Paranormal Summer (Indigo Moon Rising) (10 page)

The mist from the falls made a rainbow ending in the sand. Jillian walked over to where it ended. Now it was gone. She backed up, and there it was again. She knelt down. Gently she blew into the water and watched the waves ripple outward. Why was that so familiar? She heard a familiar voice.
What you think makes the difference in how you feel. 
That made her think about the party, the disappointment. The hot, knotty feelings of anger and frustration started to well up inside of her.

Jillian stood up and walked closer to the waterfall. There was a smooth portion where she could see her entire reflection. This was her, but it actually wasn't. She looked younger. There in the waterfall was a scowling, angry girl glaring at her. Startled she asked, “Who’s that? It sorta looks like me, but it's not. I am much older and more mature.”

An owl sitting in a nearby tree offered, “That is what youuu are projecting, that is what youuu were thinking. When youuu think like that, youuu will feel like that, and youuu will remain that way.”

Jillian’s mouth dropped open. She looked at the reflection, which now had her arms crossed, with a large frown disfiguring her sweaty, red face. Her toe was tapping as if she were waiting for something. “Is that really me?" Jillian said and looked back at the animals on the beach. “What do we do?” Jillian asked.

“
We can’t do anything except give youuu some guidance. Youuu are the only one that has the ability,” the owl answered.

“
It's sssimple,” a snake piped up as it slithered closer to Jillian. Jillian knelt down and looked it straight in the eye. “Sssimply change your thoughts.”

Jillian took a deep breath and rolled her eyes up as if in thought.
Think happy thoughts. Be grateful for what I do have. The blessings that are all around me right now.
She closed her eyes and began to feel the things she was grateful for. She took another long, deep breath, and her face began to soften. Then a smile began to grow, grow, and grow. Then she began to giggle, and then she began to glow. She took another deep breath and looked around.

Of course, all of the animals’ eyes were on her, and they were all smiling. Jillian turned to see her reflection. “Oh!” She gasped. Looking at her was a beautiful, confident, young girl smiling back at her. She seemed to glow. But was that her? Maybe the waterfall made you look younger. But it wasn't quite clear now.

“
Wow!” Jillian said as the animals began to applaud. “That was pretty simple!” She felt wonderfully full and content and even empowered. She looked at all of the magnificent animals and insects and birds around her. The sun must have been in a special part of the sky to make everything look so radiant. Everything seemed so much more dimensional, detailed, almost electrified.

A large fluorescent green darner dragonfly had been watching from a nearby bush. He lifted off and hovered near Jillian. “When you feel love, that is your spirit talking to you. Your connection to spirit is always there. It is always available. It is always ready to help; you just need to ask."

A hawk was soaring silently above them. The crowd was whispering and pointing. They seemed to be waiting his arrival. Landing on a boulder at the water’s edge, he bowed to the crowd and they bowed back.

“
I am Leonardo, the overseer of this land,” he said to Jillian.

“
That is a beautiful stone you possess,” he said looking at Jillian’s hand, and how it seemed to be glowing silver, gold and purple.

“
Thank you,” Jillian said eyes wide open looking at the stone. “Do you know anything about it? Is it special?”

“
Of course it is special. It belongs to you, doesn’t it?” The hawk said as he tilted his head slightly.

Jillian started to nod and shook her head, “Yes, I am looking for the secret. That is why I am here.”

“
So then, what are your intentions?” He asked almost as if he were staring into her soul with his piercing eyes.

“
I don’t know,” Jillian replied wondering what he meant.

“
You must live with intention or you will be adrift, floating aimlessly. Decide what you want to do, and state your intention.”

Jillian was getting a bit nervous. This was not making sense. A little skunk walked up to Jillian and tugged at her pant leg. “Before you get out of bed, say ‘I intend that I am making this a great day!’ Or think about how you want your next adventure to go. Then say something like, ‘I intend for this experience to give me the answers I need at this time.’ You can do this all day long,” the skunk said and scampered back to the crowd.

“
Oh, I get it!” Jillian exclaimed as she thought about how she could intend a lot of things. “I intend that I will keep you all in my heart,” Jillian said without even realizing it. Her eyes got wide as she blinked and looked around wondering where that came from.

The animals all started to laugh at the surprise of her spontaneity. Jillian laughed too.

“
Do you think you are any closer to understanding the secret?” Illianna asked.

Jillian looked down at her hand that held the stone. A pink light was glowing from between her fingers, “Yes, I do,” Jillian said. “Thank you all so much,” Jillian said, bowing to everyone. “You have given me so much to think about!”

“
You are very welcome,” Zen said. His smile was so wide he was squinting.

“
Thank you!” Jillian said. She and Illianna turned around and headed back to where they had started.

