by Shea Meadows
The three bedroom suite they’d reserved for the seminar had two bathrooms, a sitting room with a television and a kitchenette with a small fridge, a stove top and an assortment of dishes and pots if they decided they wanted to eat in rather than out. When Ricky booked it, she’d thought of how difficult it might be to eat out after dealing with toxic ghosts. Even the encounters with the more docile spirits had put her in need of seclusion.
“Ricky, take the bigger room with the attached bath. George and I can share the other bathroom. Do we want to plant some of the programed crystals around the room?” David asked as he plunked his and Ricky’s suitcases in the hall between the bedrooms. He took the bag of crystals from the case where he’d stored them and sat them on the counter in the kitchenette.
“I won’t refuse your kind offer,” she said, smiling at the men. “Yes, put the charged crystals around but we’ll keep the etheric emeralds with us, one per person, along with some more crystals for each of us. Rather have more than we need than less.”
George put his suitcases in his room and then stored food that they’d picked up on the way. “I don’t know about you folks but I’m hoping for a quiet night. The stones shielded us in the car and I trust they’ll do the same here.”
“Were ghosts bothering you at the condo?” Ricky asked her dad.
“Nothing near the level you experienced at your house,” he answered. “The walls creaked a whole lot more than normal and noises were amplified but no one threw anything at me.”
“You should have told us,” David said. “We would have brought over some protection.”
George shrugged. “It wasn’t a big deal. I’ve had it on and off for two years. Just a little more intense than usual. Lets us know that whoever is orchestrating this stuff knows Moon’s family structure.”
Ricky stopped in her tracks. “Dad, is it possible some of the drama with Roy and his cheating was orchestrated by the Soul Stealer? Maybe Dr. Roy was ghost infested. Maybe they thought if I was super depressed about his betrayal, I wouldn’t be any help to Moon.”
George stood and thought for a moment. “Could be possible. It would be interesting to see if he still has one attached now that you two are split. It would let us know if the Stealer removes the ghost after it’s served its purpose or leaves it to torment the person indefinitely.”
“Another new aspect to consider,” David added. “Also, if we stop the Stealer, do all the ghosts automatically release their hold? If not, will there be a massive clean -up job?”
“Good questions. I’ll have to have a conversation with Moon. She never did think much of Roy. Maybe she saw a ghost when she visited me three months before she died,” Ricky said
“And, she was in Chicago for that visit. Why not talk to the teachers she knew might be involved when she was here? She obviously hasn’t told me everything.” Ricky sighed. “I was planning on a long warm shower and going off to bed, but I guess I get to do more out-of -body work.”
“Okay, let me spread the crystals around so it will be safer for you to travel then George and I will keep quiet as mice so we won’t disturb your trip,” David said as he leaned over and kissed Ricky on top of the head.
Ricky looked up in surprise and then smiled. “That was unexpected. I’d almost wonder if you are ghost infested and this is part of the Stealer’s plan to distract me, but since I can’t see any of the signs I know that isn’t true.”
David looked a bit like a little boy caught being naughty. “Oh, sorry. I just… well… have wanted to do that all day. Was I out of line?”
Ricky leaned against him, hands on his chest. “Maybe your abilities run toward clairvoyance. I’ve wanted to kiss you all day.”
George took two of the crystals from the kitchen counter and moved toward his room. “I’m going off to bed, give you folks some privacy,” he said with a smile.
“Good night, Dad.” Ricky answered, then turned to David. “I’d so like to see where this goes. I’ve felt a strong pull towards you ever since you came over for the first interview. But nothing can happen tonight. I have to talk to Moon and tomorrow might be an intense day. Who knows what we’ll find at the seminar? I might need to conserve my strength. I’m new at all this.”
David rubbed his hand softly over her shoulder and nodded. “I understand. When you’re done getting advice from Moon and the guides, if you want to talk, I’ll be sitting on the couch in the living room. I’ll go off to bed in a couple of hours and see you in the morning if you’re too worn out to discuss anything.”
