Lizzy Bennet Ghost Hunter Read online

  Lizzy Bennet Ghost Hunter

  Jemma Thorne

  Contents

  The Netherfield Phantom

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Spectres at Longbourn

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Rosings and the Wraith

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Ghost of a Pemberley Bride

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Shades of Prejudice Past

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  About the Author

  Also by Jemma Thorne

  Copyright © 2017 by Jemma Thorne

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  The Netherfield Phantom

  Chapter 1

  “Elizabeth Bennet, our mother is going to have our heads if she finds us out of bed at this hour.”

  “You wouldn’t have us trying this by day, would you?” I shot back. I kept my current course; I would see Netherfield tonight. I’d been hearing of too many odd occurrences there in past days. I had to find out for myself if there was anything to them.

  Jane huffed an exasperated breath. She started to say something, then seemed to think better of it and began again with, “Oh, you had better sew me something pretty to make up for this, Lizzy. If I were in my right mind, I’d forget all about your tragic lack of sense and return to my bed. But apparently I haven’t any sense either, so here we are.”

  The empty estate loomed ahead of us, its front in shadow due to the bright full moon rising behind it.

  I gasped, for a second-floor window was lit! Picking up my skirts, I moved more quickly. We would catch whoever was playing at a haunting in Netherfield Park!

  “Lizzy!” Jane whispered from behind me. Falling farther behind, from the sound of it. Ah well, I didn’t need her for this part. Now...if there was something other than human inside…

  We were approaching under the lit window and as I looked up I saw a shadow move in the room beyond. My breath whistled through my teeth as I urged my legs faster, faster.

  The stories said the house was haunted. All it took was a couple of years of misuse to turn a property’s sterling reputation to dirt—or ghosts. But I would prove the stories wrong. I would show it was merely a man playing with the town’s fears.

  Jane and I had reason to know the difference. We’d faced spirits before. Twice. Neither was a time I liked to dwell on, but the experiences had made us strong.

  Reaching the door, I put my shoulder to it and urged it open slowly, praying the heavy piece of lumber wouldn’t squeak on its hinges as I did. The squeak was slight, thankfully, and I pressed on, with Jane soon behind me.

  The cavernous front hall felt forlorn, bereft of the warmth of human occupants.

  “We should not confront him ourselves,” Jane whispered. “If it’s a vagrant, he’ll still be here tomorrow, I don’t see why we can’t come back with Father—”

  “We’re going upstairs, Jane.” I waited for no further questions, ascending the stairs rapidly and only slowing my pace to remain quiet and avoid tripping as I stepped down the dark second-floor hallway. It felt colder in here than it had outside. I brushed my hands over my arms to warm them.

  At one end of the hallway was a window, but even the light from the full moon only penetrated so far. A door stood open between us and the end of the hall, spilling another patch of light onto the floor in front of it. That’s the light we’d seen from outside. This was it.

  “Oh…” Jane whispered.

  I spun to take her in—her eyes were wide and darting. She was breathing rapidly, on the edge of panic.

  “Take a breath, Jane. Do you see anything? Any...spirits?”

  “No...but Lizzy, I have a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. Can we go now?” Was she shaking?

  “First, I’m looking into that room,” I insisted. I brandished a knife I’d taken from the kitchen before we left, with Jane none the wiser.

  Her eyes widened further. “No! Don’t...Lizzy, I’m scared!”

  I ignored her and moved toward the open door.

  She followed, but I suspected that was because she did not want to be left alone in the empty and dark upstairs hallway of unoccupied Netherfield Park.

  I peered through the open door and blinked as my eyes adjusted to the sudden light of the lamp in a wall sconce next to the door. Long stretches of white cloth covered what was no doubt finer furniture than I’d ever laid eyes on.

  Otherwise, the room appeared to be empty.

  Someone had to be here if the lamp was lit. We just hadn’t been fast enough to catch them.

  I entered and surveyed the contents of the room from inside it, but was no more successful with discovering our would-be phantom. Jane stood just inside the doorway, her arms wrapped around herself, as I looked into corners and under cloths.

  The room smelled odd; like ancient perfume and layers of dust. It appeared clean, though. The contrast made me pause. “Do you smell that?”

  Jane’s eyes widened. “Smells like Aunt Rose’s room, after she died.”

  “That’s strange. The last residents left for the south—none have died in the house to my knowledge.”

  Jane shrugged. “I don’t...there’s no spirit here. At least none that is willing to reach out to me.”

  “You look thankful.”

  “I am. There’s nothing here.” She lifted her chin a notch and gave me her firmest glare. “Lizzy, I am going home, and you had better come with me or in the morning I’m going to tell Mother exactly what we’ve been doing.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  She stared me down, displaying an older-sister dominance that was unusual for us and told me just how scared she was. I gave in. After all, whoever had been here had probably dashed off when they heard us downstairs. They wouldn’t come back tonight.

