Destiny (Absent Shadows Trilogy Book 1) (3 page)

But Debs, well, firstly she wasn’t quiet. And she was no scientist. Not that I thought she was dumb or anything. She just wasn’t smart in the same way that Dad was. She referred to herself as a professional student. Of course, having had three wealthy husbands probably helped. She’d never had to work a day in her life. So, in addition to making a beautiful home for the husband of the day, she studied. Her studies seemed to have covered everything from art and music and languages, to dog training (although I did wonder if she’d ever actually owned a dog, given the immaculate apartment she lived in), interior decorating, photography, bridge, cooking and yoga, just to name a few. Recently, she’d taken up more alternative studies, including numerology, palm reading and tarot.

‘Sit here, Lili—I’d like to do a tarot reading for you, if I may. It’ll be fun,’ she said, handing me a deck of rather large cards.

She had me shuffle the cards and fan them out with my left hand. Then she told me to select three cards. The fun ended when I turned over the first card;
Death.
I felt a shiver run down my spine and I wondered why I’d agreed to this. But when I looked at her, she smiled and nodded for me to continue. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the next two cards either, though they didn’t look as bad as the first card. One was a lady hunched over in a boat, with a bunch of swords sticking up, and the other a very serious looking King sitting on a throne, also holding a sword. Unfortunately, none of them seemed to be predicting great wealth or happy marriage.

Debs smiled. ‘That’s lovely. Now, don’t worry. The Death card isn’t what you think. It’s not bad at all,’ she said, picking up her tarot book and quickly reading the meaning of each card.

‘This is really good, Lili. The Death card simply means the end of one phase in your life, as you move into another. It could be related to your trip here for instance. Or it could be something or someone that you’ve left behind in California—the end of a relationship, or job perhaps? It is the promise of change and transformation.’

I thought to myself that the cards had gotten that part right. Debs looked at me, and raised an eyebrow, but when I didn’t comment she continued.

‘The Six of Swords is one of my favourites too. This card denotes a journey—either a physical or spiritual journey—from difficult times to more peaceful times. See how the water she’s moving away from is rough and the water she’s moving toward is calm. This is a beautiful card—having suffered, she moves on to calmer waters. She is leaving pain behind her.’

Debs looked at me and winked. ‘Ah … and lastly—the King of Swords. This card tells us there is, or will be, a powerful man in your life.’

I knew I was blushing. As soon as she’d said the words, the image of the dark man from the market flashed into my head. His eyes were as vivid in my mind as if he were standing in front of me. Debs looked at me and smiled. Did she know that I was thinking of someone in particular?

‘He’s a wise man with a strong sense of fairness, and a quest for truth and justice. He is a man who is passionate about his relationships, whether with friends or enemies. I’m not sure about the timing of all this,’ she continued, ‘but it’s a good message. You’ll experience some significant changes in your life—and that’s a fabulous thing. I can’t think of anything worse than living a ‘same old, same old’ life without change. You’ll experience peace, although there may be some rough times beforehand. And you’ll have a passionate man in your life. I’m no expert when it comes to the meaning of the cards, but it seems like a wonderful message to me.’

‘Well, if you say so … but I’m still not too sure I like that Death card,’ I laughed. ‘Hey, speaking of death … you might know about this. When Claire took me to the market today, she said there are bodies under the parking lot. She says they built the market right over the top, and never moved the bodies. Is that right?’

‘Why, yes—that’s true. I wouldn’t have thought Claire would know that. She’s an interesting girl.’ Debs seemed to be thinking for a moment before she continued. ‘The Old Melbourne Cemetery was the first proper cemetery in Melbourne. Mind you, there were a few people buried up on what they called Burial Hill before that. You’d have driven past Burial Hill on the way to the market—it’s the place they now call Flagstaff Gardens.’

‘I know where you mean … at the corner,’ I said, remembering seeing it when we’d stopped at the light.

‘Yes, that’s right. If my memory serves me right, there were only a few people buried there, before they opened the Old Melbourne Cemetery. Then later they closed that cemetery and created a new one on the other side of the city. They moved some of the bodies, but most were left where they were as they could no longer contact the families.’

