Soul's Journey

by Joanne Johnson

the stone steps and sleep, and now that the adrenaline had worn off, I could. When I finally descended to ground level, I allowed myself to collapse, and lay my face in the grass. The smell was soothing; I had finally attained freedom. I felt my body relax as my eyes closed. I remember thinking that I would just take a bit of a catnap and wait for Ryan to find me. I was not sure how long I had actually been in the pyramid, but it felt like days.

  I knew I was sleeping deeply, when I felt someone pick me up, but I could not force my eyes to open. I was snuggly resting in a man's embrace. It felt so good to be in these arms that I wasn’t curious enough to open my eyes. I assumed it was Ryan taking me back to the portal. That was the last thing I remember for what must have been a few hours.

  I slept so deeply that although I could hear people talking, I couldn’t wake myself up. I used to call it ‘the sleep of the dead’. As a child, my alarm clock would go off, and I would sleep right through it. I was struggling to open my eyes, before blackness had taken me, releasing me from the physical and mental exhaustion that consumed me. It was some time later before my eyes opened again. Sun light was shining through a glass, barred window and onto my face.

  I could hear voices clearly now as I opened my eyes. The voices I heard weren’t Derrick’s, or Ryan’s, and suddenly panic struck me. Glancing around the small room, I noticed the dresser, single bed, mirror, and a window with bars on the inside. The door was made of a beautiful cherry wood. As I got my bearings, I walked over to the window and pulled on the bars trying to loosen them, but they were rock solid. I searched for my Turad, but to my dismay, it had fallen out of my bra at some point during my capture. It was good that it was programmed to my energy only, so that if someone found it they couldn’t use it. I walked over to the door and placed my ear against it. I could barely make out what they were saying.

  I heard a deep voice say, “He’ll come! I am positive he will want to see her alive again. We will use her to our advantage. He may not care about his own life, but he cares what happens to hers.”

  A different voice said, “How will he know we have her?”

  “I’ve sent him a telepathic message that I have disguised as originating from her,” said the deep voice.

  “He won’t realize that it’s from me until he opens it. The message has her energy attached to it, so that he will know that we have the girl. Of course, he will come to save her.”

  “When did you learn to send telepathic messages?” asked the different voice.

  “The more time I’ve had with the amulet in my possession the more tricks I have acquired and can use. The most effective one is this…touch your nose and jump up and down.” I could clearly hear a thumping sound and wondered if someone was jumping. The other man spoke up and said.

  “I can’t stop myself from jumping.”

  He laughed and then replied, “The Atlanteans called this off-cast, or at least that is what my father informed me when he was teaching me about the past.”

  "Why off-cast?" asked a softer male voice.

  “They called it off-cast because it can overcome your willpower, so that you will only do what is being ordered. I think our guest is awake,” he said.

  “How do you know?” spoke the other man still jumping.

  “I can hear some of her thoughts through the door.” I could hear him smile as he continued to speak. “You need to stop jumping now, and get to your location, so you will be ready for the trap when Derrick arrives.”

  The jumping immediately stopped, and I heard footsteps coming to the door, so I bounded back to the bed and quickly lay down. I tried to look like I was sleeping as the door opened. My mind was racing and I could feel fear taking over. What was to happen to me? Maybe the bed wasn’t the best place to be when this strange man entered the room.

  I heard a laughing male voice say, “When and if I come to your bed you’ll be more than willing. I’ve never had to take a woman against her will so I’m not about to start with you.” My eyes sprang open, to see Frank standing inside the door watching me pretend to sleep. How did he know what I was thinking? He smiled again.

  “I read minds,” he said. “So we meet in the flesh at last, Jordan.”

  This was the first time I noticed what he really looked like. He was very tall, with shaggy dark hair and very broad shoulders. His eyes were brown and sparkled with a self-centered arrogance. If I didn’t know he was the bad guy, I would have certainly thought him borderline attractive. He was dressed in a fine tailored suit and tie, but looked and smelled of money. I sat up on the bed as he came into the room. I felt uncomfortable in his space; he was extremely intimidating to my small size. I looked around the room to see if there was a way out that I hadn’t noticed yet.

  “I think that you’d be more comfortable in the other room,” he said smiling.

  He ushered me into a very spacious kitchen. The house looked like a log cabin, and when I looked out the front bay window, I could see mountains and forest all around. I could tell from the scenery we were not in Mexico anymore. I walked closer to the window and looked out, trying to collect my thoughts.

  “How do you know my name?” I asked trying to sound calm.

  “I heard the gentleman who was waiting for you, thinking about when you would surface to meet him, just before we knocked him out. You’re right about the location, we’re in the Rocky Mountains, and this is my home,” Frank replied looking almost smug.

  My mind went to Ryan. I wondered what happened to him, and if he was still waiting for me to surface from the cavern below.

  Frank then said, “No, we gave him a big bump on his head, and a long nap to go with it. He was breathing fine when we left.”

  “I don’t understand how you found me? Do you have a sick sense?” I asked wondering if he would catch my mistake.

