Sarah Painter - The Secrets Of Ghosts

Step back into the magical world of Pendleford with Sarah Painter’s new book The Secrets of Ghosts . Don’t miss the magical, heart-warming story from the bestselling author of The Language of Spells !

On her twenty-first birthday Katie Harper has only one wish: to become a real Harper woman. Mystical powers are passed down her family generation after generation — some even call them witches — yet every spell Katie attempts goes disastrously wrong.

When her magic does appear, it’s in a form nobody expected and suddenly Katie is thrown into a dangerous new world with shadowy consequences. For the realm of the deceased is not as peaceful as she once thought. The dead are buried with their secrets and only Katie can help the ghosts of the past finally find peace.

If that is what they are looking for…

The Secrets of Ghosts

Sarah Painter

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2014

Copyright © Sarah Painter 2014

Sarah Painter asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition © February 2014 ISBN: 9781472054807

Version date: 2018-10-30

Sarah Painterhas worked as a freelance journalist, editor and blogger for the last thirteen years, while juggling amateur child-wrangling (aka motherhood) with her demanding Internet-appreciation schedule (aka procrastination).

Born in Wales to a Scot and an Englishman (very nearly a ‘three men walked into a bar’ joke), she now lives in Scotland with her husband, two children and two cats. She loves the work of Joss Whedon, reading in bed, salt and vinegar crisps, and is the proud owner of a writing shed.

Sarah gives writing advice at www.novelicious.comand writes about craft, books and writing at www.sarah-painter.com

Acknowledgements

This book put up a bit of a fight and it truly wouldn’t exist without the encouragement and editorial support of Sally and Victoria at HQ Digital.

Thank you, also, to my wonderful agent, Sallyanne Sweeney, for her continuing enthusiasm and guidance.

I’m so grateful to all my friends and family for their understanding while I wrestled with this book, and to Holly and James for putting up with ‘Deadline Mum’ with love and good grace.

Finally, thank you to my brother, Matthew, for the pep talks and delicious beer.

For Dave, with love.

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Endpages

About the Publisher

Chapter 1

Katie Harper closed her eyes as the last lines of ‘happy birthday’ finished and blew out the candles on her cake. She concentrated with every ounce of her being, and wished more fervently than she’d ever wished before. More fervently than when she’d been in the middle of her horse phase and been hoping for a pony. More strongly, even, than when she’d thought she’d been in love with Luke Taylor and had tried her first real spell. She squeezed her nails into her palms and bit the inside of her cheek to provide a spark of necessary pain, biting hard enough to draw blood. Wishes could come true. There was magic in thought and intention. Katie knew this and when she opened her eyes, she expected the world to have changed.

It hadn’t.

The disappointment thumped through her. She saw a flicker of concern on her aunt Gwen’s face and hastily slapped a smile in place.

She kept the smile while the cake was cut, while her uncle Cam gave her a hug and a cheque, and while she thanked everyone in the little group for coming.

Her face was beginning to ache by the time her mum and dad were saying goodbye. Her mum kissed her on both cheeks and apologised for the millionth time for rushing away. ‘It’s an early start tomorrow,’ she said. ‘And you know I get travel sick.’

‘I know, it’s fine.’ Ruby and David were going on a cruise, their third in two years. They were taking their duties as empty nesters seriously and, honestly, Katie couldn’t blame them. She hadn’t been the easiest teenager to live with. She hugged them both, inhaling the scent of Ruby’s perfume and moisturiser. ‘I’m not staying late, either. I’m working tomorrow.’

‘If you’re sure,’ Ruby said, but she was already halfway out of the door.

‘Positive.’ Katie was picking up every extra shift going at The Grange and, truthfully, didn’t really feel like celebrating her twenty-first at all. Coming into her power. Now, that would be a day worth shouting about.

Katie followed her parents to the door, waving as they walked down the garden path and got into their silver Audi. Gwen had lined the path with candles in jam jars and strung tiny lights through the trees and hedges in the garden.

‘You’re working too hard. I don’t like it,’ Gwen said, coming up behind Katie and handing her a plate.

Gwen’s tradition when it came to birthday cakes was to produce different flavour combinations and you had to guess what they were. Katie had caught a whiff of lime when she blew out the candles and she was expecting something sweet to counteract the acidity so the honey wasn’t a surprise. There was something spicy in there, too, but she wasn’t sure what. She took another bite and let it dissolve in her mouth.

Gwen was looking at her expectantly.

‘Cardamon?’ Katie said.

‘Close.’ Gwen shook her head. ‘Cumin.’

Katie struggled to keep her face neutral. She was rubbish at the herbal stuff. What kind of witch was rubbish with herbs? A crap one, that was what.

Gwen was still talking about her birthday plans. ‘You only turn twenty-one once. At least tell me you’re going out for a wild night with your friends later. Clubbing or something.’

‘It’s almost ten already,’ Katie said, then felt embarrassed. Lots of people went clubbing at ten o’clock at night. Maybe not in Pendleford, but still.

Later, picking her way through the candle-strewn path, she tried to rationalise. Her birthday was an arbitrary deadline, a day like any other. There was no real reason to expect her powers to come in on her twenty-first, any more than there had been on her sixteenth or eighteenth, either. She’d held real hope for her nineteenth — her final teenage year — but, truly, there was no reason to believe that it wouldn’t happen tomorrow or next month or on a random rainy Thursday in October. She sat on the wooden bench at the bottom of Gwen’s garden. There was no need to panic.