"Well maybe Doreen can help us figure it all out. I did talk to her last night. The terrible news is, she said she doesn't know how to restrict Deryk from attending any classes, and she doesn't want any trouble from him. The fantastic news is that she would love to trade work for classes with you and Ryan!"
"All right!" Jillian squealed in delight! "But I am not going if Deryk is there."
"Don't worry; I might have a plan to keep him from getting in. I asked if you could continue to handle the lending library, getting email addresses for the newsletter, and put you in charge of the class roster. Now, if we can get the class filled up before he can get his name on the list, we won’t have to worry, right?" Sonya said smiling.
"A darned brilliant idea! You are sneaky, aren't you?" Jillian said with relief.
"You have to get creative sometimes," Sonya said.
"And, Doreen is going to expand the list of classes from what was on the first flyer. It looks like she is gonna add Reiki, Native American Rituals, EFT, Tai Chi, Law Of Attraction in Action, and some guy wants to give classes on the Paranormal Properties!" Sonya said, getting up and walking to the dresser where the photos were. She picked one up. "Now I need to ask you, how did Amanda die?"
'"Nobody told me. But in the dream I had last night, she had no eyebrows or eyelashes, and when she took off a pink sun hat, she had a few tufts of hair on her head. So, I think it was cancer. Why, what can you tell, if anything, from that?" Jillian said, getting up and walking to her.
"Well, we need to go talk to Ryan about Lois," was all that Sonya said. Jillian's heart sank.
The girls walked over to Ryan's since he didn't return their text messages. Lois invited them into the house and asked if they wanted anything to drink. "Yes please, for both of us." Sonya said. Lois went into the kitchen, leaving the girls in the living room. Sonya sat down next to the photo album that she had looked at the day of the picnic. She started flipping through the pages and found a few of Ryan. Pointing to him she asked, "Do you notice anything different? Look at his eyes." She said.
Jillian looked at the color photograph taken when he was probably 11 or so sitting on the tire swing. "Yeah, what color are his eyes? Don't they look blue? Oh my God, they look like Emmy and Elizabeth's. Llight blue rimmed in sapphire. What do you think that means? I wonder if that has anything to do with what Emmy said. That he knew the truth, and something about his lying eyes?"
Lois walked back into the living room with two tall glasses of lemonade and set them on coasters in front of the girls on the
table. "It's so lovely to see that Ryan has visitors. Would you like to stay for dinner? We always have plenty," she said with a sweet smile and a twinkle in her eye. How could anyone resist?
"Thank you, we would love to," Sonya said, taking a sip of her lemonade.
Just then Ryan came down the steps, and walked past the living room. He stopped and turned around, surprised that anyone was in there. He shyly waved hi.
"Oh Ryan, your friends are going to stay for dinner, isn't that nice?" Lois announced, getting up and heading to the kitchen.
"So, girls, what's up?" Ryan said nervously as he sat down.
"We need to talk," Sonya said
"I know, I know. I was going to explain everything, but I guess I was trying to rehearse it so I didn't mess it up in the delivery," he said. "I didn't know how mad you were going to be, so I was trying to prepare my speech."
Jillian squinted her eyes looking at him, and acting as if she had a clue what he was talking about said, "Busted. So, what's your story?"
"I made a copy of the investigation, you know the one I put together and we watched at your house. Then I added the audio where we crossed Emmy over and burnt them onto a CD. I had called Eli Harold and asked if he could review the evidence, to make sure we weren't missing anything, or that we weren't crazy. I was going to give it to him after class the other night. But we rushed out of there so fast, and we went to your house. I actually forgot about it. Sooo, he called me this morning and asked if I had posted it to You Tube, because there was a new video that had a Ryan, Jillian and Sonya in it. I said, “Hell no,” but when I did a search for it, there it was. All I can think of was that it must have fallen out of my backpack at class and Deryk found it. I am so sorry." Ryan said shaking his head.
"Oh, that, well. There weren't any pictures of us, were there?" Sonia asked.
