Harbinger in the Mist (Arms of Serendipity) (26 page)

“But I’ve always heard hell described as a pit of fire. That the poor souls there are burning, in agony.”

“You are confusing the concepts of fire and pain as they pertain to the human body instead of that which can cause harm and pain to the immortal soul. Let me simplify it. I can assume you’ve heard of frostbite? Or even freezer burn? There are ways to burn with ice. And the pain of hell has everything to do with being cut completely off from the warming love of the Creator. It’s like depression to the millionth degree, like dry ice applied directly to the soul.  To be without Him, to be cut off from His love and warmth…”

“She’s right,” Raven interrupted, stepping forward. “As for suicide, what you’ve been taught is mere superstition. Taking your life is an act of selfish desperation.  It’s an act by someone who is so distraught with life that they can’t take it anymore. As Sadie just explained, tormented souls find themselves trapped in the Shadowlands because their sorrow anchors them there. The Summerlands repel sorrow, hate, guilt, and the like. Very few suicides manage to escape the void of the Shadowlands, but it’s not because the Creator deems them unworthy of eternal peace – it is because they themselves have deemed it so. It is not impossible for a spirit to give up that anchor and move on. Most of the time, though, they need some help. That’s where people like Sadie, Marissa, Sara, Chris, and I come in.

“Now, back to the reason we’re standing out here.” Raven turned to the laptop. “We didn’t catch anything else on video, although we all saw the dark shadows of the entities moving freely about the house. We did catch some interesting EVPs that we’d like you to hear. EVP stands for electronic voice phenomenon. Recorders catch other-worldly voices that we can’t hear with the naked ear. This first one was captured when we entered the house.”

She clicked a few buttons, and the recorded session began to play. She heard the women talking about the staircase and where to start the investigation. Then, over their chatter, was a menacing man’s voice that seemed to yell “Get out!” 

Raven looped the area of the recording, replaying it several times before Lindsey asked her to stop. Eli, who was standing behind her, wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back in to his chest. He kissed her on the side of the face.

“This second one came from the kitchen,” she continued. A small, childlike voice said faintly, “Where’s momma? I want my momma.”

“And this one is a favorite.”

Lindsey listened as the women talked about heading up to Lindsey’s bedroom to try to find the man. A strange woman’s voice spoke in a language that she didn’t understand. “Weh hunnuh da gwine?”

“Do you understand that?” Raven asked.

“No, should I?”

“No. We didn’t either. But Chris thought that it sounded familiar. We talked to some other researchers and found out that it’s Gullah for ‘Where are you going?’ Gullah was the language of the first black inhabitants of the Sea Islands along Georgia and South Carolina, a mixture of several West African languages with a touch of English. And it’s still spoken in these parts today among the member of the Gullah-Geechee nation. They are direct descendants of slaves and have kept the customs and language alive all these years.”

“That was the mother to those boys talking to you?”

“Yes, I guess she wanted us to stay in the living room with her.  We went up to your room next and let me tell you, your bedroom is a hotbed of activity! A vortex, actually. I’m surprised that other spirits haven’t been sucked in here from the void of the Shadowlands. Anyway, Milton Walker’s spirit is thick in there.  I even got sick at one point. I had to go into your bathroom and throw up – sorry about that, by the way. But we caught this while we were up there.”

She hit play on the laptop again. She heard the woman talking about the ominous aura of the room. But in the background you could hear a man sobbing and yelling “Why!? Why her!?”

“When we were in the landing, we all felt like someone was breathing on us, like we were going to be flung down the stairs. That’s when we caught the last of the EVPs.”

Lindsey heard the women talking about how thick the air was and reminding each other to hold tightly to the railing as they went down the stairs. The slave’s voice returned saying, “Lem’lone! Lem’lone!”

“Again, we had to consult our Gullah expert. Olemargaret was saying ‘Leave them alone!’”

They stood there, looking at each other for a minute. Lindsey had goose bumps all over her body. It was one thing to sense the presence of the spirits, but another to hear them talking, weeping, responding – to hear their voices loud and clear.

The woman with the lighter hair, Sara, began to talk. “Lindsey, I specialize in psychometry. Do you know what that is?”

Lindsey shook her head.

“A psychometrist reads the history of items. When I hold something, I see flashes of images, hear sounds, smell scents, and feel emotions that are attached to item. You see, everything on earth gives off magnetic vibrations. Humans have vibrations that can sometimes be loud or forceful, that can be imprinted in items. Things like necklaces, tables, and such act like tapes. A psychometrist is a clairvoyant that acts like a tape player for these items. For instance, have you ever smelled smoke in the hallway outside your bedroom?”

Lindsey nodded her head. Her mom had smelled it the first time they’d been in the house. She herself had gotten a whiff of it a few times, but hadn’t thought anything about it.

“The frame to your door holds that scent. When I touch the doorway, I see an image of Milton Walker pacing back and forth right outside of it smoking his pipe. He’s worried about his wife. Back and forth he paces and worries, worries and paces. That frame has recorded the image of the pacing, the feeling of worry, and, of course, the smell of the smoking pipe.

“Most of the items in your home, however, that carried these recorded vibrations were nice and soothing. The credenza in the foyer, the beaded lamp, and even the chest in your room seem to have been owned by elderly women. The chest’s owner was related to you, I believe.”

“It was my grandmother’s,” Lindsey whispered.

