The Awakening: A Sisterhood of Spirits Novel (3 page)

Sunny turned one of them off on her way to the kitchen, passing through the dining room that doubled as a conference room. She trailed a finger across the long, teak table that her mother kept so well polished it looked like glass.

Standing at the small farm sink, she rinsed her travel mug and went up the kitchen staircase. The entire third floor was her private space. The old architecture and antiques mixed with modern furniture formed an eclectic style that Sunny considered reflective of her personality. Crystals shimmered in the windows, and fairies and dragons lived on her shelves alongside her precious books.

When she renovated the bathroom, she tried to keep to the old details of the house, ending up with an antique bathroom with all the modern conveniences. She glanced with longing at the large slipper tub next to a window overlooking the bay. Instead, she conceded to the late hour and opted for the quicker shower.

Sunny laughed when she climbed up into the bed and heard a yowl. “Oh,” she said to the pair of Siamese cats. “Excuse me. Did I bother you?”

Isis purred and stretched before butting her head against Sunny’s shoulder and toying with her wet braid. Ash couldn’t be bothered to move, but she petted the cat anyway and stretched out. “You know, guys, I should get a dog. Then I could have someone meet me at the door when I get home.”

Chapter Two

Jordan woke to the sound of banging on her front door. Three hard knocks in quick succession. Startled at waking in an unfamiliar environment, it took her a second to adjust and remember she was in her new apartment. Maybe she’d imagined the noise. Just as she thought it and checked the clock, the knocks repeated.

Who the hell would be banging on her door at six in the morning? She stalked down the hallway, not bothering to check the security peephole, and swung the door wide. “What?”

The landing was empty. Again. Pissed off, she ran to the railing to look down and catch the punk messing with her. Even with a clear view down, she couldn’t see or hear anything.

Jordan turned to go back to her apartment when the front door slammed shut in her face. “Shit!” She tried the knob to find herself locked out, in her skimpy white tank and boy shorts.

The sound of slow, plodding footsteps carried up the stairs. Great, she was, for all purposes, half-naked in a strange environment. No sense in pretending. There was nowhere to hide. She turned to face whoever was coming.

A tall, skinny young man rounded the second flight of stairs carrying some plastic bags, looking down at his rather large feet, which meant he didn’t see her standing there until he reached the third stair from the top. He screamed shrilly, throwing his arms up in the air, groceries went flying in all directions. When it appeared that he was going to fall backward, Jordan grabbed his arm and pulled him to the landing. His face turned white and his eyes bugged behind his thick glasses.
My new neighbor, evidently.

“Jeezus, you scared the crap out of me.” He apparently noticed her underwear because he averted his eyes, blinking them almost spastically.

“What are you doing?” asked Jordan.

“Trying to wake up. It’s not every day that I come home from work to find a naked woman waiting on my doorstep.”

“You ass! I’m not waiting for you. I got locked out of my apartment.”

He looked incredulous. “You’re the cop? Are you working vice?”

Jordan folded her arms against her chest. “Some punk-ass kid has been pulling knock and dash on my door. I was trying to catch them and my door slammed shut.”

He shuffled his feet after stuffing his wayward groceries back in a bag and held out a hand. “Jackson. Steve Jackson.”

She shook it. “Jordan Lawson. Get your eyes off my chest, Jackson.”

“Right.” Steve bent to pick up various bags. His shoulders began shaking and he coughed.

“Are you laughing at me, Steve Jackson?”

He cleared his throat. “No, but I am wondering how you’re going to get into your third-floor apartment in your underwear. The landlord lives on the other side of the courtyard.”

Jordan’s head started to hurt. “I have to get ready for work.”

“You have a problem.” Steve unlocked his door and ushered her in. “Come on in. We’ll call Agnes to unlock the door for you.” He handed her a flannel shirt hanging on a grinning skull hook.

She quickly put it on while she followed him into the kitchen. It was an exact reversed replica of her own. Well, except the counters were buried in takeout containers, dirty dishes, and fast-food wrappers. “Maid’s day off?”

Steve stood in front of the open refrigerator, a milk carton halfway to his mouth. He blinked behind his glasses. “Huh?”

