The Raven's Eye: Book Four

"Time had flown, and Antonia wasn't entirely sure where it had gone. It seemed to her that she had just moved into Westamere Manor; had just discovered that her house was haunted; had just met the man whose ghost she was living with. And yet the weeks and the months had passed, and it was already late October.

In a flourish of busyness to prepare the manor for the winter season, Antonia completely missed the last few days of October. Before long it was the 31st, and it dawned upon her while she was painting the storage rooms that she'd not seen or heard from Percy since the evening of the 27th. Pushing the roller through her paint tray Antonia kept her eyes focused on her task, but her mind was wandering. Her brows furrowed and left deepening lines between them. She concentrated on determining if Percy had said something about not being around for - oh!

Antonia eyes widened in horror as she looked back up to the wall she was painting. Covered in latex house paint in another French blue shade and sweating slightly, Antonia put a paint laden palm to her forehead to push her curls out of the way. She smeared blue paint against her skin and part of her golden hair, but paid it little mind.

She'd missed Percy's thirty-third birthday. The 28th, now three days passed, had been the 233rd anniversary of his birth, and she'd completely forgotten. She felt terrible - she couldn't truthfully call herself his friend if she'd forgotten something so rudimentary as his birth date. "