Tess is starting over with the help of a strange woman who may or may not be a Good Samaritan. Tess was raised in an orphanage. She doesn't know much about her family, and she doesn't really care. Angela showed up-seven months pregnant-and said, "I'm going to take care of you". So Tess left the orphanage, but she didn't plan on ending up in a creepy, old house with this woman she doesn't know and doesn't trust. Then, the dreams begin-dreams that make Tess think she's been to this creepy house before and that make her think Angela isn't the stranger she appears to be. What is the link between them, and why did Angela suddenly show up and take her away from life as an orphan? Soon, the dreams escalate, and Tess finds herself in serious danger. It's almost as though the house is out to get her. To put a stop to the horror, Tess must take a closer look at her past. Who was her family, and where did they go? Could the house have once belonged to them? As secrets are revealed, Tess doesn't like what she sees; worse, she might not be the only one in danger. It's never a good idea to awaken the ghosts of the past-especially when those ghosts may not have Tess's best interests in mind.

Auszug. � Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Her Keepers

By Laura Camby McCaskill

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright � 2012 Laura Camby McCaskill
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-7132-6

Chapter One

They had just made it. Tess had wondered whether they would. It was dusk by the time they reached the old, run-down house. The leaves had fallen, and the weather was cold. The house looked as if it had just reached its hundredth birthday. Some of the shutters had fallen off, and some hung by a thread. The wood siding looked as if it had fought its last battle with the rain. The front porch seemed as if it could cave in at any moment. Leaves were everywhere on the ground, and the trees just seemed dead. Everything about this house seemed dead.

The car stopped at the front steps as the steam from the engine shot up into the air. Neither of the girls spoke. Angela just sighed and jerked the car door open. She pulled herself out of the car, which was hard for a woman who was seven months pregnant. Tess sat in the car and watched as Angela fiddled with the keys, trying to find the right one for the door. Tess knew she could probably break it down herself if Angela couldn't find the key or at least find a window to climb in. Finally, Angela opened the door and went inside. Tess stepped out of the car just as a cold gust of wind blew by. She shivered. The cold made a tingling sensation race up her spine. It would be dark soon. She hoped the place had lights.

Inside, Tess stopped at the main entrance of the house, which opened up into a big living room. On the far wall, a fireplace protruded out, one filled with dust and ash. Sheets were on the furniture, and rugs were rolled up and shoved to the far side of the room. The house wasn't fit for Tess to sleep in, let alone a pregnant woman. Tess heard a noise in the room to her right. It was Angela slamming cabinets in the kitchen, searching for something. To the left of her, a long wooden stair case reached up to the second floor. The lights suddenly flicked on. Tess looked toward the kitchen and saw Angela shut the door to the fuse box. She had a weird feeling about this house.

"It should be fine to live in after we get everything settled," Angela said, looking toward the living room.

Tess could tell that Angela was very tired. Tess took another look around the room. The house was very old, with wooden floors and flowery wallpaper that decorated the entire living room. An ancient- looking light fixture hung from the ceiling. Tess wondered what the place had looked like when someone had actually lived in the house. It was hard for her to imagine knickknacks and such around the place. Tess sighed.

"I'll go find some wood for the fire."

"There's some in the back shed," Angela told her.

Tess thought that odd. How would Angela know where the wood was stored, considering she had never been here before? Someone must have told her.

Tess shut the door behind her and headed toward the shed in the back. The front porch steps squeaked as she stepped off them. The porch didn't seem like it could hold the weight of the leaves and twigs that covered it, let alone her own weight.

Regardless of whether this was Angela's second visit here or not, this was only Tess's first. This was not the most exciting thing. Tess wasn't one to get excited about much. She had learned the hard way never to get too excited about something or wish for things that just wouldn't happen. There wasn't much to be happy or excited about anyway. Being raised in an orphanage did that to you. As for Angela, Tess didn't know her story. Just that one day she had appeared out of nowhere and said she would take care of her. Tess knew she should have asked her about certain things, but then again, Tess really didn't care. If the state wasn't worried about it, why should she be?

