Time Shadows -e

Shadow Chronicles, Vol 1

by Sharon Jordan

Even though she's a scieintist with a Ph.D., Jacqueline Devore is so desperate to escape her vifid dreams that she will even consult a psychic.

Each time she closes her eyes, she finds herself inside the body of another woman, pregnant with twins and living in WWII France, where she is a caught up in the holocaust and moved from one Nazi prison to another.

Jacqueline is desperately afraid in the present, threatened and followed everywhere, as is the woman she becomes whenever she sleeps--that woman, Michelle, desperately fights for her life, and the lives of her twins.

ISBN 1-59431-213-3 Romantic Suspense /Time Travel /Thriller

Cover Art by Maggie Dix



CHAPTER ONE

Finding a psychic wasn’t as easy as Jacqueline Devore expected. In fact, there was only one to be found in all of Riverside, and it was the very place her lab assistant, Jeffrey, had recommended.

Delphi’s Oracle was a one-car garage attached to a small, smoky-gray wooden house with snow-white shutters. Railroad tracks cut across Third Street, just a half a block away.

Jacqueline pulled up to curb, the engine in her candy-apple red Mustang idling, and lit up a smoke. It should have been easy to drive away, to try and push aside the dreams that haunted her, but the hand-painted sign tacked to the right of the door caught her attention, and kept it.

“Walk-ins Always Welcome.” She mulled over the invitation, and then accepted it.

She crushed out her smoke en route to the garage door. There, another small sign read: ‘Come In and Make Yourself Comfortable’. She hesitated, looked down at her black T-shirt, faded blue jeans, and white tennis shoes and wondered if she was properly dressed to visit a psychic. But she felt like it was too late to turn back; so she knocked softly, and then cautiously entered the oracle.

It was crammed with shelves lined with dusty books. She scanned the titles, noticing numerous spiritual books and a few on self-help. One in particular caught her attention. Discovering Past Lives Through Hypnosis. Perhaps Delphi would allow her to borrow that book. Just in case, she pulled it off the shelf before examining the rest of the room.

A small oval mirror hanging across the room and she caught her own reflection staring back; high cheekbones, long auburn hair, and deep-set greenish-brown eyes always looking, always searching for the truth. Eyes that some had told her looked mysterious and unreadable. Eyes that she had always found rather boring if the truth were told.

The faint scent of incense lingered in the air, and she inhaled it appreciatively. If she were to guess what type it was, she would have picked sandalwood. A thick, reddish-brown shag rug covered the concrete floor, and she knew that if she were barefoot, the carpet would feel like soft grass.

Creeping Charlie and Spider plants dangled from every nook and cranny, and two huge, brown beanbags filled the farthest corner. Between the chairs was an intricately carved wooden table topped with a small note, and of course, she had to pick it up and read it. It simply stated: ‘All services are covered through gratuities.’

Although this was the last place on earth Jacqueline ever thought she’d be, she was strangely comfortable in the Oracle and she hadn’t even met Delphi yet. What did she have to lose by staying and meeting the mysterious psychic? Plopping into one of the beanbags, she cracked open the book and scanned the table of contents, surprised to find the chapter headings quite compelling. The topics ranged from hypnosis techniques to methods for uncovering information about a person’s past lives. Chapter Four seemed to be the most salient, so she flipped to it, reading the title aloud, “Living the Present through the Past.”

She heard a tiny cough from the doorway as someone announced their presence. Feeling like a guilty child caught sneaking through her mother’s closet; Jacqueline bit back a gasp and looked up. The outline of an extremely curvaceous, dark-haired woman was backlit in the doorway. She wore a long white gown, and Jacqueline immediately found it reminiscent of a Halloween costume. As the woman stepped forward, the layered bracelets on her wrists jingled musically.

“You must be Jacqueline,” remarked the woman, her voice thick with an Eastern European accent. “I am Delphi, named after the ancient Grecian priestesses who revealed hidden secrets to the kings and peasants alike. I have been expecting you.”

Jacqueline eyed the outfit, and then the bracelets and felt her heart plummet in disappointment. This woman was genuine? Yeah right, and she was the Queen of Sheba. She tossed the hypnosis book upon the carved table and pulled herself out of the woman-trap called a beanbag.

Jacqueline held up her hand, a simple nonverbal and unconscious blocking technique. “I’ve made a mistake,” she said, and stepped toward the door.

