“They should be warned about Adair, if she’s still alive. She moves between the two timelines.” I stared at the sidewalk where a couple was arguing, their raised voices bringing the attention of people in the café. “But I can’t imagine she’s alive after what I did to her.”
“That was very brave of you. I’m so sorry to hear about your son. Are you absolutely positive he’s dead?”
I looked down at my untouched food. “I’m sure.”
After meeting with Alex I decided to head down to the herbal and crystal shop where I’d done my readings in the past. Sandy, the owner of The Crystal Guide, was thrilled to see me, and told me she was just about to hire a woman to take over my business since my clients had been pestering her. I slipped into my old life as though I’d never been gone, except this time I felt like a fraud, only doing the psychic work to pay the rent. But my clients didn’t seem to notice.
My attitude had changed after what I’d gone through, their complaints about petty issues annoying, but I kept it to myself. I had to chuckle about Kafir’s term for me. A zombie was exactly what I felt like—a dead person pretending to be alive. But I went through the motions, even trying to read the cards for myself. I always drew the hermit, the hanged man and the tower. The hermit seemed to represent my state of mind. I had withdrawn from the world. But the main message had to do with learning lessons and being able to bring that wisdom back into the world in order to help others discover their true potential. This was how I had conducted my Tarot business before my trip to Scotland. Now my work felt meaningless. The hanged man was Odin who hung from the branches of Ygrassil for nine days to learn the runes, and the irony of this almost made me laugh. The meaning was a paradox, having to do with sacrifices and turning within to face fears. I had sacrificed everything to come back to Milltown and yet I longed to be in Fell. Even without Rifak and Kafir I could have been happier there, than in this fast-paced world. And of course the tower—letting go of the old to allow in the new; death and the ripping away of anything that no longer serves. An easy one to understand even though the uncomfortable process it spoke of was still underway.
It was when the page of pentacles began showing up in my readings that I became confused. This card indicated youth in an old soul. If I didn’t know better I would have thought it represented Rifak; after all his father and I were represented by the king and queen of the same suit. The only other meaning I could come up with was that it represented some new part of me about to emerge.
Occasionally I would see Rifak clearly in my mind as though he was alive. I wondered if this was simply my imagination or clairvoyance. He was older in these visions and there was someone with him who I couldn’t identify. Of course I wanted to think this was a psychic glimpse into the future, but when I remembered those last moments with him it was hard for me to believe. And if it were true how could I possibly get back there? Without Kafir and Gypsy I was stuck in this timeline.
Because of my job I was able to connect with some old client/friends. And when they came by the apartment for a glass of wine it helped keep my mind in the present for an hour or so. My life had a modicum of normalcy now, my days filled with work, and food shopping and cooking, my weekends dedicated to leisure pursuits like going to the movies and out to lunch. I was getting back in the swing of things even though it felt empty.
It took six months before I finally contacted a shipwright to repair Gypsy. I hadn’t been back since the day I landed, so when I found the abandoned dock and no boat I thought I’d forgotten where I’d left her. The shipwright, whose name was Henry, followed me up and down the shore while I searched for Gypsy. When I asked the other boat owners and people working at the boat yard, no one had seen her. Henry finally shook his head in frustration, staring at me as though I was crazy. And maybe I was. Whatever was going on, Gypsy had simply vanished. I pondered the disappearance for several weeks wondering if someone stole her. If so they had no idea what they had. The other explanation was that she had limped away on her own, a prospect I found hard to believe considering the damage to her sails. And I’d never seen her sail without Kafir at the helm.
Aside from a couple of old friends, my relationships were shallow. How could I tell anyone the truth? Even the open-minded ones I read the cards for would never believe my wild story. And on some level it pained me too much to talk about it. I thought about heading to Scotland, contacting Finna and traveling into the Otherworld. At least there I could talk honestly. And possibly Brandubh would show up. A part of me loved him and we shared a deep loss. But the timelines were mixed up and with Maeve’s baby so close to Rifak’s age it would only add to my grief.