When they reached the familiar place at the lake’s edge, Illianna said, “Put your hand on my mane and close your eyes. Free your mind and just ‘be.’ Send your mind to where it knows it must go, and your body will follow. What you are seeking, you will find!” Jillian took a deep breath and began to relax. To just 'be.’ In her mind’s eye, she could see the waterfall and sandy beach. She began to feel the rumbling again, and then it stopped.

She opened her eyes, and the sun was so intense she covered her face. She heard a familiar sound, Tiffany Marie purring. She was right there on her chest, where she had put her last night. As she stretched, she thought,
I have never dreamed like that before, except for the nap I took in the meadow.

She put Tiffany Marie in her litter box and jumped back into bed, opened her journal and began to write down her newest 'dream.'

Jillian arrived at the library quite early, but certainly not wanting to look anxious
. Nice little place,
she thought.
So quiet. There is nobody else around, unless they're hiding. So, what do I do now that I'm here?
She started looking through the selection of all 52 music CD's they had to offer. Then it only took a minute to browse the even smaller video selection, mostly all on VHS. She realized they don't have their books on computers? Card catalogs?
 I guess I will just start at the beginning. Me and Dewey!
She thought when Ryan walked in. Jillian looked up at the clock; it was exactly 5!

"Did you notice the hours on the door?” he asked her.

"No.  Why? Are they closed?" She teased.

"In a half hour," he responded. "We had better get to work then. Why did we meet here?"

Jillian suddenly felt uncomfortable. "I dunno. I just thought...."

"That we needed to do some research on the cabin? Great idea!" He headed off to one corner, Jillian tagging along behind since he seemed to know where he was going. "The town archives are here. These books include the plots in them and copies of the census."

The librarian peeked around the corner, looking at the two of them, pushing her glasses up to the bridge of her nose and nodding at them. Ryan gave her a quick wave.

Jillian smiled as if she knew all about it. Ryan started pulling out books and left them open on the table. Most all of them were old, and some were unusually large. There were a few newer ones, and they looked like they had been self-printed, probably from local authors. She could see what looked like hand drawn maps and then ledgers with census information. "We will make copies of these and take them with us. Where's Sonya? Have you talked to her? I thought she was gonna be here, too."

"Well that's how it stood last night. Maybe she got busy, again," Jillian said feeling like it was okay if she wasn't here.

"We'll go over to the Bed and Breakfast and see if she's there." Ryan said as he set the last book on the table and surveyed the stacks he had just made, smiling as if he were quite proud of himself. They scooped up the books and took them to the copy machine. There were quite a few, and some of them were hard to copy. Once they finished the last one, he paid the librarian and left the pile of books back near the local history shelves and walked out.

"Shouldn't we have put the books away?" Jillian asked, carrying the stack of papers.

"No, she doesn't have much to do in there. Plus, she'll wonder what we are up to. The town will be abuzz with our research! Ever eat there?" Ryan said, pointing to a small cafe. The sign above the door said, “Enrique’s, SOME LIKE IT HOT.”

“No, I haven’t eaten anywhere but my aunt's house,” Jillian said, thinking it looked like a neat little place, with drawings of red chili peppers on the glass windows.

“They have excellent food. Not just hot - real Mexican and     Americanized Mexican. My friend, Jorge, his uncle owns it. I think you'd like him. He's a senior and planning on going into business administration in college.” Ryan said raising his eyebrows as they walked.

“What are you going to do, for college? Jillian asked, trying to think of his answer before he spoke.

“I thought I might want to go into counseling, or you know, be a therapist, or that type of work, helping people. Addiction counseling is what I had thought, but it seems like the classes have such restrictions. Their belief system is so archaic. They don't seem to remember that there are so many intricacies that make up a person, their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, sociological, just too much to consider I guess. And, perhaps the time isn't right for me to decide yet either. Maybe what I will do, doesn’t exist, yet” he said, raising his eyebrows and shrugging his shoulders. They turned the corner and they were at the Bed and Breakfast.

Jillian had never actually looked at it, just driven by it when she was visiting her aunt, and then the other night when she and Sonya came back from the cabin. This was another of the town's historical homes, built by the founder, Abner Baker. It was extremely old and all three floors had round rooms on one corner, so the windows were like that, too. It had a stone foundation like her aunt’s. But the B&B was painted in pinks and purples. It had a lot of what Uncle Tim called gingerbread. Lots of tall fascinating windows, decorated from the inside with lace curtains. There was a lovely little sign by the winding pathway through some gardens that lead to the front porch. She wondered what Sonya's room looked like. Was it on the top floor, like the attic? Or the basement? As they walked up the sidewalk, the front door flung open and Sonya darted out.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. We have guests and well, you know,” she said wiping what looked to be a tear from her eye and pulling her sleek black hair into a pony tail holder.