Down in Whisper

by Bonnie Elizabeth

  “What happened?” she asked softly, glancing around once more to be sure there weren’t any other hidden people in my guest room. There weren’t many places to hide in my guest room, as I’d kept it pretty spare. I had the bed with drawers beneath it and an empty chest. I used the walk in closet to store a few odds and ends but it was really just ready for someone to come visit. The colors in here were olive green and a deep purple for accents.

  I told her about Gaia.

  Amy nodded before I explained further. “Marcus knew about her. He knew he needed to guard himself if that ever happened. He talked to me when Peter told him about the linking. It’s not something I ever expected, especially not here. I doubt Peter ever expected it either. Too bad Marcus wasn’t at home. I think he said that distance would help.”

  “So this was a perfect storm?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Peter can become anything, even merge with the other earth spirits but Marcus is human, not fully air spirit so he can’t do that. He’s a little like Meg in that he doesn’t get lost inside them but the merging is beyond what his brain can handle. I guess it’s also like the energy of his body wanting to follow the other spirits, even though it can’t”

  I nodded at her. “Can I get you anything to help him?”

  Amy shook her head. “He feels scattered. His energy is really low too. I need to build that up. I’ll probably be hungry and thirsty when I’m done.”

  “I’ll go get started.”

  RaeLynn left with me. Once in my kitchen I started looking around for food. I had some cookies that I kept for snacks. I wasn’t sure how long Amy would be, so I didn’t know if I could actually cook up some dinner.

  “I’ll call the pizza place,” RaeLynn said. “They’ll deliver and I expect Amy will need more than sushi and tempura after healing. It’s probably faster than anything you can whip up here too.”

  “Great. Get a couple of larges. I can always eat left overs. That way if anyone else shows up we have plenty of food.”

  “I’m on it. Should I use the company card?”

  I thought about it. This was really company work so I said yes.

  John came back in with Zari riding on one arm. She was tucked next to his body and he had carefully held her toes between his fingers as if he worried she’d try to run. Zari seemed pleased to be carried that way although I suspected if I tried the same thing, she’d be miffed.

  “Of course I would,” she said. “You know I am not a cat. He does not.”

  John started scratching her head.

  “RaeLynn is ordering pizza if you want to stay. I don’t know what else is going on so we’ll see who all shows up. Peter may be here later.”

  “I doubt it,” Zari said. “I cannot sense him.”

  “He’s okay?” I asked her.

  “I do not think that you can ask that sort of question about a spirit,” Zari said. “But he should return if that is what you are asking. Don’t expect that he will eat here tonight.”

  “I really ought to get home,” John said. “I want to make sure my daughter is fine. I hope that I got everything out of the house.”

  “I expect you’ll find you did,” I said, confident that Gaia and any helpers she might have was cleaning up everywhere.

  John nodded before leaving. I made sure he had his coffee. I suspected he’d need it to keep himself alert on the short drive home. Zari sighed.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I like him. He knows how to treat a cat. I may be just a little jealous of the cat I sent to him.”

  I frowned, annoyed. So apparently I wasn’t even number one in the cat parent book. Of course I appreciated knowing that the old man would be okay for a while. I’m sure Zari would have told me if he were in danger.

  “You do okay but I did have teach you things he does naturally,” Zari purred. “And you are mine so you shouldn’t worry about things like that. Even if you are flawed.”

  RaeLynn started to laugh so clearly Zari had not made that last comment private. I couldn’t do anything else but laugh with her. I hoped we didn’t disturb Amy as she did her work.

  Meg

  It was three days before Peter showed up at Meg’s apartment, leaning back against the arm of her sofa, waiting for her when she got up that morning. She flung herself at him, knocking him back onto the cushions.

  “Where have you been? Why didn’t you wake me?” Meg demanded, feeling a flickering of the connection that she’d always had with him, although it felt weaker now and there seemed to be more walls.

  “To serve the Goddess as the Goddess is always work,” Peter said softly, more softly than he normally did. He stroked Meg’s hair. “And it’s not an option for a spirit such as me.”

  “But how? I think Kyle said that Zari told him it’s like all of the elemental spirits become Gaia and form her?”

  “She uses us, yes,” Peter said, “But it would be wrong to say that we form her. It’s rather like we are all the ingredients in the cake that she bakes. She can’t exist without us, but we are not just small pieces of her either.”

  Meg hugged him harder.

  “How is Marcus?” Peter asked, even as Meg felt him disappear for half a second. It was like a light flickering off and on in a windstorm.

  “He’s okay. Amy did a lot of healing but he was really exhausted even after that.”

  “I’m glad she was able to get to him. I could feel his energy being drained. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t have a moment to warn him but the men from the parallel universe were crossing to often with no thought to what they could do.”

  “They said they were cleaning up.”

  “And like all such humans who interfere in the realms of the gods and spirits they had no idea they were making things worse. It is not just material that is left behind, but…” Peter searched for a word, “essence.”

  “I was so worried when I couldn’t feel you. It was like you had ceased to exist.” Meg ran a finger down the shirt that he was wearing. She could feel him watching her, although he didn’t respond with the enthusiasm that he normally would have.

  “I had to cut our connection before I joined Gaia. You can go many places and do many things, Megan, but that is not for you. To have joined with the Goddess would have destroyed you. I’m afraid I may have been a little abrupt about it.”

