Scented Dreams ((A Dogon-Hunters Series Novel))

by Turner Banks, Jacqueline

  After the dance, Nesta said, “I can’t believe our song is going to be something that old.”

  Ian smiled, his teeth so white they looked unreal to her—–not false, but magical. “What was the song?”

  “You were singing it.”

  He pulled her closer. “It must have been subconscious. All I heard was the beat of your heart.”

  “Stevie Wonder’s ‘Ribbons in the Sky.’”

  “Stevie, huh? Stevie works for me. I would have thought ‘Knocks Me off My Feet,’ but ‘Ribbons in the Sky’ works too.”

  “I’m marrying an old man,”

  He grinded his body to hers. “When I start acting like an old man, you can trade me in.”

  * * * *

  By midnight the party was still going strong. Nesta noticed Ogo, her father, and the Hunters from the lunch meeting going into Kingsley’s office.

  “I wonder what they’re up to?”

  “They’re going to pop in on the wedding for a few minutes. Fox asked me if I wanted to come, but I don’t really know Sean that well,” Ian told her.

  “That must be where Ife and Rico disappeared to.”

  Nesta was watching her mother and aunts doing a fairly creditable Supremes imitation when a chill ran down her spine. Something was wrong. She looked around for Ian. He was nowhere in the house.

  “Mom, do you know where Ian is?”

  “I sent him to get some more ice.”

  Nesta nodded.

  She stilled herself like Ife had shown her. Wherever was wrong, it wasn’t Ian in danger—that message was loud and clear. She walked through the house again, but this time she let her body lead her. She stopped next to a couple wearing denim jumpsuits. He was about six feet and slim, with tanned white skin and dark brown hair. She was an inch or two shorter, white with skin perfect for her red hair. They looked like they belonged.

  “Let’s see that ring,” the woman said.

  Nesta held out her left hand. The move had become automatic. Nesta looked at the woman again and realized she was one of her mother’s coworkers.

  But there was a man standing behind the couple—he was working hard at fading into the crowd. Nesta noticed that everybody within earshot leaned in to look at the ring, but the tall man, wearing jeans and a polyester shirt, kept his gaze fixed on something in the distance. Nesta followed his glance. There was a man standing outside her father’s office.

  Why are you over there? she asked mentally. His computer. Nesta heard the words in the man’s mind as if they were her thoughts. She pulled her hand back and thanked all the ladies for their ohs and ahs. At that moment, she wouldn’t have been able to say why she slipped into the laundry room, but as soon as she closed the door she looked around and realized she was in her father’s study. For the second time that day, she’d transported or “jumped,” as Ife called it. Nesta hid behind the door and waited.

  The man who entered a few minutes later was obviously sneaking in. His extra effort was unnecessary. The only smoking in the house was in Kingsley’s office. The room had an extra filter for his occasional cigar. Guests had been coming in and out of the office all evening.

  Nesta watched him from the dark corner as he quickly made his way to her father’s desk top computer. It was on—Kingsley rarely turned it off. The man sat down and immediately lit a cigarette. She could tell by the way he handled it he wasn’t a smoker. She was just about to step out of the corner when they heard some else at the door. The man picked up the cigarette and moved his seat a few inches from the desk.

  The first man entered the room. The computer guy put the cigarette back in the ashtray.

  “I thought I was going to be forced to smoke the rest of it,” he said as he returned to his position in front of the screen.

  “That’s the least of our problems if the Pale Fox finds us in here.”

  The computer guy laughed. “I would love to see his face when he gets back and finds his best friend’s wife dead and most of his guests sick.”

  “That won’t happen if you don’t hurry. I figure they’ll be in Louisiana for about another fifteen minutes.”

  “There’s nothing here. He must have another computer.”

  The men were so focused on the screen they didn’t see Nesta when she first stepped out. “He has several more computers. Maybe I help you?”

  Both men jumped up.

  “We were just taking a cigarette break. . .”

  “Save it,” Nesta said. “I heard what you said.”

  This is better yet—I’ll kill the daughter.

  When she heard his thought, she looked at him. She thought about her parents without her.

  She thought about Ian without her.

  “No,” was all she said as she reached out toward him.

  The man began to choke. “She’s. . .one. . .of. . .” He couldn’t finished before he fell to his knees.

  His friend didn’t know what was causing his friend to choke, but he saw the glow in Nesta’s eyes. He started running toward the door. She looked at him, and he froze in flight.

  “Uncle Ogo,” she whispered.

