Destiny's Gate (17 page)

“Be thankful that’s all he is — a test. He was obviously sent here to teach us — to become better soldiers. We must remain focused, Paige. Evil can come at any time. There is no rhyme or reason to the why or where or when we are tested. This is beyond you and me. I’m going to take Trixie with me for a few days. In the meantime, if I were you, I would be speaking with the higher power to ask for instructions on how to fight against this thing that is clearly coming for us...coming for you.” Allan picked his stepdaughter up and Trixie moaned as she was carried from the
room.

Feeling disillusioned, I threw myself onto the bed and grabbed my wooden cross asking for any advice from Creator. I heard,
no worries. Help is on the way, Paige. Get some rest
. I drifted off into a troubled
sleep.

When I awoke, it seemed as if I was in the midst of a spirit lecture. I was instructed telepathically to start running and to lift weights. Long gone were the days when I questioned who was speaking to me. The message was the important factor and as long as it was a good or positive message, I did not doubt it for a
second.

Jumping out of bed, I threw on my navy blue yoga pants and matching jacket and decided to run the stairs from the main floor to the basement. I ran up and down and back and forth until I felt winded and dehydrated. Realizing I had not been working out as much as I used to, I headed to my old photo lab in the basement and found a small toolbox. I lifted it as a weight, on the right side, then the left. Suddenly thirsty, I spied a small fridge in the corner and grabbed a bottle of water left over from the summer. As I drank it, I sat on the bench and reflected on the summer months. And I thought things were complicated when Bradley Adam Parkman lived here. As I recalled what Brad and I had defeated, something inside my soul shifted. I had fought against evil Conall almost by myself, and won! Clearly, I was in this position because I could do something about it. Perhaps I was one of the chosen ones based on my inner soul, and decided to give her a nickname, Journey; it had a strong ring to it, bringing forth images of the spiritual journeys that had brought me to this point. It felt right and I went with
it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Grandpa’s Mysterious Message

“Paige, your parents will be here soon. Are you excited?” Hanna’s eyes diverted to a weathered cookbook with flour remnants sticking to some of the
pages.

“Yes, I cannot wait to hug them both,” I exclaimed, a little bit more exuberantly than I had intended to. I did not want Hanna to sense I was anxious
lately.

“Well that’s great,” she responded, as she studied me briefly. Your grandma and I are going into town today. Do you want to come? You can buy some
gifts?”

“Gifts? I don’t have any money, Hanna. Guess that’s what happens when you don’t have a job.” I gazed out the
window.

“No worries. I overheard your grandparents talking about giving you an allowance for all you’ve done for them, and for looking after Delia’s pup, Trixie. They want to, so let them,
Paige.”

Clearly Hanna had picked up on my self-righteous, stubborn streak. “I won’t turn it down, for fear I would appear
rude.”

Hanna smiled and said, “Great. I am making rye bread for us today. I love this bread maker I bought. It makes my job
fun.”

I chortled and shook my head. I was grateful for having Hanna in our lives, for all of our
sakes.

Grandpa walked into the room and bellowed, “I understand the ladies of the manor are going shopping together today? Is this true, Paige?” He stared at me, eyes
twinkling.

“Yes, we are, or so I’ve been told.” I said, overjoyed with these precious family
moments.

“That’s great. I have some money for you, so it’ll be a happy experience. You’ve been helping us out so much. Don’t forget about your grandmother...and me,” grandpa laughed whole-heartedly, his face reddening. He handed me a hundred dollar bill. “That includes Hanna, and I guess you need to buy for your parents too? Here’s fifty
more.”

Curtsying, I really felt like part of the family and that was the biggest gift of all this
Christmas.

“I’ve got a job that needs doing. Have you seen that young man, what’s his name? Adam...no, Allan? I’ve tried to ring him a few times this morning, but there’s no answer at the guest
house.”

“I’ll pop over and tell him, grandpa. He’s probably fixing something up on the second
floor.”

“Oh no, Paige! Have you seen the snowfall overnight? There’s about six inches. It will be too difficult to cross the bridge. I’ll keep ringing him.” He exited the room. I heard him dial the phone, and then a muffled conversation began. He returned and said, “It’s my lucky day! Allan’s on his way to help
me.”

I smiled at grandpa and could not wait to see how Trixie was. It was weird that no one had mentioned her in the past few days. Perhaps they assumed she was in my
room.

Allan poked his head in the door; he looked ashen. I was shocked by his appearance and tried not to display it on my face. I welcomed him with a hug while grandpa’s back was
turned.

