House of diviners the di.., p.1
House of Diviners: The Diviners #1, page 1
House of Diviners
The Diviners #1
ALESHA ESCOBAR
Edited by
Charmaine M. Young
Contents
Alesha Escobar
HOUSE OF DIVINERS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Excerpt
Order of the Black Sun (The Diviners #2)
About the Author
Also by ALESHA ESCOBAR
Acknowledgments
HOUSE OF DIVINERS
The Diviners #1
Alesha Escobar
Copyright 2017 by Alesha Escobar
Published by Creative Alchemy, Inc.
Edited by Charmaine M. Young
Cover Art by Luis Escobar
First Ebook Edition
* * *
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
* * *
If you are enjoying this book, please share your review online. It helps other readers to find my books, and it means a lot to me!
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To get all my future books for free:
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Created with Vellum
Dedication
To the amazing heroes and heroines in my life. You inspire me to fly.
1
That prickly sensation on Kelsey’s tongue reminded her that an imbalance still hung in the spirit world. If she were there, instead of in the physical world, her mouth would be on fire and her other senses would be going haywire. But she felt sorry for Sage, and she didn’t like going back on a promise.
“Don’t you smoke?” The other woman sat in the passenger seat, rummaging through Kelsey’s glove compartment.
“No. Can’t stand the smell.” For crying out loud, lady. We’ve got a crap load of other worries on our hands!
Sage let out a deep, throaty chuckle--a testament to the fact that she should’ve quit smoking a long time ago. “I guess it doesn’t matter.”
Kelsey slowed her silver Honda Civic and pulled into the Mama Burgers drive thru.
“You’re stopping for fast food?” Sage crossed her arms and eyed Kelsey through ten pounds of blue eyeshadow.
The pricklies danced on Kelsey’s tongue again, forcing saliva to coat her mouth. “Coffee helps.” She wanted to vomit. This was unnatural, and she needed to fix it. It had been years since an imbalance this strong accosted her.
She put in her order and paid. She swooped through, stopping at the second window to retrieve her drink. Lee, the guy who always flirted with her best friend Tina, greeted Kelsey in his overly-masculine tone at the window and handed her the coffee.
“The usual for you. So, where’s your hot goth friend?”
She forced a smile. “She’s out of town. I’ll tell her you said hello.”
He peered into the car. “You’re riding solo tonight?”
“Thanks, Lee!”
She gestured with the coffee and pulled off. She sipped the drink a few times before letting out a sigh. The pricklies subsided. She didn’t understand how or why the caffeinated drink helped, but she wasn’t going to argue against it.
“Okay, sweetie, let me tell you where you need to go.” Sage’s expression grew heavy, and the lines in her forehead creased. She looked like a typical, middle-aged mom.
“Fine, then you promise you’ll leave me alone?”
“Yeah.” She twirled a few strands of her shoulder-length, straggly blonde hair.
“Lay it on me. But if it’s an exorcism, I’m kicking your ass out of my car. I don’t do those.”
Sage shook her head. “My daughter broke her arm.”
Kelsey glared at her. “And…?”
“And she’s on pain meds…and I saw her with a bottle of wine, crying over me, and with those pills. She’s not thinking straight. We’re going to save my daughter before she dies. I don’t want her to go the way I did.”
A burst of coffee flew down the wrong windpipe, and Kelsey coughed and wheezed. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” She hit the gas pedal and sped north on Broadway.
“I didn’t think you’d agree to help.”
Kelsey rolled her eyes. She probably wouldn’t have agreed. It wasn’t her place to interfere with living people’s choices, no matter how tragic. But a promise was a promise. Besides, it would’ve been a pain in the ass to deal with an angry, vengeful spirit.
Sometimes Kelsey hated being a shaman.
Kelsey pulled up to a small house not far from Exposition Park. It was nestled among other small homes with browning lawns and chain link fences. She hopped out of her car, gave a cursory nod to a couple of guys on the neighboring porch drinking wine coolers and listening to music. Sage stood at her side, her face an emotionless mask, but her eyes betrayed her fear. Kelsey banged on the front door, noting that a lamp from inside was still on.
“What’s her name?” Kelsey asked in a whisper, rapping on the door again. She ignored the two guys next door who catcalled her.
