A Song of Redemption

by Lillian I Wolfe

  She hadn’t seen me nor did she seem aware I was there, so I spoke to her. “Sandy? Can you hear me or see me?”

  For a moment a look of confusion crossed her face, wrinkling her brow and tightening her lips. She raised her head, looking in the general area where I stood. She blinked, squinting her eyes, and a finger on her left hand rubbed the ring.

  “Focus, Sandy,” I said, hoping she could hear me. I rubbed my side of the ring set, knowing my physical body would do the same thing. “This is Gillian. I’m here with you.”

  “Gillian? Are you here? I feel like someone is near me,” she said in a nervous voice.

  How could I help her to see me? I had the ring and was focusing on it. I’d made a connection, but what could strengthen it? I reached for a clue from her friend. I felt the emotion pour out of it along with a strong scent of roses. I stepped as close to Sandy as I could hoping the sweet fragrance would trigger something.

  “Jade? I smell roses. Are you near?” she cried out in a choked voice.

  She turned her head to look right where I stood, and she gasped in surprise. “Oh, my God. You startled me.”

  I took a hasty step back, not wanting to be quite as close as I was. “I’m sorry. Can you see me?”

  She nodded, staring at me, her eyes wide with a look of amazement in them. “Gillian? You’re actually here?”

  “My astral self is,” I answered. “It took a few minutes for us to connect. But you can see and hear me, right?”

  “Yes. Yes. This is unbelievable. Did you bring the rose scent?”

  “I think it came from the ring. I was touching it when I noticed it.”

  Her eyes darted to my hand. “You’re wearing it. How?”

  “I’m not physically here, Sandy, but you’re seeing a projection of me. In many ways, I move and can interact to some degree as if I had a physical body, but you’re seeing my spirit. My actual body is in Reno. I put the ring on as I explained I would. This is how I am able to get to the transitional cemetery.”

  Her mouth dropped open as she began to grasp what I was doing. “Do you think I can do that?”

  “I hope so. Let’s talk.”

  I sat, or at least hovered, on the swing beside her and asked her about Jade, and what the rose connection was. She told me her friend loved roses and had grown up with thousands of them on a rose farm. Her father grew them to ship to nurseries, and she often helped him with them. She always wore rose-scented perfume, so when Sandy had detected it, she thought about Jade.

  As I told her a little about my best friend, we shared a few stories that were similar in many ways. Sneaking out of the house to meet with your friend at the park or go to a movie. Cutting an afternoon class to go watch the football team practice. That kind of thing.

  Then I told her what happened to Janna.

  “Oh no,” she said. “Now, she’s stuck in the cemetery?” Her big-eyed expression was almost comical.

  “Not exactly,” I said. “She’s staying there by choice, but I hope to convince her to go on. Would you like to try transitioning to the next plane with me?”

  She hesitated. “I had trouble seeing you. How do I make that leap?”

  I held out my hand with the ring on it. “The same way I got here. I’m going to the cemetery, then I’ll focus on you and the ring. You do the same thing. Concentrate on getting to me and bringing the two bands together. If you have the ability, you’ll do it.”

  I shifted my thoughts to the cemetery, picturing the safe area away from the mausoleum and the dark barrier. I didn’t want to bring Sandy into the ugly part right off. As I felt myself drifting, I glimpsed Sandy staring intently at her ring. A moment later, I arrived in the interim cemetery at the row of white headstones in a flourishing green field.

  Right where I wanted to be until I noticed the open grave with a carved headstone on it. I strolled over to look closer and read Janna’s name. A reminder that she hadn’t crossed over and was still lingering in this interim zone. Turning in a slow circle, I looked for her expecting to see her coming to greet me. For the moment, I forgot about Sandy and wasn’t focusing on linking to her. Part of me wanted to see my crazy, beautiful friend while the more sane side wanted to plead with her to please go through the gate.

