kill her!
Getting out of the bed, Lissa wandered around the room. It was sparsely furnished, but was rather large. The bed took up most of the space, but she didn’t plan on being in this room that much anyway. Walking down the hall, Lissa began opening doors to check out the other rooms. At the far end of the hall, she found a large office that doubled as a library. It was the perfect location for her to use for writing. Once her bags were brought up, she’d begin setting up her work space.
The front door closed and Lissa heard Jesse’s footsteps on the stairs. She was still having trouble believing that ghosts not only existed, but that she could see them, hear them, and feel them. It was a bit much to take in. It made her wonder what else lived in the shadows that people “knew” didn’t exist. Then again, maybe it was better to not think about it.