  When they did, I would catch them at their game and show the town that Netherfield Park was not haunted at all.

  I took the small lamp in hand and led the return through the darkness of Netherfield’s halls, holding my breath in the expectation that someone would lurch from the shadows at any moment.

  Jane and I both sighed in relief when we were out under the light of the full moon once again, but I felt more tense now than I had in the room upstairs. As if someone were watching me.

  * * *

  The next day brought news that surprised the whole of Meryton village and disrupted my plans.

  The news came to the Bennet house in the form of another of Mrs. Bennet’s tirades to Mr. Bennet about something he ought to do.

  I gave Father a sympathetic look
as I left the dining room after finishing my meal. Jane soon joined me in our room upstairs and we commenced discussion, centered on the odd timing of one Mr. Charles Bingley letting Netherfield Park.

  “No matter how you deride me, Elizabeth, last night made me sure it’s no human we’re dealing with.”

  “Really?” I said suspiciously. “Last night you were shaking in your boots before we ever entered Netherfield. Forgive me if I do not trust your assessment.”

  “I’m the one who sees them, Lizzy. On this part, you have to trust me.”

  “If that is so, then what do you suggest? You’re not giving me much to work with.”

  “We have to visit Lady Leticia. She will advise us.”

  “Oh, gladly! I do wish you would show more interest in learning from the old woman when we are not in crisis, dear sister.”

  Jane frowned. “Crisis seems to follow us. Have you noticed?”

  “Yes, I’ve marked that down. We draw mayhem like the flame draws the moths. Shall we to it, then?”

  As soon as the Bennet house slept, we eldest daughters of the house crept from it in stealth. Father’s snores encouraged us—now to the hope that Lady Leticia would not yet be abed.

  It had been a fortnight since I last visited the witch. For a witch she was, no matter what her property and fortune said. A witch who had once married a rather inconspicuous man, who had lived happily with him in a cottage near Meryton until his death just a couple of years past.

  It was after that death that Jane and I came to know Lady Leticia. She saw something in Jane—the raw ability that marked one of her craft—and she put up with me. That was at first. I became her favorite pupil as I diligently learned and Jane tried to avoid the sight that plagued her.

  On this night, lamps burned in several of Lady Leticia’s windows, so I rapped at the door. It creaked open first a crack and then wider as Leticia’s lady servant admitted us and pointed toward the sitting room.

  Leticia sat in her rocking chair before the fire, her back bent and knitting needles flying. “Finally, girls! Would you keep an old woman up all night waiting?”

  “You were expecting us?” Jane said in surprise.

  I gave my sister a knowing look. She should anticipate as much by now.

  “Yes, yes,” Leticia confirmed, giving the shawl she was working on one last critical tug and setting it aside. “Now, sit. We have much to discuss.”

  “What do you know?” I asked suspiciously. How did she always manage to catch wind of what we were doing as we did it? The uncanny ability was unsettling at best and downright frightening when taken at its worst.

  “I know that rumors are circulating about a presence at Netherfield Park—and that you two were there last night. Investigating, I presume. Have you decided to chase the spirits then, even when they don’t readily appear?”

  Jane shook her head. “I have decided no such thing.”

  Leticia looked from one to the other of us. I set my jaw. I needed Jane’s gift if I hoped to trace any spirits. But that wasn’t the case here.

  “I don’t think it’s a spirit at all, so there’s no need to worry, either of you,” I said.

  “What did you find?” Leticia asked.

  “Nothing,” I admitted. “There was a light on, and I thought I saw a shadow, but no one was there.”

  “Lady Leticia, you have to tell Lizzy not to be so quick to take risks. She would not be put off a single night.”

  Leticia shook her head at Jane. “I wouldn’t temper our best weapon.” Her gaze swung back to me and I shivered despite my inclination toward rash bravery.

  Weapon? What did she mean by that?

  “I need more information than this. How can I tell what the thing is from rumors?” Leticia looked ready to rap our knuckles and I took a cautious step back from her.

  “What kind of information?”

  “Oh, come, the usual sort. Observe, my girl. The sounds, the smells are very helpful. Take note of everything you see, anything out of place. Taste the place if you have to. If there is something there—”

  “The rumors are too consistent,” I said. “It’s a person, trying to scare the people of Meryton for some unknown reason. I intend to find out what that reason is.”

  “Always the disbeliever…” Leticia watched me and the expression in her eyes was unsettling. “If you are right, all the better—humans leave far more evidence than any spirit or presence that I’ve encountered.”