  Janna didn’t come, but an odd tug at my hand reminded me that Sandy was trying to transition. I shifted my focus back to the ring and called up an image of the Oregon girl’s face as I whispered, “Come on, Sandy. You can do it. Just let go of your body. You’ll be fine.”

  For what seemed like a long time, I felt the connection from the other ring and sensed Sandy trying to pull to this side, but she wasn’t making it across. I was about to give up when a girl appeared. A little shorter than I was and very thin, she looked about twenty, and her raven hair was cut very short. Her bright green eyes gazed curiously at me as she approached, then they shifted to my hand and the ring I wore.

  “My ring,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper and sounding weary.

  “Jade?” I asked. This had to be Sandy’s friend.

  Her head bobbed in answer. “Who are you? Why do you have my ring?”

  “My name is Gillian. I was just with Sandy. She sent me your ring so we could try to both come here. Why haven’t you crossed over?”

  She wrapped her arms across her to encircle her shoulders and dropped her gaze to the nearby graves. “I— I’m not sure. I can’t get through.”

  “What do mean? You can’t get through what?” I moved closer to her and looked at the image of the frail body that the disease had left her. But she should be able to recover here, and her soul would be as perfect as it once was. This was just an illusion she wore now.

  “The gate. It’s locked.” Her eyes looked watery with tears. “Does that mean I’m rejected?”

  “No. Of course not. There must be some reason. Wait a moment, Jade. I’m going to see if I can get Sandy here.”

  “Sandy? Oh, yes.” Her expression lightened with a shy smile.

  I put my finger on the ring and indicated to Jade to do the same. As her index and middle fingers touched the edge of the illusionary band, I felt a tingle of energy and knew she was joining it to the summons. I focused on Sandy, added Jade’s image to my thoughts, and called her again. The tug increased as if we were pulling her through and in the space of a breath, Sandy stood a couple of feet from us.

  “Oh, my gosh!” she gasped in surprise, then she saw Jade.

  She almost threw herself at the girl until I said, “You can’t touch her, Sandy. At least not the kind of physical touch you can do on Earth.”

  Sandy stopped short and gazed at her friend. “But you’re here, aren’t you, Jade?”

  She smiled and said, “Yes. I’ve been right here since the day I...” Her voice trailed off. “I must be waiting.”

  “For what?” Sandy asked the question I was thinking.

  “I’m not certain. I think there must be something I need to do before I can cross over.” Jade glanced at me, then back to Sandy. “Why are you here? Are both of you dead?”

  “No, we’re not,” I answered. “We’re both here in spirit form, but we’re still in physical bodies. We have a problem we’re trying to solve, but we’re surprised to see you here.”

  “A problem? Is it something to do with the black blobby creatures?” Jade asked.

  I darted a look at her. “Have you seen them?”

  “I’ve seen a couple now and then. I hide from them, but they look like really bad news.”

  “They are. I have an idea,” I said. “Let’s take a walk on that path over there and go check out the gate.” I pointed to the silver path that led to the portal and the light to the next plane. I walked a little in front of the two girls who whispered as we followed the path. As we went, I began singing a hymn softly.

  Little by little, Jade began to lose the gaunt look and her features filled in to reveal the lovely, bubbly young woman she had been.

  “Look at you,” I heard Sand
y say. “You look like you did before.”

  We rounded another curve to parallel the wall until we arrived at the gate. Sandy’s mouth fell open in shock as she took in the massive entrance with the light glowing beyond it.

  But Jade was correct; the gate was closed and appeared to be locked. With a tentative push, I tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. As I shoved harder, I found no give in it.

  “See?” Jade said. “Locked.”

  I stepped back. “It’s never been locked or even closed before when I’ve escorted souls. Either you’re not ready to cross yet, Jade, or—” I hesitated as my mind made a different connection. “Or the portal is locked down until we can stop the yiaiwa invasion.”

  I turned and started back down the path away from the gate saying, “Follow me. We want to get away from this area.”