“Never mind. Phone?”

“Oh, right. It’s in on the coffee table.” He gestured to the living room.

Jordan stepped through the small dining nook. Dirty clothes draped the couch and floor. A sixty-inch television nearly covered the wall in front of her. Several game consoles lay on the floor in front of it. Books covered every surface in the room, stacked on tables, the stained carpet, and overflowing on the shelves.

“Holy shit!” She tripped over a mound of clothes.

“Sorry about the mess. I don’t have much company.”

“I can see why,” she muttered under her breath. She would wait standing up.

*

“Well, look who just rolled in.” Sunny took a sip of her coffee and glanced at her watch. “At two in the afternoon.” She tapped a fingernail against her mug. “Late night?”

Shade stood in the doorway and tried to focus. “My eyes are bleeding,” she said, slipping her dark glasses down to peer over the top.

“Oh, they are not.”

“Says you. I’m the one looking out of them.”

Sunny laughed. “Well, c’mon, tardy girl. Tiffany is already reviewing last night’s recordings. I saved the audio for you.” She paused. “Since the video would be too hard for your bleeding eyes and all.”

Shade gave her a quick salute and headed for the back office on the first floor.

Sunny heard the laughter from her spot in the reception room and was glad for it. Sometimes, the work they did was so shrouded in darkness, or rather other people’s perception of it, that laughter was hard-won.

The front door’s merry little bell rang, and Aura Skye, Sunny’s mother, came through the arched doorway laden down with packages. Today, her toenails were visible through her gladiator sandals and were painted blue. The silver anklets and bracelets she wore rang as she moved closer. Blond hair hung down her back, the same honey shade as Sunny’s, only stick straight, a trait that Sunny envied on some days. Sunny smiled when she recognized the patchwork skirt made from her father’s old clothes. “What?”

“Nothing, I’m just taking a minute to love and appreciate you.”

Her mother’s face lit up. “Oh, I love you too, baby. What a good girl you are. Now get out of my chair.”

“What did you buy?”

“Stuff. Go to work.” She kissed Sunny’s cheek and shoved her toward the back.

Sunny went to join her friends in the war room, as Shade called it, much to her mother’s dismay.

She stood in the doorway. Shade kicked back in her chair with her long legs stretched out in front of her and her monster headphones in place, listening to the audio to see if they’d caught any electronic voice phenomena. Tiffany was sitting cross-legged on her chair watching the computer screen and night-vision video. Both were totally engrossed in their tasks; neither one looked up at her entrance.

God, she adored them.
Aren’t I just full of sentimentality today?
Sunny checked her watch and saw she still had an hour before her first appointment for the day. She started to sit in the third chair, but Tiffany waved her off.

“We’ve got this.”

“Are you sure?”

Tiffany paused the video and nodded. “I’ve got a good head start, and I can help Shade when I’m finished. You can go get ready for your appointments.”

Sunny started to leave, figuring she could get in a bit of meditation time, when Shade sat up suddenly to rewind the recording to listen again, her head cocked to the side. She automatically picked up a pen to mark the time on the notepad and repeated the section of audio, a smile spreading across her face.

“Class A.”

Sunny rushed back to her station. Class A EVPs were voices caught on recordings that could be heard clearly, without any filters or noise reduction. Donning her candy pink headphones, she twirled her finger in the air to gesture another replay. “Go,” she said, closing her eyes to focus. She heard herself say, “Won’t you please talk to me?”

There was a pause, then, clear as a bell, a child’s sweet voice answered, “I’m okay here.”

Sunny opened her eyes. “Again.”

“I’m okay here.”

Familiar chills ran down her spine, something she felt every single time. It was one thing when spirits talked to her telepathically and quite another when she actually heard them, that underwater quality to their voice phenomenon when the frequency was
other.
She felt a tear burn in the corner of her eye. “I don’t hear any threat at all. Did either of you sense a child last night?”

“No,” Tiffany said. Shade shook her head.

“Me either.”

Sunny took her headphones off and set them on the desk. “Good catch.” She was excited and wanted to sit and help, but it was Shade who motioned her out this time.