“No, you didn’t,” Delphi told her. “You’re finally doing the right thing.”

Jacqueline spun toward her. “Did your crystal ball tell you that?”

Delphi actually started to laugh. “I knew you’d be dubious about my abilities, but I didn’t expect outright hostility.”

Jacqueline sighed. “I’m sorry—okay—I’m sorry. This is your business and I have no right to come in here and insult you.” She turned to leave again, and then stopped. “Why did you say you were expecting me?”

“I’ll answer that question later. Right now I want you to know that I’m so glad that you came. I’ve been looking forward to your visit.” Delphi smiled warmly. “Please sit down and relax.”

The psychic’s cordial behavior slowly disarmed Jacqueline, but she’d always been resistant to change, so continued standing. She placed her hands firmly upon her hips and eyed the book she had been perusing. “Do you have a lending system for your books?”

Delphi picked up the book and flipped through it. “Kind of, but let’s chat for awhile before you decide on one, okay?” Delphi set the book down and smiled warmly at Jacqueline. “Would you like a cup of tea? I’ve got English and Indian and Irish and—”

“Any would be fine.”

“One lump or two?”

“Just black.”

Delphi nodded, and left for a few seconds. She returned with a tray of sugar cookies, fresh fruit, and a teakettle with two small ceramic cups. Jacqueline had the distinct feeling that Delphi had prepared the snack specifically for her.

The psychic placed the tray upon the carved table and eased gracefully into a beanbag.

Oh, what the hell? Jacqueline plopped onto the other beanbag. Her stomach growled loudly. She quickly eased its pain with one of the tempting sugar cookies. When Delphi smiled at her, she decided to eat another. Why not? She was size 14 and proud of it. As she chewed the sweet delicacy, her mind twirled in circles. Without apologizing, or explaining, she added three lumps of sugar to her tea. She swallowed, then spoke up.

“Listen,” she began, “no offense meant, but I’ve never done this before, and I never thought I would. I really don’t know where to start.”

Delphi lit a stick of sandalwood incense and placed it in a holder shaped like the ancient Delphic Temple.

“How about at the beginning?” she responded as she waved her hand over the incense, wafting the fragrance into the darkest crevices of the room. The jingling of the psychic’s numerous bracelets sounded like tiny bells.

Jacqueline took a sip of tea, picked up another cookie and took a nibble while collecting her thoughts. Part of her wanted to run away, to get as far as she could from this psychic, from anything to do with the unknown. But the other part of her needed solace, needed help, and needed understanding. And then Jacqueline did something she didn’t expect to do; she opened up to Delphi.

“Okay—I’ve been having these dreams, but they’re just not ordinary dreams, they’re quite detailed and very realistic. Like I said, they’re not ordinary REM sleep, they’re long and involved, and they keep going night after night. It’s like I’ve been drawn into another person’s life and…”

Momentarily lost in her own reflections, Jacqueline paused and ran her fingers through her hair before continuing her train of thought. “I’ve jotted down notes about the woman I dream about. Her name is Michelle, and—well, here.” Jacqueline reached into her purse and pulled out a yellow notepad filled with tiny handwriting. She handed it to the psychic.

Delphi flipped through it. “This is impressive.”

“And I’ve got more at home. Much more.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“Three weeks, at least. But—listen, I can recall dates, places, sounds, feelings, and names—it’s surreal. Before coming here, I talked with my lab assistant; he’s a friend of mine, a little about these dreams. It was the first time I had told anyone about them. And I thought he was going to say that I was hallucinating, maybe even delusional, but instead he asked me if I believed in reincarnation, which I don’t, but since then I’ve been obsessed with that idea. Maybe I was Michelle before I became Jacqueline? What do you think? Is it possible?”

Delphi opened her mouth to reply but before she could, Jacqueline continued, “Perhaps I am remembering events that occurred in a previous life. But—but, I was raised in the church and reincarnation just doesn’t match my beliefs. And oh, God, I’m babbling.”

“You’re not babbling. But I do want to ask you a few questions.”

“Take the floor,” Jacqueline replied.

“When were you born?”

“December 17, 1944.”

Delphi nodded, “So you’re twenty-seven? Hmm…we’re almost the same age.”

“Oh.” Jacqueline bit her lip to avoid saying what she felt, what she observed. She could see the age on Delphi’s face, but what the hell, let her think whatever she wanted.

