Phantom Series Boxed Set Read Online Free PDF Page A

down permanently. Maybe we can come out earlier tomorrow, get a better look….”
    Despite the direct input into her ears, the pilot’s words faded as Alexa stared out the window. A cluster of tall palms bent backward in acquiescence to the blustery air. In the cleared space, she saw something that everyone had told her didn’t exist.
    A lagoon.
    “Jacob!”
    She grabbed his sleeve. He slid over to her side of the seat. She pointed. His eyes widened.
    “You’re right, Captain,” Alexa said, nearly unable to contain the bubbles of excitement popping inside her. “Let’s head back to the airport. I think this challenge is best attacked by sea.”
    ***
    The minute Alexa stepped onto the tarmac, she cursed herself for sending Catalina to Texas in pursuit of the documentation on Valoren. If her friend had been in the chopper, she could have verified what Alexa had thought she’d seen. Or, perhaps, what she actually had seen, but was having trouble wrapping her mind around.
    A man. A flash of a man.
    A man whose hand had solidified on the other side of an unbroken window, and then, just as shockingly, disappeared.
    A man…or a ghost?
    She swallowed hard. She’d wanted a haunted castle, hadn’t she? She had no business getting all freaked out and scared now.
    Behind her, Jacob was in deep conversation with the pilot. She scurried through the executive airport and into the waiting limousine. Using her satellite phone, she dialed her private plane and was immediately patched in to Cat.
    “We haven’t landed in Texas yet,” Catalina announced, sounding amused by Alexa’s eagerness.
    “Not why I’m calling,” Alexa replied, fully aware she was about to knock the humor out of Cat’s attitude. “We made it close enough to the castle to see into a window. And I think”—she took a deep breath—”I saw someone.”
    “Someone?”
    “A man.”
    “Inside?” Cat asked.
    He’d worn white. The image suddenly flashed in her mind. A white shirt. Long sleeves. “The place is supposed to be deserted. I only caught a glimpse, but I swear, there was a man inside my castle. And his hand…”
    She recounted what she’d seen. The thrill tripping through Alexa’s bloodstream caused her to shiver deliciously. Driven by excitement, curiosity and fear, her emotions skimmed just beneath the surface of her skin. Her body zipped with an electric current she didn’t think she’d ever felt before.
    The connection crackled. “No one pays much attention to that island,” Cat reasoned. “You could just have a squatter.”
    “And the hand?”
    “The sun is bright. It could have been an optical illusion or your overactive imagination.”
    Alexa smirked. “Or a ghost.”
    Realizing she wasn’t entirely alone in the car with the driver at his post in the front seat, Alexa raised the glass partition.
    “That’s your first guess?” Cat asked. “You’re starting to sound like your brother, always jumping to the occult to explain a simple anomaly.”
    Alexa whistled out a breath. She couldn’t argue. Cat was right. “Explain the disembodied hand.”
    Cat remained silent.
    Alexa cleared her throat. “I know I sound crazy, but I’ve had the oddest feelings about this place since Jacob brought me the deed. And what with all the legends and rumors…maybe I’m caught up in the hype, but could you imagine? A real ghost?”
    Cat still didn’t respond, and Alexa realized she’d probably scared her best friend half to death. Cat had seen many people slip over the sharp edge that separated reality from fantasy. She wouldn’t be entirely surprised if Cat ordered Alexa’s pilot to turn the plane around immediately so she could return to Florida and slap some sense into her.
    “Yeah, I can more than imagine,” Cat said. “However, I can’t help but kick around a few more earthly scenarios that include a serial killer hiding out in your castle, not some soul who hasn’t crossed over.”
    “Well, I’ll find out soon