“Carianne.” Sage hesitated, but then pressed her palms against the door. Slowly, her hands and forearm disappeared through the door, and with a hopeful smile, she went all the way inside.
The lock clicked, and the door opened by itself. Kelsey rushed in, shutting the door behind her. Her stomach tied in knots when she saw a young woman, with features just like Sage’s, passed out on her couch. A bottle of red wine lay tipped over on the floor, and she barely breathed.
“Shit…” Kelsey approached and checked for a pulse. Carianne felt cold to the touch. She still clung to life, but that could change in an instant.
“No…my baby…” Sage groaned. The walls seemed to moan with her, and the house shook.
“Sage, wait.”
“She’s gooooonnnne!”
A violent force threw Kelsey to the floor and nearly made Carianne slip from the couch. Although no window in sight was open, a strong breeze swept through the living room and turned into a howling wind.
Kelsey got up and caught Carianne before the girl hit the floor. Her lips turned blue. She was losing time.
“Sage! I can save her!” She waved to the ghostly woman, her heart sinking in her chest at the sight of Sage’s changing features. The blue eyeshadowed middle-aged-mom’s face now twisted into an ashen image of pain.
Clutching onto Carianne with her left hand, Kelsey used her right hand to touch the small tattoo just above her heart: an ankh, a cross with a loop at the top, no longer than her forefinger. It represented Life, and she always took it as a sign that she was meant to be a healer and life-giver. With a deep breath, Kelsey concentrated, focusing on the Breath of Life that tenuously tethered Carianne to this world. She felt a pull in her stomach, and the living room spun. A bright flash temporarily blinded her, and once she smelled the stale dirt, mingled with the scent of leaves and flowers, she knew she had passed into the spirit world.
2
No man-made buildings stood in the spirit world, but she knew by the layout of the land that she was still in “Los Angeles.” Kelsey thanked the stars that Sage wasn’t there screaming with her twisted, grief-ridden face. It was quiet, with just her and Carianne, who lay in her arms hovering between life and death.
“Wake up,” Kelsey prompted her.
She gently placed Carianne on a patch of grass beneath them. She folded her fingers, except the index and middle fingers, which she pointed straight. Though it looked like she was making the “peace” sign, performing the gesture ignited the tattoos inscribed on her fingers. She harnessed power and energy, letting the combination flow from her hand toward Carianne.
It spilled over the girl like a shimmery mist, and after a few seconds, Carianne inhaled deeply and opened her eyes. She looked surprised. Thank goodness, Kelsey thought to herself as she helped Carianne sit upright.
She fluttered her long eyelashes and glanced around before facing Kelsey. “Am I dead?”
“No.” She shook her head and with a grunt helped Carianne stand. “But you almost were. Your mom is a persistent woman--she made it all the way to me, demanded my attention, to get me to come here to help you.”
“She--” Carianne gasped, pressing the back of her hand against her mouth to stifle her sob. Through watery eyes, she asked, “Is my mom okay?”
Kelsey frowned. “She’s going to be, now that I’ve got you. I’m going to take you back.”
Her eyes widened. “Where?”
“Home. Back to the living world. You don’t belong here.”
Her lower lip trembled, and she swept her short blonde hair behind an ear. “Can’t I just stay? I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to feel that pain anymore.”
Kelsey sighed, thinking of how her father usually coaxed people hanging in between worlds to go back. “You have so much to live for--I can see a great destiny in your aura…” was one of his favorite lines to use, delivered in his New Orleans accent. And when that didn’t work, “You need to get your ass up out of the spirit world before the wrong spirit crosses your path,” usually stirred people to leave. Kelsey preferred a straightforward but gentle touch.
“I don’t blame you, Carianne. It’s beautiful here. It’s peaceful, and you forget about the pain you were in over there. But your mom--she’s going to haunt me if I don’t bring you back.” Kelsey smirked, though a potential haunting was nothing to smile about. Her confidence got a boost when Carianne let out a low chuckle, perhaps remembering something about her mother. Kelsey continued, “Sage thinks your life is still worth living. She said that she didn’t want you to die like her.”
Carianne’s expression fell at the mention of her mother’s death. “I understand.”
“You wanted to escape the pain, but this wasn’t the way.” Kelsey held out her hands, palms facing up.
Carianne shook her head. “Mom would’ve gone crazy if she was alive and had ever found out. That wasn’t me, I promise, but I don’t know how to deal with this.”