Grandpa spun around; he appeared distracted and out of sorts. I repeated his name again and again, until he snapped out of it and abruptly asked Allan, “Is Trixie okay? I just saw her lying in a pool of blood?” He seemed panicked. “Is
Trixie...a...a...”

“A what?” asked Allan. “A girl? Yes she
is.”

Allan dashed to catch grandpa as he fainted to the floor. Hanna scurried from the kitchen in search of a pillow and returned laying it under his
head.

When grandpa awoke, he did not remember what had just occured. I glared at Hanna to let her know to stay out of it. Allan and I led grandpa to his room, helping him gently upon his
bed.

“Would you mind, Paige, if you stay home with me, and maybe Allan, you could go with Hanna and Helen to help them carry their bags,
please?”

Grandpa looked so vulnerable and I did not like it. “Of course, I’ll stay home with you. I’d love to.” I grabbed his hand and held it for reassurance that everything would be
okay.

“Well, Mr. O’Brien, I`ll inform the ladies that they have a gentleman escorting them today.” And on that note, Allan hugged me and made his
exit.

Grandpa examined me sternly with a hint of disapproval, his left eyebrow raised. We sat in silence until Hanna and grandma came in to check on him and said their
goodbyes.

At the first sound of grandpa’s light snoring, I felt relieved that he entrusted me to be his caregiver for the day and left the room to make some
tea.

As I strutted towards the kitchen, grandpa cried out, “No, Paige, don’t go. We need to talk, I’m okay now. I wanted to tell you I saw a vision of Trixie as a young girl and it caught me off guard. It can’t
be.”

I snapped back into the room and did not know what to say. Thinking quick on my feet, I gave it my best shot and asked, “You know how we live between two worlds and we can see earthbound spirits or spirits from the Other Side, right? Well, apparently there are also shapeshifters.” I studied him intently and continued, “Let me put it another way, don’t you think it’s possible that some people can be shapeshifters, if we can see and communicate to
spirits?”

“Following your line of logic that they both involve transforming energy, well, yes then, I would tend to agree it’s possible...it’s so far out there for me, I really have to think about it. That would mean so many legends from my native land could actually be
true.”

I felt sad for grandpa. He had had an epiphany of some sort that he was not quite ready to have. I sat next to him on the bed and held onto his hand and smiled. “Whatever there is to handle, grandpa, we can do it together; besides Allan’s here to protect us, too.” It was too late. I had let the cat out of the bag...that I had known about both of them all
along.

Grandpa squeezed my hand. “These are troubled times, Paige, be careful who you trust.” In a gravelly tone, he
declared:

“Thy soul shall find itself alone,
‘Mid dark thoughts of the gray tomb-stone –
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry-
Into thine hour of
secrecy...”

Grandpa unexpectedly blacked out. My heart jumped into my throat. My skin prickled and I felt instantly ice cold. We were not alone. I ignored it because that was what I was guided to do — do not give energy to earthbound spirits unless they have proven they are friendly. The more you react from a sense of fear, the stronger they become, and there was no way I was going down that road again, as I did with Conall. Tucking grandpa in, I strode confidently from the room even when I passed through what felt like a wall of ice. I continued into the kitchen to brew some tea; a remedy for my fried nerves. As I looked at my reflection in the bay window, I detected a presence behind me. It was hard to ignore as I could sense it staring at the back of my head; it became difficult to breathe. I picked up the whistling tea kettle and poured the boiling water into the Brown Betty teapot, fixating on the day dad explained the beauty of its design. The timer was set for five minutes to steep the tea, and I determinedly paraded back to grandpa’s bedside. When the timer resounded from the kitchen, I ran to silence it before it disturbed grandpa. The kettle itself was now on the burner beside the one I had placed it on, and the Brown Betty was sitting on the counter, not the stove, where I had left it. Heart pounding, I had to think calming thoughts in order to keep my cool. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a man dressed in a long black cape and hood sitting at the kitchen nook. I was frightened out of my mind, despite my best efforts to keep calm and carry on, and dreaded to see who would turn around. Its head rotated slowly to the right and revealed a gruesome, scarred face with green eyes. A putrid smell filled the air and I heard the words,
prepare for the worst. We are coming for you
. An unseen force pushed me backwards, and I tripped over a stool on the floor, landing on my tailbone. Agonizing pain shot up my spine and I understood that this was nothing to be messing around with. I was upset that Allan and Hanna were gone, my two allies on the estate, and then remembered Peggy. I sat still and silently repeated her name until I saw her in my mind. I heard the words,
don’t worry, child. Help is on the way. Watch for a spiritwalker. Remember, he’s your
friend
.