  “I don’t agree,” Jane rejoined. “The place did not feel...right. I don’t want to return.”

  “Jane has a dislike of the place, to be sure. Or maybe she dislikes being drug about on my errands night after night,” I tried to joke.

  Jane wasn’t distracted. “Lizzy, really. You must be more careful.”

  “You’re careful enough for the both of us.”

  “Only when you let me be.”

  Leticia clapped her hands to silence us.

  “There is something I should show you. Something that could help. But it would work far better if you were practiced at it. Or if I could use it myself.”

  “Why is that out of the question?” I asked.

  “Psh. I don’t traipse about old, unpredictable properties in my advanced age, dear. I enjoy my peace well enough. I’ve earned it.”

  That mysterious statement would have me thinking for some days.

  Leticia urged her body to the edge of her chair and rose laboriously. I moved to help at her elbow and she gave me a smile of thanks. “It is not fair, getting old.”

  We reached a trunk stowed against one wall and she gave my hand a pat. “Please open it for me, Lizzy.”

  I left her standing there and opened the heavy lid of the trunk. It squeaked on its hinges and a smell of aged herbs drifted from it. The top of the trunk was a removable shelf, which housed a number of shells, rocks and bundles of herbs.

  “Lift that part away, dear.”

  I did as she asked, setting it aside where she pointed. We stood side by side as I peered in on an assortment of jewels, crystals, vases, candles, lamps and more stones and herbs.

  Leticia reached in and retrieved a narrow crystal of remarkably symmetrical shape strung on a silver chain, a bead tying off the other end.

  I tilted my head to the side and moved a bit so Jane, craning from her seat, could see what Leticia was doing.

  Leticia held the end of the crystal’s chain so that the point of the crystal hung just above her palm. She said something softly—just a word or two—and stared at it as it began to move in a circular pattern.

  Jane gave a small gasp, but I was looking for any motion from the woman that betrayed intentional movement of the object. For it did move, and I could not make any such action out.

  “What is it?” Jane asked.

  “It is a pendulum, dear. A device to divine answers to simple questions. You have just seen the pendulum’s response for ‘yes’, now let me show you ‘no.’”

  She stared at the pendulum and mouthed the word no, and it began to swing in a straight line that veered out from her right side. Its pace and arc accelerated but its trajectory remained unwavering.

  Was it a trick? I was still watching her critically when she lifted her eyes to mine and gave me a crafty smile. I narrowed my eyes at her. She knew my suspicious streak well enough. But what reason would she have to fool us with illusion in this case? So better to assume it was no trick.

  “And that’s all it does?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Your wits are your greatest weapon. I’ve already taught you that.”

  “And how is this supposed to help us now?”

  “First, choose one and practice. I have several, here.” She waved us over to the trunk and Jane and I each peered at the collection of pendulums.

  After a small hesitation, Jane reached for a soft pink crystal.

  I looked over the remaining half dozen. “How do I choose?” I asked.

  “It is not an easy task the first time. You
must open your mind to working with such an object. In time and with practice, the correct pendulum will call to you.”

  “Is that how it felt with yours?” I asked Jane.

  She was seated, staring intensely at the pendulum as it rocked back and forth over her palm. She muttered something and the pendulum ceased its movement and hung straight and still on its chain above her empty palm. She looked up at me and nodded, but her eyes were scared.

  I did not acknowledge Jane’s fear. She had more of that emotion than I, and it did not do for tonight’s errand.

  Leticia guided my hand over the pendulums, moving slowly. On the third tracing of the route she designed, I felt something. A sensation of warmth, a hesitance.

  My hand moved on but my mind returned to that place and pulled me back there. I let my hand sink into the velvet drawer and grasp a pendulum of jade green. I wasn’t sure of the stone, but it called to me. The silver chain was cool to the touch.

  I sat and adopted the same posture I’d seen in Jane.

  “Now,” Leticia said, “in your mind focus on these words, show me a yes.”

  I focused as well as I could, but this was not a normal circumstance and as willing as I was to accept certain oddities, for some reason this felt out of the realm of possibility to me. I tried to suspend my doubt and give it the attempt it was due—that way when it turned out not to work I would know it wasn’t my resistance at play.

  Low and behold, the thing moved for me. What started as a small circle widened as it spun above the center of my palm.

  Stunned, I nearly dropped it.

  “Oh, quit your stalling, Elizabeth Bennet!” Jane said. “You’re always wanting to pull me into these mysteries...what, does that feel a bit too real?”

  I glowered at her. Facing spirits was not the same as having your mind move an object. The essential difference being that the former fit my view of the world and the latter did not.

  “Try again,” Leticia urged. “This time with no.”

  I took a deep breath. I tried, focusing my mind on the phrase show me a no.