The Quickening Read online

  Shawna smiled at her from the staircase and met her halfway up. “I’m so happy to meet you. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about what you do.”

  “Thank you, I’m flattered, and also glad you’re here.” Tiffany directed her into the room and shut the door. “Please sit down. Our first visit is short, simply one to get to know each other. I’ll be happy to answer your questions or address any concerns you might have.”

  “I appreciate it.” Shawna sat on the edge of the chair. “I don’t know much about this, but my friend Carly comes here and she swears it’s changed her whole outlook on life.”

  “Oh yes, Carly. I’m glad she’s doing well.” Tiffany loved that client. She’d come in after a nasty divorce and she’d been working with her for the last few months, clearing the negative energy, and balancing her emotional well-being. She took a few seconds while Shawna talked to assess her while she was listening.

  Shawna’s aura was threaded with several different shades of pink. The dark spots dispersed throughout the colors of her loving, gentle energy showed that Shawna suffered from headaches and other stress related problems. Tiffany’s immediate assessment would be that they needed to work on the presence of a near-transparent hue of pink in Shawna’s aura that indicated to her that Shawna was emotionally exhausted and giving too much of her energy away without saving any for herself. Tiffany didn’t detect any other physical problems that would be of concern.

  It was an aura pattern she knew well, as she had it herself. Shawna also had a spirit with her, but she wasn’t here to address a psychic reading. The maternal energy that hovered wasn’t interfering in any way with her. Tiffany blocked it from her mind and concentrated instead on the questions she could hear coming from Shawna’s psyche, discerning why she had come.

  Sometimes clients weren’t sure of their reasons. The urge to make an appointment came from a place they weren’t usually aware of, in the form of intuition or an impulse seemingly out of nowhere. The most prevalent reason Tiffany could sense from her was genuine curiosity and a willingness to try new things. “So,” Shawna said. “I know a little about what goes on from Carly. But I would really like to know more about what you do.”

  “No problem. But why don’t we start with what you want out of this.”

  Shawna laughed nervously. “I’m not entirely sure. I mean, I’m not sick or anything. My husband thinks I’ve lost it because I’ve been researching everything I can get my hands on about Universal energy, and how we create our reality by our thoughts. Ever since the movie The Secret came out, I’ve been searching. The subject matter resonated with me and I wanted to go deeper than the surface message I got from it. I’ve had too much time on my hands since the kids left. I guess I just want to…know.”

  Tiffany nodded. “You get what you put out into the world. Thoughts attract those like themselves, like magnets.”

  “Exactly. I don’t know where I’ve been all my life. How come I didn’t know all this Universal law stuff before? I’ve heard of chakras of course, but I didn’t put any real value on the information. And really, who had time for meditation? I was raising my kids.” Shawna’s eyes filled and she wiped at them. “I’m sorry for being so emotional.”

  “It’s fine,” Tiffany said. “Of course you’re searching.”

  “It’s like I have all this empty space in me and I don’t know who I am anymore. I know how to be a mom. I’m damn good at it, but they don’t really need me anymore.”

  “I get that. Being a mother was your identity and purpose.” Tiffany leaned forward. “We have to define who you are today and discover your current passion.”

  Shawna looked relieved. “I thought you were going to tell me I was just having a midlife crisis combined with an empty nest syndrome.”

  Tiffany smiled. “Well, it’s both in a way. But we’re going to use semantics and call it a spiritual awakening and emerging into your power. It’s not a crisis but a symptom of change.”

  “Oh, I like that. That sounds so much better.”

  “I feel like it’s a time that comes to all women. A knowing of sorts, when women who were once caretakers find themselves at a loss, somewhat empty, and full of longing.”

  Shawna placed a hand over her stomach. “And searching for something to fill that void that’s deep down here.”