‘That’s pretty much what Claire said. I thought she was just making it up, you know, trying to scare me or something.’

‘No. She wasn’t making it up,’ Debs said. ‘In fact, you may have a relative there.’

‘Relative? What do you mean?’

‘Well, I can’t say for sure, but I did do some research a while back. A friend got me started when she researched her ancestry.’

She paused, and looked to be thinking carefully before continuing, ‘Our ancestors came from Scotland a very long time ago. But you knew that, didn’t you?’ She smiled, and I wondered if she saw the embarrassment on my face. I knew so little about my family’s history.

‘Sure,’ I mumbled in reply.

‘Well, Angus Ross came to Australia in the 1850’s with four daughters. His wife had passed, so he intended to marry the daughters off, then head to the goldfields to strike it rich. One of the daughters is our direct ancestor, Mary. She married a farmer, Donald McIntyre.’

‘And was she buried at the old cemetery?’

‘Oh, no, not her—she lived a long life on a big farm property in the country. She bore farmer McIntyre many children; several boys as well as a couple of daughters. I’ll get my family tree out later for you to look through. It’s very interesting. But no, it wasn’t her that I was referring to.’

She paused, seeming to search her memory. ‘Mary, and her sister Anna, both married and moved away and had large families. But the other two daughters never married. And … well, there were some insinuations as to how they made a living after their father left. I found references to them in some letters written by Anna to Mary that were tucked in an old Bible.’

Debs smiled now, appearing to be enjoying the memory of her detective work.

‘And … so what’s the connection with that old cemetery then? I don’t follow.’

‘Well, there was mention of an illegitimate child; a niece of Mary and Anna. But the references were somewhat cryptic. I suspect Anna was fearful someone might read the letters and so chose her words carefully.’

‘Hmmm … so perhaps there are some shady characters in my family tree. Cool.’

Debs laughed, and I suddenly felt really close to her. ‘Anyway, it seems that this child died around 1865, and was buried in the old cemetery. But I wasn’t able to verify this because there was a fire in 1866 and all the old records of burials were lost.’

‘So, we can’t really know for sure then?’ I asked.

‘No, not for sure, but I’ll show you the letters if you like. I’ll get them out along with the family tree—one day when you want to look through it all. But the thing is, if it is true, I suspect this poor child would still be there—under the market. Her grave would not have been one of the ones they exhumed.’

A shiver ran down my spine again, and I could feel the hair on my arms standing on end. Debs noticed the goose bumps.

‘You’re a very sensitive girl, Lili. I don’t mean in the fragile way, I mean in a spiritual way. You need to trust your intuition, and listen to your inner-self. It will tell you what to believe, and what to disregard. The goose bumps are your intuition telling you a truth is being spoken.’

She paused, looking at me inquisitively. ‘I don’t think it was an accident, you coming here now, at this point in your life. I think there are big changes coming. Changes that will be good for you, that will take you to your rightful place. Remember the Six of Swords.’ Her voice cracked a little, and she cleared her throat. ‘I know how difficult it was for you, losing your father when you were so young. Alan’s death was a shock for all of us.’

She hugged me, then stood up and excused herself off to bed.

I slept soundly that night, more soundly than I had for a very long time—but not before dreaming about a dark stranger with gorgeous blue eyes.

~~***~~

The following morning was overcast and cold but there was no wind, and no rain. Debs had a bridge game that would take up most of her day, and I hadn’t heard from Claire so I was on my own.

After Debs left, I decided that I could walk up to The Cauldron and apply for the job, then go for a run in the Flagstaff Gardens across the road. Burial Hill. Perhaps it was an odd place to run, but what the heck—it was close and it looked nice.

I phoned ahead, and the manager said I could come in any time. They needed waitresses, and I had experience, having worked part-time at a local breakfast place near home since I was sixteen.

It wasn’t a long walk; less than a mile. Actually, just over a kilometre—I needed to start thinking in metric. When I got there the manager, Michael, said I could fill in the application form right then, saving me from having to bring it back later.

When he finished reading the application he said, ‘When can you start?’