My dreams were filled with the priestesses and Kafir, Rifak, Gunnar and Tara. It was as though a part of me was still in Far Isle, talking with everyone, living my life. Waking up was the worst of it, the wrenching pain of finding myself in Milltown. I decided to go to a therapist, a hypnotist who specialized in regression. Maybe she could clear the memories and give me some peace. At the end of the session she told me to get out and never come back. “I don’t care for people trying to undermine my credibility,” she told me, shaking her head as she held the door open. “And don’t try to pull that on anyone else,” she called out, once I had reached the sidewalk.
It took over a year for the hollowness to recede. I began to notice the bright orange, deep reds and yellows of the turning leaves, heard the call of geese wending their way south, was struck by the way the sunlight glistened on the pond in the park. I no longer saw Kafir around every corner and didn’t cry everytime I saw a baby around Rifak’s age. Lucifer began to trust me again, sleeping against my leg at night. I went out more with friends, the street noises that had bothered me receding into the background. I got my hair shaped and bought some new clothes. I even had a drink with a man who I’d met at the crystal store. But there was a lingering sadness that I couldn’t shake, a deep sorrow that followed me wherever I went.
The day the idea presented itself I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before. I was an educated woman. Why not? And so I sat down at my computer and brought up the word processing program. Writing a book might purge it all from my mind. A carthasis. And possibly a way to bring light to what Kafir had told me was coming in the future. Maybe that’s what the cards had been trying to tell me. Since I knew what the future held I might spread the word—get the frog out of hot water before it boiled. In this version my son would be alive, my life linked with the sailor and his extroadinary boat. In the story we could travel, warning people about the future and helping them make better choices. Freyja’s words came back to me: ‘your quest is just beginning’. Was she referring to the book? My fingers were on the keys, words appearing as if by magic on the pristine screen. I began with the last image I remembered before my arrival in Far Isle.
Pale horses galloped by, their glistening bodies appearing and disappearing in the waves that rolled in and out. From their dark hooves spray lifted, iridescent rainbows. The tide pulled seductively, urging me into its blue-green depths and I succumbed, my mind going blank.
Look for “Gypsy’s Return”, coming out in late 2014!
Other books by Nikki:
The Moonstone—Book 1 of Wolfmoon Trilogy
Saille, the Willow—Book 2 of Wolfmoon Trilogy
The Wolf Moon—Book 3 of Wolfmoon Trilogy
About the author
Nikki Broadwell is a full time writer and lives at the base of the Catalina Mountains in Tucson, Arizona with her husband of over thirty years, a standard poodle and a cat.
She is working on another book in the Gypsy series as well as an historical romance that takes place during WW2. A desert fantasy is also in the works, inspired by the mystique of the Southwest.
In her spare time she hikes, does yoga, and stares at the cloud shadows moving across the rocky hills behind her house. To reach her please visit:
www.wolfmoontrilogy.com
Contents
Prologue
The Otherw
orld--2010
Chapter One Far Isle--2450
The Otherworld--2010
Chapter Two Far Isle--2450
The Otherworld--2010
Chapter Three Far Isle--2450
Chapter Four Far Isle-2450
Chapter Five Far Isle-2451
The Otherworld-2010
Chapter Six Far Isle-2451
Chapter Seven Far Isle-2451
The Otherworld-2010
Chapter Eight Nidavellir-2451
Chapter Nine Far Isle-2451
Chapter Ten Far Isle-2451
The Otherworld-2010
Chapter Eleven Far Isle-2451
Chapter Twelve Far Isle-2451
Chapter Thirteen Far Isle-2451
The Otherworld-2011
Chapter Fourteen Far Isle-2451
The Otherworld-2011
Chapter Fifteen Far Isle-2451
Chapter Sixteen
The Otherworld-2011
Far Isle-2451
The Otherworld-2011
Chapter Seventeen Far Isle-2451
The Otherworld-2011
Chapter Eighteen Far Isle-2451
Chapter Nineteen Far Isle-2452
Chapter Twenty Far Isle-2452
The Otherworld-2011
Chapter Twenty-one Far Isle-2452
The Otherworld-2012
Chapter Twenty-two Somewhere in time
Chapter Twenty-three Milltown-2010
Other books by Nikki:
About the author
Gypsy's Quest Page 27