"No." Ryan said. "I don't know what to do now. Eli said it was excellent evidence, the kind he wants to use for his internet show that will be broadcast on WGGT, a Gatlinburg TV station in the fall."
"Well, I am okay with it. How about you?" Sonya asked Jillian.
"Yeah, as long as no one can see me," Jillian said, trying to hide the excitement she was feeling about it.
"Really, I thought you guys would be extremely mad. We didn't do it for publicity; we did it because we could help Emmy," Ryan said, quite surprised he was in the clear.
"Ryan, not to change the subject, but I have something to share with you," Sonya started saying. "I want to clarify something. We have these guests at the B&B, the Sonderson family, and they came to visit their oldest daughter who just had a baby. They brought along their dog, a little terrier. His name is Big Ben. This morning they were giving him some meds in his food and I asked what was wrong. Even without the meds I could tell something wasn't right. They said he had been diagnosed with cancer, and the meds helped him feel better for now.
A little while ago, when I was at Jillian's, I was looking at some family photos and one caught my eye. It was of Jillian's Aunt Amanda. She passed away at 13 from cancer. I could see this; I mean, see it with my eyes, that something was wrong. To me it looks like a smoky, inky black mist in her body, just like Big Ben." Sonya sat and waited.
"Didn't you see that here, too, the other day?" Ryan asked.
"Yes." Sonya answered.
"But when we were looking out the window, you saw it beside GG, but Lois was there."
"That's what's strange, I didn't see Lois. But I saw the black stuff," Sonya said putting her hand up to her mouth.
Ryan's body language changed. He swallowed hard and nodded. "Excuse me," he said and walked out of the room.
"Oh my God. Is that why we needed to come here?” Jillian said in disbelief. "Do you think she has cancer?"
"I don't know. I am just telling you guys what I saw. It looks the same in all three. If two have it, then I would imagine the third is the same," Sonya said, her heart aching to have had to tell Ryan what she saw.
The girls went back to the photo album and looked at Ryan's family history. Jillian started to cry. "I don't want to cry, but I can't stop." She said. She got up and went down the hall to look for a bathroom. At the end of the hall she could see Ryan holding Lois in his arms. She ducked into the bathroom and looked at her red eyes and pink nose in the mirror. “Amanda, where are you? Can't you help me understand this? If this is true, then you know what she is going through,” Jillian cried. She kept herself locked in the bathroom until she was calmer.
When she came out, there was no one standing in the kitchen. She walked into the living room and Lois, GG, and Ryan were sitting with Sonya.
"Are you okay, dear?" GG asked her as she sat down.
"Yes, much better. Thank you," Jillian said, still clutching the tissue in her hand.
"Honey, please don't worry. We aren't," GG said. He put his arm around his wife. We've gone through this before. And this time we will most likely follow the same course of treatment. It is a critical decision. That is why we had the picnic. We asked for the opinions of our friends, and luckily, we all have the same ideals about health and healing. We will either go away for a while to a spa where Lois can be treated holistically, or if it looks like we have enough resources here, then we will make this the treatment center like we did before."
"Now you have Doreen and Thomas, Elise and Seelie, and the three of us, I am sure we can make a difference!" Sonya said, volunteering them.
"Yes, absolutely, you can count me in for anything, whether you decide to stay home or go away," Jillian said.
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Lois said with a big smile on her face. There were no tears in her or GG's eyes. But Ryan was a different story.
He looked sad, lost, hurt, angry, shocked, and unable to grasp what was going on. There were too many emotions going on inside of him at one time. Jillian tugged on his sleeve and led him outside. She motioned for him to follow her around the back, behind the barn.
"Okay, what is it? What are you thinking? What are you feeling?" She started yelling at him.
He looked at her like she was crazy, and he started yelling, too. He started yelling about his parents, how they could be so thoughtless and uncaring, how they were going to keep things going on the farm, and how could God do this to such a fantastic woman again? He went on and on. What good are gifts if you can't use them? How he was supposed to help? He felt as if he meant nothing in the world to anyone. He was getting hoarse from all of the yelling. He exhausted himself, falling to his knees. Jillian knelt down and held him as long as his tears flowed.
