by Shea Meadows
Moon nodded. “You’re right. I was about to tell you if you hadn’t brought it up first. Nory and I will need your help to trace the object, but none of you should be exposed daily to its vibrations. I suggest you rent a place fairly near, and we can work on neutralizing it together.”
“Moon, you were there for years, and Beth Ann might as well have been living there. Great tribes of students marched in and out of the building. Did you know about this the whole time?” Ricky asked.
Moon looked a little embarrassed. “I could feel something, but it didn’t seem to bother me all that much, probably because I’ve worked with the higher energies for so long. But in my defense, I was away from the house more than I was in it. The people in my network and the students were there for considerably shorter times. There haven’t been any children living there since the Restons. And from what we’ve learned about the vibration levels, it’s gotten stronger the last twenty years.”
David got up from his comfy chair and paced back and forth on the shimmering ground of the cove. “It’s gotten stronger since we’ve been there? And no one mentioned it?”
Moon looked down at her transparent hands. “We figured that out about two months ago. Sima Qian worked with Shri Kria Baba to measure the strength of the vibrations, starting with 1936, when Norton Reston brought the artifact to Minnesota, up to the present time. They remained unchanged for the first year he had it in his secret chamber but started to increase slightly when baby Sandra died. Its energy increased again with the loss of the newborn, Paul. When Nellie died, it tripled in volume, according to Shri’s calculations. I have no doubt he is correct.
“During the ghost house invasion that took place two years ago, the energy grew even more until Shri put the etheric emeralds in place. Then it stayed steady until-”
“Until I got pregnant,” Ricky interrupted. “I have a feeling this is the new mission. Am I right?”
Moon nodded. “I did warn you that the Soul Stealer campaign wouldn’t be the last time spirit world would pull us into service. So it’s best you move out until we can track down the origins of the artifact and figure out what we can do to make the house safe.”
Ricky nodded and smiled at Shri Kria Baba. The Hindu Guru had worked with them to vanquish the Soul Stealer. All of them trusted him with their lives. He had been the one to teach Moon about the traveling stones, as well as treating Ricky with respect from the moment they met in spirit world.
“I wish you’d have told us before we did all that remodeling,” Ricky said with a smirk. “Should we pack up tonight and move to a hotel?”
“Since Nory moved in there has been a four percent increase of emanations from the artifact,” Moon said. “And one more thing I’ll mention: Shri and Sima tracked the energy around the time of my death. It was off the charts then. It could have been a factor in some of the choices I made during the time before the crash. The vibrations appear discordant to the human nervous system. It might even have been part of the reason that Chester fell off the deep end. So, yes, I hope you decide to check into an extended stay and find a house to rent so we can all work safely.”
“My former father is behind all this,” Nory said with a shudder. “I wish I had a bigger body so I could help more.”
“You’re a good source of information on your former family,” Moon consoled her. “Think back on everything you remember about the arrival of the artifact and pass on anything relevant. Norton’s Akashic Record is full of holes. It might be the effect of the object, or he might be a strong enough energy manipulator to have obscured the facts.”
“We can look at my former mother’s records, too. She wasn’t there when my former father found the artifact, but he might have talked to her about it. I remember screaming matches they had after he sealed it in the cellar.”
“We better get back to our bodies if we have to move tonight,” David said. “Once we get away from the pull of the artifact, we might be able to think more clearly.”
***
Katera looked up from packing a suitcase for Ricky as she realized the Clark family had returned. She had been in the midst of gathering the baby’s supplies, and she and the twins had filled the van and their car with everything that could fit.
Ricky walked into the room and smiled. “You already know.”
Katera nodded. “Your guides told my guide, and we started about an hour ago. I called George and he’s taking care of the extended stay hotel for tonight.” She shivered from head to toe. “I’m so glad you’re acting quickly. I could feel the demon energy from down below. All the etheric emeralds in the world couldn’t tone it down enough to make it comfortable in here. It wasn’t this bad before you brought Nory home.”
“You knew about this? Why am I surprised? You probably can read energy more accurately than most of the people in the Network,” Ricky sighed. “Maybe being hot and pregnant wasn’t the only reason I’ve been uncomfortable since I came back from New York.
“I feel Nory’s body calling for a meal, so I’ll feed her. If my dad calls, have him give the details to David, please.”
Three hours later, the Clark family and the Maybum ladies were settled in a two bedroom suite, complete with a sitting room, a small kitchen and two bathrooms. Nory complained about leaving Pigeon with Jessica and Dylan, but didn’t keep at it for long when reminded she could have said something about the problem when she was still in utero. Now she was sleeping in her porta-crib that took up most of the walking space in Ricky and David’s bedroom. Ricky smiled down at the innocent looking preemie and chuckled. Nory looked so helpless, but at that very moment she and Moon were probably triangulating points of energy emanations in Xian, China.
Ricky joined the rest of their group in the sitting room. Gimma was sitting on the floor filing her nails. Bonta was paging through a four-year-old magazine. Katera was talking with David and all looked exhausted after the whirlwind move. Ricky stretched out on the couch, putting her swollen feet in David’s lap and sighing as he massaged them.