Sara continued, not acknowledging Lindsey’s musing. “They hold feeling of love, contentment. Smells like fresh baked cookies and Oil of Olay lotion pour off of them. They are calm and endearing. But one item in this house holds much despair and remorse. You know that oval sun catcher in your room? The one that hangs in the window that overlooks the oak trees?”

Lindsey knew what she was talking about. It was a small, glass sun catcher with a single red rose in the middle of it. Her mother had found it in that storage building and thought it was pretty. She had hung it in Lindsey’s room the day they moved in.  Lindsey had never really paid it any attention.  She nodded at Sara to show that she heard the question.

“It was Abigail’s. It holds memories of her illness and death. And it holds Milton’s despair. When I touched it, my head felt like it would explode and I got very clammy. I could see images of a woman lying on a bed, drenched in sweat. I could see a man crying over her dead body and then blowing his brains out. I can smell the sickly sweet smell that someone has when they are feverish and the metallic scent of blood. That item has not helped your cause very much; Milton sees it as you stealing from his dead wife. I highly recommend that you move it out of the house.”

When they were done and started packing their things back up, Sadie moved to Lindsey’s side. “We would like to arrange a cleansing. I know your hesitation. Raven has conferred with Chris. They will join forces to do a Christian blessing combined with a traditional Wiccan cleansing. It should work very well. But we need your approval to move forward.”

“In light of this evidence, I have to agree,” offered Eli.

“When? How soon?”

“Give me a day so that we can prepare and organize. Raven says that it’s best to do it during a waning moon. Tonight’s moon will be full. If we do it two nights from now, it’ll be waning gibbous.”

“I have no idea what that means, but I trust you. In two nights, then,” Lindsey said.

Each of the women touched her hands and whispered “Blessed Be.”

When Raven reached her she said, “I do ask that you sleep in another room. You said your mother is out of town, so perhaps her room would be safer for you.”

Sara turned as she was climbing into the van. “Will you be here, too, Eli?” she questioned. “Or will you be gone by then.”

Eli smiled warmly and took her hand. “I will be here, but do not fear for me. Fear for the soul of Milton Walker if he resists our efforts.”

“By ‘our,’ do you mean this little group or do you mean –”

“You know exactly what I mean, Sara.” Eli smiled and waved at the group. They left, leaving a dusty trail, and so many questions in their wake.

“What is up with that one woman. I don’t think she likes me very much.”

“Ah, Sara,” Eli looked at the ground. “She and I go way back. She is concerned that I might be second guessing my calling; she knows how important this path in life is for me. Don’t let her bother you, she’s just being matronly.”

Lindsey’s heart thumped wildly, but she did not say anything. Eli started toward the house but she did not follow. She didn’t want to go in now that she had solid proof of the spirits inside and their moods. It was scary to think that they were in there right now, waiting unseen but certainly not unheard any longer.

“I’ll be with you, you have nothing to fear,” Eli said. “Let’s go in. If you decide that you can’t stay upstairs tonight, you can sleep on the sofa. It’ll be safe.”

They walked into the house silently and went into the living room. Eli grabbed sodas from the fridge and Lindsey turned the television on, attempting to prevent the entity from completely running them from the house.

Upstairs, in the room directly above them, a bereaved spirit was sobbing and clutching at the bed linens.

Eighteen

Eli walked down the hall quickly, not wanting to be away for too long. He had left Lindsey unprotected. If Milton realized this, he was sure to strike. Eli had to plead his case and plead it well.

“Elion!” Calliel greeting him heartily. “It’s nice to see you here in these halls again, brother. We have missed you.”

“And I you, brother, but I am dealing with a serious issue. I need Uriel’s permission for a special banishment.”

“And for permission to –”

“No, I am asking for no such thing. I am there to serve Him and send these wayward spirits back to where they belong.”

Calliel clasped Eli’s shoulder. “Brother, we have all seen it before. We are seeing it with you and this girl. You have fallen in love with her. It’s obvious on many levels. Do not be ashamed. Love is from the Creator. Savor it, let its warmth fulfill you!”

“Calliel, I do love her. But the love I feel for her is the same love that I feel for all of His creation. It is my job to protect His masterpiece from other worldly attacks. And this threat is one that requires my full attention.”

Calliel smiled at him sadly, hugged him, and left.  Eli watched his brother disappear into the chapel at the end of the hallway. He was going to have to ask Uriel to allow a collaboration that was generally frowned upon. He steeled himself for the meeting to come, for the meeting with his leader. If Calliel’s reaction was any indication, Eli’s relationship with Lindsey had been a topic of conversation. He could only imagine what Uriel would say.

Eli took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Nineteen

Lindsey woke up the next morning with a feeling of foreboding. She was off work for the next few days, something that would have normally been nice. Not this week though – she desperately needed the distraction. She was not only off work for the next three days with nothing to think about but the ghosts in her home and the upcoming ceremony to get rid of them, but she was without the support of her two friends or even her mother. She thanked God that Eli was there. She would not have been able to deal with any of it without him by her side.

With the Robbins out of town, Lindsey was taking care of their five horses. She busied herself cleaning out the stalls and filling up feed bags. She checked the mail and played a couple of games on the Wii. When she couldn’t dawdle in their house anymore, she walked back toward Retreat House. Eli had walked her to the barn that morning, telling her that he had been neglecting his daily meditations and would be spending most of the day preparing himself spiritually for the impending blessing. He said that he would meet her at lunchtime and warned her to wait for him, not to enter the house without him.