by Shea Meadows
She turned to Stan and George, “Ricky and I make the motion that all classes be suspended until such time that the police feel it is safe for our teachers to begin them again. How do you vote?”
Stan and George voiced a hasty “we agree”.
Beth Ann smiled at Chester, “The steering committee agrees with the recommendation to suspend classes. If you wish to be an authorized teacher of Moon Angel’s organization that covers you as well. Otherwise, you can always get that ticket to Georgia and teach some other material when you get there.”
Chester smiled back with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ll think on that trip. I don’t like being pushed out of what’s rightfully mine but I don’t like women manipulating me either. Ricky has no right to be in charge any more than you do, Beth Ann.”
George reached over and patted Chester on the back. “Settle down son, you know that Moon trusted you with the heart and soul of her work. Putting off the classes for a little while is not a vote against you. Who knows what crazy person is going to wander into your class and think he’s doing the world a favor by shooting you?
“Let the police investigate. Maybe we need to hire security for the classes to be on the safe side. Maybe we should consider having them somewhere besides Moon’s house. We have to talk all this through when we have more information. Does that sound reasonable?”
Chester exhaled a long, tortured breathe and seemed to deflate as he did so. “I can’t live on air. The classes are my work. How am I supposed to pay rent?”
Stan chimed in. “Nothing to worry about. We’ll use your services in other ways. We will have a lot of stuff to sort out with Moon’s passing. You’re part of the team. We’ll be sure your finances don’t suffer. Right everyone?”
Ricky bit her tongue, holding back everything she wanted to say to Chester, but nodded on cue. In her mind she was talking to Moon.
You’ve got to give me some really good reasons why we still need Chester around. I don’t know if I can put up with his garbage for too much longer.
She cut off the dialogue she had started when Chester’s facial expression changed. He stared at Ricky, just about to say something, then seemed to think better of it. Best not to dangle meat before wild animals. She’d talk to Moon when she could be alone with her sister.
Chapter 10
Ricky couldn’t imagine how a day could be any longer. She’d spent a half hour with the Minneapolis police before Detective Cummings cleared her and acknowledged she was the intended victim, and it had not been a publicity stunt.
David told her that the relatively easy interview was mostly based on the mental condition of the would-be assassin. Charles Fell was largely incoherent, saying he suddenly found himself with his brother’s gun in his hand in the middle of the memorial service. One minute he avowed that he hadn’t thought about Moon in years, the next that she was clearly still alive and he had to do something about that.
After she and David were interviewed, and the police were satisfied Fell needed psychiatric help, she and the others were allowed to leave. The gauntlet of news reporters had mostly dispersed by the time they left the church, and Stan talked to the persistent few, informing them a statement would be coming tomorrow.
Ricky longed for some time to talk everything over with David and Beth Ann but the inner circle of Moon’s friends followed them to the house on York, ready to rehash the whole day endlessly. Chester sat glumly in the breakfast nook, reading a copy of the will over and over again. Shelia and Christina let her know about their concerns around the classes, Jessica and Dylan said that they were available to help in any way. All of them (except Chester) doing their best to make Ricky feel welcome.
Over and over the questions were asked, to her and to the other Soul Communication students and teachers: “Is Moon speaking to you?” “Have you seen any sign of Moon?” “Has she come to you in dreams?” Ricky kept mum and the others only smiled or looked disappointed. Aside from Chester’s contact before Moon’s death and at the airport, no one claimed contact. David gave Ricky a guarded look, knowing better than to mention Moon’s voice on the tapes.
There were questions about David being there among them. Nothing directly to him, but it was obvious they were curious as to why the investigating detective for Moon’s death should be spending so much time with Ricky.
Finally, after a lite dinner from the foods that people had brought to the house, the crowd gradually dispersed, everyone gone about nine. Beth Ann, Ricky and Pigeon were the only visible people left in the house.
Beth Ann sat in the reclining chair with Pigeon snuggled up on her chest, purring loudly over Beth Ann’s heart. “Well, I’m thinking of moving in here,” she said. “No sense to keep an apartment. That is if you’re comfortable with that.”
