He was in her sight one minute and the next he vanished. Where did he go? Alex ran forward, thinking the man had fallen and needed help. She arrived at the spot where she had last seen him and there was no sign of him.
An invisible force pulling her forward off her feet. She screamed as the motion continued and her vision went black. Her lungs seized and she fell into what she could only think was an endless void.
Savior the 1st Chapter of ‘The Crystal Telepath’
Worlds Apart Series: Book One
Chapter 1
Sedona, Arizona
She exited the car, so weak she could barely close the door. The remnants of the second migraine this week had left her feeling lethargic. Shirl Tomlinson knew she had to power through, regardless of how dreadful she was feeling. Her best friend, Alexandra Mann, had been missing for almost a week. As she walked to the front of the Sedona Police Department headquarters, she was oblivious to the beauty of the surrounding area. Several people exiting the building made way for Shirl as she entered. She barely noticed their presence or the way the men perused her body. She was too sick to care.
For a relatively small town, the place was extremely busy. Barely able to stand, she staggered toward the front desk. She had to dodge a number of officers; otherwise, she would have ended up flat on her face on the marble floor. The man who stood behind the counter saw her distress and made his way around the restricted area to aid her. The artificial light was so bright, she had to squint her eyes as she watched him approach.
“Miss Tomlinson, are you all right?” the concerned officer asked. Shirl wished she could remember the young officer’s name. He was wearing a name badge, but her vision was blurry and she could not make out the letters. She just wanted to crawl into the corner and fall into a deep, painless sleep.
“I am recovering from a migraine and am not feeling quite right,” she said. One severe headache after another had tapped her strength. She did not know how much more she was going to be able to take. Having only minimal health insurance coverage, her options were limited in her quest to find what was wrong with her. Every doctor she saw scratched their heads, baffled by the escalation in the severity and frequency of the headaches she had been suffering the past two years.
“I’ll get Commander Lewis. He will give you an update on our efforts to find your friend.” The officer took a couple of steps and then asked over his shoulder, “Can I get you any water?”
Shirl shook her head. She had taken medication before she left the hotel room. Everyone in the Sedona Police Department knew her by now. She arrived on Monday, as soon as she was able to drive. Alex had been missing since last Friday. For three full days, the police station had been her home away from home.
She sat on the bench, clasping the crystals that hung around her neck. As each day ended with no sign of Alex, Shirl got more frantic, fearing she would never see her friend again. What would she do without Alex in her life? They had grown up together in a Phoenix orphanage. Whenever anything went wrong, she always ran to Alex for help. Although Alex was two years younger, Alex was always the responsible one.
Commander Lewis appeared and sat next to Shirl. He was a good looking man, probably in his late thirties. The man was also tall. Generally she had to look up at him when they talked, she liked that. For some odd reason, she did not trust men she had to look down upon. She knew that was stupid, but that was how she felt.
Lewis was the second highest ranking police officer in the department, under the chief of police. Shirl could see from the expression on his face, he did not have good news to share. At least they hadn’t found a body. The last two nights Shirl had woken in a cold sweat, dreaming she’d been taken to the morgue to identify Alex’s corpse.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Miss Tomlinson. There have been no sightings of your friend. We know she checked into her hotel Friday afternoon and was not seen again. Her car was found in a parking lot near Boynton Canyon. We believe she went hiking, but there are no signs of foul play. We have had men up and down that canyon looking for Alexandra. There was a part of the trail that looked like someone was dragged for ten feet or so, but there is no evidence she fell. Why don’t you head home? I’ll call you if we discover anything.”
Shirl felt tears falling down her cheeks and reached into her purse for a tissue. “I can’t leave here without Alex or knowing what happened to her.” People did not just disappear off the face of the Earth. Sedona seemed an unlikely place for human trafficking. A new age cult perhaps, but Alex wasn’t the type.
“Can I at least take you to dinner? You look terrible.” Shirl had to smile at Commander Lewis’s comment. Men usually fawned over her. It was nice to have a man be honest with her about her appearance. He was a no nonsense guy, saying what was on his mind.
She didn’t feel threatened by him. Commander Lewis was the type of man to drag his wife along, eliminating any type of impropriety. It would be nice to get her mind off Alex, even for one meal. “That would be nice. I can’t remember the last time I ate.” She had a couple of power bars in her car, but hadn’t been able to stomach the idea of eating them.
“Why don’t I pick you up tonight in your hotel lobby after I get off, around seven.” The seasoned police officer knew this meet-up location would be nonthreatening compared to meeting her at her hotel room. “My wife Carol will meet us at the restaurant.” Yup, she called that one right!
“I guess at this point, I should at least ask your first name,” Shirl said. “It would be weird calling your wife Carol while calling you Commander Lewis.”
“Frank, my first name is Frank.”
Commander Lewis patted her hand and returned to work. She watched as he crossed into the restricted area behind the front desk. A large clock displayed three o’clock. She had four hours to kill before he would pick her up. There was no sense staying on the hard bench. She could get an update at dinner tonight. Besides, they had her cell phone number if they found Alex in the meantime.
Shirl walked to her car and sat behind the wheel for a while, not sure where she wanted to go. The medication had kicked in and she felt a little better.
She started toward Boynton Canyon. Shirl rarely went hiking with Alex. She didn’t like the dust that covered her on the few occasions she went. Alex didn’t make a big deal out of having to go alone.
