by Dale Mayer
He grinned, but he turned so they were both staring at the corner. “Tell me what you see.”
She raised her hands and described the pillars rising up from the corners. “A wall is there and a small window. Oh, this is the doorless room with just that small opening.”
“Describe that room to me.”
She did the best she could. But how does one describe a room with four walls and a floor and a ceiling but no door, just this little opening on the side?
“You think somebody was in there?”
The sense of knowing settled in her. “Yes.” And then, off the cuff, she said, “It’s her sister.”
“Whose sister?” Sebastian asked softly.
“Linnea’s,” she said. “It’s her sister Sabine.”
“And why is she in there?”
Lacey closed her eyes, as if reaching for knowledge, and what she found were answers she hadn’t expected. “I can see her,” she said excitedly.
“Sabine?”
“No Linnea.”
“Describe her to me.”
She described the beautiful young woman, who was possibly sixteen or seventeen, standing in an off-white simple dress with her contrasting long black hair. “But she seems agitated,” she ended with. “She keeps pointing at the corner where her sister is, then pushing me away.”
“Why away? Doesn’t she want you to save her sister?”
“She does, but it’s dangerous.”
“Why is her sister in there?”
“She was taken away.”
“By whom?”
“A bad man.” Lacey shrugged, as she watched and looked at him. “Linnea’s gone now.”
“So her sister was given to a bad man, and the bad man is keeping her in there? He’s her jailor?”
“I think so,” Lacey said.
“You realize we’re talking in present tense, and this happened a long time ago, right?”
“I know,” she said, “but, to Linnea, it’s still present tense. Does she want us to dig her up?”
“No, and that would be the energy who’s pushing you away from this corner. But whose energy is pushing you toward the corner?”
Lacey took a deep breath and looked up at Sebastian. “The jailor.”
*
“What can you tell me about him?” Sebastian asked Lacey. He was struck by the term jailor. Especially considering what Bruno had found. Bad man? Jailor? Still the two sites were far apart and a decade later.
Sebastian studied her face, to see if she would go into a trance to receive her visions, while using neurolinguistic programming cues to see if she was lying or searching in her past memories for answers. Those cues were subtle. But, at the moment, Lacey exhibited no deception, so he had no cause for that concern.
She shrugged. “I have no clue. I just sense he’s a bad man. I can’t tell you if he is the same bad man,” she emphasized.
“Which is, of course, is an important distinction.”
“And why now?” Lacey cried out. “Your guys have been working this dig for how long? Other people have been on the Pompeii site for how long? Why is Linnea talking to me now?”
“Because you’re here,” he said simply. “Because she can communicate with you.”
Lacey groaned. “So does that mean then she can’t communicate with anybody else?”
“Maybe she’s tried,” he said. “Maybe she tried and failed. Maybe you’re the first one who’s been receptive.”
“I guess the real issue is, what does she want?” Lacey said. “This is so way beyond bizarre. It’s hard for me to imagine what it is she wants from me.”
“That’s always the issue. It’s one thing to communicate with these spirits. It’s another thing entirely to understand what they want you to understand and to do. It’s not like you can literally save her sister. She’s been dead for thousands of years. Although maybe you could save her soul …”
“So why Linnea? Why Linnea and this other energy? Are they enemies? On the same side? Or do they even know about each other.” She glanced at Sebastian. “Do I try to contact the bad man?”
His heart seized in a tight grip. He shook his head. “Don’t ever do that.”
She frowned up at him, not liking his tone.
“I mean it,” he warned. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with and to try something like that is beyond dangerous. You need some defenses in your arsenal before you even think of dealing with evil spirits. Hunter’s got to teach you the basics.”
“Only he’s not here.”
Sebastian nodded. “First thing is to not do anything with negative energy alone. Not unless you’re a pro. Next is to always—always—be surrounded by loving white energy.”
She settled back some and nodded. “Makes sense. I’m not trying to be a hero,” she whispered softly. “It just would be nice to have them talk to somebody else,” she said with humor.
“I get that, but, for spirits who finally find somebody they can talk to, there’s a desperation. They don’t worry about social cues and niceties. It’s all about getting the message across. So, although Linnea may not be trying to hurt you, her very desperate need will have a powerful impact on you. And she’s the ‘good guy’ in this scenario.”
“Oh, I get that,” she agreed. “But the other guy …”
“If someone is attempting to push you toward something, yet you’re being sent away from it by Linnea. Then listen to her.”
“Meaning, she is the voice of reason?”
“Maybe. We’re more concerned about safety—your safety,” he said.
“Okay, because I really don’t want to get into some kind of an otherworldly argument here.” She nodded emphatically. “I’m a schoolteacher. I’m only here because I felt compelled to be here.” She heard her own words and winced. “Exactly the problem, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know that that is a problem,” he said cautiously. “The thing is, these impulses are there for a reason. Whether you’re here to help or for you to learn something about yourself or to do something the world needs you to do, I can’t say.” He watched as her gaze widened at his words. He chuckled. “No, I’m not asking you to be a superhero. I’m just hoping we can get to the bottom of this easily.”