Ricky was stretched out on the long embroidered cover that hung out on the back of the couch. She spoke with her eyes shut, noticing an outline of a female form becoming evident inside her eyelids. “Sure, give your notice. This is your house too. Pick your favorite bedroom. I’m sure you don’t want to sleep on the porch without any privacy. Rather cold in the winter, I imagine.”
Beth Ann’s eyes were closing too. “It’ll do tonight. Tomorrow I’ll look at the bedrooms on the second floor and chose; probably the room I’ve been storing my extra clothes in. Maybe Dylan and Jess will help move me since they’re so eager to help. I rented furnished so not tons to bring over.”
The image of Moon was becoming clearer to Ricky. Facial features more pronounced, long flowing hair, the same gown she wore when she had appeared to Ricky in Chicago. Now she was beckoning and pointing toward the stairs. An image of the mediation room flashed into Ricky’s mind.
“We are both tired, it’s early but nothing drains a person more than an attempted assassination. I think I’m going up to the mediation room. Maybe Moon will drop in.”
Beth Ann looked at her through narrow slits. “I’m going to bed. The doors are already locked. Ask Moon about what she wants to do with Chester. I don’t know how much more I can take of that weasel and his attitude.”
Ricky nodded and started for the stairs. Pigeon stirred at her movement and ran past her, bounding toward the second level, and was in the mediation room, curled up on the pillow in front of the Buddha statue, chewing on her leg when Ricky arrived. Ricky unrolled a soft mat that was in a stack in one of the closets and stretched it out on the floor near the cat. She lit a tall lilac- scented candle inside of a purple glass jar, then stretched out on the mat with a woven blue cotton throw over her.
“Okay, Moon. I’m here. Lots to discuss. You can show up anytime.”
The thought was barely finished when she felt a nudge beside her and a tapping on her shoulder. She opened her eyes, expecting to see Pigeon but saw Moon’s form instead. No more gauzy-looking spectral presence, but a person who looked just like a living, breathing Matilda “Moon” Banner, sitting next to her cross-legged on the floor.
“Wow! I have to be dreaming. I dropped off really fast.”
Moon laughed. “Nope it’s me. The more we make the intention, the more you believe in the reality of my presence, the more real my astral body appears to you. You picked the right room too. All the stones in here, plus the special projection stones I gave you. You have them in your pocket, right?”
“You need to ask?” Ricky thought with a chuckle. “Want to know something? This isn’t scary at all. What would scare me would be you not showing up when I need your advice.”
“You’ve made a lot of progress in less than a week. I always knew the power was dormant inside you. You were blocking it so hard before. I guess neither of us can allow that to happen anymore.”
Ricky nodded. “So, I’m going to assume you already know that David will be working with us starting July. It seems natural to have him hanging around already.”
It sounded for all-the- world like Moon snorted. “Of course, he’s part of it. He’ll help investigate and act as your body guard, an
d I don’t have to be a clairvoyant ghost to know that you guys have already fallen for each other.”
“Same old Moon,” Ricky answered, as her hand reached out toward her sister, expecting to feel a warm body, but feeling only a strong tingle of energy. “Go ahead and tease. I’m not half as sure as you are. I barely know the guy. But I agree, that’s his role.
Now for the next question: can I bring any of your people in on the investigation? You’ve already mentioned Beth Ann, are there others you trust?” Ricky opened her eyes, not sure if Moon would disappear when she did, but her twin remained convincingly there with a look of concentration on her face.
“So you’ve already figured out not to ask Chester. The people that could help without putting anyone else in danger would be Stan, and Dad. Maybe we’ll bring more of my students in when we are more organized as to a plan of action.”
As Moon talked, Ricky noticed her slowly floating toward the ceiling, and then bringing herself back down to be closer, otherwise it was like a normal conversation Ricky might have had with anyone.