Ricky stretched up on tiptoes to kiss David lightly on the mouth. “Too be continued…” she sighed, as she went into her room to talk to her sister.
Ricky held an etheric emerald, concentrated on her heart and breathed deeply. Moon, I’d appreciate a conversation. We seem to have more questions than answers, and I don’t want to go into the face-to-face with Avery Sweet without your input.
A spiral of energy formed around her, starting at her feet and winding upward past her crown. The room became blurry so she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was sitting on the queen-sized bed that she and her sister shared when they were teens and Moon, or was it Tilda, sat across from her smiling.
“Hi Ricky, no it’s not a dream. I put us in the most comfortable setting I could think of. We are outside of time and space, here together in the sister energy that we came in on.”
Ricky looked around. There were the Beatles posters on the wall, next to the Michael Jackson poster and the Madonna album covers. The big bay window in the room overlooked the Minneapolis suburb of Plymouth. Ricky ran to the window and looked out. There was Peaches, the Border collie that lived next door ramping around in his yard with his dog-friend Champ, the poodle.
I didn’t realize how happy it made me to watch those dogs playing.
Ricky looked at her clothes, a tank top and a pair of Capri pants and flip-flops and Tilda was wearing a lacy eyelet top and a pair of tight jeans and ballet slippers. “So how old are we pretending to be?”
Tilda laughed, sounding very much like Moon. “We are ageless. I just thought you’d enjoy the trip. This represents the place where you and I told each other everything, nothing hidden ever.”
Ricky sighed, looking at the familiar books on the shelves, and noticing something: Ricky’s books, even then, were about young romance, music, adventure and girl’s growing into womanhood. She had a series about a student nurse and her challenges.
That’s what I was reading in high school ‘Debbie Flynn, Student Nurse’, followed by ‘Debbie Flynn RN,’ and then ‘Debbie Flynn and Dr. Bob’. Nursing was about romance and marrying the dashing young intern.”
Her gaze shifted to her sister’s book case. “Ah, now I see. We were growing in different directions. ‘The Mysteries of Egypt’, ‘Miriam, Princess of Judea’ ‘On a Mountain in Tibet.’ Wow.”
“Seems to me we traded books all the time. I read all about Debbie and Dr. Bob too, but they weren’t my archetypes. I was more interested in the escape of the Dahlia Lama from occupied Tibet,” Tilda answered.
Ricky nodded. “Yeah, I remember reading your books, but for some reason, the idea of being caught up in the esoteric, scared the crap out of me.”
“Maybe it’s because you remembered the lives where you were put to death for being powerful. I was scared too, but drawn to it like a bee to the hive,” Tilda answered.
“As much as I like being inside an old photo album, I think it’s time to discuss a few things,” Ricky said as she returned to the bed to sit beside her sister.
“Okay, so I didn’t tell you everything when I came to visit three months before my death. We already went over some of that. I knew you would give no credence to my work, so I didn’t tell you about it. Primarily, I was there to see if it was safe for you to be with Roy,” Moon confessed.
“And it took you this long to tell me?” Ricky said, feeling a twinge of anger threatening to blur their sister-to-sister reality. “Was he ghos
t infested?”
Moon shook her head. “No, he wasn’t but there was something really off about him. He had shields up that defied even Megon’s careful scrutiny. I kept trying to poke a hole through his barriers but none of my usual methods worked. I stayed up at night when you guys were sleeping to see if he let down his guard, but something wouldn’t let me get through. He was extremely uncomfortable to be around.”
“Was it something he was doing or was it something someone was doing to him?”
Moon’s face looked puzzled. “I had the other guides look at him, but it was like looking into an empty box. A very warped individual and I hated that you were living with him.”
“Ya could have told me, Moon. It would have been nice to know,” Ricky protested.
“Really? Didn’t you hear all the hints about my not liking him? I think I said it more than once without bringing up my source,” Moon responded.
