Echoes of the Past (9 page)

Yeah, like this one’s
for real.

Tasha opened the shop door, and Michelle reluctantly
followed her inside. The store smelled of incense and age. Some of the books
moldering on the shelves must be a hundred years old. There was some kind of
punk music playing in the background—not a musical style she enjoyed. She
looked around her. There were crystals of every shape, size, and color, some on
chains, others in dishes. Cones and sticks of incense, burners, and candles in
every scent known to man littered the counters. She noted the numerous
apothecary jars filled with powders of various colors all neatly labelled.

If I look hard enough
will I find eye of newt and mandrake root?
Michelle relaxed.
I don’t think I have anything to worry about
here. There’s no way this woman will figure out my secret.

The young Goth girl standing by the cash register didn’t
even look up when the bell attached to the door announced their arrival. The
open magazine on the counter engrossed her. Dressed entirely in black, a spiked
dog collar around her neck, she had short, black hair with tips dyed to match
the blood-red lipstick she wore. She was quite pretty if you could overlook the
ghoulish makeup and way too many piercings.

“Can I help you?” She didn’t take the time to look at them
and sounded as bored as she probably was. The place didn’t look as if it had
had customers in days.

“Yes, you can.” Tasha spoke before Michelle could turn tail
and run.

“My friend is here to see Audra. Is she accepting clients
tonight?”

The girl’s head jerked up, like a
bobble
-headed
doll pressed too hard. Surprise and excitement glowed in her startling,
black-lined, green eyes. She smiled, showing off teeth so white they must
recently have been bleached. She looked from Michelle to Tasha and back to
Michelle again.

“This is like, so cool. Audra said you were coming. She
always knows.” She pointed a black-fingernail-tipped finger at Michelle.
“You’re Michelle, right?”

Tasha gasped. “How did you know her name? That’s freaky!”

A frisson coursed down Michelle’s spine. What was going on
here? There was no way this woman could know her name. While Michelle believed
in ghosts, witches and warlocks were the stuff of fairy tales. Tasha!

“You called ahead and made an appointment? You’re pretty
sure of yourself,” she accused.

“As God is my witness, I didn’t call. How could I? I didn’t
even know you were going to go through with it. I waited all afternoon for you
to call and tell me you were going on that case and leaving right away. That’s
why I’d arranged to meet Simon at The Copper Kettle too. He’d have been there
if it hadn’t been for that accident, or are you going to accuse me of arranging
that four car pile-up?”

Tasha tried to look indignant, but the combination of awe
and fear on her face spoiled the look, and convinced Michelle she was telling
the truth.

The girl behind the counter giggled self-consciously and
closed her magazine. She’d been following their conversation closely. While she
might have been told to expect them, she seemed slightly spooked too.
Michelle’s level of discomfort rose.

“This is so awesome! Audra said you’d be skeptical. Your
friend’s right. She didn’t call or anything, but Audra knew you were coming.
She even told me you’d be the dark-haired one, and I should treat you with
respect. Are you a witch too? I’ve never been told to be especially nice to
anyone before.”

Tasha laughed. “Let me think, I’ve heard her called
something like that, but I’m sure it started with a ‘B’.”

The girl giggled again, the innocent sound at odds with her
macabre appearance.

Michelle glared at Tasha.
“Very funny.
I love you too.”

“Go on back, Michelle. She’s waiting for you.” The girl
pointed to Tasha. “Sorry, but Audra says you’re to wait out here with me.”

“Dang!
I wanted to sit in on the
audience.” She made a face and pouted. “You’ll tell me everything, promise?”

Michelle nodded, and Tasha fell into the overstuffed chair
in what must be the reading/waiting area.

“Okay. You’re on your own. Since it’s my idea, I’ll pay.”

“No, you won’t,” the cashier interrupted. “Audra says
there’s no charge.”

Michelle looked from one woman to the other, shook her head,
and turned to face the heavy black velvet drapery separating the audience area
from the rest of the store. She felt a sense of impending doom.

What the hell is going
on here? I should just turn around and walk out of this place.