“Go on. We got this. We’ll review after your reading.”

Sunny was torn but finally nodded and left, her skirt billowing around her legs as she headed up the stairs to the second floor. She opened the door to the room where she would do the reading and took out her abalone shell and white sage stick to sweep the room. Habitually, before and after every reading with a client, she cleansed the air. The whole ritual was beneficial to clearing the room of any lingering energy of previous readings or stubborn
others
who wanted to stay. Sunny never wanted to know anyone’s last name or why they booked a reading with her. It was important to Sunny that her integrity never be in question. She didn’t ever want to be accused of misleading her clients, or worse, taking advantage of them. Being a medium was part of who she was, not something she did. It was innate to her identity.

She opened the French doors to the small balcony to let the smoke out before relaxing in the wide armchair to meditate. Emptying her mind of expectations, she asked her spirit guide to protect her and keep her safe during the time she would be open to unfamiliar energy. It was a comforting and necessary formality before meeting with a client.

The bell sounded over the door, bringing her out of her light, self-imposed trance. She heard her mother greet the woman and the sound of nervous laughter. Ah, a first-timer. They were always nervous.

Sunny went downstairs and saw her mother with her arm around the young woman. Offering comfort or reassurance? Probably a little of both. “Hi,” she said brightly. “I’m Sunny. It’s so nice to meet you.”

“Eve.” She held out a hand and laughed nervously. “I’m so giddy. I don’t know why.” Then her eyes filled. “I’m such a mess.”

“Would you like a bottle of water? Then we’ll go on up.”

Her mother went to the kitchen and came back with a cold bottle. “It’s okay, dear.”

Eve smiled at her over her shoulder as they went upstairs, looking for all the world like she wanted to run back out the door.

Sunny shut the door. “We can sit at the table or in the chairs, whichever you prefer.”

“Which is best?” Her uncertainty filled the air laced with a ribbon of fear.

Sunny gestured toward the wide, comfy seats by the window. Her mind’s eye perceived the young man holding red roses standing behind the one Eve had chosen.

Grief was heavy and sharp in the room, and she felt her heart contract painfully. Sunny mentally pulled herself back a step and telepathically told the young man to ease up a little because he was hurting her.

Eve was sitting so still, it was almost as if she weren’t there at all, but for the emotion that rolled in waves toward Sunny.

“Okay,” she said. “This is how it works. I’m not in charge.
Spirit
is. I have a whole speech about not always getting a reading from the person you may want to hear from, but I don’t think that applies here, since it’s already clear to me what this is about.”

Eve sat with her hands clutched tightly in her lap. “Spirit?”

“You could think of them as angels, God energy, or guides. I choose to call the energy
Spirit
or
other,
because for me, the terms cover all of them without all the religious connotations.”

Sunny switched on the recorder and stated the date, time, and Eve’s name. “Please try to relax.” She patted Eve’s knee. “Take three deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Better?” Sunny smiled.

Eve nodded.

“Okay, there’s a man here eager to talk with you. He’s showing me a wedding ring to indicate husband? His name starts with a D. Donny or Danny?”

“Donny,” Eve whispered hoarsely before covering her face with her hands, and she began to cry. “Is it really him?”

“It’s okay. He wants to say he loves you and he’s sorry that you hurt so much.” Sunny waited for Eve to gather herself a bit. “He wants you to know that it didn’t hurt.” An image of a car accident flashed in her mind. “He says he was out of his body like that.” Sunny snapped her fingers. “And that there was no pain.”

Relief showed on Eve’s face. “I couldn’t bear the thought that he suffered and I wasn’t there.”

“He’s showing me a basketball and he’s high-jumping the rim to score through the net. Does this mean anything to you?”

“Oh,” Eve said and laughed. “Donny loved to play, but he was so short, he was terrible at it. When he was growing up, he wanted to be a professional ball player.”

“Well, he’s showing me that he’s very good now. Actually, he’s showing off.”

“That’s Donny. It’s really him!”

“Okay, now I’m seeing a Ferris wheel and a stuffed pink gorilla.”

“Our first date.” Fresh tears ran down her cheeks. “Oh God, I miss him so much.”