  “It is sixth sense, and I have something better,” he replied smiling. “You’re cheeky for someone who has been kidnapped. It is an old Druid trick. When you were crossing the ravine, did you not feel a push from behind?” I nodded, but I had assumed that it was Derrick pushing me along.

  “When I realized that you would soon be lost to me, I sent a bolt of telepathic energy towards you. It attached to your lower back. It is like a string of my energy connected to your body, so that I am always able to find you. When you’re in our time, I can tap into your energy, and see where you are, kind of like GPS. I was surprised that Derrick didn’t realize what I had done, or he would have released the energy from you. You would only feel tightness and heaviness in your lower back.”

  My mind was racing, did Derrick know about the attachment, or had I distracted him to the point that he was too disoriented to what was really going on? Did Ryan think that I was still underground, or would he realize I had been kidnapped?

  “I am sure that Ryan, it is Ryan isn’t it, will know he received a bump on the head for a purpose. He will know when he wakes up that we have you. We left your shoes lying beside him on the ground. He won’t mistake where you have gone.”

  “What is your exact connection to Derrick?” he asked. My mind thought about the instant connection I had with him. The sexual chemistry that ran between the two of us was the most intense connection of my entire life.

  Frank laughed aloud, “It’s nice to know that your feelings for Derrick are what I thought they were. This means that he’ll come for you in a timely manner.”

  I tried to shut my brain down. This is what Ryan meant, when he said I could not be privileged to secrets until I could quiet my mind of chatter. My mind had become the enemy, and I was allowing it to be read, freely revealing information that could be used against me. I had to find a way to escape.

  Frank laughed, “I can still hear you. I know what you are thinking, so I will be aware of the escape before you can try it. I would like to know where you have been for the last four days. I could feel your energy near the pyramid, but I couldn’t access it.”

  I’ve been gone four days? It didn’t seem to be that lon
g. I then recalled the tests I had gone through in the last few days: the tools that I had acquired how to use the energy ball for protection, my intuition, and the cavern filling with water.

  “You, my dear girl, think too much. Thank you for all the useful information. Your brain is like an open book,” he said smiling.

  I quieted my mind and remembered the native village. I promptly raised my vibration to the point that my body started to disappear. The look on Frank’s face was priceless as I almost completely vanished. Before I was able to disappear entirely, Frank grabbed hold of my wrist. He started to laugh. “It’s going to take more than a little disappearing act to escape me,” he said.

  I experimented to see if I could use the protective ball to push him out of my energy. All of my tools had become like second nature since I had stepped on the blocks at the bridge. All of my senses felt heightened. I could feel his hands slipping off my invisible arm. When the last finger slipped off my energy, I made a bolt for the front door. Before getting to the door, I noticed Frank’s apparition standing in front of the closed door. He was staring at me directly as if he could see me. How was this possible, I thought?

  I moved my body to the side of the room, and tried to slide flat against the wall. The apparition was watching me the whole time. There was a hand on my shoulder, I turned to look, and realized that Frank was behind me with his hand on my shoulder. I glanced over to the door and there stood the apparition of Frank. How could there be two of him?

  I made myself visible again and turned to Frank, “How the hell did you do that?

  “You are a feisty thing aren’t you? Have you ever heard of astral travel? It is when you can be in two places at once. I can astral travel my soul and when I am in that state you cannot hide your energy from me. I told you about my energy attachment to your back, well that means whenever you are of higher or lower vibration, I am still able to find you. I can close my eyes and see the energy connection that I have to you, and follow it back to wherever you may be.”

  “What other tools are you hiding from me, Jordan?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” I said aloud; then a villain of thought took over. I can move through rope when trapped. Move things with my mind, like pebbles, see visions, and I could not forget my four stones.

  He smiled again looking over excited. “I’d like to see your stones,” he said. He walked over to me, spun me around to grab the back of my shirt, and lifted it up so he could view my lower back. “You don’t have your symbol yet. You’re not able to initiate time travel until you yourself have activated all your stones. I was hoping that I would not need Derrick after all.”

  “What stones?” I asked.

  “Don’t play coy, Jordan. I heard your thoughts. I know all of it.”

  "Oh for fuck sake," I said. I had been suffering from thought diarrhea all day; it was utterly frustrating that I could not make it stop. I decided to avoid his questioning.

  “Where are your other goons?” I asked.

  “Trying to deter the conversation won’t work either, because I already know what your plan is. Ted and Tim are outside getting ready to trap Derrick when he comes for you.”

  He pulled me over to the black leather sofa, and sat me down beside him. I tried to move to the other side of the couch as far away from him as possible. I found his size, and abilities to be a little bit intimidating.

  "Take what little space you can Jordan, you’re a walking billboard.” He bared his teeth when he spoke looking even more menacing. I slid farther to the side of the couch, and felt that it wasn’t far enough, as his eyes seemed to peer into my very soul. It was really making my skin crawl.

  “So where are your rocks?” he asked