  “Yes, that hole in the sacred chakra. And do you know what I think they’re searching for? Divine feminism. I believe it comes in a time of their life when women are pondering their faith, redefining what they believe, simply because they finally have time to. Up until then, they have been juggling a career, marriage, and children. In some cases they’ve also been helping elderly parents. And if that’s not enough, on top of that, all the household duties required. It’s as if their own soul’s resonance remains dormant until then.”

  “You’re talking about the Wise woman as an archetype.”

  “Yes, exactly.” Tiffany was pleased. “The Wise Woman, or Crone, is the third aspect of the Mother Goddess. The first being the Maiden, the second is the Mother, who is the bringer of life. When all the clamor of the outer world finally dims, you’re more receptive to transcendent experiences and value them more. You’re ready to continue into the next cycle of life, one of spiritual growth.”

  “That makes so much sense.” Shawna looked thoughtful. “You make it sound so reasonable.”

  Tiffany laughed. “Don’t get me started on the patriarchal religions that suffocated women for centuries. It’s important for us to understand that the masculine suppression was to have power over us, not that we didn’t have any ourselves. We are born knowing differently, but forget while being raised with our parents’ beliefs. The historical inferior status of women is what we’re taught, not who we really are.”

  “But isn’t that changing?” Shawna asked. “With the Internet and all the knowledge available at our fingertips?”

  “Yes, of course it is. That’s why you’re here. You have the answers inside; you know you do. But you’re afraid and unsure to voice them because you’ve given your power away for so many years. I’ll bet you’ve had all kinds of spiritual insights, a sense of knowing there’s more to this universe than you’ve been taught to believe.”

  Shawna nodded. “Yes, I have. But I can’t talk to my husband about it. He thinks I need some kind of pill or something to make me the way I used to be, back when I didn’t question everything.”

  Tiffany felt a moment of anger for Shawna. Why was it so often the case when women wanted to change and grow bigger than their expectations of them, the people around them thought something was wrong and rushed to push them back into their tiny boxes?

  It must have showed on her face because Shawna hurried to continue. “He’s not mean about it, really. He’s just perplexed and struggling to understand. He’s not keen on change, and I’ve uprooted his orderly life, changed the status quo. But he loves me and wants me to be happy.”

  “I’m sorry,” Tiffany said, “It’s one of my issues, for lack of a better term.”

  “That’s interesting,” Shawna said. “Don’t you all heal yourselves and each other and live in spiritual bliss all the time?”

  The remark startled a laugh from her. “Wouldn’t that be awesome? I suppose in a perfect world, we could.” In a perfect world, I would have listened to Shade and Sunny’s warnings about Mark so many years ago. But I wouldn’t give up Angel for the world.

  “Is it a case of ‘physician, heal thyself’?”

  “Pretty much. We certainly help each other, but we’re still learning. Life is an experience and a journey. We have to experience the entire human spectrum, or we don’t grow spiritually.”

  Shawna nodded. “That makes sense. I’ve heard you each have different gifts here at Sisters of Spirits.”

  “That’s right, but we overlap in several areas. We can all see Spirit in one form or another. For example, Sunny Skye is a psychic medium. She can also work with the body’s chakras and use healing energy t
o correct imbalances, but her greatest strengths are empathy and communicating with Spirit that has passed.

  “You’re talking about ghosts?”

  “Yes. Then there’s Shade, who deals with the negative energies. She prefers the title Necromancer.”

  Tiffany noted Shawna’s shiver. They all did that when Shade’s gift was mentioned.

  “Kind of like a spiritual warrior?”

  “She would appreciate that likeness.” Tiffany smiled. “And me, I have clairvoyance, the ability to hear another’s thoughts. I prefer healing, but I can also see and hear Spirit. My strongest gift is one of reading residual energies.”

  “I’ve read about that. Psychometry. It’s like seeing the past, like a recording, isn’t it?” Shawna looked fascinated.

  “Yes. It’s also known as retrocognition.”

  “How did you all meet and start Sisters of Spirits?”

