The soft hiss of the glass moving over the surface drifted into my ears. It was working! I kept focusing, even more this time, willing more energy. It seemed like a long time before the swishing sound stopped. And then...
The sharp sound of shattering glass startled me. My eyes flew open and there was the vase in a million pieces, the roses in a pile amid the spreading water on the floor around it. Damn it; this day just kept getting better and better. I scrambled forward and then got up to run for some towels to mop the water up.
Just as I reached the doorway, there was GM, her hands tucked up the sleeves of her loose jacket, staring at me silently.
“I’m sorry. I was practicing and it went too fast... I mean, the vase went too far. I’ll clean it up.” I stammered under her reproving gaze at me and then the floor where the glass shards sat. I raced across the foyer and into the kitchen. Lawrence looked up from where he was pouring hot water into a china teapot. “I broke her vase.” I spotted the roll of paper towels on the counter and grabbed it.
When I got back, GM was perched on the chair across from the sofa, her hands on the head of the cane, looking away from me.
“I’ll just be a minute.” I bent and spread the towel, taking care of the pieces of glass and wiped up the mess. I scooped everything in my hands and walked quickly back to the kitchen to deposit the debris in the garbage can.
“The tea is ready. I’ll follow you in.” He picked up the tray and nodded with his head for me to precede him.
My cheeks flamed as I walked back into the room. One of my first forays on my own with telekinesis and I’d managed to smash a crystal vase. I could almost feel the smug look on Lawrence’s face as he followed me into the room. I took a seat across from GM and watched him pour tea into three cups. He was joining us. That was a first.
GM smiled up at him. “Thank you, dear.” She turned to me, while out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Lawrence taking his tea to a chair near the door. “It’s time you learned firsthand about transitioning. Lawrence is always close by when I do this. I learned the hard way, many years ago how important it is to have someone with his gifts nearby.”
I looked over at Lawrence. He was about to take a sip of tea but his hand paused midair before his smiling lips. “More skill than gifts, Pamela. You ladies have gifts, not I.”
“I won’t argue semantics Lawrence.” She turned back to me. “Occasionally, during a transition, other... powers try to interfere.”
This didn’t sound good. “Powers? What sort of powers?”
Lawrence spoke up from his vantage point. “Dark forces, Keira.” He tried to look casual, sitting there sipping tea, but I saw he was alert by how he was leaning forward. “There are powers that do not want the spirits to transition. They crave the havoc which ensues.”
“GM said something about them to me.”
“Good.” He looked to GM and asked, “Did you tell her how you become vulnerable during these transitions?”
Before GM could say a word, I held up my hands. “Wait a minute. Vulnerable? Vulnerable to what?”
His eyes flitted back to me, while his face was still on GM. “Attacks. That’s why I’m here. When your grandmother is communing with those poor, misbegotten souls, she’s unable to sense impending evil.” He pointed a finger to his chest. “I, on the other hand, am able to sense it coming. It’s nothing paranormal, though; it’s just a change in the... atmosphere of the room. Pamela’s too engrossed with her work to pick up on it, but I’m able to.”
Oh boy. “Attacks?” I didn’t give a damn that my voice squeaked. “What happens?”
“Nothing, now that Lawrence is here, dear. He gets my attention, and in so doing, disrupts the ritual, and everything goes back to normal.” GM saw this was scaring me, and her voice took on her gentle tone again.
“But what if he’s unable to? He senses trouble coming—has he ever not been able to... stop it?” My eyes went from GM to Lawrence and back. “Just how much danger is there?”
GM crossed her arms. “I won’t lie to you, Keira. To be honest, I didn’t expect you to be so insightful so quickly and be asking these types of questions this soon.”
“Yeah; I’m smarter than you give me credit for. Thanks for that.”
Now it was GM’s turn to look abashed. She dropped her head for a moment. “Yes, you’re right. This home is the safest location for you to experience the... wonder of watching a spirit cross over.”
“That’s good to know, GM.” I leaned forward and touched her shoulder. She felt frail. “But you didn’t answer my question. Just how dangerous can this get?”
Her head rose sharply. “Very.”
We stared at each other in silence. Honestly, I wasn’t all that surprised. Just the other day we were discussing how the fabric of the universe depends on this work, and how there exists an... an evil which is the Yang to GM’s Yin and wants everything to go to shit. I took a deep breath. “Really—very?”
She nodded. Damn.
“But you’ve been able to deal with it, right?”
She glanced over at Lawrence. “With help, but yes.”
I looked over from her to him and back again. “Well, I guess that’s good enough for now. I hope.”