Generally their friend Candy was along and she would hike with Alex. Candy had grown up in the orphanage with them. It was hard not calling her to join Shirl in Sedona while she waited for news of Alex. Candy was a high school coach and her team had just returned from a tournament. She hadn’t even told Candy that Alex was missing. Shirl didn’t want to worry her friend in case Alex reappeared. That possibility continued to slip away.
When she arrived, the parking lot was relatively empty. Alex’s disappearance had been all over the local newspapers. People were shying away from this particular trail, afraid a wild animal had attacked her friend. There was no evidence to support the claim, but that did not stop the rumor mill from spreading that story.
Boynton Canyon was beautiful with its deep red rocks. Shirl had always been fascinated by this place. It was one of the four vortexes Sedona was famous for. The energy emitted by the vortexes always renewed her.
These sites were believed to be multiple dimensional pathways emitting spiraling spiritual energy. Shirl soaked up any article on the subject as well as anything dealing with mystical powers.
One of the few items she had from her birthmother was an amethyst crystal that started her fascination with crystals and healing stones. She wore four to five crystals a day, depending on her mood. Her mother’s amethyst was the only crystal she wore constantly. It seemed to balance her in some odd way. Shirl felt less alone, like having family close by. She knew it was stupid, but maybe one day it would lead her to some discovery of who she was meant to be.
Curiosity about the section of the trail with the drag mark Commander Lewis mentioned got the better of Shirl.
Grabbing a power bar, she started toward the trailhead. She’d walk the path Alex had taken when she disappeared. If she got too dusty, she’d take a shower before Frank picked her up for dinner.
She walked slowly, conserving what strength she had. Between nibbling on the nutrition bar, the medication, and the vortex’s energy, she felt vitality coursing through her body. As she walked the trail, she held onto her crystals, trying to channel Alex. She was not expecting anything to happen, then her mother’s amethyst started to glow.
Shirl held the crystal in front of her and stared at it in wonder. As much as she knew about crystals, she had never read anything about them glowing. She felt a slight pull and stopped.
The air ahead shimmered and she felt the continued emission of energy. Slowly, she approached the anomaly. She could see the trail on the other side of the air displacement.
Shirl looked down and noticed the dirt and foliage along the path looked as if something had been dragged through it. It ended right in front of what she could only think was an event horizon. Alex must have been pulled through the point of no return. The gravitational pull would have been so great, Alex would not have been able to escape from it.
Taking a deep breath, Shirl walked into the unknown.
Inside a black void, she felt as if falling. Twisting and turning, she had no control. Deafening, high-pitched sound pierced her ears. Her crystal glowed brighter.
Terror taking hold, she attempted to grab her crystal necklace. After her second attempt at regaining use of her flailing arms, she secured the amethyst in her hand.
Just short of all-out panic, she started to think about home. It worked for Dorothy in Oz, allowing her and Toto to return to Kansas.
She crashed against the ground, out of the portal’s grasp. Shirl slowly climbed to her feet and realized she was no longer in Sedona. It must have been a portal to another dimension. That could be the only explanation why she was no longer on the trail surrounded by red rocks and dirt.
She stood on a mountain path, overlooking a city built of pale stone. The community was abloom with purple flowering trees and plants. The violet sky must be a result of the colored pollen emitted.
Shirl was surprised her mind was reacting rationally, although she was still a little dazed. Her normal reaction would have been to panic. Instead, she was taking in her surroundings and making scientific assumptions. She could not remember the last time she had thought so clearly. There was no pain or pressure impacting her brain.
Alexandra was somewhere in this city, she was certain of it. Shirl was not sure how she was going to find her or what type of people she would encounter. But she had to start looking.
She started down the mountain pass, paying close attention to her steps. The trail was steeper than the one in Boynton Canyon. Her sandals were comfortable, but not equipped to traverse the rocky path. She was also a little wobbly from the rough ride within the portal and had eaten no food to speak of for days.
Sweat trickled down her neck. She brushed at the liquid and her hand came back covered in blood. Shirl felt the same trickle on the other side of her neck. She was bleeding from both ears.
Another step. Bright red streamed from her noise. Her shirt collar was soaked with blood. A strong wave of nausea washed over her. She grabbed a tree branch along the trail.
Leaning on the tree did not abate the nausea. She fell to her knees and retched along the side of the trail. With little food and nothing to drink, it was closer to dry heaves.
Voices and footsteps were coming closer. Eyes popping open, she glanced through a red haze. Not only was she bleeding from her ears and nose, blood vessels must have broken in her eyes.
Shirl could hear the two men address her, but could not comprehend what they said. Her ears were buzzing and she could barely concentrate through the nausea that still overwhelmed her. One of the men knelt next to her as she felt herself fall into unconsciousness.
Coming Soon: Book Four of the Worlds Apart Series
‘The Mind Control Telepath’
Coming Soon:
‘Nightshade’
Book One: The Nightshade Universe
About the Author
When Evelyn Lederman retired from her career as an insurance executive, she cheerfully anticipated the freedom to finally spend as much time reading as she’d always wanted. The twist in her story came when as-yet unwritten characters started cropping up in her thoughts, asking her to tell their stories. Now, she spends her days in Florida on the beach… with her laptop.
‘The Chameleon Soul Mate’, ‘The Crystal Telepath’, and ‘The Warrior Woman’ are the first three books in her paranormal sci-fi romance series, Worlds Apart.
Keep up to date with her at EvelynLederman.com or on Facebook. Contact her at [email protected]
The Warrior Woman Page 23