The Healing Process Read online

  The Healing Process

  Blurb

  Thornbridge Keep has its fair share of secrets.

  Hidden doors behind bookshelves. Long, narrow passageways that lead to places no one would ever expect. A history too long and too grisly to recount.

  But Thornbridge, now a museum, has never killed people before.

  And now, employees are dropping like flies. Most are ill. Some on the verge of death.

  The ailing patients only have two things in common. Working at Thornbridge Keep and seeing something inexplicable before they fell ill.

  The museum is on the verge of closure, and the director is willing to go to unorthodox lengths to discover the source of the problem.

  After hiring Dr. Elias Arnaud, renowned epidemiologist to study the source of the disease, the director decides to hire another team. One dedicated to another type of science.

  The supernatural.

  Enter famed Lily Quinn, psychic, medium, and paranormal investigator. Quiet, rough around the edges, Quinn isn’t your typical indigo child. Forget crystals, alignments, and tarot readings; Lily Falwell means business…

  And is nothing like the mediums Dr. Arnaud has heard about before.

  As she helps him uncover the source of the disease affecting everyone at Thornbridge Keep, Dr. Arnaud might have to put his unwavering belief in science to the test and trust his heart, and a baffling puzzle of a woman, to help him with the healing process.

  THE HEALING PROCESS

  THE GHOSTS OF THORNBRIDGE KEEP

  LARISSA DE SILVA

  © Larissa de Silva, 2020

  All rights reserved

  This book is intended only for adult audiences.

  The events depicted within this work are fictitious. All and any similarity to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Unless you know of any men like the ones depicted in these books. If you know of any similarity to any living person, I urge you to email me. If not for me, then for science. Or medicine.

  CHAPTER ONE

  ELIAS

  2019

  “Welcome to the very expansive, very beautiful, and very scary Thornbrige Keep,” the voice in my headphones said. “My name is Dr. Avery Overstreet and I’m going to take you through the mysterious labyrinth of this beautiful and strange place. I know it like my own home. You see, it was my home when I was a little girl, and my father owned it. Back then, it was known as Thornbridge Hotel.”

  I tried hard not to roll my eyes as the audio deepened, taking on a more bass-like quality. I knew the production value in the audio tour was high, but I wasn’t interested in it. I just didn’t want the few workers that were still at the museum to think I was doing any sort of audit. That was a guaranteed way to get people’s guards up. I clicked on the button on my headphones to stop the audiotour. Wearing them would be enough for me to be able to blend in without anyone noticing me.

  I made my way to the stairs and looked at the worn away map hanging on the wall. The framing was scratched, but it was just clean enough that I could tell the administration offices were upstairs. I looked around, trying to spot any workers, then decided to take the velvet rope hanging in front off the stairs off the hook and making my way toward the office.

  I wanted to conduct my investigation, but before I could begin in earnest, I had to speak to the person that had called me here.

  Dr. Overstreet.

  I began to make my way upstairs, but before I could get far, someone was speaking from behind me.

  “Excuse me, sir,” a voice said. The stairs were narrow so I practically had to turn my entire body around to see who was addressing me. A small woman with dark brown hair with gray streaks was looking at me. “This area is restricted.”

  I smiled at her. “My apologies,” I said, digging out my wallet from the pocket of my slacks. “My name is Elias Arnaud. I have an appointment with Dr. Overstreet, but I couldn’t find a receptionist and—”

  She narrowed her eyes, looking me up and down. “You’re Dr. Arnaud?”

  “Yes,” I replied.

  Her expression softened. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll take you to her. Excuse me.”

  I had to get off the stairs to allow her to go in front of me because they were so narrow.

  She walked quickly, though the stairs were uneven and surprisingly wet. I tried to stay upright but I instinctively looked for a handrail. When I realized there was nothing, I extended my hand and held myself up on the smooth stone wall. The stairs were steep and curled, and when we finally got to the top of them, I noticed that I lost the person guiding me for a second.

  The stairs came to an abrupt end and then into a sharp corner. When she stepped off the landing, rows of industrial overhead lights came on at the same time, disturbing the silence in the hallway with their buzzing sound.

  “Follow me,” she said.

  I nodded.

  I followed her down a hallway for what felt like a couple of minutes, not a few seconds. The hallway wasn’t as narrow as the stairs. It was long and tiled, and although the walls were made of stone, it felt more like an outdated office than a renovated castle. Except for the length of the corridor, which felt like it was interminable.

  We finally stopped in front of an unassuming white door. She smiled at me before she knocked. I couldn’t hear anything, and even after she knocked, the sound didn’t change.

  “Dr. Overstreet gets really busy,” she said. It didn’t sound like an apology.

  “That’s fine. I’m a little early anyway, I can wait.”

  She looked around the hallway, which was unadorned completely. There were no chairs or benches around us, and as the lights flickered, the place took on an even more surreal quality.

  “I mean,” she said. “You can if you want to, but…”

  The door opened before she could say anything else. We both turned to look at it. I saw someone’s silhouette through the sliver of the open door.