“And yet, nothing about this has been easy so far, has it?”
He glanced over her head to see Hunter moving through the bushes. He wondered if his friend had seen anything from her earlier display with the forces. “I think,” he said, “Hunter wants to join us.”
She spun around, saw Hunter and waved. “He sees stuff too, doesn’t he?” she asked softly.
“It’s not so much that he sees something, although he saw what you saw once he touched you,” Sebastian said in a low tone, “but others don’t always see him. He can turn it on and off.” He watched her as she studied the trees, looking for Hunter. “You always see him though, don’t you?”
She pointed him out. “Yes, but he moves in a very smooth manner.”
“He’s always been very good at camouflaging his presence.”
Hunter approached quietly. He smiled at Lacey. “That was an interesting demonstration.”
Her face lit up. “Did you see them?”
“I’m not sure what I saw,” he said cautiously. “But I definitely saw energy.”
Her face fell. “What does that mean?” she cried out. “When you say energy, are you saying, like, a glowing golden ball? Are you talking about the wind? Just what is it? When you say you see energy, what do you mean exactly?”
Hunter looked at Sebastian.
Sebastian said, “What I saw was a tall form that looked like it could be human but covered in a glowing, moving stream of wind.”
She frowned as if visualizing it.
Hunter added, “And I saw a large gray energy and a softer, smaller energy. Not white, but maybe with a lighter tinge, like a green to it.”
Lacey’s frown deepened. “I’d really like to see it for myself,” she announced.
“Next time when you’re buffeted by these forces,” Hunter said, amusement in his tone, “maybe open your eyes and look at them.”
She stared at him. “Were my eyes closed?”
He nodded.
She raised both hands in frustration. “Why would I do that?”
He chuckled. “I don’t know. Why would you?”
“I think it was instinctive,” she said. “The forces were so strong that I was leaning into them, trying to maintain my balance.”
“You were leaning forward pretty substantially,” Hunter said calmly. “I wondered what you were doing.”
She shook her head. “I thought I was perfectly straight.” She turned to look at Sebastian. “Did you see me leaning?”
He nodded slowly.
She glared at him. “But you didn’t say anything.”
His eyebrows shot up. “About you leaning? No. Because the way you were leaning also means the force behind you was stronger than the force in front of you.” He watched as she digested that information, wondering how long it would take for her to click in.
She gasped, and her eyes grew wide and round. “So you were saying that the bad guy was winning.” She worried her teeth on her bottom lip.
Sebastian pulled her close, stroking his thumb across her lip. “Don’t chew on your lip like that. You’ll end up making it all puffy and swollen.” He tucked her up against his chest.
She laid her head against the size and breadth of him. “But to think the bad guy was winning means he’s stronger than she is.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Hunter said. “Fill me in here a little, please.”
Sebastian shared with Hunter the details Lacey had expressed earlier. “So you see? We’re not exactly sure who or what’s happening here, but Linnea says her sister is in that space over there. As far as Linnea was concerned, there was a bad guy holding her sister in that room. Lacey assumes the negative force was his.”
“Except …” Lacey said, “I’m not sure that was the same bad guy.”
Sebastian hugged her close. “So close your eyes right now, and tell me which force felt better?” He watched as she obediently closed her eyes and then opened them again.
In a slightly resentful tone she said, “Okay, so the bad guy was behind me. That energy was forcing me toward that corner. Linnea was pushing me away from that corner.”
“So she doesn’t want you where her sister is, but the bad guy does. Is that correct?” Hunter asked.
She gave him a look. “You realize how ridiculous all this sounds?”
He just shrugged. “The thing is, you can’t be sure Linnea was the good energy because she was pushing you away from her sister. For all you know, she wanted to keep her sister inside that room.”
Lacey shook her head. “No, no, no, no. That’s not what she was doing.”
“You mean, that’s not what you want her to be doing,” Sebastian said gently. “We can’t give these spirits motivations and thoughts to fit our beliefs. We don’t know if she was protecting you or keeping her sister safe or if it has nothing to do with anything.”
“It has to have something to do with it,” she said. “There’s got to be a reason why that diagram is missing that corner.”
“Is that what brought you here?” Hunter asked.
She nodded. “I came to fill in the rest of the picture. And then I realized this is the room where the woman was kept.”
“The sister, you said her name is Sabine?”
Lacey nodded. “But I don’t have any contact with her.”
“Have you tried?” Hunter asked.
She shook her head. “No, and I’m also not supposed to contact the bad guy either, until you teach me to defend myself against evil spirits,” she announced to Hunter. “At least that’s the law according to Sebastian.”
At that, Hunter laughed. “Not an issue. You’re actually already doing a lot right already, but nice to know Sebastian is so worried about you.” And he chuckled again.
Chapter 15
“It’s not funny,” Lacey retorted to Hunter’s boisterous humor. Hearing noises behind them, she turned to see her cousin walking toward them. “Hey, Chana,” she called out.
Chana motioned at the two men. “I get that whatever she’s doing is important, but we could use your help at the site.”