Tess stood at the shed door, which was locked with a huge padlock. There was no key to be found, and they needed wood now. Next to the shed, she found an ax she could knock the lock off with some force. Tess raised the ax over her head. Suddenly, the wind picked up, and the most horrible sound echoed through the air. At first, she thought it was Angela screaming. She spun around her trembling hands grasped the ax tighter. After a second, she realized it was the wind blowing through the old house. Tess's whole body shook as she rested against the shed.

Great, Tess thought. That's going to keep us up all night.

Tess broke the lock off and opened the door. She couldn't see much, but she did find some firewood. A few minutes later, she arrived in the house with an armful. Angela had already moved all the sheets off the furniture and swept some of the ashes out of the fireplace. She did way too much work for a pregnant woman, Tess thought. But she knew Angela wasn't going to stop. Angela was hardheaded and just about as happy with life as Tess was. She remembered the first time she had met Angela. She came to the orphanage a few months ago. Tess remembered just staring at Angela as the social worker explained the situation to Tess. "Tess, this is Ms. Angela Morrow. You're going to go live with her now. Your legal guardian left custody of you to Mrs. Morrow when they died."

Tess couldn't believe it, and yet, yes, she could. First of all, Tess never knew she had had a family. That was why she was in an orphanage. Tess didn't even know her last name or if Tess was her real first name. She didn't know the legal guardian who had passed years earlier. Then a strange woman showed up to take her away. Not that she cared. The only question Tess had at this point was why now? If she had a family, why didn't she know about them? Turned out the paperwork from the lawyer's office had been mixed up and then lost. And Tess was lost along with it. Her legal guardian had died over ten years ago. That's nice. And Angela was supposed to take over then. But with no paperwork, how could she? Tess didn't think Angela had fought that hard to find her anyway. She had never had a keeper before, someone to watch over her. Why should things change now? After that, they lived in Angela's apartment, where Tess slept on the couch. She could hear Angela cry at night and sometimes scream as if she were having a nightmare, probably because of the guy who had knocked her up and then left. But they never talked about it. When asked questions about the will, Angela would always say she didn't know. That was a lie. Tess never questioned her. Angela didn't want to talk about it, and Tess really didn't want to know anyway. Deep down, it bothered Tess to think about her own attitude toward the whole situation, but at this point—live or die—it didn't matter anymore. Apparently, no one wanted her, and by now, she didn't want them either.

Then one day, Angela got a letter of eviction. Angela was broke and couldn't afford to live there anymore or anywhere for that matter. They packed up all their things, ready to live on the streets. But the very next day, Angela got a call from the lawyer's office. Another part of the will had been found. It seemed Tess had a house too. This was it. And the big shocker, it was only thirty miles away from the orphanage. Awesome, Tess thought. So close and yet so far!

The rules were that Angela would live with Tess in the house until she turned eighteen. Then Angela had to move out and find her own place. By then, Tess should have finished school and found a job to support herself. Tess was fourteen. She had a while to worry about that.

Tess threw the wood into the fireplace and watched as Angela stoked the fire, hopefully the...

��ber diesen Titel� kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Anbieterinformationen

Hello! Ria Christie Collections is an online venture that was initially set up in 2012 to sell books. We do not have a physical high street store. We are professional online booksellers. We only sell brand new books in perfect condition that we source from various suppliers and the publishers. Primarily, our aim is to provide an excellent service to all our customers. We always work as a team to achieve this. Our other objectives are to: 1. Ensure that all our products reach their destination quickly in a safe and secure manner 2. Answer to all our customer queries within 24 hours 3. Ensure that our customers are happy with their purchases 4. Provide all the items at a competitive price 5. Always listen to our customers Ria Christie Collections is not a registered company. It is a Sole Trader venture. Other key information is shown below: Contact Person Name: Rakesh Luchmun (Mr) Storefront Name: Ria Christie Collections Place of Establishment Address: Suite B; ARUN House; ARUN Building Arundel Road Uxbridge UB8 2RR United Kingdom E-Mail Address: riachristie@hotmail.co.uk VAT Number: GB 160 5650 25 We always work hard and aim to comply with all of Abebooks Policies. If you have any issues, please do not hesitate to write to us whether before or after a purchase. We promise to reply to you promptly and, in any case, within 24 hours. Thank you kindly! Yours sincerely Mr Rakesh Luchmun (Founder) and the Ria Christie Collections Team

