“Yes, ma’am. The bay is just over that way a couple of miles.” He pointed to the south.
“It must be nice,” I commented then took a few steps toward the edge of the park. “Let’s have a quiet chat, all right?”
He nodded and followed me. His loose-limbed body kind of jived along a half-step or so behind me. Thin and agile, I thought he might be a basketball player or something along those lines. His face was rounded, the shape accented by the mass of dreadlocks hanging all over his head and making it seem twice as large. I thought he might be a handy fellow to have along in a fight if he was willing to join in the fray.
Once we settled in a quiet area where we were unlikely to be disturbed, I told him pretty much the same thing I’d told Sandy about the yiaiwa and the interim cemetery. I tried to be blunt about what we would be up against if he decided to join our band of spirit warriors. He listened with a serious look in his eyes, and his mouth drawn into a straight line, nodding his head now and then. His eyes widened a couple of times when I talked about the power the yiaiwa could wield, frowning in concern. I couldn’t gauge what he was thinking, but he certainly gave everything I said consideration.
“So, what do you think, Bob? Are you willing to give this a try?”
He rubbed a hand against his chin as thought, then spoke slowly. “I’m not totally sure, ma’am. I’d like to be a part of it, but I don’t know that I have any special skills to contribute to a battle of that nature. I mean, I’m pretty good with fist fights, and I can handle a blade, but against the supernatural, I’m not so sure.”
“I understand,” I said. “But you may have some talent that you don’t realize you have yet, and it may manifest on the next plane. Do you want to see if that will happen?”
“You mean, actually go to the next level? To this interim place you talked about? Can we do that?”
“I believe we can. I just did it with Sandy. Here’s how we’ll do it. I’ll go first, then I’ll focus on the token—your knife—and you. You’ll do the same here, and I’ll try to pull you to me. The trick is to relax and let go when you feel the pull. Trust me on this. It will be safe.”
He took a deep breath, then nodded. “All right, then. Let’s try it, Miss Gillian.”
I closed my hand over the blade and shifted my focus picturing, not the cemetery, but the beach north of San Francisco that I went to a few times when I was younger. It was always a favorite place. The spot I chose was typically deserted so no one would see me arrive. I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I was there on that curved sandy bay near the southern end. And I was alone.
Drawing a deep breath of the Pacific air, I focused on Bob again, rubbing the unwrapped part of the blade and calling him to join me. It took a few tugs—I could feel myself pulling—before he arrived and stumbled a couple of feet, unsure of his footing. Surprised, he turned his gaze to the ocean, then looked back up the coast to the north.
“I thought we were going to the cemetery,” he said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and hunched a little against the chilly breeze off the water.
“Not today. I was there once today, and I think this is a safer location for now. It will be enough for you to get a feel of what it’s like to travel astrally and maybe see if you have a talent.”
“How do I do that?”
Good question. How could I tell Bob what to do to manifest a power he may or may not have? “I’m not sure. Here’s how I found out...” Then I told him about the first yiaiwa I accidentally flung a light blast at before I realized I could do it.
“Cool. Can you do it here?” he asked.
“I’ll try. I need to pick an imaginary target...” I gazed around looking at the rocks and boulders around the water. I didn’t want to aim at anything that would disturb the scenery or cause a commotion if someone saw us. I settled on a relatively small boulder about twenty feet out in the water. I wanted to just take the tip of it off.
I positioned myself, pictured the rock as a yiaiwa and brought my fingers into a fine point to blast the top, then flung my hand in a direct line with it. Silvery white light shot across the distance taking the top and a little more of the stone off. I cringed as it shattered and flew out in a full radius blast.
“Oops. A little too much power.”
Bob’s eyes popped wide, and he ran to the water’s edge gaping at the shattered rock top. He leaned his hands on his knees and peered out at the still bubbling water around the stone.
“Ho-lee cow!” he drawled. “That was amazin’. You think I can do something like that?”
“Maybe. You won’t know until you try.”
He straightened, coming back to stand beside me. “Show me how to do it. I wanna try.”
I instructed him on what little I knew of how it worked and suggested it was mostly a mental attitude that drove it. He positioned himself and pointed his hand toward the water, not wanting to damage any more rocks. I silently urged any fish in the area to move out of the zone. Bob took a deep breath and cast his hand as I’d shown him.
Nothing.
“It’s all right,” I said. “I failed when I tried to use it when it wasn’t on a real target. Picture someone you’d like to blast and try again.”
He nodded, set his body, and focused on something in the far distant water, then swung his arm around like he was throwing a baseball. Something shot out from his hand. It wasn’t very big, but it was moving fast and flames whipped out around it as it flew across ten or so feet of water before crashing into the ocean.
“A fireball! You created a fireball,” I shouted. “You can use fire! You’re awesome, Bob.”
His chest puffed out as he turned to me with a satisfied grin. “Looks like I have a talent.”
“It does. Now you need to practice with it to see what it can do. Find a secluded place and targets that it won’t hurt to burn up. You don’t want to set a house on fire. So, can I count on you for the next excursion when I take the team to the cemetery?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll give it a try.”