After Ryan regained his composure, he and Jillian walked back to the house. GG, Lois and Sonya were still talking in the living room, and Sonya had the photo album open.
"Check it out; GG was just filling me in on some family history. You are gonna love this!" Sonya said holding a piece of paper in her hands. Looking at GG she asked, "Can you tell them what you told me about this piece of paper?" She held onto it and did not show it to Ryan and Jillian.
"Well, all of my family originates from here, all the way back since the late 1700's. They owned hundreds and hundreds of acres of the mountains, mostly all wooded land, and kept to themselves pretty much. One of my grandfathers, I don't know how many greats it was, but George Masterson and his wife Winifred had four children. Their oldest was Jasper, and they had a set of twin girls, Miranda and Emmy, and the youngest son’s name was Harry. Jasper and his wife Caroline had no children. Harry moved out west and was never heard from. Miranda was wild and vicious, and Emmy was gentle and weak. When they got to be of age, Miranda was deeded 80 acres up there of wooded hills, and good panning streams, and Emmy got 80 acres right down here with a cabin, part wooded, and part cleared to farm. Seems that Miranda took up with some man who used to hunt in the mountains, and he was married. Now she was more of an animal than anything else, a wild child, and nobody actually knew what kind of crazy stuff she was doing up there. Some said that she had sold her soul. She got herself pregnant, which was nobody's business. But, shortly after that, Emmy, who lived alone down here, found herself expecting, too. She said someone stormed into her cabin one night and, well, they didn't use the word rape back then, but that's what it was.
Miranda had a little baby girl, Phoebe, and Emmy had two little girls, Gianna and Elizabeth. Jasper took sick and died. Gianna went to live with Jaspers widow because Emmy couldn't take care of two babies on her own. When Emmy's girl was a little over a year old, someone accused her of killing her baby. The sheriff went to make sure the baby was all right, but they couldn't find her. Emmy ran off, making her look guilty. Nobody ever saw her again, except that not too long after that Miranda swore that Emmy had come back from the grave and had stolen something from her, and so she cursed her and all that was hers. But everybody knew that Miranda was just downright crazy and jealous. She lived out her years in the mountains with her little Phoebe and two more children that followed. She never wed, but she was that kind of woman. So we do have relations around here, mostly spread throughout the mountains, but we just don't want to go out and stir up any trouble, never know what you'll find, so we keep to ourselves," GG said, taking the piece of paper from Sonya and handing it to Ryan.
Jillian and Ryan were sitting together. They looked at an old copy of a hand drawn sketch of a young woman. Ryan's jaw dropped as he stared at it. No doubt in his mind, this is Emmy.
"You know this is all so fascinating," Sonya started, "but when I touched that piece of paper, before I even looked at it, I saw something. It was like those vintage paper dolls, the ones you dress up, except it was as if the paper had been folded, and cut so that there was a mirror image. So when you opened it up, there was one girl in a white dress on the top, and another, on the bottom in black."
"That would pretty much sum up the two girls," GG said.
"Well now, I best be getting back to the kitchen," Lois said. "Maybe next time you come back I can show you what I have worked out in GG's family history. I have almost entirely filled in the family tree. There are all kinds of other historical records, personal items and lots more photos that I have in my sewing room. There are some truly surprising things in this family skeletons you know, so much more I am sure you will find fascinating," she said and headed for the kitchen.
GG stood up and looked at Ryan. "I am sorry we didn't include you in all of what was going on," GG said. "We didn't want you to worry; we still have a lot to figure out. I promise we will involve you in all of the details from here forward. God knows you take on so many responsibilities as it is, when you honestly shouldn't have to. If only your father would.... well," he said, shaking his head and looking down.
"I understand." Ryan said and hugged his grandpa. GG then followed behind his wife to the kitchen.
