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MAY 2ND AND 3RD
A mysterious ivory fan, a surprise marriage, and the suspicion a witch was among them…
In the great house of Cedar Ridge, secrets whispered along the corridors and hidden crevices. The morning sunlight upon the walls of the museum cast a deceiving appearance of serenity. There were those who wouldn’t know gentle repose, who must be denied peace, because the walls within harbored dangerous and frightening secrets.
The residents of Locke Bay were aware of a stranger in their midst. A woman whose presence was felt by all. Many would soon be aware of her presence and the mystery surrounding her.
From award-winning, bestselling author Pamela Ackerson, a new time travel adventure has begun.
Her journey
began there, on a cold, windy day, with an ominous warning of what was to come.
It brought her to a strange, dark place near the edge of the great Lake
Superior. The manor, called Cedar Ridge Hills, rose high atop the hill.
She
grabbed the keys in the box next to the door. At this late hour, no one would
greet her. She was to let herself in and set up her quarters in the western
wing on the second floor past the office area.
Thalia
Jefferies hoped her journey would open the doors of life, and bind her past
with her future. The ornate, French doors unsealed an unfamiliar world with
people she never met, people who were only shadows in her imagination, but
would soon fill her tomorrows.
It
was a dark and frightening place on the crest of a lonely hill. The ghosts of
yesterday cautioned her to leave, but Thalia had arrived, and there was no
turning back.
The
fear of darkness and the unknown was only for the young.
She
walked through the desolate corridors of the mysterious, dusky manor. Thalia
could hear the brooding calls of the dead trembling in its walls, and singed
her unexpressed fears. It was her home now and the outside world fell away into
distant shadows.
There
were homes with warm, welcoming families in Locke Bay, people with hopes and
dreams. Yet, she couldn’t feel anything but the dark night as it pressed its
gloom on her. It crushed against the windows whispering to her, telling her to
escape while she could.
It
was a fitful sleep but, at least, the night was over. It was a night touched
with a fear Thalia had never known before. The gray light of early morning
brought no relief from the heaviness that inhabited the house.
Thalia
was enjoying a cup of coffee when a well-dressed man entered the kitchen area.
“Good
morning.” He put his hand out to shake hers.
She
stood to greet him. “Good morning. Thalia Jefferies, you must be George
Greene?”
“That
I am. Local expert, docent of a little bit of this and that, and way too many stories. Sit, please.
Finish your breakfast. I’ll pour myself a cup and join you.”
She
watched the elderly man as he heated a cinnamon roll and poured coffee into a
cup. He sat across from her. “It’s good to see you’re still here. You lasted
much longer than the last curator we hired.”
“Oh?”
“He
didn’t make it past midnight.”
Thalia
laughed. “Well, it is a bit scary up here at the top of the hill. It’s an odd
and lonely place. I enjoyed the grounds at sunrise this morning. All I could
see was the great hulk of Cedar Ridge towering above the mist, a sleeping
monster on its crest.”
“I
like that, good thing you’ll be helping with the tours. In your email, you said
you wanted to do some deep, ancestral searching. I know a lot of local history,
and would be happy to help.”
“Thank
you. I’m really curious about−”
A
group of people entered and introductions were made. The museum would open
soon. It was reassuring to see the nametags on the employees; she was never
very good at remembering names. Faces, yes. Names? No.
Thalia
hoped and believed the answers she was looking for might be here−for her
father, if not for her own personal curiosity. At the end of each day, she’d
wait in the darkness and search the dust of hidden years, surrounded by ghosts
of the past and shake away the fears of the present.
Thalia
pulled folders out of the filing cabinets, she’d have a lot of work to catch up
on and understand. Normally, the director would train her, but Cedar Ridge
didn’t seem to have one.
She
wondered what happened.
Thalia
started reading notes from the early 1900s when the Locke family moved to
another home away from the cliffs. It’d become a sanatorium for about fifty
years before they closed the doors and an order to demolish was aborted. The
people of Locke Bay, and the historical society saved the beautiful manor.
Whoever
put notes to paper described the dead past with a colorful flourish as they
recorded the history of the family. She could picture them as they drifted
through the corridors of Locke Manor, now known as Cedar Ridge. The pages of
stories settled like dust in its corners. They worried a legacy would be
destroyed, yet spurred by hope, they fought to keep the manor in place.
Her
search continued as life itself continued. Not only for her but also for
everyone else in this strange corner of the world. There was so much history
here. Would she find Albert, her long-lost uncle? Would she be able to release
her father from the haunted memories of two young children in search of family?
Locke
Manor was a sanatorium, a foundling home, hospital, and a place for those whose
devils prowled the hidden hollows of fear. People who lived with their own
trepidations and their own hopes.
It
was of a forgotten time as foundlings and the infirm made their home on the
crest of the hill. The great house echoed with their pain.
It
was a lonely and frightening place. For Thalia, it was a place of hope. It was
a home where the winds of the past would bring the answers to the future.
Patti,
one of the tour guides, walked into her office and leaned against the desk.
“You know, you’ve been here for almost a month. Why don’t you come into town
with us? We’re going to a restaurant on the water. It’s beautiful in the
evening. Something I think you’d like to see.”
Thalia
smiled. “I think I’d like that. Thank you. Sometimes the mysteries of this
place make me feel like it’s reached out and touched me and everyone within its
walls.”
“The
longer you stay, the more it will become a part of you. It’ll feel like it’s
closing in on you.”
“I
think that’s called cabin fever.”
“Yes,
well, you can get it real easy here at Cedar Ridge.”
*Almost all of the
books are available as audio, e-book, paperback, hardcover, and in Large Print
at 16pt.
May 2nd, and May 3rd
https://amzn.to/3VL2w0G
Have a good moments day,
Pam
PamelaAckerson.net
@PamAckerson
Facebook.com/pam.ackerson.7
Email: PamAckerson@adcmagazine.com
Amazon.com/Books-Pamela-Ackerson
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