I was rapt. I’d do the lunch shows, Wednesday through Friday and maybe even fill in on the odd night when someone needed time off.

‘You realise this is basically just a glorified waitress job, right? I mean, you’ll wear a witch costume, but the job won’t entail any real acting or anything,’ Michael said.

‘Sure, sounds great. I’m happy not to have to get up on a stage. What’s the show about anyway? I mean, what’s the attraction for school kids? I thought this was an adult comedy theatre?’

‘It is, but the owners’ son is a drama teacher, and wanted to try something new … his students do extracts from some of Shakespeare’s works. He says it’s a good way for his students to practice with live audiences, and good for the kids to get a bit of culture at the same time.’

‘Well, it sounds great. I don’t mind waiting on tables, and it’ll be fun getting dressed up as a witch. And who knows, maybe I’ll even learn something.’

‘Just so long as you understand it’s a casual position. I can’t promise how long he’ll continue this and that means the job might end before you know it.’

‘That’s ok. I understand.’ I said, not letting on that I would only be here for two months in any case. I wanted the job, and didn’t want to give him any reason not to hire me.

After wards I walked across to the gardens, careful as I crossed the road to look both ways several times; I was still a bit unsure where the cars would be coming from. I climbed the small embankment that led up to the top of the hill and decided to head off to the left, running in a clockwise direction.

The garden reminded me a bit of Golden Gate Park, only smaller. It had fairly major streets on all four sides, but none running through the middle. There were formal garden beds full of roses and other flowers, and not so formal garden beds with shrubs. There was a kids’ play area, and something called a ‘lawn bowls club’, and lots of large open grass areas, and even a tennis court. And all throughout there were meandering paths, with sculptures and monuments scattered here and there.

A lot of the trees were bare, their huge knotted limbs dark against the greyish sky—maybe maples or oaks? Their dried leaves were scattered around in varying shades of orange and brown. But there were also trees like the ones I knew from home—eucalyptus trees—ones I’d grown up with in my local parks and that grew along El Camino Real.

It was now mid-morning, and the gardens were nearly deserted. Perfect. I started my run slowly, letting my muscles warm up, then picked up a bit of speed on the second lap. I liked this place. Maybe it was the smell of the eucalyptus trees that gave it a familiar feel, but whatever it was, I knew straight away that I would make this my sanctuary. It would be the place I’d come to get away—to be alone. Burial Hill or not, I could see myself spending a lot of time running here.

As I rounded the last corner of my second lap I saw him—the man from the market—Sam. He was just ahead of me to the right, leaning against a large tree that looked like it could have been there since the beginning of time. And he was staring straight at me.

Somewhat automatically, I raised my hand and smiled, and started to slow down. But he didn’t smile back. Instead, he just sort of nodded in recognition. I ran past, confused by his response. Had he just brushed me off? As I continued to run, I cursed my shyness—why hadn’t I stopped?

I was determined to force myself to stop on the next pass. Smile or no smile. But by the time I made it back up to where he’d been standing he was gone, taking the decision out of my hands.

I know it was stupid, but I felt really rejected. I mean, I’d hardly even met the man, so it wasn’t like he was obliged to talk to me or anything. And I was the one that ran past him without stopping. I mean, he acknowledged me. So maybe he’d expected me to stop? Then again, just because I felt this strange attraction to him, it didn’t mean he felt the same way. And I wasn’t even sure I was attracted to him. I really didn’t understand what it was I’d felt that day at the market. And I was pretty sure my pounding heart was simply from my running, right?

I continued running for another lap, but it no longer felt good so I slowed down and called it quits, then headed back to the apartment.

After I showered, I sat down to watch a movie. My mind raced, trying to figure out what that chance meeting meant. I couldn’t stop thinking about this man … Sam. I’m sure there’d been some sort of chemistry between us. Maybe Debs was right. Maybe I should trust my intuition. But what was my intuition saying? Yes, he was a bit of a mystery. Well, actually, more than a bit of a mystery. And yes, I found him attractive, in a strange way. And his friend was clearly someone that Claire wanted to spend time with, so wouldn’t it make sense to at least be friends with him?