Awakening (20 page)

I closed my eyes and thought of my
mother, my father, and my brother. I tried to recall happier times.
I held a picture of them in my mind for a few seconds before
opening my eyes.

Luke gestured to the planchette. “We
both put our fingertips on the pointer.”

The thought of touching the board sent
a shiver down my spine.

“
Colina, it’s all right. I
promise you, nothing bad will happen.”

I took a deep breath and put my
fingers on the pointer.

“
Make sure your touch is
light. We just need to make contact with it.”

I nodded. “And then we do
what?”

Before I could finish my sentence, the
pointer started to move across the board.

I cried out in surprised and lifted my
fingers. The pointer stopped moving.

“
It’s okay. It’s supposed
to do that. Put your fingers back on. Trust me.”

I looked at him and forced my fingers
back onto the pointer.

As soon as I made contact, it began to
move again. It circled around the board in the shape of a
figure-eight.

“
We’ll start out asking yes
and no questions,” Luke advised.

“
Terrific,” I mumbled under
my breath.

“
Do you want to
start?”

I shook my head.

“
Think of your family.” He
closed his eyes and spoke in a loud voice, “Spirit, are you
here?”

The pointer slowly moved
until the word
Yes
could be seen through the transparent plastic
circle.

Luke opened his eyes and looked down
at the pointer. “Thank you, Spirit.” He looked at me. “The spirits
like to lie. And they aren’t the best spellers.”

I laughed. “Really?”

He shrugged and gave me a half grin
then looked back at the board. “Spirit, do you have a message for
us?”

The pointer moved slowly
to
Yes
again.

“
What would you like to
tell us?”

The pointer stopped moving.

“
Spirit, are you still
here?” Luke asked.

Nothing. The pointer didn’t
budge.

The flames on the candles began to
flicker, and at the same time a cold chill went down the back of my
neck.

Luke looked around the room and took
his hands off the pointer.

I lifted my fingers. As I did, the
planchette started moving on its own. It slowly weaved into a
figure-eight again.

I looked at the board in shock and
whispered, “Is that normal?”

Luke frowned. “No.”

The pointer started to move faster.
And faster. It spun around the board doing
figures-eights.

There was a whooshing noise, and the
flames on the candles suddenly rose. The room filled with noise. It
sounded like someone humming. The humming grew louder. Another
whoosh and the candle flames went even higher.

I was glued to my chair. I
kept looking back and forth from the racing pointer to the candles.
“Is this the ‘something else’ you were worried about?” I shouted to
be heard over the racket.

Luke’s right hand was
wrapped around the medallion, and his lips were moving, but I
couldn’t make out what he was saying.

There was a loud thump from underneath
the table. I scooted back in my chair. The table thumped again, and
this time the board rose off the surface of the table a few
inches.

I looked over at the mantle
where the gypsy’s protection pouch lay. I had taken it off earlier,
when we’d returned from the hospital, so I would be open to the
spirits. I sorely wished I had it on now.

“
Should I be worried?” I
yelled.

Luke didn’t answer. His
full focus was on the board. His expression was grim, and his lips
moved faster.

A book flew off the bookshelf. And
then another. There was a loud knock on the wall, and the whole
table jumped. All four legs actually came off the ground. I shot
out of my chair and stood, not sure what I should do or where I
should run. Luke stood, raised his hand, and shouted, “Be
gone!”

The Ouija board flew off
the table and slammed into the nearby wall. As it hit the floor,
the room went silent. There was another loud whoosh, and the
candles went out.

We stood in the dark, the
only sounds my heavy breathing and my heart pounding in my
chest--which to me sounded like a jackhammer.

I heard a clicking sound.
Luke’s lighter flared to life in his hand. He went over to the
candles and re-lit each one.

I said, “Let’s not do that
again.”

He walked across the room and picked
up the board and the planchette and put them both back on the
table.

He glanced at me. “Are you
ready?”

I took a step back. “You’re
nuts. You want to do that again? Seriously?”

His face was void of expression. “We
have to contact your family.”

It was the last thing I wanted to do.
A better plan was to take the board and throw it directly into the
fire.

Luke sat in the chair quietly watching
me.

What choice did I have but
to continue? I took a deep breath, walked back to the table and sat
down. “I’m ready.”

Luke got up from the table
and re-lit the sage. He walked around the room waving it back and
forth again. When he was done, he put the sage into the black bowl.
He sat back down and held out his hands.

I put my hands in his, and once again
he said the opening prayer. Then he lifted his fingers and put them
on the planchette.

“
Think of your
family.”

I closed my eyes and
brought back the images of my family. When I opened my eyes I
slowly forced my trembling fingers back onto the pointer. I took a
deep breath and nodded.

Luke asked the room, “Spirit, are you
there?”

The pointer moved slowly
to
Yes
.

“
Spirit, do you have a
message for us?”

The candles flames
flickered.

Here we go again.
I braced myself. Any minute the planchette would
start doing wild figure-eights, and crazy humming would fill the
room.

The pointer moved around the board and
then stopped. As it did, I noticed a light in the corner of the
room. A shimmering light that was fading in and out. Shadows from
the candles?

“
Colina.” The word was but
a whisper on the wind.

I sucked in a breath, in
shock. My voice cracked with emotion. “Mama?” I was up out of my
seat and halfway across the room.