Hunter sobered and fell into step as they walked away from Lacey. Sebastian turned to look at her and repeated, “Remember what I said.”
“How can I forget?” she said resentfully. She watched until they disappeared from sight, then she picked up her camera and turned to look back at the corner.
It was impossible to ignore the fact that she faced the prison room. She felt compelled to go closer but knew, as soon as she did, there would be all kinds of repercussions. What she really wanted to know was why she felt compelled to go over there. Was she supposed to help the sister, knowing it was way too late to help anybody? Or was it more of a trap, and she’d become imprisoned like the sister?
She felt a weird sensation in the air as the two men walked farther and farther away from her. As if a coldness came from the shadows behind her, reaching for her. She studied the corner she had planned to take a closer look at and realized she really needed to follow the men.
She grabbed her camera gear and raced behind them. “Wait up for me,” she called out.
Sebastian turned toward her, caught the look on her face and asked, “What happened?”
“Nothing happened,” she said. “It’s just that whole corner became really, really cold. The farther away you guys moved, the colder it seemed to become.”
Sebastian and Hunter exchanged glances.
“Why?” Hunter asked. “What does that mean? Has it happened to you before?”
Sebastian gave a curt nod. “It happened back then too.”
She took a deep breath. “I don’t think I want to go back there alone anymore.”
He hooked her arm through his and said, “Good idea. I’m not sure you should be alone at all.”
“Given what I’m doing for you, it’s hardly possible to not be alone some of the time,” she said.
As they walked up, Chana’s smile fell away as she saw their arms linked. Lacey tried to pull her arm free.
Sebastian let her arm go but grabbed her hand. “You got a problem?” he asked Lacey curiously.
She took several deep breaths and said, “We’re attracting attention.”
Hunter looked at her, down at their hands, and a smirk crossed his face as he picked up the pace, moving ahead of them.
“Does that bother you?” Sebastian asked. “Here I thought you liked me.”
“I do,” she protested. When he chuckled, she smacked him lightly.
“Don’t let them get to you. We’re friends. Maybe more.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I wanted to be part of the team. And it feels very much like I’m an oddity.”
“You are,” Sebastian said. “Accept it, and don’t let them bother you. You’re doing what you need to do. You’re here, and something special is happening. They don’t know. They don’t understand. They’re not part of it.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” she muttered.
He squeezed her fingers, then released her hand. “Maybe not,” he said cheerfully. “But I can keep my eyes on only so many people. You’re the one in danger.”
“And who’s to say they’re safe? You didn’t say anything about me being in danger to them,” she snapped. And then she sighed. “Something about you makes me crazy.”
“That’s all right,” he said, “because you’re making me crazy too.” At that, he jumped down onto one of the ledges on the side and made his way to the bottom of the open pit.
She stared at him in astonishment, not sure what she was supposed to do now. Hunter was off with Chana, and Sebastian was making his way toward them but from a lower level. Lacey stood, looking like a fool at the top of the ledge, watching him walk away. Looking li
ke a schoolgirl—a lovesick schoolgirl. She could pin some of her daze on the circumstances but not all. Sebastian seemed to think they had something between them. More than this craziness.
How did she feel about that? Delighted to not be alone, but, more than that, she trusted him. She looked for him when he wasn’t here, was at his side when he was. She smiled; he was right—something was between them. Feeling something lighten inside her, she pulled out her camera and took pictures. It was almost a reflexive action when she was looking for something to do or a way to hide. She could hide behind the lens, losing herself in her job. She took multitudes of photos until finally she realized she was being foolish. With a groan she sat down on the ledge, her legs hanging over the edge, just watching them all.
Hunter joined her a few minutes later. “You okay?”
“I really wanted to come and have a wonderful touristy insider look at Pompeii and the site,” she complained good-naturedly. “And then all this weird stuff happened.”
“The weird stuff sounds like it’s been happening for a long time with you,” he said. “I get that you wanted to come and have a nice visit, but, for people like us, there isn’t anything nice about this.”
“Like us?” She turned to look at him. “In what way am I like you?”
“You’re seeing dead people. You’re communicating with them. You’re drawing 3-D visions nobody else can see.” His grin flashed white. “How much odder can you be?”
“Do you see stuff like that too?”
“I see different things,” he said in a noncommittal tone. “Sometimes I see energy. Sometimes I see faces. It’s hard to describe. And I don’t always have a rhyme or reason to explain when one shows up versus another.”
“Sebastian said you were instrumental in getting him out of the Mayan ruins. You were pretty young back then, weren’t you?”
“I was,” he said. “And I’m lucky to be alive, and so is Sebastian.” His voice fell silent, and then he looked at the archaeology dig all around them. “What do you see when you look here?”
She studied it for a long moment. “Right now, just rocks and dirt.”
“Do you want to see deeper?”
“I could try with my camera again,” she said, “but I’m not sure how much value it is. I would see potentially the building that had been here. But then I’ll want to draw it, and I didn’t bring a sketch pad with me, so that’ll just drive me crazy,” she confessed.