David kept up the conversation with Katera as he tweaked the joints in Ricky’s toes. “I’m trying to be calm, but Moon should have told us. They’ve known the artifact could be dangerous for at least two months, and there we were sleeping a couple floors up from the time bomb.”
Katera nodded. “You have to understand, David. Guides are more evolved energetically than we are but that doesn’t mean they’re perfect. They still make mistakes in judgment. Remember what it was like to be out of your body? Did you suddenly become all knowing? Did you always make the right decisions?”
David shrugged. “True, but Moon wants to keep her work going in this dimension, and we’re doing everything she asked. The very least they could do is to keep us in the loop when we’re on the edge of a major crisis.”
“Moon is a big picture kind of gal,” Ricky said to David. “The work is important because it wakes people up to their power while they are in a body. It revs up their evolutionary progress. Death is going to happen sometime or other to everyone; those that try to avoid it find themselves frustrated. So if our bodies died now, and Nory along with us, we’d start over again someplace else with all that we’ve learned still available to us.”
Katera shifted in the slightly seedy-looking over-stuffed chair. “You are married to a wise woman, David. Dear Heart remembers her incarnations. Our consciousness does not end when we go on to the next stage of things. We look different, sound different, and perhaps live in a whole new culture, but the essence of the soul remains the same.”
David smiled sadly. “You two have a better handle on that than I do. I was a cop for ten years and saw a lot of senseless murders and violence. People kill each other over power, money, sex and possessions.
“Then there’s this Norton Reston character that we all admired because he built a fantastically metaphysical house. Seemed like an awesome guy, and we fell in love with his daughter, even when we met her as a ghost. He had to be a good person, right? Apparen
tly, he wasn’t. The slime of the earth if what Nory says is true. Ancient play things were more important to him than the health of his family. He let them die one after the other, including his wife, without considering it might be a good idea to get that dangerous thing out of the house.
“It makes me see red when I think about it. That thing could have been the reason Chester went off his rocker and sold his allegiance to the Primeans. Reston might be the person that unbalanced Chester enough to be a killer.”
Ricky sat up and put her hand on David’s heart. “Chester’s rocker was tilting long before he went over to the Primean side of things. I knew him twelve years ago, and he was unstable then. Although, the artifact might have been the thing that destabilized Moon enough so she believed Chester was on her side.”
“David, you must consider; you’ve spent considerable time in the house within the emanations of the artifact while Ricky was teaching and traveling,” Katera said. “Some of what you’re feeling now might be caused by the object.”
David shuddered. “Good thing we’ve been surrounded by the etheric stones, or I’d be a lot more paranoid. I’m also happy Jessica and Dylan’s apartment takes cats and was ready for them to move in.”
A new voice joined the conversation. “The brother is the key to the matter,” Bonta said, as she examined the ad for a cruise ship that traveled down the Yangzi River.
“Bonta is suggesting we talk to William Reston. He is the only living person from that family since Nory is now of the Clark clan,” Gimma clarified for her sister.
Bonta pointed to the ad. “This will be an adventure; too bad I will be in school when you go.”
David glanced at the ad. “We hadn’t planned a trip to China. Do you know something I don’t know?”
Bonta graced him with a radiant smile and turned the page of the magazine.
“Nory is way too little for a trip like that. How would that help for us to bring our bodies there anyway?” Ricky said. “It’s much easier to travel out of body.”
“Her advice usually has merit, so I guess we wait and see what turns up,” Katera added.
Ricky’s cell phone rang; she listened and responded, then handed it to David. “It’s my dad. He might have a rental for us over near Lake Harriet. Would you set something up with him?”
David took the phone and walked to the kitchenette, listened and wrote down an address before saying goodbye. “It’s a three-story colonial,” he reported to the others. “Big enough for the Reiki classes we have scheduled next week. It’s for rent, furnished; George’s friend owns it and will be in Europe for the next two years. He says it has five bedrooms, a game room, a den, and is on the street across from the park. He wants us to look at it tomorrow. Ricky, are you up for that?”
Ricky yawned. “Depends on how much sleep I get. You might have to make the decision for us.” She got up and stretched and wandered into the kitchenette to make a cup of tea. “I’m thinking we have to track down everything we can about the artifact. I don’t want to be exiled from home for longer than needed.”
Ricky looked toward the bedroom and sat her tea down on the counter. “Nory is waking up and wants food.”
“You drink your tea, Radiant Sister,” Gimma said with a smile. “I will change her diaper and bring her to you.”
Katera moved from the over-stuffed recliner, so Ricky could use it for nursing, and in a few minutes, a smiling Nory joined them. Her telepathic chatter included everyone in the room.
“I heard you guys planning. We’re going to another house tomorrow? This is exciting; I’ve only lived in the house on York that I can remember, except for when I was travelling to China.
“Oh, Moon wanted me to tell you where my brother William is. He’s eighty years old and in a place for seniors. It’s called Oak View in Taylors Falls. Moon says he needs help but in her words is, ‘sharp as a tack.’”
“Thanks, dear. That’s useful information,” Ricky said as Nory got down to the important work of making her body grow.