  “Dr. Overstreet,” the worker said. “Dr. Arnaud is here to see you.”

  “Of course,” she replied. She opened the door slightly and I saw the outline of her body through the darkness. I was a little surprised she hadn’t opened the door entirely, but didn’t say anything. “Give me a minute. Thank you, Abigail. You can go back to work now.”

  Abigail nodded. She smiled at me before she turned around and began to get further away from me.

  “Dr. Arnaud,” Dr. Overstreet said, opening the door a crack. “It is a pleasure to meet you. Give me a minute, please.”

  I nodded, but I was looking past her.

  At the woman sitting on the chair.

  Even though her back was to me, there was something magnetic about her. All I could see was her hair tied up in a top knot and the fraying edges of her denim jacket. Her leg was extended and her foot was placed on the desk in front of her. She was swaying it back and forth absent-mindedly. I could see her earrings dangling from her ears and a sliver of her cheeks.

  “Come in,” Dr. Overstreet said.

  “I can wait, I know I’m early.”

  “Please,” she said. “I want to introduce you to my other guest.”

  I nodded and followed her into the office. She gestured toward the free chair next to the woman with the denim jacket.

  I sat down next to her, trying my best not to stare.

  There was something about her I found magnetic, but I was trying to be polite. I was there to work, not to stare at people. She moved her foot suddenly down, set it on the tile floor, and turned her face to look at me.

  “Lily Quinn, I would like you to meet Dr. Elias Arnaud,” she said. “Dr. Arnaud, this is Lily Quinn.”

  “Elias is fine,” I said. “Nice to meet you.”
/>   Lily nodded, her half-moon earrings dangling from her ears. “And you,” she said.

  Dr. Overstreet walked around her desk and sat down. She leaned forward, intertwining her hands in front of her on top of her desk. “You’re both going to be working on the same thing, but not in the same capacity,” she said. “I understand that this isn’t ideal, but please keep in mind that I did this in the interest of time. I know you’re both consummate professionals so I have no doubt you won’t have a problem staying out of each other’s ways.”

  I furrowed my brow. “Wait,” I said. “Is Ms—Dr. Quinn another epidemiologist?”

  “No,” Lily said, turning to me and smiling. “Not even a little bit. I’m a medium, actually—”

  “A medium what?” I asked.

  Dr. Overstreet cleared her throat and we both turned to look at her. “Your areas of expertise do not overlap,” she said. “I just need someone to find the answers for what’s happening here and we need all the help that we can get.”

  “Right.”

  “In the interest of time,” Dr. Overstreet said, her brown eyes shining. “I need you both to be quick. People are getting sick. Some of them might be dying. If Thornbridge is what’s making them sick then I…”

  Neither Lily nor I said anything.

  Dr. Overstreet waved her hand in front of her face. “I’m willing to follow any guidance you provide. I’ve already reduced the amount of tours we are taking and we are putting our workers on reduced hours.”

  “How many have gotten sick?” Lily asked. I noticed that her voice was softer than I expected with an accent I couldn’t quite place.

  “So far, six. I only have fifteen employees who work here, and right now and only four are coming per shift,” Overstreet said. “My maintenance people are also no longer staying on site.”

  “Can you describe the symptoms again?” I asked. “I have them in my report, but I would like to hear them from you.”

  “Sure. It started with Natalie. She was one of our tour guides, and after she was done with a VIP tour, she went to the break room to change and go home. While she was there, she fell to the floor, and we all thought she had fainted. When I looked at the tape, it’s clear that she’s convulsing.”

  I looked at her as I took out my phone and activated the recording feature. I put it on her desk, making it very obvious to everyone what was happening. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  Overstreet shook her head. Lily didn’t say anything.

  “A seizure?”

  “That’s what they said at the hospital. We called an ambulance, they came, and they took her to do some tests,” Overstreet said. I could feel how tense she was, how much this was making her agonize. “When they couldn’t find anything wrong with her, they told her to come back to work. Everything was supposed to be fine, but then it happened again, and when they brought her to the hospital that time, she didn’t wake up. She was only 25 years old.”

  Lily closed her eyes. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you,” Overstreet said, her voice shaky.

  “As am I,” I said. “Any other symptoms? Was her skin chalky, was she unable to breathe, was she coughing, anything like that?”

  “Not that I can recall. I do remember that she was acting differently for the week or so before it happened. I mean, the first time.”

  “Differently how?” Lily asked, leaning forward slightly. I looked at her and noticed that the sides of her head were shaved much shorter than her top knot, which appeared to be long and wrapped around a hairband.

  “She just acted less happy than she normally did,” Overstreet replied. “She was still doing her job, still smiling at the right parts, making people scared at the right parts. But if you knew her for a long time, you could tell her heart was not in it. She just seemed so tired.”

  “What about the week after she came back from the hospital the first time?” I asked.