“Tell me about Chester. Why is he in the will? Why is he your head teacher? I can’t imagine anyone being more of a stinker than him” Ricky asked. “Do you want him representing your organization? I just don’t get it.”
“I understand why you asked,” Moon said with a grin, “he’s much worse than he was a year ago when I wrote the will. I had been thinking of a revision the last several months but this Soul Stealer quest got more and more time consuming. It goes back to the old saying ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’”
Even in this relaxing space, Ricky could feel the fear coming in. “So is he the one? Or working for whoever’s doing this? I don’t want to be sharing anything with someone who can put people in danger. Is he attaching souls too?”
“Remember the sweet little mountain woman, Cilla McGuire, I showed you a few nights ago? She was causing all sorts of havoc: breaking up Peggy Mansfield’s marriage, increasing her tobacco addiction, ruining Peggy’s health. The goal there was for the owner of the home to die so her cousin, Connie Marten, could inherit the property. Neither Peggy nor Cilla had any idea what was happening. As far as I could tell, the cousin hired the Soul Stealer to do a service for her so they were the guilty parties, not those who were paired,” Moon explained.
“I’m getting it, but what does that have to do with Chester?”
“He’s carrying around an attachment and has been for six months. I think it was done directly to him by the Soul Stealer and Chester doesn’t have a clue. The Stealer pairs beings with similar tendencies. In Chester’s case, he has always been jealous, even while I was showering gifts and accolades on him. He has the ability to do great things, but his petulant little boy ego gets in the way. The Stealer must be one of his teachers who got to know his vulnerabilities and paired him with a Phoenician magician who had even stronger abilities to create havoc,” Moon answered.
“How can this get any crazier?” Ricky replied. “I thought I was making real progress spotting spirit entities. I saw the ghost attached to Charlie Fell today. Why can’t I see Chester’s attachment? Why can’t Shelia and Christina see it? If they are master teachers shouldn’t it be evident to them?”
“I didn’t see the attachment for the first couple of months. The pairing was done so skillfully and the beings involved are so close in nature that Azer, the ghost, became just another aspect of Chester. I suspect he is one of Chester’s earlier incarnations, so much a part of his nature that all the Soul Stealer had to do was to reactivate that personality in the being that is Chester this time around.” Moon used her hands to paddle back down closer to the ground since she seemed to be bumping into the ceiling.
“So which is he now? Chester from before but more covetous, or Azer, taking over the body?”
“He’s becoming more and more like Azer. In fact, I suspect Azer might be the one that blinded me on the night I lost my body. I got a glimpse of him just before it happened.” Moon answered.
Ricky could feel her blood pressure rising, anger now replacing the fear of earlier. “Why didn’t you just let him go to Athens? We’d be well rid of him. If he had something to do with your death, you should have told me so I could pass it on to David.”
Moon laughed, tears rolling down her face. “That wouldn’t fly in the judicial system. No matter how much David believed us, how could he prove anything? I can see it now: trying to charge a past incarnation of Chester with blinding me. I don’t think there’s any state or federal law that covers that crime. Karmic laws for sure, but no way for us to enforce them.
“This isn’t about me wanting punishment for my killer, Ricky. I always knew that once I set out to stop him my life was in danger. The real goal is to stop the Soul Stealer from attaching unwilling etheric beings to physical beings and hurting everyone in the process.
“Bringing out the Azer incarnation within Chester is even worse. The Stealer needs to be stopped before he comes up with some other means to manipulate people for his own benefit,” Moon added.
Ricky felt a sense of despair settling over her. She was arguing with her sister, just like in the bad old days. “Okay, we aren’t doing this for revenge. We are doing it to stop a tyrant. I agree; it’s a worthy cause. But if that’s what the goal is, and the law can’t stop the guy, what are we supposed to do if we find him? Charlie Fell came pretty close to killing me today. Wouldn’t it be better if we gave up and let the Stealer play his games? Why do I have to take over as international karmic law enforcer? What the shit do we think we can do about it anyway?”