GM was silent for a long space, sipping her tea quietly weighing her words. “Before we start, there is something I need to give you.” She reached in a hidden pocket of her pants and extended her hand to me. In her open palm was a black stone. “This is tourmaline. It possesses protective qualities.”
I took the black stone from her and closed my fingers around it. It was smooth, warm and surprisingly heavy considering it was only the size of a grape. Aside from that, I didn’t notice anything special about it.
“Close your eyes and take three breaths. Inhale to a count of four and exhale to a count of four. As you inhale, picture a pure white energy field which is coming into your body. On the exhalation, bid negative thoughts and feelings to leave.”
Believe it or not, it was harder to do than it sounds. On the first inhale/exhale, I couldn’t envision white energy; instead the image of a cascading waterfall was all I could come up with. I scrunched my closed eyes on the second breath, really trying to see a white curtain. By the time I did the third breath, I had it in my mind’s eye and settled into the ritual. I opened my eyes, blinking a couple of times. Actually, I did feel a little calmer.
“Now we’ll begin. Keira, finish your tea.”
I sipped the tea, which had a pungent, minty flavor which lingered on my tongue. I shot a look over to Lawrence. “House Blend?” I asked.
He stayed silent, and GM answered. “Yes. It’s a sacred blend I try to drink before any of these rites.”
“Where’s it from?”
“California. Now finish it please, so we can begin.”
I took a series of sips. Before I’d even finished, a feeling of calmness settled deeper in my body. I set the empty cup back in the saucer and put it on the tray.
“Alright, Keira. Let’s begin.”
I gazed at GM and took a deep breath. I was about to witness what she’d spent her life accomplishing... what she wanted me to carry on after her. Her hands sat loose, palms up on her knees and her chin rose.
“Mary Grace Clayburn, I summon you to appear to me.” Her voice was low and commanding.
My gaze flitted over the room, specifically to the doorway. I’d experienced Molly, upstairs, not down in the living room. The air changed. It became cooler and somehow thicker on my skin.
As soon as I sensed the air change, I saw her begin to appear. At first it was a pinpoint of light which floated from the other side of the room toward GM. Gradually, it became bigger, the air around it shimmering, bending the shapes of the furniture it passed by. The orb morphed wider and a face began to appear. Her hair was dark, pulled up and back. Next, a long gray dress came into view. From the style and length, it was clear it was from another period, long ago.
I didn’t dare to breathe, sitting me
smerized by the apparition. I was actually seeing her! My grandmother had summoned her and she’d come! It was nothing short of awesome! I glanced past her, around the room, checking for any of these other entities which GM and Lawrence had talked about... but there was nothing but the tremulous hazy image of Molly.
“Mary Clayburn, it is time for you to leave this realm.”
The apparition’s eyes went wider and she shook her head from side to side. It was hard to tell if the expression was sorrow or fear.
But GM must have known, because she continued. “There is nothing for you here, Mary. You must go on. Follow the path you were meant to travel and leave this earthly plane. Your home is beyond The Veil.”
Mary’s hands went up to cover her face and she shook her head no, even harder. The feeling of sorrow emanated into my body, coming off her in shimmering waves of grief. There was also confusion. As I stared at her, something inside me broke and tears began to flow. She was like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car, frozen, not knowing where to turn.
I didn’t dare to open my mouth, so I began to repeat the phrase “Leave. You’ll be happier”—silently. It became a mantra in my mind, repeating over and over as I gazed at her.
Then a curtain, the folds glittering with shining threads of silver and rose-tinted hues appeared. They were gently billowing as if a breeze was behind it, parting The Veil to reveal a glare of light, bright as the sun on a summer day. GM’s voice was a whisper as she sat forward in her chair. “It’s there, Mary. Go through to the other side. Lloyd, Tim and Alice are waiting for you. Join them.”
“Lloyd.” Although she’d mouthed the word, I could hear it in my mind, her voice a sweet soprano. She turned and stepped, or rather glided smoothly closer to it. Her hand rose and then disappeared into the light. She never looked back, when she took the next step and was gone.
“Samuel John Goodrich, I command you to appear.”
I jerked and stared at my grandmother. As easy as that she’d gotten Molly to leave and was on to the next one! She smiled over at me. “Keira, would you like to try it?” When my mouth fell open, she continued. “I’m here to help, don’t worry. He’s talked to you, so that will help.”
I sat forward and waited silently for Sam to make himself known. Maybe I needed to run upstairs and get my camera. He’d liked playing with it, the little bugger. “Sam? Please come to us.” My voice was tentative. Would he appear?