“Paige, are you there?” grandpa called from his room. I slowly arose, using the counter for support and hesitated before
answering.

“Yes...I’m here, grandpa. I’m making you some tea.” He seemed satisfied with my
answer.

Pouring the earl grey tea into china cups took my mind off the distressing details of what had just happened, temporarily. In the midst of the madness, it was pleasing to me to have something domestic to do. It hit me that I often take the little rituals in life for granted. I found the silver tray that Hanna used and loaded it up, with the teapot, two cups, saucers and scones I found in the bread box. In a trance-like state, I added the butter dish and carried the heavy tray into grandpa’s room. Crash! The tray and all its creature comforts fell to the floor, as I watched grandpa reciting what seemed to be a poem, while standing on top of his
bed:

“Be silent in that solitude
Which is not loneliness — for then
The spirits of the dead who stood
In life before thee are again
In death around thee-
and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be
still
.”

He repeated the verse over and over again. I was at a loss and fell to my knees, picking up the mess, while silently asking for help from my spirit supporters. Startled by a noise, I looked up and held my breath as spiritwalker, my tanned faced friend, was leaning against an armoire, in the flesh. In slow motion, he helped grandpa down from his bed and tucked him under the covers. He then placed his hands on grandpa’s temples, uttered a few inaudible words and turned back around to smile at me. He asked me to leave the room while he examined the patient. I touched his arm as he brushed by; it was ice cold. I did not want to abandon grandpa until I heard telepathically,
I’ve been sent to watch over your grandfather. Do not worry. I am here to protect him while he remains unconscious. Your job is to figure out who did this and why,
Paige
.

Pacing in the hallway, I lost track of time, awaiting the okay to return to grandpa’s bedside. Spiritwalker said,
you can come in now
. I rushed into the room to speak to him, and was surprised when he declared,
your grandfather is fine. I must leave
now
.

Standing over grandpa as he slept in his bed, I was afraid he might not wake up, and then what would I do?
Oh my, that was selfish
. I loved him so much and did not want any harm to come to
him.

When grandpa at last, opened his eyes, he admitted, “I had the most disturbing dream. Funny...I do not want to remember any of
it.”

I readily agreed and said, “No you don’t, grandpa. Just...rest.” And back to sleep he
went.

Finally, Hanna, grandma and Allan returned home. I sighed relief and felt the burden of what had transpired dissipating because even when I felt alone, I was not; spiritwalker had come to our
rescue.

Hanna and grandma asked how everything went and I kept the events of the past few hours to myself. “No problems! Grandpa’s been sleeping peacefully.” They left the room, excitedly talking about their secret purchases and announced they were hiding their packages. I was thrilled to see Allan as he walked up to me and gave me a peck on the
cheek.

“I know something bad happened while we were away, but for the life of me, I could not get them to come home! What shoppers they are! I’m happy you look fine, Paige. I guess I was worrying about
nothing.”

I wanted to kiss and hug him but knew with everyone in the manor it was not the best
timing.

Allan grinned as if he knew what I was thinking and blew a kiss before he left, and said, “I’ve got to get back to Trixie. She’s on the
mend.”

My heart soared at his gesture and I was thrilled to hear Trixie was
better.

“It’s just a matter of days before your parents are here, Paige,” announced Hanna as she returned to the room. “We will have to get Allan to take you into town so you can do your shopping. Maybe tomorrow?” And then she winked at
me.

That night, as I lay in bed, I had a vision — I saw the young, tortured boy I had observed in the ice vault pointing at something behind me. I turned around and there was grandpa reciting the poem again with additional
verse:

“The night-tho’clear — shall frown –
And the stars shall look not down,
From their high thrones in the heaven,
With light like Hope to mortals given –
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee
forever
.”

I snapped out of the vision and sat up in bed. It was pitch- black in my room which was not a good sign. It was supposed to be a full moon tonight. I shook my head and closed my eyes. When I re-opened them, there were ten pairs of yellow eyes staring back at me. I awoke and recognized I had a dream within a dream and began to pray, asking for protection from the imminent evil that was encroaching upon the estate and me. I began to feel peaceful. I had that familiar feeling of a warm hug enveloping me, and knew someone was with me — a good spirit. Words were spoken,
Paige, I am here to protect you, child. I have heard your prayers. You need not worry. Listen to spiritwalker. Live from
a
place of love within your heart and all will be overcome
. No further words were needed. I smiled and thankfully fell into a peaceful
slumber.