  I led them back to almost where we’d arrived before I took a turn to the right that led into a quite glade with a bubbling spring. Here, I sat on the grass, or at least went through the motions, and encouraged them to do likewise. Once we were all settled, I addressed Jade. “Tell me what happened when you first arrived.”

  She began with her death and how she’d come to terms with it, so when she arrived here, she was confused. She thought she would be in Heaven or somewhere other than a cemetery. Especially one that didn’t look like the one where she should have been interred. Then she saw her tombstone with the details on it, and it depressed her. She thought it all must be a dream, but she saw the pathway and followed it, which led her to the gate. She tried to open it, but it was locked. She stayed around near it and just drifted. Time passed, but she didn’t know how much. It all seemed different to her.

  “You’re saying that you just waited here for something to happen,” I repeated. How long ago had Jade died? Six months? A year? Sandy hadn’t said.

  “At first,” Jade answered. “Then I realized I could go back to my home and I could hang around my family. So I did that. I came here off and on to check the gate, but I still couldn’t get through. I even stopped by to see you, Sandy. Could you feel my presence?” She cast a hopeful glance at her friend.

  Sandy took a few moments to think. “Maybe. There were times it seemed like you were near. I just thought I was missing you so much that you were on my mind.”

  “How did you know to come back here now?” I asked. Zoe had also returned to her home a few times before she went through the gate. Who knew where Janna was now? She might be visiting her folks and trying to tell them she was okay.

  “I just felt it. I know that sounds sort of lame, but really, I got a kind of vibe that someone was here. So I came back. It only takes a moment or two.” Jade spoke as if it was perfectly natural. Did the spirit adapt that easily?

  Now that I thought about it, all the souls I’d met in this place had been there at least three or four days after their death before the funeral took place. Did others go back and visit their loved ones?

  “While you’ve been here, you said you saw a couple of shades?” I restated. Did the yiaiwas threaten everyone who came or were they specifically after me?

  “Oh, the blobby things? Are those the shades?” I nodded then she went on. “Oh, yeah, I saw a few of them, but they didn’t see me, you know. I hid from them in the hedges near the gate. They came by a few times like they were trying to get through to the light thingy on the other side, but they couldn’t.”

  Pulling this into my thoughts, I wondered if the gate was locked because the yiaiwa were trying to break through. But couldn’t they just go over it? Maybe it was protected. Then I had another thought.

  “Jade, I think it could be possible that you haven’t been able to go through the gate because you needed to be here. I was having trouble pulling Sandy through until you showed up and added to the energy or incentive to come across. When I started projecting Jade’s image, did you see her, Sandy?”

  “I sort of saw her. I was trying to make the connection with you, feeling the pull, but I was holding myself back, I think. Then when I saw Jade’s face, I knew I had to let go and do it. And here I am.” She shrugged, looking a bit apologetic for not trusting me.

  “But I’m still locked out,” Jade said.

  “You are,” I agreed. “It could be that you need to be part of the team I need here. Have you tried to see if you can do anything unusual—other than traveling instantly?”

  “Like what?”

  “Start fires, throw lightning, summon birds...anything that seems unusual that you couldn’t do before.”

  Jade’s forehead creased in a frown. “I don’t—Who are you anyway?”

  I offered a lopsided smile and said, “Well, I am a funeral singer and a spirit escort, in a manner of speaking. Usually, I help souls to find their way to the light or to resolve a piece of unfinished business that is preventing them from passing through. But you don’t have unfinished business, do you?”

  She shook her head. “Are you a spirit then?”

  “Nope. Not yet, anyway. I was selected for the job, apparently. But the bigger task I have is the blobby things. They’re evil, and they need to be stopped, which is why I was bringing Sandy here.”

  At Jade’s bewildered look, I started at the beginning and told her about the yiaiwas and what they really were. I suggested that she might have a skill that could help us and that might be why she hadn’t been able to cross.

  As we talked, I noticed that Sandy had begun to look nervous and I decided we needed to get back to our bodies. “Listen, Jade. We need to leave now. You think about what talent you might have. Try to do a few things to see if you can make it work. Stay away from the yiaiwas and don’t go near the mausoleum. I’ll be back in a few days to find you, so if you sense me here, come back. Okay?”