  Fox arrived alone. It took him a few seconds to see what was happening.

  “Nesta, let go of him. You’re going to kill him.”

  Nesta held up her hands to show that she wasn’t touching anybody.

  “Honey, you’ve got to release him mentally. Let go.”

  “He was going to kill my mother and poison the guests.”

  “Okay, let me take care of this. I don’t want his blood on your hands. Where’s Ian? Go find Ian and make sure he’s all right.”

  “Ian,” Nesta repeated. She smiled as she did whenever the thought of Ian crossed her mind.

  The man collapsed.

  Ian walked into the room. “Fox, are you call. . .what’s going on here?”

  “Take her away, now!” Fox said.

  Ian didn’t know what was going on, but he opened his arms, and Nesta walked into them.

  Ian figured he blinked, because his next thought found them both standing in the hotel room in Valparaiso.

  “Ian, we’re back in Valpo.” Nesta wasn’t sure why that tickled her, but she started laughing and couldn’t stop.

  Ian pulled her to the bed. “Sit down, sweetheart, tell me what happened.”

  “I almost killed a man,” she said, and then she started crying.

  * * * *

  Ian didn’t know how much of her story to believe. His first thought after her long explanation was that she was drunk, but he knew Fox would not have sent them away for anything that simple.

  “When I saw the two of you in profile, I thought you looked like sisters.”

  “I know. Whenever she came to my school stuff, everybody thought she was my mother or my mother’s sister. But I looked like my mother too.”

  Ian nodded. “Yeah, you do. Maybe you have the best of all three of them?” They were lying on their backs in the middle of the bed. “Does it change the way you feel about your mother?”

  “No, not at all. Aunt Ife told me she would never forgive me if I made my mother feel bad about this. But she doesn’t have to worry about that. My parents talked about adopting kids for years—I was set up for siblings who didn’t come from them. I don’t believe you have to have them to love them.”

  “And she did have you.”

  “Yes, she did.”

  Ian could sense that there was a lot she wasn’t telling him, but he figured it must have been something Ife told her to keep private. He rolled over to face her. “I wonder if somebody else has rented this room?”

  She smiled. “Why—what did you have in mind?”

  Before Ian could answer, the telephone rang. “Should I answer it?” she wondered aloud.

  “It can’t be for us. Who knows we’re here?”

  “Somebody who’s been known to call unexpectedly.”

  Realizing she was right, Ian grabbed it on the fourth ring.

  “How is she?” Fox asked.


  “We’re both fine.”

  “Who asked about you? Ask Nesta if she’s ready to come back.”

  “Yes,” Nesta answered before Ian asked.

  As soon as he put the phone back in the cradle, they were in his bed. “I hate this mode of travel.”

  “So do I, but I’m thinking we’d better get used to it,” she said.

  When they got back downstairs, Nesta set out to find her mother. It turned out to be an easy task. The DJ put on R. Kelly’s “Step in the Name of Love,” and Dot and all her relatives started moving toward the family room. Nesta joined them in the electric slide.

  “You’d better pay attention, Hunter. They do this whenever that song plays, and they play it a lot,” Ife said at his side.

  He never got to reply because the next time the group turned, Ife joined them.

  Ian saw Kingsley and Fox coming out of the study. He expected them to be solemn, but they noticed the electric slide group and immediately joined them.

  “Play it again,” somebody shouted.

  “I’m going to give it a try.” Ian looked to see who was talking and was shocked to find Omar. True to his word, Omar joined the group before Ian could say hello.

  This has got to be the most confusing day ever.

  “Come on, Ian, you’d better learn this. My father claims this and bending the elbow to drink his liquor is the only exercise my mother’s family gets.” Nesta said it loud enough for the dancers to hear, and they all laughed. She pulled Ian to the floor.

  “Look at you! Why didn’t you jump in sooner?” Nesta said when she saw how well he danced.

  “I’ve got to hold on to some of my secrets to keep things exciting.”

  “I’ve got a feeling a lack of excitement won’t be an issue for us.”

  About the Author

  Jacqueline Turner Banks is the author of a series of mystery novels and a juvenile series. She is a partner in Banks Communications Literary Agency. Ms. Banks is a graduate of Ferris State University and the University of Michigan.

  Visit her on the Web at

  http://www.dogon-hunter.com/Home_Page.html

  Register your name in the contest where two winners names will be used as a characters in the next novel, Scented Magic. It's set in Louisiana at the wedding mentioned in this novel.