Ricky’s shoulders sagged and she sank down on the bed, head cupped in hands. “Ya did tell me he was pond scum. At the time I thought you were jealous because I was engaged to a yummy doctor.”
Moon snorted. “Sure, Rick. Just like Debbie and Dr. Bob. If you’d paid attention and asked questions we might have gotten somewhere a lot faster.”
Ricky sighed. “I guess you’re right. You did try to tell me, but I wasn’t listening. So, on to the next question: you were in Chicago, how come you didn’t talk to the teachers here who you suspected? Why try to drive back three months later?”
“It was a mental block, I think. I was capable of being misguided by my ego, since I was still very human. I trusted Avery Sweet and Mel Shank who are both based here. I couldn’t imagine they were guilty of anything. Both had been my co-authors and mentors; it seemed so out-of-character for them. Then, a few more pieces of information became clear to me. I spotted Chester’s former incarnation active in him after I got back to Minneapolis, and he had just spent time with Avery, but he had also been working with Sam Reading. The plan was to go to Chicago first, and if Avery seemed harmless, then to Atlanta.”
“How did you get the warning about your death? Weren’t you taking a horrible chance to be traveling when the date approached? You said you knew about it for a year.” Ricky asked.
“Again, bad judgment. The message came during an out-of-body experience. A dark form issued the date and time. At first, it scared the crap out of me, so much so that I wrote the living will and the last will-in-testament. But later on, after working with my guide Megon, I decided it wasn’t necessary for me to lose my body to do the work. Driving out on the night before the date was bravado on my part. My biggest mistake was telling Jeremy about the curse. He took it very seriously, wanted me to get the police involved. Fat lot of good that would have done. His fear was infectious. The curse became real.
“Who knows? If I hadn’t driven, it might not have happened. Or I might have had the blinding flash while I was climbing the stairs or taking a shower. Who can say?” Moon questioned with a far-away look in her eyes.
Ricky shuddered. “Let’s change the subject. I have something else to ask you. I, um, find myself attracted to David and the feeling is mutual. Will it disrupt my ability to work on the higher level if he and I start a relationship?”
Moon stretched out on the bed next to her sister. “So, first question, is the attraction from the heart or the body? Do you see a possibility that you’ll become a long-term couple?”
“Why is that important? Far as I’ve been told, you were engaged to two people while I lived in Chicago. Did those relationships interfere with your spiritual powers?” Ricky asked.
“I know I’m sounding nosey, and I’m not judging. You two are consenting adults and look like you’d make a wonderful couple. But if it’s about lust instead of love my answer will be different. I found that if I really see myself living the rest of the present lifetime with someone, and I see them as a best friend as well as a lover, my energy work becomes more powerful. The love I have for them multiples the love I feel for the others that are involved in my work.”
“Was that true for you with both Chester and Jeremy?” Ricky asked with raised eyebrows.
Moon shook her head. “Sadly, not. Sometimes my need to look like a normal person to the rest of the world overrides my connection to wisdom. With Chester, it was propinquity. We had worked together for so long, and so understood our shared philosophy, it seemed logical to marry. I was blind to his selfish nature because I was attracted to his body. That’s a lesson for both of us. If we become attached to someone out of lust or habit, our ability to function on the higher frequencies decreases.
“With Jeremy, it was another story. He was a sweet, kind, man with all sorts of positive attributes, and he was strongly attracted to me. It was a past life thing. We were married in several lives before my most recent. I loved him too, but he didn’t understand my work at all. And when he tried to understand, he was filled with fear. Where I saw adventure, he saw danger. Again, the relationship clouded my ability to see the essence of the work I had agreed to do.” Moon sighed, with a wistful look on her face.
“So if I feel I’m falling in love with David, and I can see a strong possibility for a long lifetime together, and he can be part of my work, he’ll expand my abilities rather than obstruct them?”