  She nodded. I stepped away from them as she and Sandy said their goodbyes, less sorrowful for knowing it wasn’t really a parting. As I waited, I worried about where Janna might be

  Ready to go, Sandy joined me and asked, “Now what do I do to get back to my body?”

  “You’ve traveled astrally before, haven’t you?” I asked.

  “Kind of. But only a short distance and on the Earth plane,” she admitted.

  “Basically, it’s the same thing to get back. Just will yourself to your body. Think of where your physical self is sitting and follow the thread back to it.” It was the first time I’d mentioned the silver cord that most astral travelers had attaching the soul to the body. I’d noticed Astrid looking down once to the very thin line of silver that held her, and I’d seen something similar with Sandy. Oddly, I wasn’t aware of my own although I presumed I had one.

  “Oh, that’s all? I thought it would be more complex.”

  I shook my head and smiled. “No. You can probably follow your ring back as well. The physical one will pull you home. Try it.”

  Nervously, she took a quick breath, then rubbed at her ring and I half expected her to say, “There’s no place like home” as she clicked her heels three times. In a blink, she disappeared. I turned to wave at Jade, who had watched and was now preparing to vanish. She flipped a hand my direction and was gone. Satisfied it had gone well, I put the ring in my pocket and broke the connection, then willed myself back.

  I opened my eyes as I gently returned to my body, the transition the smoothest of any time I’d done it. Perhaps it was the relaxed position and the music that made it easier. I unfolded my legs and stretched, feeling wearier than usual, but then I’d made two exchanges and spent quite a lot of time at the interim cemetery. I glanced at the time on my computer and realized I only had twenty-two minutes before I was to contact Bob in Alabama. I sent a short text to Sandy to make sure she’d returned safely although I wasn’t entirely sure what I would do if she didn’t.

  Taking a quick break, I grabbed a diet cola to replenish my caffeine, then checked for a response from her. Nothing yet although it had been almost ten minutes. Damn. I’d give her another few minutes, then call. I didn’t want to start with Bob
if there had been a problem with Sandy’s excursion.

  In the meantime, I pulled out Bob’s knife blade and wrapped the top in a piece of plastic wrap to protect my fingers from the sharp edge leaving the bottom part clear where I could make direct contact with it. I sent him a text to let him know I would be starting in two minutes and to get the penknife in his hand and start focusing then. I would be attempting to come to him. He acknowledged immediately, so I knew he was right on top of it.

  I was about to call Sandy when I got the text from her. Just a few words: I’m ok. No problem or aftereffects.

  Relief washed through me. One less thing to worry about. I folded my legs under me on the sofa again, picked up the blade and began to call to the other half of the object, willing myself to go there.

  It took less than a minute before I felt the tug as we made contact and a couple of heartbeats later...

  I stood in a park in Fairhope Alabama facing a thirty-something man gripping the other part of the knife like he was scared to let go. His eyes grew wide as my image solidified, more or less, in front of him. I stepped forward and smiled, “Hello, Bob. I’m Gillian.”

  His face split in two with the wide grin that crossed it. “Hello, Miss Gillian. Welcome to Fairhope,” he said as his southern accent rolled out of his mouth like a pat of butter on a hot biscuit. Dark brown eyes twinkling in excitement, he held out a hand to shake.

  I hesitated, shrugging a bit before I extended my right hand and wiggled my fingers, saying, “Illusion, you know. We can’t actually touch.”

  “Oh, I didn’t think. Of course not. You look so real though.” His expression shifted to something more sheepish as he dipped his head.

  “It’s okay. I’ve tried it a couple of times also. This is a really pretty park.” I looked around at the deep green trees and just beginning to turn green grass. In the air, I could detect the scent of seawater, a bit of saltiness and the life that gave water a unique odor. “You’re close to the sea.”