As much as the idea of leaving appealed to her, she realized
she couldn’t do it. It was like watching two cars speeding toward each other.
You knew something bad was going to happen, but you were powerless to stop it.
She separated the curtains and stepped through.

She’d entered a different dimension. Gone was the punk rock
music in the background. Even the smell was different in here. How was that
possible? Michelle looked around the small enclosure, her gaze coming to rest
on the woman standing behind the small, round, black-cloth-covered table. She
blinked.

If you wanted someone to pose for one of Macbeth’s witches,
Audra would be the perfect choice. The woman, old and bent, resembled
everyone’s Halloween-inspired image of a sorceress—minus the warts. She had
long, gray hair, which probably hadn’t seen a comb, or shampoo, for that
matter, in years. The minute Michelle sat on the chair in front of the
seer,
she knew she wasn’t a fraud. The spirits were with
this woman, and Michelle had long since learned to respect the spirits even if
she didn’t like the hold they had over her. The woman sat after she did and
smiled. The gesture transformed her. Suddenly, instead of an old crone, the
woman who sat before her had an ageless beauty and wisdom about her. Her
sightless eyes remained as before. She was calm, and Michelle relaxed.

“What are you?” Michelle whispered.

“I am Audra. You saw me as you expected to see me. Now, you
see me as I am. There are different kinds of blindness in the world. My powers
have come down to me through the ages. I’m a witch.” She laughed. “I know you
don’t believe in my kind, but we exist just as the other things people would
like to believe are imaginary exist too. There is good and evil in the world.
Like you, I’m good. Welcome to my home. I’ve been expecting you.”

Michelle stared at the enchantress, and in spite of the
cataracts in the woman’s eyes, she sensed the woman saw her clearly. The only
sound came from a large, pendulum clock on the far wall. Her heart beat at the
same pace as the clock ticked. She shivered as if someone had walked over her
grave, and realized what Audra had said.

“What do you mean, you’ve been expecting me? How did you
know I was coming? I didn’t even know.”

“The spirits told me, princess.”

“Princess?
Why on earth would you
call me that?”

“It’s what
Akuti
, the name your
birth mother gave you, means. She had the sight. She knew who you were before you
were born and the spirits called her home.”

Michelle shivered. “How do you know that?”

“I know it just as I know you’re of the blood. Your Mohawk
bloodline is a proud one.”

“It isn’t one I recognize.” Michelle’s voice was
belligerent.

Audra nodded her head. “While my eyes can’t see in this
world, they see clearly in the next. We are what we are, and wishing it were
different doesn’t make it so. You were a proud maiden whose spirit sought to
oppose the traditions of her people. Now, pride tears your spirit between two
cultures.”

“Your
spirits
,”
she emphasized the word, “have misinformed you.” Michelle’s anger suffused her.
How dare this woman talk to her that way? She might think she knew it all, but
she was wrong. “I didn’t turn my back on them—he didn’t want me.”

The old woman shook her head.

“I’m sorry, princess. Sometimes the choices others make are
hard to understand. Your father did what he thought was best for you. In the
past, you turned your back on them, thinking what you did was also what was best
for you. You’ve travelled a rocky road to get where you are today, but all the
paths lead to the same place. The dreams and fears have gotten worse, haven’t
they?”

Michelle nodded, and her discomfort grew. She clasped her
hands together, surprised to see her fingers were as cold as ice while
perspiration beaded her forehead.
How can
she know that?

Audra answered as if Michelle had spoken aloud.

“I walk with the spirits, just as you do, but I hear them
all—those here now, and those who’ve found peace. Today, I’m their messenger.
They have a task for you. If you do this, you’ll end the curse plaguing you for
two centuries. Did you think this was the first time you’d come back?”

“I don’t understand. Are you saying I’ve come back before?”