  “I didn’t know.” Meg looked up to find him looking watching her. He took the hand that was tracing a line on his chest and kissed it before falling back against the sofa.

  “What exactly was going on? I got a lot of theories, but they weren’t very coherent. I don’t think Zari was able to explain it very well.”

  “Zari’s people are aware of the parallel universes and they know to not mess with them. However, they don’t understand much about them. Her understanding is based on thought processes that are foreign to humans. In fiction, humans have described the path to a parallel universe as a door. It’s more like jumping between trains going in opposite directions and leaving a rope tying you to the other train so you can return. It has to be timed perfectly. As you do that more and more, there are more ropes. A train can break one or two ropes, and not slow itself down. As you do it more often, the train will slow and potentially not move at all. That’s cannot be allowed because without movement, everything, including elemental spirits, would be destroyed. That’s why Gaia had to step in.”

  “Why her? Why not someone like Kuan Yin.” Meg laid her head down on Peter’s chest. She could feel him breathing although it seemed to shallow for him. Sometimes her chin seemed to sink into his chest which was a strange feeling. It was like he was made of sand rather than flesh. But then, he wasn’t actually made of real flesh, was he?

  “It’s not Kuan Yin’s area,” Peter said. “Gaia is the world. She has given birth to each world in each universe in every parallel potential, so for her this was like separating naughty children.”

  Peter closed his eyes for a second, looking for all like he was resting. The weakness
that she could feel from him worried Meg.

  “You’re so subdued.”

  “Consider the analogy, Meg,” Peter smiled. “I’m like an egg that’s been cracked and baked into a cake. It takes some work to get back to being just an egg in my own little shell.”

  “It’s not exactly how I’d ever describe you.”

  Peter gave her a half smile.

  “I saw the house.” Meg leaned up on her arm to watch him. “It’s wonderful. I can’t believe you kept that from me.”

  “I wanted it to be a surprise. A complete surprise.”

  “It was.”

  “But it’s not done.” Peter pulled his mouth to one side like a child pouting.

  “I don’t care.”

  “Of course, this means you can plan the interior. Your dad may have some things ordered but it can be changed.”

  “But that gets expensive.” Meg understood all too well about cost overruns. She’d listened at many a dinner table conversation between her parents about the issue.

  Peter chuckled. “As if I could spend all the money I have in even my ‘lifetime’. And if I want more, that’s one thing I can create. Humans have such a great fondness for precious stones and metals. The earth and what’s beneath it is mine to do with as I wish. Because there is no Goddess breath to be moved through a living creature, when I create metals or stones, they continues to exist. Money means nothing.”

  Meg sat back, a frown appearing between her eyebrows. “I knew you helped my dad but I thought it was so you could pay taxes on the house.”

  “It’s so I have a way of proving that the money is mine.” Frowning, Peter considered for a moment before speaking. “I think you’d call it the way I launder money. Although so far as I know there is nothing illegal about how I actually get the money in the first place.”

  Meg laughed again, snuggling up him. “I’m sure that whatever you picked out will be perfect.”

  “Your mother and Amy helped a lot. Your mother even has some furniture picked out. Have her show you what she chose and make sure you like it. I realize humans like changing furniture and things but it’s not something that will occur to me. The cabin has been like that since at the turn of the century, although I’ve given it the occasional facelift to keep people from having too many questions.”

  “I’m sure I’ll like it all. It’s not like I put a lot of thought into my own furnishings.” Meg looked around the room at all her hand-me-down and second-hand furniture that she’d gotten either while in school or a little after. Her mother was a far better decorator than she was.

  “I think I am on the edge of, as you say, over-extending myself,” Peter said, looking at her. Meg could almost see through him. She backed up and stood.

  “You said a few more days?”

  “For physical form.” Turning back to the sofa, Peter was gone, but she could still feel the sense that he hadn’t actually left. Whisper had its spirit back.

  About the Author

  Bonnie Elizabeth wrote her first book when she was 8 years old. After that, she grew up working at a variety of jobs including veterinary receptionist, cemetery administrator, and licensed acupuncturist, before writing her first published book. She continues to write in a variety of venues. She has short fiction out in several anthologies.

  She blogs as her cat and writes about acupuncture under her full name and title, Bonnie Koenig, LAc, in addition to writing fiction as Bonnie Elizabeth.

  Down in Whisper is the sixth book in the Whisper series that began with Whisper Bound. You can find them, and all Bonnie’s books, through your favorite e-book retailer, and in paperback through Amazon.

  Stay in contact with her on Facebook My Big Fat Orange Cat or on her website, BonnieElizabeth.com

  Stay In Touch

  Also by Bonnie Elizabeth

  The Whisper Novels

  Whisper Bound

  Taken by the Sound

  An Air of Suspicion

  Little Dog Lost

  Death Interrupted

  Down in Whisper

  A Haunting Whisper

  A Haunting Attraction

  Secrets Not Whispers

  Whisper Short Stories

  Ghost Case

  Christmas Whispers

  Short Stories

  Pride in Exile

  Scope of Practice

  The Harlequin

  Gemini: Rescued from the Rain

  Familiar Trouble

  The Burning

  Dead Surprise

  Trail to Giant’s Watch

  Find them all at your favorite bookseller or check us out at MyBigFatOrangeCat.com