  “Sunny’s father was a renowned psychologist. Shade and I were both patients of his as children. He wanted to do a documentary on kids who had special abilities. We were eleven when we all first met. Sunny’s mother, Aura, is also a skilled psychic medium and taught us how to use and live with our gifts.” Tiffany smiled at the memory. “Sunny took over the day-to-day business when she graduated from college. Later, she invited Shade, and then me, to join her.”

  “That’s so cool. Do you still have a copy of the documentary?”

  “I’m pretty sure both Sunny and her mother kept a copy.” Tiffany hadn’t watched it in years. Sometimes, she found it too difficult to reconcile the wounded child to her adult self.

  Physician, heal thyself.

  “I heard you also do location investigations like Ghost Adventures.”

  “We do,” Tiffany said. “But without all the fanfare.”

  “And that you solved a murder case in Seattle about missing runaways about a year ago?”

  “We did. But in a way, we were only the conduit. The spirits were very strong. They gave us the information needed to pass on to the detectives who solved the case.”

  “I read an article about that in the Seattle Times,” Shawna said.

  Kat’s face swam into focus in Tiffany’s mind’s eye. Her dark eyes looked penetrating and sharp, as if she were looking back at her. Tiffany redirected her concentration.

  Shawna looked at her watch. “Wow, time flies and all that. I have a lunch date with my husband. This is all fascinating. I’ve truly enjoyed this meeting, and I would love to make another appointment with you.”

  “Of course, let’s go talk to Agnes and schedule you.”

  Tiffany booked Shawna for the week after next. After she returned upstairs, she thought of Kat again and decided to talk to Shade. Maybe she could tell her what was going on with her and why she was reacting so strangely.

  The door to the new war room was closed, and Tiffany knocked before opening it. It was dark and the computer screens were off. Shade was late again. She walked over to her massive desk to check her calendar. Tiffany’s concern grew when she saw there were no appointments scheduled.

  She returned to her own office and dialed Shade’s cell phone, but it went directly to voice mail. She knew something was off, but unless Shade wanted to share what was going on with her, no one but Sunny would be strong enough to get past her extreme psychic blocks, and she wouldn’t cross that line anyway.

  Sunny and Shade were both her best friends, but sometimes the undercurrents in their relationship could be so awkward. She was happy that Sunny had found love with Jordan, but she continued to worry about Shade. The last year she seemed to go downhill. Partying nonstop and jumping from one woman’s bed to the next, even before the sheets they’d slept on were dry. Though Sunny and Shade’s relationship ended nearly eight years ago, the women Shade picked seemed to be cheap carbon copies of her first love, Sunny.

  She couldn’t help but feel they were all growing apart, and it made her sad. She made a decision to sit Shade down and encourage her to open up about what was going on with her.

  Before it was too late.

  *

  Kat tapped her pencil on the closed tablet. She couldn’t remember a time when her so-called personal life was more on her mind than her career. She knew she wouldn’t rest until she got to the bottom of the mystery visions that haunted her most of her life. Now that she knew her dream woman was real and not a figment of her imagination, she was determined to figure it all out. The cold case files came with perfect timing as an excuse to see Tiffany again.

  It was too late to drive to Bremerton tonight and request a meeting with the team at SOS, but she did leave a voice mail for Jordan to call her.

  Kat opened the file in front of her and began writing notes. Unfortunately, the door she’d opened in her memory stayed open, and she had a hard time concentrating on the details. Frustrated, she shoved her chair back and walked to the window.

  The afternoon sky was dark. Storm clouds had rolled in and obliterated the sun. From her vantage point in her high-rise condo, Kat watched the cars begin to back up in rush hour traffic on the street seventeen floors below.

  It was muggy and she opened the sliding door to let the breeze in. She heard sirens in the distance. She hoped it wasn’t for anything nearby because even if they wanted to, the commuters would find it nearly impossible to move over for the emergency vehicles.