It was ten by the time Nory slept, and Ricky and David quietly climbed into bed with hopes of at least four hours of rest. Katera chose the sofa, and the girls shared the double bed in the spare bedroom.
It was decided that David and Katera would take Katera’s car and meet George at the possible rental the following morning. Ricky, Nory and the twins would take the van to Taylors Falls to visit William Reston. The nurse’s aide who had answered the phone at Oak View had said they were welcome, but not to expect William to carry on much of a conversation. He stayed in his room most of the time.
David and Ricky whispered back and forth a little but stopped when Nory started shifting in her crib. Four hours of sleep were too important to jeopardize, so they snuggled close together and put their forced eviction away as a topic of discussion.
* * *
Chapter 4
Nory, secured in the back seat of the van in her car seat, with Gimma on one side and Bonta on the other, complained at first. “I can’t see well; my chair isn’t in the front” became her chant as Ricky buckled her in. In her mind, she was as adult as the rest of them. The twins soon had her giggling and cooing as they told stories of what they had been doing in New Orleans with their mother and her students.
Ricky was both driver and navigator. It had been a while since she’d driven anywhere, but to the airport, and even then, David had taken her as often as he could. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been to Taylors Falls; it must have been when she and Moon, who went by Tilda then, had been in elementary school. Ricky smiled at the memory of their parents, Marie and George, taking them downstream on the river floating in inner tubes. Tilda, Ricky and Marie had ganged up on George and flipped him into the chilly water. He had been hilarious with his roars of protest.
Ricky brought her attention back to the present, just in time to make the turn on Oak View Road, which ended in a cul-de-sac. There was a sign for Oak View Senior Living Center, their destination.
The woman on the phone had told them William Reston was in the skilled care unit. It was the building to the left of the apartments which were occupied by the more independent residents. Ricky noticed an enclosed swimming pool, tennis court, driving range and several other recreational possibilities for those healthy enough to use them. The grounds were full of people over sixty enjoying the beautiful late spring day.
Nory’s telepathic voice piped up: Mommy, this would be a great place to live. Lots of things to do and people to talk to.
“Can’t do it, sweetheart. We’re not old enough to qualify,” Ricky answered with a smile. She pulled into a visitor’s spot in front of the skilled care part of the complex. The girls grabbed Nory and her diaper bag. Ricky brought the box of chocolates that Nory had told her were William’s favorites when he was a boy.
The facility was fresh and airy with pastel colored walls and pleasant music playing in the reception area. Several women sat at a circular table a short distance from the reception desk, obviously scoping out who had visitors that morning. Their eyes widened, and they whispered frantically when Ricky and her entourage came through the door. She could hear a word here and there of the conversation. “Girls in dreadlocks-swear she’s that psychic-didn’t she die? -yes, but that’s her sister.” Gimma and Bonta were having a hard time keeping straight faces.
“We’ve come to see Mr. William Reston,” Ricky said to the receptionist whose name tag said ‘Selma.’ “Where might we find him?”
Before the employee could answer, a woman with an elaborate wig answered for her. “He’s in the activities room, staring at the wall like he usually does.”
The receptionist gave the woman a withering glance. “I was told to expect visitors. You must be Mrs. Clark. Could you sign in, please?” Ricky did so and signed for the twins as well. Selma sniffed, when she saw the girls’ names. “Unusual names. They’re your baby help?”
“They’re a close friend’s daughters who are along to help with my baby,
” Ricky answered, wishing she could say what she felt like saying. Her icy tone conveyed the message.
The woman sniffed again and pointed, “The community room is down the hall straight ahead. Turn left at the end. You can’t miss it. The activities department is having a singalong.”
They followed her directions and entered a room packed with people in wheelchairs, some singing with a bearded young man with a guitar, others looking out the window at an intense tennis match. Nory’s telepathic chatter was evident over the noise. “That’s William over there, the one in the corner with the white hair and beard. He looks like my former father. Not a happy person, but there’s hope. He’s singing in his head.”
Ricky took Nory from Bonta and the twins found folding chairs near the edge of the group and starting singing along happily. Ricky could feel William Reston staring at them as she walked with the baby toward his spot in the corner. “He feels me, Mommy. He knows it’s me but he’s afraid to believe.” Nory’s excitement was obvious; she squirmed in Ricky’s arms, wishing she was able to run to her former brother.
Ricky pulled up a folding chair next to William and could feel the stares of other residents in the room. She smiled at William and leaned toward him. “Hi, I’m Ricky Clark; I think you’ve met my sister, Moon Angel.”
William had been focused on Nory, but he then looked up and made eye contact with her mother. “Thought you looked familiar,” he responded in a gravelly voice. “You look like your sister, but ya have a little baby weight. How old is the child?”
“She’s eight days old; her name is Nory which is short for Eleanor. She wanted me to bring this box of chocolates for you.”
A confused look came over William’s face as he took the chocolates. “How could you know that? This is my favorite kind. And how come she’s so alert? My granddaughter’s baby is two weeks old and all he does is sleep. This one is smiling at me and making happy sounds. I’ve never seen that before. Could I hold her?”
