Echoes of Samhain

Echoes of Samhainbrings you four stories of ghosts, vampires, dolls, and haunted mansions. Read one each night leading up to Halloween or read them all on a perfectly cozy rainy day!

By the Moon of Samhain~ Cassidy and Lonnie's trip to Ireland becomes even more exciting when they meet Tristin and Rion. That is, until they set up camp at an old Irish castle in the middle of a Samhain ritual.

Unlucky in Love~ Paige's love of Celtic history has brought her to Ireland for the trip of a lifetime. Austin is hoping that Paige will finally see him as more than a friend. But a ghostly visitor could ruin it all.

The Price of a Broken Heart~ Ciara's forbidden love turns tragic when she's forced to marry another man. Losing everything she's ever cared about feels like the end-but it's only the start of a new and terrible beginning.

You Shouldn't Have Done That~ Eva's dream of owning an old mansion in Maine has finally happened. But along with the house, she also gained a host of ghostly evil dolls set on taking their mansion back.

The overhang of gnarled trees of the ancient forest provided ample shade from the warm afternoon sun. Cassidy took a deep drink from her water bottle and stretched out as far as her heavy pack would allow. This was
the final week of her and Lonni’s vacation before having to head across the Atlantic to start back with their university studies.

Ahead of her, Tristan and Lonni engaged in small talk, exchanging smiles and animated
gestures. Lonni flipped her sun-streaked brown braid to one side. She was always doing that when talking with boys.

“We’re almost there,” Rion said from beside Cassidy. He pointed toward what looked to
be an open portal through which light shone up ahead of them.

Cassidy smiled. She had taken a bit of a liking to Rion since she and Lonni had met him when they had arrived in Ireland several weeks before. He was a little taller than Tristan, well built, with jet black wavy hair to contrast Tristan’s lighter brown hair. And Rion had a thick Irish accent that made Cassidy want to find any excuse to keep him talking.

“What is this place again?” Cassidy asked, looking up at him.

“It’s an old castle that my family used to own way back when,” Rion said.

“Doesn’t that make you nobility then?” Cassidy asked. “Should I address you as M’Lord?”

“No, nothing like that,” Rion replied. He stooped down, and absently picked up a
twig, and began snapping it into smaller pieces. “It’s been centuries since anyone from my family lived there. No one remembered that we actually owned it
until I looked it up.”

“It’s still cool though,” Cassidy said. “We don’t really have that in America at all, our oldest buildings are only a few hundred years old.”

“And yet your country is seen as really important on the world’s stage,” Rion replied.

“Yeah, I’m not quite sure how that all works,” Cassidy said.

“Are you two ready to start out again?” Rion asked. “We walk through the rest of these
woods, and then the castle is just up ahead.”

Tristan and Lonni both laughed and nodded, shouldering their packs, and resumed
trudging along the gravel road.

“I thought all roads were paved in Ireland,” Cassidy said.

“It’s our tourist board,” Rion said. “If tourists start hearing that not all of the roads are paved here, then no one would come to visit.”

Cassidy adjusted the hair band that held back her red wavy mass of hair. She was glad that Lonni had trusted Rion and Tristan from the start. It was a bit more difficult for her to just meet people and immediately develop a good rapport. Lonni always seemed to be able to do that. The amazing part, though, was that she had managed to get the two of them to want to join them in their exploration, and to play quasi tour guides. Nothing like getting a guided tour from a local, Lonni had said, especially when it’s given by two hot guys.

Cassidy shivered suddenly, a feeling of uneasiness coming over her. It weighed her
down, doubt and fear clouding her mind. Did she really want to spend the night in a foreign country, camping outdoors with two men that she barely knew? She hadn’t even camped in America before, and now she was doing it in a different country. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to keep walking. The same feelings had hit when she was standing at the gate waiting to board the plane. She
wasn’t sure she wanted to go through with the trip, but she didn’t want to disappoint Lonni. Good thing Lonni had been there to help her walk down the gang way.

“Are you all right?” Rion called back to her.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Cassidy took a deep breath.

One foot in front of the other, she told herself. I can do this.

She was the last one to emerge from the forest into the sunlight and warmth and gaze
across the wide expanse of green. The ruins of a castle stood in the middle of the meadow, on a piece of ground that rose up from the short grass.

A large flock of sheep slowly milled about, mowing the green grass down. Cassidy
thought she could see a shepherd or two sitting next to a small sheep camp, as
well as a few dogs, lounging next to them.

They picked their way across the meadow toward the ruins, avoiding the herd of sheep
and the shepherds who glanced warily at the visitors.

Rion’s cell phone rang, and he stopped while the other three continued forward toward
the castle.

“So, who’s in?” Rion called from behind, jogging toward them up the path.

 “Who’s in for what?” Cassidy asked.

“Sleeping up by the castle graveyard,” Tristan grinned mischievously.

“Did he say we could?” Lonni asked.

“Wait, who said? What are we doing?” Cassidy felt confused, worry growing within her once more.

“What’s the worst thing that could happen?” Tristan said, gazing up at the old castle
on top of the hill.

Lonni looked at him, and motioned toward Cassidy, shaking her head.

“What?” Tristan asked.

Lonni glared at him and shook her head again.

“That was the castle caretaker,” Rion said. “I had asked him permission to let us camp up close to the ruins tonight.”

“Isn’t there a graveyard up there?” Cassidy asked, shivering.

“Well, I told him that we were ghost hunters, he seemed to come around to the idea.” Rion said.

“Ghost hunters?” Cassidy asked. “What possessed you to say that?”

“I thought it might work,” Rion retorted, with a chuckle. “So, I just went with it.”

“Brilliant.” Tristan laughed.

Cassidy tried to think up a good reason why she couldn’t sleep up in the old graveyard,
but her mind drew a blank.

“I can’t sleep up there,” she said.

“Why not?” Lonni said. “You were fine with camping this morning. It’ll be okay, I’ll be there with you.”