If I could have touched him, I would have given him a huge hug. Elated, I told him we needed to return but that I’d be in touch with him after I’d made contact with the rest of the team. I directed him to return to his home while I put the object away and slipped back to my physical body.
I sent a confirmation text to Bob and got an almost immediate response saying he was home safe and ridin’ high.
Two down and both successful. Plus I added Jade and hoped she had a skill that would help us. While I worried that Jade was in the same boat as Janna, I felt that she was safer than my friend since she and I didn’t have the close connection.
I had another five people to work with. I thought there would be more once word got out that this was working. How many of them would be able to do it and have a useful talent?
Chapter 23
AS I STRETCHED TO LOOSEN my muscles, Orielle came through the door, a pair of packages in her hand.
“For you,” she announced. “More of your team candidates, I imagine.”
“Thanks,” I said, taking the parcels. “The test today went well. One of our potentials has a talent. The other is undetermined, plus I added another one from the spirit side.”
“How so?” she asked.
I waited until she’d shed her sweater and settled on the sofa then explained about Jade and added, “Do you think we might be able to recruit more help from the souls on the other side?”
She didn’t say anything for a few moments as she seemed to think about it. “You said that Jade had not passed through the light tunnel, so it may be you can recruit any who are still at the interim level. If they have gone through, they may not be able to help.”
“Maybe. On the other hand, Zoe comes back. I’ve spoken to souls who’ve crossed and could return to talk to me. I could try standing at the gate and yelling to them to see if any answer.”
A small laugh erupted from Orielle, and she smiled apologetically. “I’m s
orry. It is not a bad idea. I just pictured you standing at the gate and yelling to any listening spirits for help. It may work...”
“But you have your doubts,” I finished. “Me, too. Still, I think it’s worth a try. How was your day?”
“It went well. I took care of some business matters that I had been neglecting and had a very nice lunch with a colleague of Gavin’s from the University.” Rising, she stretched and turned to the kitchen. “I have a few more ideas to try on my trap.”
“Oh, good. I’d like to think it will work if I managed to lure one home.” My voice hinted at sarcasm, but it zipped past Orielle. “Meanwhile, I have more ethereal meetings to arrange.”
Each going our own way, I picked up my laptop, the small package, and retreated to the bedroom. Settling on my bed, I opened the computer and began making notes about the day’s experiments before I contacted the next few volunteers.
As I emerged from my room, I noted that Orielle was on the phone. From the conversation, I deduced it was the Stanford hospital. From her drooping mouth, I guessed Gavin’s status hadn’t altered. Not a surprise since I was sure the hospital would call if anything changed.
He was alive, but that was about it. I had worried about it until I realized I could do nothing to change it. If a yiaiwa held him somehow, the only thing that might help would be to defeat them.
OVER THE NEXT WEEK, I received seven more packages with tokens, ran test connections with each of the senders, and found a decent success rate. Only two failed to make contact with me once I transitioned to a location other than their own homes. I didn’t connect at all with one. I couldn’t even reach him for the initial contact, so I scratched that one. I had two more who had mailed objects that I hadn’t received yet, but that gave me seven who could make the leap, including Yoshi from Japan, Cara from England, Rodrigo from Peru—who wanted to be called Cowboy since that was his token—and Hamish from Scotland. As a nice perk of the task, I’d gotten glimpses of the countries where they lived.
While I wasn’t sure all of them had any talent that could help us, Yoshi, at least, insisted he could call upon his ancestors for assistance. Cara informed me that the shade creatures tended to stay clear of her when she sang. I’d have to follow up on that assertion.
In broken English and with a friendly smile, Cowboy told me he had a lasso—at least, I thought was what he said—that would be helpful against a spirit.
Not, I thought, but I didn’t say anything to him. He seemed so pleased to be able to say it. He’d sent a boot charm as his token.
Once I vetted the last two, I wanted to take all of them to the interim cemetery and get an idea of what we, as a group, might be able to do against the barrier and the yiaiwa on that level. I set a date for the weekend after the one about to come up, which gave me about ten days. I would take Astrid and Orielle if she could transition—we hadn’t tried yet—along with all the others. All totaled, I had, assuming the last passed, a team of twelve—thirteen, counting Jade. Not enough. I sighed and went to bed.
I woke from a fitful night of sleep and dragged myself to the living room to find Zoe floating in the middle of it. Obviously, she’d found where I’d moved. Arms crossed, she hung about a foot off the floor and tapped her foot soundlessly in annoyance.
“What?” I said, not in the best mood and desperate for a cup of coffee.
“Nothing...is...happening.” She spaced the words to emphasize her anger with me.
“Yes, it is,” I retorted. “I may not be doing anything specific, but my friend is working on it, and we may have a lead. That jerk from the storage rental place has been following me. We’re keeping an eye on him. I think he might lead us to Nick.”
“You mean Greg ‘Dunderhead’ Jensen? He’s an a-hole and not the smartest ant in the colony. He’d be the one to crawl into a pot of dirty water. Maybe you can help him there,” she sneered.
“Not Jensen. The other guy you mentioned. He seems to work at the storage company as well. Big guy.”