Zur Homepage des Verk�ufers

Unternehmensdaten des Verk�ufers

Ryefield Investments Limited
175 Pield Heath Road, Uxbridge, UB8 3NL, United Kingdom

Gesch�ftsbedingungen und Versandinformationen

Verkaufsbedingungen

All Returns and Refund are as per Abebooks policies.

Widerrufsbelehrung

Wenn Sie Verbraucher sind, steht Ihnen ein Widerrufsrecht nach folgender Ma�gabe zu. Verbraucher ist jede nat�rliche Person, die ein Rechtsgesch�ft zu Zwecken abschlie�t, die �berwiegend weder ihrer gewerblichen noch ihrer selbst�ndigen beruflichen T�tigkeit zugerechnet werden k�nnen.

WIDERRUFSBELEHRUNG

Widerrufsrecht

Sie haben das Recht, binnen vierzehn Tagen ohne Angabe von Gr�nden diesen Vertrag zu widerrufen.

Die Widerrufsfrist betr�gt vierzehn Tage ab dem Tag, an dem Sie oder ein von Ihnen benannter Dritter, der nicht der Bef�rderer ist, die letzte Ware oder die letzte Teilsendung bzw. das letzte St�ck in Besitz genommen haben bzw. hat.

Um Ihr Widerrufsrecht auszu�ben, m�ssen Sie uns, Ria Christie Collections, Suite B; (inside) ARUN House; ARUN, Arundel Road; Uxbridge Ind Est, UB8 2RR, Uxbridge, United Kingdom, +44 7727654838, mittels einer eindeutigen Erkl�rung (z.B. ein mit der Post versandter Brief, Telefax oder E-Mail) �ber Ihren Entschluss, diesen Vertrag zu widerrufen, informieren. Sie k�nnen daf�r das beigef�gte Muster-Widerrufsformular verwenden, das jedoch nicht vorgeschrieben ist. Sie k�nnen auch eine andere eindeutige Erkl�rung auf der Webseite "Meine Bestellungen" in Ihrem "Nutzerkonto" elektronisch ausf�llen und �bermitteln. Machen Sie von dieser M�glichkeit Gebrauch, so werden wir Ihnen unverz�glich (z. B. per E-Mail) eine Best�tigung �ber den Eingang eines solchen Widerrufs �bermitteln. Zur Wahrung der Widerrufsfrist reicht es aus, dass Sie die Mitteilung �ber die Aus�bung des Widerrufsrechts vor Ablauf der Widerrufsfrist absenden.