  “She wasn’t the same,” Overstreet said. “We all noticed it, but we thought it was because she was sick. I mean, she had just come back from the hospital. Of course we all thought she was sick. There were big bags under her eyes. She moved slower. She would make excuses so she wouldn’t have to do the tours, and nobody really blamed her. I kept telling her she could go home if she wanted to, but she said she wasn’t going to let it beat her.”

  “What happened the second time?”

  Overstreet leaned back on her chair, biting down on her lower lip. She looked like she was going to be sick. “She was downstairs. This time, she wasn’t in the breakroom. She was in the front area, where we greet customers. It was early in the morning, so we hadn’t opened yet. I was with her, because I was concerned. She fell, started convulsing again. There was foam coming out of her mouth. Abigail, the woman walked you here, she called an ambulance. I had to turn Natalie on her side so she wouldn’t choke.”

  “That sounds very difficult.”

  I looked at Lily, whose head was slightly bowed. My gaze darted over to Overstreet, who was looking right at her, a small smile on her face despite the tears swimming in her eyes. “Yes. It was. Especially when I had to call her family and tell them what had happened. They were devastated. We’re all still devastated.”

  We were all quiet as the weight of what she was saying settled between us.

  “Then it happened again,” Overstreet finally said.

  I nodded. “What happened exactly?”

  “Ronnie fainted,” she said. “While he was in the bathroom changing a lightbulb.”

  “Did he also seize?” I asked.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “Hard to say. There is no surveillance in the bathroom, so there is no way for us to know, and he wasn’t conscious so there was no way to ask him,” she said. “He was rushed to the hospital, but I didn’t let him get back to work.”

  “Did he also have a recurrence?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No,” she said. “No one has so far, but I’m hesitant to let them come back to work. I don’t know if the castle caused it or if something else did, but I’m aware it could be environmental. I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

  “Have you called the CDC?” I asked, a little hesitantly. I didn’t want to make her feel like she had done anything wrong.

  She smiled a little. “I did call the CDC, Dr. Arnaud,” she said. “They were the ones who referred me to you.”

  I nodded.

  “I would like this sorted as soon as possible,” she continued. “I understand it might take some time, but finding the cause can come later. I need to know how to stop it. How do I stop the people that work for me from becoming sick?”

  “I am here to help,” I said. “Unfortunately, I can’t guarantee any timeline. What about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “Have you been feeling unwell, Dr. Overstreet?”

  She shook her head. “No,” she said. “I’m fine.”

  “But you’re here every day,” Lily said. I turned to look at her. “I mean, emotionally, it must be difficult. Do you feel worse physically?”

  I watched Dr. Overstreet swallow and pale even more under the dim yellow light overhead. “Yes,” she said. “I’ve been having headaches. Bad ones. Stress, I assume. This has never happened before.”

  I stared at her. “Would you mind if I did a routine examination?”

  She cocked her head. “On me?”

  “If that’s okay,” I said, grabbing my phone and stopping the recording. “I just want to do a few routine things. I assume you’ve already been to see a doctor, but I would like to help in any way I can.”

  “Sure,” she said. “That’s fine.”

  “That’s my cue to leave,” Lily said. “Nice to meet you, Dr. Arnaud.”

  “And you, Ms. Quinn,” I said.

  She smiled at me and turned around to leave. When she closed the door behind her, I was still looking at her.

  CHAPTER TWO

  LILY

  2019


  I made my way toward the stairs, or at least where I thought the stairs were.

  For someone with a gift for seeing, I could never see really sensible and obvious things, like which direction the stairs were in. I had come from the left, so it made sense to turn left, but I knew it might lead me to more stairs and I would have to double back.

  I took my phone out of my pocket and scrolled to my assistant’s contact card, but as soon as I clicked on the contact card with his name, my phone announced that there was no network available.

  I rolled my eyes and hurried downstairs. He was outside, waiting, and I didn’t want to leave him out there for too long. I hadn’t expected I would be in there with Dr. Overstreet for so long, and I definitely didn’t expect to meet the doctor in charge of investigating the castle. I could tell he was going to be an inconvenience.

  Hopefully Dr. Overstreet was right and we were going to be able to leave each other alone. I got to the first floor, barely looked around at the large reception area, and stepped out into the sunlight.

  I shielded my eyes with my hand and scanned the large parking lot for our working SUV. There weren’t many other cars parked around us, but the sunlight was blinding me.

  I finally spotted our white van parked next to the handicapped spot. I walked over to it, opened the passenger door, and climbed into the car.

  “Hey, Basil,” I said to my assistant, who was playing around on his phone in the driver seat. “Hope you weren’t too bored.”

  “You’re joking, right? I practically die of boredom when you’re not around.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “So,” he said, putting his phone down on the dashboard. “What’s going on in there?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m not getting anything, honestly,” I said. “But it’s early and we haven’t done the investigation yet, so nothing can be ruled out.”

  “But what’s your instinct?”

  I looked at the castle, which contrasted with the flat green land surrounding it. “Something is fucked up in there,” I said, a shiver running down my spine. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s something.”