Moon sighed. A long grief filled sigh that rattled the blinds in the meditation room. “I’ve heard this before. It’s exactly the argument Jeremy made just before we broke up. ‘You have no ammunition’ he said. ‘No way to enforce anything that you come up with.’
I understand how both of you feel. Already the Stealer has ended my physical life and turned Chester into another person, and he’s getting more aggressive all the time. But I have to trust what my guides are telling me.”
“Moon, I’m scared. If you couldn’t figure out what to do with all your experience and expertise, why do you think I could do any better? I don’t know your guides, why should I trust them?”
Moon’s face brightened at that. “Would you like to meet them?
“I didn’t realize that was an option. How?”
“Remember you were able to go along with me to Peggy’s house and watch? You used the special traveling stones. They aren’t confined only to destinations in time and space but are capable of bringing a person to other dimensions, different vibrational frequencies. Are you up for that?”
“As long as I still have a body when I get back,” Ricky said with a smile. “And Moon, just because you’re my new teacher, you’re also my sister, and I reserve the right to argue just as aggressively as I did when we were just plain old Tilda and Ricky.”
“Understood. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now open up the bag of stones. Pop quiz: do you remember the order of placement?” Moon asked.
“Yes, the beautiful ruby at the root, the garnet at the gut, the topaz at the belly button, the emerald at the heart, the sapphire at the throat, the amethyst between the eyes and the diamond above the head about six inches. Right?”
“Yes, you’re a fast learner and after this experience you’ll be faster still. Okay, state your intention and clear your mind of fear, focusing on love. Think of those you care about and see the best for them.”
Ricky took a deep breath and thought of all those helping and protecting her and how important Moon was to her then said: I make the intention to use these stones to travel to the vibration and dimension of Moon Angel’s spirit guides to meet them and be informed about this mission.”
Rainbows of light, stars, sparkles and bands of a thousand different kinds of energy seemed to surround Ricky. She began to vibrate through every cell, moving faster and faster until her being seemed to sep
arate from her body causing her to shoot upward through a column of light, to a misty, cloud-covered place that seemed to reside within the center of a spiral. For a moment, she was there, wherever “there” was, by herself, then Moon popped in and was joined by four forms that moved in on either side of the sisters.
Ricky tried to look at the forms, but it was difficult. They were first one color then another, elongated then flat, round then square, radiating sparkles then emitting a calming glow. Curious as to how she looked herself, she held out an arm. It was a grid of pulsing energy in the form of an arm, much like what Moon had looked like when she had first seen her in the bedroom.
“Rachelle Banner, I would like to introduce my guides and yours. This is Megon; he has been with me from birth. He will show you some of his history and what his goal is now. The figure of a tall man with a long black beard, bald head, slanted eyes and an Asian- inspired robe formed out of one of the pulsing figures of light. The face was stern but the eyes were glowing. The being took Ricky’s hand and a parade of scenes from many lives flowed around them.
Ricky saw Megon as a man with an elongated head, leading a ceremony at the temple of Ramses in ancient Egypt long before the Christian era. In no time at all she observed the events of that life. Next she saw him as a calligrapher in China when the country was still a nation of separate kingdoms. A small child sat beside him, who Ricky knew was a previous incarnation of Moon. She watched as father and child went through many challenges and unexpected deaths. Again the scene shifted, Megon was a Mongolian war lord, leading a massive army through the steeps of what now was Russia. Lastly she was shown a life in South America were a young Latino rebel died in his twenties, resisting a corrupt government in the 1800s.
Megon released her hand. She heard his deep calm voice in her mind. “I have been involved in too many wars. The only real advantage of those incarnations was to teach me the senselessness of exerting power over others. I have taken the role of Spirit Guide to Moon to stand beside her as she learns that she can release others from pain and fear without having to control them. I have been allowed to intervene in the physical reality to help insure this goal for her and many others. I will be available to you in this endeavor as well. Just ask for me when you are in the midst of conflict. I will help you see your opponent as a being of light rather than a threat.”