Folgen des Widerrufs

Wenn Sie diesen Vertrag widerrufen, haben wir Ihnen alle Zahlungen, die wir von Ihnen erhalten haben, einschlie�lich der Lieferkosten (mit Ausnahme der zus�tzlichen Kosten, die sich daraus ergeben, dass Sie eine andere Art der Lieferung als die von uns angebotene, g�nstigste Standardlieferung gew�hlt haben), unverz�glich und sp�testens binnen vierzehn Tagen ab dem Tag zur�ckzuzahlen, an dem die Mitteilung �ber Ihren Widerruf dieses Vertrags bei uns eingegangen ist. F�r diese R�ckzahlung verwenden wir dasselbe Zahlungsmittel, das Sie bei der urspr�nglichen Transaktion eingesetzt haben, es sei denn, mit Ihnen wurde ausdr�cklich etwas anderes vereinbart; in keinem Fall werden Ihnen wegen dieser R�ckzahlung Entgelte berechnet. Wir k�nnen die R�ckzahlung verweigern, bis wir die Waren wieder zur�ckerhalten haben oder bis Sie den Nachweis erbracht haben, dass Sie die Waren zur�ckgesandt haben, je nachdem, welches der fr�here Zeitpunkt ist. Sie haben die Waren unverz�glich und in jedem Fall sp�testens binnen vierzehn Tagen ab dem Tag, an dem Sie uns �ber den Widerruf dieses Vertrags unterrichten, an Ria Christie Collections, Suite B; (inside) ARUN House; ARUN Building, Arundel Road; Uxbridge Ind Est, UB8 2RR, Uxbridge, United Kingdom, +44 7727654838, zur�ckzusenden oder zu �bergeben. Die Frist ist gewahrt, wenn Sie die Waren vor Ablauf der Frist von vierzehn Tagen absenden.

Sie tragen die unmittelbaren Kosten der R�cksendung der Waren. Sie m�ssen f�r einen etwaigen Wertverlust der Waren nur aufkommen, wenn dieser Wertverlust auf einen zur Pr�fung der Beschaffenheit, Eigenschaften und Funktionsweise der Waren nicht notwendigen Umgang mit ihnen zur�ckzuf�hren ist.

Ausnahmen vom Widerrufsrecht

Das Widerrufsrecht besteht nicht bzw. erlischt bei folgenden Vertr�gen:

Zur Lieferung von Zeitungen und Zeitschriften oder Illustrierten, mit Ausnahme von Abonnement Vertr�gen;
Bei der Lieferung digitaler Inhalte, die nicht auf einem k�rperlichen Datentr�ger (z.B. einer CD oder DVD) geliefert werden, wenn Sie dem Beginn der Ausf�hrung vor der Bestellung ausdr�cklich zugestimmt und zur selben Zeit best�tigt haben, dass mit der Ausf�hrung begonnen werden kann und Sie Ihr Widerrufsrecht verlieren, sobald die Ausf�hrung begonnen hat.

ENDE DER WIDERRUFSBELEHRUNG

Muster-Widerrufsformular

(Wenn Sie den Vertrag widerrufen wollen, dann f�llen Sie bitte dieses Formular aus und senden Sie es zur�ck)

An: (Ria Christie Collections, Suite B; (inside) ARUN House; ARUN, Arundel Road; Uxbridge Ind Est, UB8 2RR, Uxbridge, United Kingdom, +44 7727654838)

Hiermit widerrufe(n) ich/wir* den von mir/uns* abgeschlossenen Vertrag �ber den Kauf der folgenden Waren*/ die Erbringung der folgenden Dienstleistung*

Bestellt am*/erhalten am*:

Name des/der Verbraucher(s):

Anschrift des/der Verbraucher(s):

Unterschrift des/der Verbraucher(s) (nur bei Mitteilung auf Papier):

Datum:

* Unzutreffendes streichen.

Versandbedingungen

Orders usually ship within 2 business days. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact you to let you know extra shipping is required. Thank you!

Versandkosten von Vereinigtes K�nigreich nach USA

Versandkosten von Vereinigtes K�nigreich nach USA
Bestellmenge	6 bis 12�Werktage	6 bis 12�Werktage
Erster Artikel	EUR 13.87	EUR 13.87

Die Versandzeiten werden von den Verk�uferinnen und Verk�ufern festgelegt. Sie variieren je nach Versanddienstleister und Standort. Sendungen, die den Zoll passieren, k�nnen Verz�gerungen unterliegen. Eventuell anfallende Abgaben oder Geb�hren sind von der K�uferin bzw. dem K�ufer zu tragen. Die Verk�uferin bzw. der Verk�ufer kann Sie bez�glich zus�tzlicher Versandkosten kontaktieren, um einen m�glichen Anstieg der Versandkosten f�r Ihre Artikel auszugleichen.