“Oh, shit... That sounds like John Butcher. Yeah, he works part-time for Jensen. Not much smarter than Dunderhead. So, Nick’s dragged him into this, too. He’s a jackass.”
When you got right down to it, Zoe had a nasty side to her although that didn’t justify Nick’s crime. “Whatever. The point is that Butcher’s tailing me for a reason, so it has to be for Nick, don’t you think?” At least, I could pass another name on to Moss.
“Did you email like I told you to?”
“No, not yet. My friend doesn’t think I should do it.”
“Well, if you want to get his attention and lure him back here, you need to send a message. He’s too dense to pick up anything subtle.” She paused and looked around the living room. “Whose place is this? Not yours, for sure.”
“It’s where I’m living for the moment. All of this crap has cost my job, my music gigs, and my little rental. So, I’m staying with a colleague.”
“Oooh, how fancy! A colleague. Male or female?”
“None of your business, but it’s a woman,” I snapped. I turned my back on her and marched to the kitchen to remedy my caffeine needs. Damned if she didn’t beat me there as I found her perched on the kitchen counter, one leg crossed over her knee. Instant ghost travel...
A half-pot of Orielle’s breakfast coffee remained, so I poured it into a cup and added milk until it looked drinkable, then took a series of slurps before I faced the spirit again.
“Like I said, we’re working on it. Give us a little more time, Zoe.”
Her face reflected her disappointment with squinted eyes and a scowl on her normally pretty face. “All right...a little more. But something better happen soon or... or...”
“Or what? You’ll haunt me?”
She shot a glare at me, then vanished. I sighed. That ghost girl was never happy. But I conceded she had a point.
Taking my coffee back to the living room, I set it on the end table and opened my laptop. I had Nick’s email address, if it was still good, and had entered it into my address book, just in case. I’d urged Moss to let me send an email, but he’d given a firm no to the idea. But—If I created a dummy email on one of the free services, Sarkis wouldn’t know who actually sent it.
Following up on the thought, I did that and created the account, using a phony handle, then started a message that simply said, I know where your second set of books are.
I saved the draft, then closed the program out. I hadn’t quite convinced myself to send it. I finished my coffee and went in search of breakfast. As I bent over half-way peering into the refrigerator, I heard Zoe’s voice in my head whispering, Go ahead and send it, angel girl. Even the dummy should be able to connect to that hint.
Was it wise to follow the advice of a dead woman? No, but I shrugged and did just that. What could it hurt to worry the man a little? Maybe he would pick up on it, and maybe he’d just write it off. But there was no way he’d know who sent the message.
After that, I went about my business, fed Nygard, ate a bowl of cereal, and checked my email for more notes from any of my team. Another one of the potentials I’d identified had decided he wanted in on the away team, which is what we were now calling our attack force to take on the ethereal cemetery evil wall. I sent a response asking for a token, adding that we’d see if it worked.
AS I OPENED MY EMAIL the next afternoon, I spotted a little notification on the bottom of the screen that I had an email on the dummy account I’d created. I clicked on it, and my stomach lurched as I saw the response from Nick’s e-mail address.
I hadn’t really expected a reply, so it surprised me. Now the realization I’d taken a step that could lead to more trouble if Moss learned about it—or if Nick could trace my email—set in. I crossed my fingers and hoped that wouldn’t happen.
Cripes, what was I thinking? Nick already had that creep tailing me, so one or both of the guys at the storage business were suspicious. I’d sent Butcher’s name to Moss after the encounter with Zoe. So f
ar, Moss hadn’t pulled Jensen or Butcher in, so I figured he and Hernandez were trying to glean more information before acting.
With more than a touch of trepidation, but also a zing of excitement, I opened the email. The first line started out bluntly with “Who the hell are you?”
Fair enough. I didn’t give him a name.
Then he went on. “I have no idea what the shit you’re talking about, so just blow it out your keyster.”
And that was it. No signature or anything. But when I clicked on the more information button for routing, the resulting long routing list suggested multiple carriers and something that might be a foreign server. I needed someone who knew what all this gibberish meant. Sure, the Sheriff’s Department had experts who could trace it, but that meant telling Moss what I’d done.
I closed the message and sat back pondering my next move. Nick didn’t exactly take the bait. I’d need to give him more in order to get him interested in dealing with me. Then what would I do? Try to lure him back to Reno to sell him back his doctored books in a blackmail scheme? I was pretty sure that would land me in hot water with the law. Ferris was no expert on technical stuff, but he did have a good head on his shoulders. If nothing else, he’d give me his best advice...
...and possibly yell at me, which is exactly what he did when I told him about the email.
“What were you thinking?” he growled, his voice sounding like an irritated bear.
“I hoped to trick him into letting me know where he was,” I answered in a small voice. “I don’t think he has any way to trace me, so it didn’t seem that risky. But if I give him more bait, it will really incriminate me. I mean, he’ll know I was in his house and found his–”
“You were what?” Ferris had been pacing across my living room floor and stopped dead, swinging around to stare at me with his jaw dropping in shock. “Are you saying you took something from his house?”
A Song of Redemption Page 25