“Yes, child, and you know it’s true. Your own spirit is with
you now—you’ve seen her, yet you reject her. The cycle has repeated itself
several times. The circle of life continues, and our fate is tied to it.
Humanity has changed a great deal in the last hundred years. People have
forsaken tradition, and no longer respect Mother Earth and the spirits. They’ve
poisoned the land, the rivers, and the air. Someone seeks to despoil the Lake
of the Gods. The Three Sisters need you to stop them.”

“If they’re gods, why don’t they do it themselves? What can
I do that a god can’t?” Despite the bravado in her voice, fear made Michelle’s
heart pound.

“Gods and spirits get their powers from the faith people
have in them. People have lost faith, and the gods are powerless to protect
themselves from evil. You and your mate can stop those destroying the lake.”

Michelle choked out a laugh.
Seriously?
“My
mate?
Give me a break. I don’t even have a boyfriend. Looks like the
spirits are out of luck.” She made a move to stand.

Audra’s voice filled with anger boomed in the small room,
and Michelle dropped into her seat, chastised. “Don’t mock me. Long ago, you sinned
against your people and violated the sacred waters. You paid the price with
your life and his, and your spirits have been punished for it. The Three
Sisters are ready to set aside their anger in exchange for your help. If you succeed
in saving their home, you’ll be reunited with the one you lost, the dreams will
end, and you’ll have the life you’ve always wanted.”

Some of what Audra had said seemed to ring a bell. The
woman’s anger had evaporated, and the serene smile returned to her face.

“Who are The Three Sisters? I’ve heard the term before, but
I can’t place it.” If there was even a remote chance she could rid herself of
the nightmares and fears, she’d jump at it, and if there was a happily ever
after in it for her, so much the better. She thought of the dream lover. Was he
her mate? How would she find him? He was dead, right? Come to think of it,
where was this sacred lake?

“The Three Sisters are the sustaining spirits of your
ancestors. They have not revealed the nature of the task itself to me, but it
is dangerous, and you cannot do it on your own. Don’t trust your senses. Let
your heart guide you.”

Great, go do this job
and save the sisters, but guess what, I’m not going to tell you what to do, how
to do it, or where to find the help you need.

Skeptical and frustrated, Michelle stared into Audra’s blind
eyes, as if she could somehow look into the woman’s mind and see what she was
seeing. The truth had to be written there.

“You’ve said they cursed me. How do I know if I do this
they’ll follow through on their end of the bargain and release me?”

“The sprits will honor their word once you save
Onokenoga
, the Lake of the Gods.”

“Where will I find this Lake of the Gods?”

“You journey there tomorrow.”

Michelle recoiled.
“The Lake of the
Mountain?”
If the lake was the sacred place, then was one of the two men
she’d seen pictures of her mate? How would she know which one?

“Yes. It’s in the land of your ancestors.”

“And is my mate there too?”

“He waits for you.”

“After I manage to protect the water, will I have peace?
Will all the spirits leave me alone?”

Audra smiled. “Would you really want them to? You’ve been
given a great gift. You’re a bridge between this world and the next for those
who die in water. You bring justice and peace. That gift is yours, and can’t be
taken away, but all the nightmares and this terrible phobia of water will end.”

“All the dreams?”

The old woman nodded and chuckled. “When you have a live
lover, you’ll have no need of a dream one, princess.”

Michelle reddened. Was there anything Audra didn’t know?

“Go home. Open the box your aunt sent you. Inside you’ll
find your past and your future. Take two of the objects you’ll find inside with
you. Leave the third. You’ll know which one to leave.”

The woman reached across the table and grasped Michelle’s
hands in a tight grip. Heat flowed from her, and Michelle felt her frozen palms
begin to sweat.

“You’re confused now. You don’t know whether to believe me
or not.
A final word.
A warning.
All is not what it seems. Don’t let your senses deceive you. You will have to
choose, but choose wisely. There is far more at stake here than you realize. As
a show of good faith, you will have one more dream. Learn from it. The rain
will make driving hazardous. Go. I’m tired.”

The woman seemed to implode, and when Michelle looked again,
the old crone she’d seen earlier sat at the table, her blind eyes staring into
space. Michelle pushed aside the curtain, and Tasha jumped up.