It was my mother. The outline of her
body floating in the corner, but I could see through her to the
bookshelf on the other side of her.

“
Mama,” I
whispered.

My mother’s gaze focused on
me. “Colina, you’re alive.” Her head turned from left to right.
“Your father…your brother…?”

A tear slid down my face. I
forced myself to say the words out loud, “Dead. Mama, they’re all
dead.”

She let out a loud, anguished cry.
“No. He took them. Where are they? Why can’t I see
them?”

“
Mama, we need your help.
Do you know who hurt you? Do you know how to find them?” I wanted
to find the men who hurt my family so badly I could almost taste
it. I wanted them to pay what for they’d taken away from me. I knew
my mother, the healer, would never understand my anger. I looked at
Luke. “They have Luke’s sister. He needs to find her before they
hurt her, like they hurt you.”

“
He took them from me. He
took them from me…” My mother sobbed.

“
Mama, can you help us?” I
begged.

My mother’s image flickered in and
out. Her sobs grew louder, and the windows shook.

Luke was beside me. He grabbed my arm.
“She can’t help us. She’s too far gone in her grief. It’s all she
can focus on. She can’t help us find Darla.”

“
But if I talk to
her…”

He shook his head. “Her spirit might
stay like this forever, focused on her loss. She may eventually
move past it, but how long will that take? Years, centuries?” He
exploded with anger.

Centuries. My mother’s
spirit forced to roam the ether sea for
centuries
? The thought sent chills
down my spine. I took a step forward, my arms outstretched. She had
to move on. I couldn’t handle the thought of my mother stuck
forever in the abyss of in between.

“
Mama, you‘ve got to go to
the light. Mama, do you see a light?”

A crack of lightning lit up
the dark sky outside. A few seconds behind it, a loud roar of
thunder.

My mother looked at me, her eyes
filled with sadness. “Colina...”

“
Yes, Mama. I can hear
you.” Tears were streaming down my face.

Panic filled my mother’s face.
“Colina!”

“
Mama, I’m here. I’m right
here.”

My mother turned away from
me, and her image flickered. When she turned back, fear blazed from
her eyes. “Colina, baby, listen to me. They’re coming for you.
They’re right outside. They’re coming.”

Another crack of lightning
and my mother’s image started to disappear, but her voice rang out,
“Run, baby girl. Do you hear me? Run!”

“
Mama!” I raced to the spot
where her spirit had just been.

Luke grabbed me. “There are men
outside. We have to go.”

I didn’t care about
anything but seeing my mother again. “Mama,” I sobbed.

“
We have to get out of
here!” Luke’s arms circled my waist, and he dragged me from the
living room. He pulled me into Pagan’s bedroom and slammed the
door.

I was crying. My whole body shook as
the tears streamed down my face.

Luke opened the bedroom window, then
picked me up and carried me out and over the window sill. He
dropped me gently to the ground beside him.

I was frozen, unable to
move or think. Images of my mother flashed through my mind--the gun
aiming at her head, the bullet tearing into her body, her blood
bursting against the wall behind her. Those lifeless eyes staring
into me as she fell to the ground.

“
Mama,” I
whispered.

The slap came hard and fast across my
cheek.

My hand came up to cradle
my face. I stood stunned.

Luke pulled me hard toward
him. “Colina, we have to get out of here. There are men. I saw them
out the window when the lightning flashed. Three, maybe four of
them advancing on the house.” He let me go and looked frantically
around us. “We need to get out of here.
Now
.”

The wind blew my hair
around my face. Rain fell hard from the sky. The men who’d killed
my family were inside Pagan’s house. The last thing I wanted to do
was run. I wanted to rip out their eyes. I wanted to see them
bleed, and I wanted them to die.

He pointed into the dark. “I know this
area. We can go across the field. Find a place to hide.”

I heard crashing and loud
banging from the house. I turned back toward the house. I had no
plan in mind. I was just filled with rage. Anger I could no longer
control took me over.

Luke grabbed me and shoved me in the
opposite direction, away from the house.

The sounds from within the house grew
louder. I struggled against him. I didn’t want to run--I wanted to
stay and fight.

“
What are you doing?” He
grunted, trying to control me.

“
Those men killed my
family!”

“
It’s suicide to go against
them now. You haven’t finished the rituals. You have no power. We
don’t know what we’re facing.”

Somewhere through the red
haze pounding in my head, Luke reached me. He was right. I didn’t
want to die senselessly. I wasn’t even sure these were the right
men. Had they had a hand in my family’s murder, or were they just
someone else’s lackeys? I needed to think, to plan, to make sure I
made the right people pay--which meant right now I needed to stay
alive.

I followed him, stumbling as we moved
across uneven ground.

Glass broke behind us. I turned and
watched lights crisscrossing across the ground.

“
They have flashlights,”
Luke’s voice was low but urgent. “They’re coming. We have to
hurry.”

And then there were more lights, but
these were colorful, and they moved above the ground. They floated
up into the sky and swirled around. Then in a flash, they streaked
across the night and headed in our direction.

Luke let go of my hand.

I stopped next to him.

He shoved me forward.
“Colina,
run
.”

“
I’m not leaving
you!”

“
Run,” he demanded. “Get
moving.”