“Yes, and this is cheating a bit, but I looked it up in your Akashic record. You guys made a deal before this incarnation. You’re in it for the long haul together,” Moon said with a smile. “I’m so happy for you.”
Ricky could see a glowing hallo of light extending around her in Moon’s constructed room. Her joy was literally visible. “Thanks so much, Tilda. You’re the best sister ever.”
Moon smiled in return as they hugged. “As are you. So go back. He’s waiting. Love you, Rick.”
Chapter 16
Ricky spiraled back into her body, landing with a small popping sound on the hotel bed. She still smelled the lavender essential oil that Moon used as a teenager. Her fingers rubbed across the bedspread, remembering the patchwork quilt on their girlhood bed. She was contented, in spite of the news of Dr. Roy’s strange, unreadable energy. Actually, that information made the whole break up and cheating thing a lot more endurable. It was a gift to be away from his influence.
She sat up slowly, and as soon as the room stopped its just-returned-to–my-body spinning, she took a quick shower, put on her night gown and robe, and moved quietly towards the sitting room couch.
David was stretched out there, his hair damp from his shower and face newly shaved. He had on a pair of sweat pants and was bare-chested, watching the insides of his eyelids more than the TV that was tuned to an infomercial, the sound off.
She observed him with a smile on her face, not in the least surprised that she could see the auric light around him: a bright purple cloud around his head, a green pulsing energy from his heart, and a powerful red cloud over his lower body. His eyelids flickered, and a smile played over his lips; he nodded as if he was in deep conversation with someone. Nowhere was there any sign of an infesting ghost.
Ricky sat down on the edge of the deep-cushioned blue couch, nestling in to a space near David’s head, and softly tousled his dark black curls. Her hair was black as well, but his had an undertone of blue, hers an under- tone of dark brown. Hers needed a curling iron to bring out the waves that sprang up naturally in his hair. She leaned forward and sniffed. His hair smelled of a spicy lemon shampoo that had just a touch of mint. His deep black eyebrows were a perfect complement to his long lashes and his deep cobalt- blue eyes were now open, looking back at her.
“Hi Rick. You done talking to Moon? Get any answers?” He asked in a sleepy slur.
She smiled and stroked his hair. “Dr. Roy was a closed book to Moon. He was messed up on every level but not ghost infested. We didn’t get into the question of what will happen to those infested with ghosts when we take out the Soul Stealer. I guess that’s a problem for another day. But we did discuss the major iss
ue of close, intimate relationships for people who are doing our sort of work. The vote is for love, as long as the folks involved are both on the same page as to the quality of their intentions.”
David reached up and stroked her long hair that was now brushing against his forehead as she leaned towards him. “Your hair has grown so quickly since you came to Minneapolis. It’s almost as long as Moon’s was when I saw her teach.”
“Yeah, it’s growing faster than usual. Maybe Moon had something to do with it. Have to ask her to leave my follicles alone. But it might be a side-effect of finding my life’s purpose.”
David touched the side of Ricky’s neck with a lingering stroke. “Maybe it’s because you’ve found your soul mate. Moon popped into my dreams tonight; the first time she’s done so since I’ve been working with you. She showed me a soul memory that is buried deep in my subconscious. It was a meeting between us, both looking very different, in which we arranged that we’d join forces during a time of crisis and would continue on our path together. Seems like we’ve known each other several lifetimes worth.”
Ricky chuckled. “One of the first things Moon said when you knocked on the door of the house was that we’d have beautiful children together.”
His reaction was all that she could have hoped for. He pulled her to him, kissing her deeply; both of them savoring the instant connection. She watched with her new energy-vision and saw their fields melding as their bodies came together, sharing love, strength, endurance and understanding of all the joy they felt at every level.
Soon their urges and needs swept them to Ricky’s bed where they explored their new bond until they both lapsed, exhausted, into a dreamless sleep, arms intertwined around each other until the sun, streaming through the window, woke them.