A thud came from the stairs followed by three more. I jumped in my seat and then spun to peer at the doorway, where the noise had originated. A red and blue rubber ball rolled in from the hall and across the floor, coming to a standstill at my foot. The air began to warp and shimmer and his shape took form. It was the same little boy, I’d encountered in my room. The same striped shirt, the jeans and the tow-blonde hair which went everywhere but flat on his head. But his face was blank, like he was totally surprised to be there. He looked around the room and then his wide-eyed gaze turned to me.
The poor child was terrified.
“Sam? Don’t be afraid. I want to help you, not hurt you.” It was no wonder he was frightened. He’d been kept a prisoner in the attic and when he was finally free of it, he’d landed in the twenty-first century. It would be like setting foot on Mars. I gazed into his eyes, feeling my own well with fresh tears. To be so young and die without the freedom of ever being outside, playing in the sun. Whatever was on the other side of that curtain had to be better than what he was going through right then.
I left my seat and approached him. I know I should have been frightened, but I wasn’t—not the slightest.
“You’re free now Sam. You can leave.” I glanced to where The Veil still shimmered and gently wafted. “It’s there, Sam. Go through now.”
His eyes spanned wide. “No! I’m not allowed to leave. You don’t understand!” His hand streaked out and icy fingers grasped mine. “I’ll be good! Just let me stay!”
Tears burned my eyes and my hand curled tighter on his. “You are a good boy. That’s why you have to leave. You deserve more than this. There’s no place for you here. Your family is behind that curtain, waiting for you.”
It was exactly the wrong thing to say. His head shook from side to side and there was abject terror on his face. His hands tore at my arms, clinging to me, making my skin almost freeze.
GM was on her feet extending her hand to rest on his shoulder. “Sam. They can’t hurt you anymore. Your favorite sister, Irene, is over there. She wants to play tag with you.” She grasped his hand and pulled it away from my arm. “Come. I’ll hold your hand. I won’t let go until you do. Okay?”
He looked up at her, his eyes full of trust even though from the way he slowly left my side, there was still some fear. GM stopped just short of the waving folds of the curtain and nodded to him, urging him forward. His eyes lingered on hers before he turned and peeked beyond The Veil. A smile blossomed on his lips. I couldn’t see what he saw but whatever it was, it must have been good. His hand dropped from GM’s and he stepped through.
He, along with the glittering curtain were gone in the blink of an eye.
Immediately, Lawrence was at my grandmother’s side, his arm circling her waist, helping her back to the chair. “Pamela, you must rest now.” When she was seated, he straightened and glanced over at me. “How are you doing, Keira?”
I couldn’t tell whether the transition thing or Lawrence showing genuine care about my well-being was more of a shock. I swiped the tears which had dribbled onto my cheeks away, taking stock of how I felt. I was tired, like I’d run a marathon but my mind was still in the race. It had been an awesome experience. I had a million questions to ask them! Yes, them. Lawrence had been a part of it, even if just sitting on the sidelines making sure things didn’t go off the rails.
“I’m fine... a little tired but I’ll be over that in no time, I’m sure.” I slipped the black stone into my pocket. A little tired? I flopped into my seat.
He laughed. “Pamela usually has a glass of orange juice and slice of key lime pie after a session. Would you like some?”
My mouth watered. Suddenly, I realized I was ravenous. To hell with the calories! Pie and orange juice were just what the doctor ordered! “Perfect! Can I have a double slice?”
GM chuckled. “Sure beats melon and marshmallows, don’t it?” She leaned over and patted my knee. “We can eat healthy tonight. You did well, Keira.”
Lawrence’s hand squeezed GM’s shoulder and she gazed up at him, her own hand covering his. “Thanks, dear. What would I do without you?”
He smiled. “You’ll never have to know, Pamela.” He moved off, walking toward the door. “Good thing I defrosted the pie.”
When he left the room, I sat back. “So Molly and Sam are really gone?” I’d miss Molly, and well... Sam, his story just had to get better after he left the house.
She nodded. “Sorry, no more maid service for you. But Sam... it was touch and go with him.” Her hands gripped her knees and she stretched a little looking down at the floor. Under her eyes, grape-shaded cusps gave a hint that this had taken more out of her than she would admit.
“What would have happened if he chose to stay? I mean, you can’t force him to leave, can you?” I looked down at my foot where the striped ball still lay and bent to pick it up. I’d keep this as a souvenir to remember my first time.
“I would never dream of it. No, it’s important that a spirit leaves of their own accord. It’s respecting their free will.” She huffed a sigh. “In the end, they both chose and they are where they should be.”
“With a little nudge from us.”
Haunted Hideout: Paranormal Suspense (The Haunted Ones Book 1) Page 29