Ryan stood there, looking lost, which wasn't like him. "Well, first things first. I don't know if we can still contact Emmy or not, and I don't want to bother her since her drama is over, so I have an idea how we can find out about that book Deryk found in the cabin. We go to Emmy's book," he said, motioning for the girls to follow him. They all went upstairs to his bedroom, and he opened a dresser drawer. He pulled out Emmy's book and the notebook he had used while trying to decipher it, and grabbed some pens from the desk drawer. He sat down on the floor, and the girls sat, too. He handed them paper and pens.
"Sonya, you know what you did with that piece of paper, with the drawing? You could see something when you were holding it? That is psychometry. Getting information from the energy of an object. Now, each of us needs to hold the book. It has Emmy's energies in it. Write down anything you see, hear, feel, smell, anything at all, no matter how farfetched it seems. And then we will compare notes."
The three took turns holding the book and writing. It was fascinating to see their faces as they received the information. There was no smiling, but a lot of heartache and shaking of heads.
"Jillian, what did you get?" Ryan asked, hoping they all had some of the same answers.
"First of all, I want to say, this was not fun. I didn't enjoy it, but it does explain a lot of what I have experienced my whole life, about touching someone else's things. Well, the first thing I saw was the face of a man looking down at me, I was on my back. I was scared to death. I tried fighting him off, but he was too strong. He was dirty and vulgar. I didn't know if he was going to kill me when he was done. I felt like...like how could someone do something like that to another human being? Then I saw what must have been the mob, coming after me, and I was running for my life. I lived outside, surrounded by rocks and in a cave, returning to the cabin a few times. But I lived off the land, eating what I could from the woods. I kept watch so no one would see me. Then I saw what must have been Miranda’s cabin in the mountains. It was falling apart. I watched it until I was sure no one was around, and then I snuck in. I saw Miranda’s book. I felt overwhelming sadness, like that lost feeling. I grabbed the book and a pouch, and I ran down the mountain back to my cabin. Then I saw both books. It was like I could see under the floorboards. They were a distance apart, and each one had like a force field around it. My book was pulsating white, like to keep the other book away from it. The other book was bigger and darker. It had a black energy around it, and it seemed like it wanted to suck the life of the other book into it. And I was looking at my hand. There was a gold heart, or I think maybe it was a locket. Then I felt like I was walking into a cave. I think I know where that is. It's on my aunt’s
property. I went into the cave with some sort of locket. And it went black, like a black sheet was thrown over my head. That was enough for me," Jillian said shaking her whole body, as if the feeling needed to leave her.
Sonya said, “I just kept seeing the same types of things over and over. It was like Emmy's book was glowing white and green and gold, and felt high, and the other book was moldy and had roots. It was stinky and had a sound like a low note on a cello. It seemed like that all around the books were herbs, candles, moonlight and words. That is what they had in common. I saw the written word 'INTENTION', like the paper dolls, mirror image, white on top, black on the bottom. Oh yeah. I saw Miranda, and she was scary. She was pulsating with anger, like she had no respect for anyone or anything, and her insides were blocked up and sticky. There were all kinds of voices, but I don't know whose they were, because I couldn't understand them. Kinda like your mosquitoes." She said to Ryan, "What did you get?"
"I saw...Pliney Howard. Can that be right? I saw him busting the door in at Emmy's cabin. I heard her screaming. I remember the first time I saw him at the edge of the woods, in the vision at the cabin, and he saw what happened to Elizabeth. He had followed his wife to the cabin. He was afraid she was going to find out what he had done to Emmy. He realized that Elizabeth must have been his. When he saw her in the muck, he figured this was how to end everything. He would blame Emmy for killing her own daughter. That's why he threw the lantern onto Emmy's cabin. But, I also saw him in bed with Miranda. They must have been lovers. Then I saw Deryk's ugly face in a mirror. Most likely they are the same type of person," he said.
Paranormal Summer (Indigo Moon Rising) Page 16