“What was your childhood like?” Delphi asked.

“Why?”

“It might help me to understand your dreams better.”

“It’s not that you think I’m crazy, right?”

Delphi shook her head. “Not at all.”

“It was fine, I mean, uneventful. Rather boring to be honest with you.”

“Any siblings?”

“No,” Jacqueline laughed, nervously. “I did have an imaginary playmate for a while, but that doesn’t count, right?”

“Were you lonely?”

“I don’t know, I read like a rabbit stuck in its borough, all the classics, like Homer and Socrates.”

“I bet your parents were proud.”

“Not exactly. They never understood me. Still don’t. They’re like day; I’m like night. They’re into the arts and socializing; my father is a pianist, and my mother a dilettante. I was interested in literature, in words, and solitude.”

“Hmm, you must be a writer, right?”

“In a way, if you consider scientific writing as writing.”

“I do,” Delphi said, and poured more tea into their mugs. In the distance a train was approaching, blowing its horn. The garage rattled as the train lumbered past.

Then silence filled the oracle.

Delphi gazed into Jacqueline’s eyes, almost as if she was looking into her very soul. “Are you afraid of your dreams?” she asked.

Jacqueline picked up another cookie and popped it into her mouth. Then she replied honestly. “Absolutely.”

“What are you afraid of?”

Jacqueline pressed her fingers against her forehead, right below the area where all her headaches originated, and answered, “Sometimes I feel like I’m not going to wake up, like I’m going be trapped.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, you see, despite appearances, I’m a psychologist, an experimental psychologist at Cal State San Bernardino, and—I’ve never placed much credence in paranormal phenomena…”

“I hear what you’re saying.”

“And I don’t want anyone to think I’m losing touch with reality.”

Delphi nodded knowingly. “What goes on in here is confidential. No one else is going to know what you say to me, unless you tell them. Deal?”

Jacqueline nodded in agreement.

“It is essential that you overcome your fear,” Delphi told her.

Jacqueline shifted uneasily in her beanbag. Her pants were getting tight and she wished she could slip into some sweats.

But Delphi didn’t notice and continued speaking. “Fearing the unknown is normal, but this same fear depletes our ability to learn and grow from our experiences. When we fear, we cannot embrace life completely and we cannot accurately hear the messages being sent to us. When I talk about eliminating fear I do not mean that we blindly live without respect for possible dangers; instead we need to channel our energies into the positive and uplifting messages in life.”

“That all sounds good in theory,” Jacqueline said. “But I don’t know how if I can control my fear. Damn, I can’t even control my appetite.” She laughed nervously.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Delphi began.

“I’m not,” Jacqueline said, cutting her off.

“Okay—maybe I should rephrase myself. You don’t need to control your fear, just learn from it.”

“Maybe you should read my journal,” Jacqueline said, defensively, “and then maybe we can talk about fear.”

“I’m on your side,” Delphi quickly replied.

“Oh, shit—I know. But you don’t know what my dreams are like. They’re moving into a realm that’s filled with such darkness and despair. If I don’t stop them…”

“What?”

“I don’t know…I don’t know!” Jacqueline felt an inner storm building, ready to hit the surface and rip away any reality left.

“Okay, calm down, I hear what you’re saying. But your dreams have been coming for weeks, right?”

Jacqueline nodded.

“And, would you agree with me that they look like they’re here to stay?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” Jacqueline replied. She picked up another cookie and popped it into her mouth.

“Have you considered hypnosis?”

“Slightly,” Jacqueline said, keeping her full mouth closed as much as possible.

“Good, now we’re on the same track. I can give you pre-hypnotic suggestions to eliminate your fear. And we can tape your revelations so you can listen to them later and perhaps glean more information from them. What do think about that?”

“I don’t know. I’ve tried self-hypnosis at home to quit smoking, but it hasn’t worked, yet. So, with my lack of success, I’m not very confident about using it for my dreams.”

“But I’m here,” Delphi said, reaching over and holding Jacqueline’s hand. “And I can guide you. But the true knowledge giver is within you.”

Jacqueline pulled her hand free. “I am pretty desperate,” she admitted. “I guess I could give it the good-old Girl Scout try.”

“Good. Would you like to begin your session?”

Jacqueline hesitated, “After I use the bathroom—?”

“Of course, go through the garage door, through the kitchen and down the hall. The bathroom’s behind the first door on the right.”

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