  She scanned the area with the binoculars she kept handy, looking to find which direction the emergency vehicles were headed, and wondered what was going on. There were too many sirens for the call to be something routine or simple. The commotion seemed to be coming from two streets over. She could see an ambulance break through the traffic and then stop before two men jumped out.

  Kat held herself still. No. I’m on vacation. I need a break.

  Curiosity battered against her flimsy excuses until Kat couldn’t stand it anymore. She ran for her raincoat and headed out the door.

  Without a car to hinder her, she made it quickly to First Street. Crime scene tape already stretched the boundary to preserve the area for possible evidence and keep out curious onlookers. And reporters, apparently. Kat felt the thought drip with sarcasm. She was tired and supposed to be taking time off. What was she doing here anyway? It’s not as if there wouldn’t be another murder next week, and the one after that. She thought she was jaded enough to not feel the drama anymore.

  Just the facts, ma’am.

  Seven units lined the street with their lights flashing, circling round and round, silent sentries that cut through the rain, illuminating the parking lot like a demented carnival.

  She searched the crowd and spotted a uniform she recognized. Her height enabled her to cut a path directly to him. “Liam—sorry, Officer Murray.”

  “Not now, Kat. You know I can’t tell you anything.”

  “Have you identified the victim yet?”

  “Kat. What did I just say?” Officer Murray asked.

  Spotlights lit the area, but the officers first on the scene had hung tarps for privacy. The coroner’s van had just arrived and was currently backed into the small tented area. The police closed ranks, and Kat knew she wouldn’t get any more information from them tonight. She felt a tingle on the back of her scalp and searched the crowd. She caught a glimpse of a man standing at the back edge of the crime scene. She didn’t know why, but he looked out of place. Going with her instinct, she tried to focus on him, but when she blinked, he was gone.

  But she did see Rob, her biggest competition at the paper, inching his way over to the covered tarps. When he glanced up and saw her, Kat saw his face flush. She stared him down until he gave her a smarmy grin and disappeared behind the barrier.

  Kat knew he was gunning for her job. Normally, she would take it as a challenge and beat him into the dust, figuratively anyway.

  She reminded herself even though he’d stolen assignments from her in the past, this was actually his story that she was encroaching on. It wasn’t her style, and she needed to back off.

>   She was tired and rummy from the lack of sleep. Kat knew she needed to go home and sort out her complicated emotions. It wasn’t every day that you found someone you’d fallen in love with in a previous life. Although it was exciting as hell, it was also confusing, and emotionally draining. The whole situation was enough to put anyone off their Wheaties.

  Chapter Two

  Tiffany finished with her last client and drove to Sunny’s for the afternoon meeting. She let herself in and found Sunny in the kitchen. “I’ve missed working here,” she said. She loved Sunny’s old Victorian house. It had never felt like working when she was there. Not that the new offices at the Haven weren’t beautiful, just that the homey atmosphere wasn’t as prevalent. She’d spent so much of her life in this old house.

  Sunny sat at the long, polished table and smiled. “You’re a bit early.”

  “I have to pick up Angel soon. So, what’s on the agenda?”

  Jordan looked up from her file. “Where’s Shade?”

  “She still has a few minutes before she’s late.”

  “Speaking of which,” Jordan said. “That’s been happening with more frequency lately. Is there something going on I should know about?”

  Tiffany glared at her. She liked Jordan, she really did, but defending Shade would always be her first reaction. “Why would you say that? Do you have any idea what she goes through for us?”

  “Whoa.” Jordan held up her hands. “I’m just saying. I recognize the behaviors.”

  Tiffany didn’t hear Shade come in until she entered the room. The bell over the door had been removed when they switched their offices to Haven. Shade looked rough, and her eyes were bloodshot.

  “What happened to you?” Tiffany tried to touch her, but Shade sidestepped to avoid her and sat in a chair directly across from her at the table. Her aura was dark red and muddy, showing her emotional turmoil. It was clear she wasn’t getting much sleep.