Kelsey knew something like this was a process, and she wasn’t fully qualified to help people through grief and depression. But she knew people who were, and she wanted to see Carianne get the help she needed.
“It won’t be easy, but you’ll get through this. Come on, let me guide you back.” Kelsey closed her eyes and gathered her power. A rush of magical energy filled her.
Just as Carianne placed her hands into Kelsey’s, the shaman felt an odd pull in her stomach and a sour taste in her mouth. The taste developed into a constant burning sensation. She thought that Sage following her around had caused the imbalance, but now Kelsey realized it was something else. Something darker. She decided not to stick around any longer and pulled herself and Carianne away from the spirit world. They were gone in a flash.
Returning to her body always felt like flying off a swing and falling off. She never landed back in as gracefully as her dad did. Slowly rising to her feet and steadying herself, Kelsey noted the disarray of the house. Sage’s windstorm had knocked down photo frames on the wall, slid the dining room table across the floor, and nearly tore the blinds off the windows.
Carianne woke up with a drowsy look on her face, but at least her lips were returning to a soft pink, and her eyes gleamed with the spark of life. Sage rushed to her side and knelt, caressing her daughter’s cheek. Carianne shivered but looked directly at Kelsey.
“Is she here? I felt something.”
Kelsey nodded. The burning sensation danced on her tongue. It was time for Sage to go; balance needed to be restored, and the ghost was in the way.
“I’m so sorry,” Sage sad in a whisper, rising to her feet. She faced Kelsey. “I didn’t mean to go off like that…I thought she was…”
Kelsey waved her hand and stood as well. “It’s okay, Sage. But, it’s time for you to go now. I’ll check in with Carianne, keep an eye on her if you want.”
Sage squinted, as if debating with herself whether to cross over to the spirit world or hang around her daughter in any form possible. With a deep sigh, she approached Kelsey and placed her hands on her shoulders. “Sweetie, you did what you promised. I’m sorry I stalked you and harassed you, but you were the only person who could see me.”
For some reason that stirred Kelsey’s heart. She was the only one who could see and listen, and it saved a woman’s soul and her daughter’s life. Kelsey cleared her throat, in an attempt not to tear up. “Your transition’s going to be a little rough, because of the way you died, but I’ll help you cross over. Okay?”
Sage’s face lit up, ten pounds of blue eyeshadow and all. “Thank you.”
Still disoriented, Carianne muttered through fresh tears, “I love you, Mom. I’m sorry. I’ll do better.”
Kelsey extended her right hand, each finger vertically tattooed with words from ancient shamanic ritual language: her thumb, “Find,” which sought to uncover what was hidden, her index finger “Energy,” her middle finger “Power,” ring finger “Protection,” and her little finger “Command.” Focusing on all five brought forth the power that would help Sage cross over into the spirit world and sever any ties to the living world.
A soft light appeared above them, opening a portal. Sage looked up and smiled. The wrinkles on her face, the weariness and trouble that she wore in her expression suddenly changed. She looked twenty years younger. Her burdens were lifted. As the light grew brighter, Sage became more transparent, until she finally disappeared.
Kelsey approached Carianne, who still sat on the couch crying. She pulled a business card from her back pocket and handed it to the girl:
* * *
Kelsey Jackson Diviner
Transpersonal Therapist
(323) 555-9012
* * *
Carianne sniffed. “What’s a transpersonal therapist?”
Kelsey shrugged and grinned. “The closest thing to what I just did without having to call myself--”
“Like a psychic healer?”
“Yeah. Something like that. Is your cell phone around?”
She motioned toward the entertainment center across from them. Kelsey spotted it on the floor just a few feet away--it had also apparently been caught up in Sage’s ghost tantrum. “Who’s your best friend? The one person you trust the most?”
Carianne swung her feet over and tried to stand, but thought better of it when her knees shook. “Lily. She goes to USC with me.”
Kelsey approached and handed her the phone. “Call her. Have her take you to an emergency room to get checked out. If you need me for anything, just call.”
Carianne took her phone with one hand and with the other gave Kelsey a firm squeeze. “I can’t even believe what just happened, but, thank you, Kelsey.”
“You’re welcome.”
Kelsey turned and headed out the door with a confident strut. She had helped guide back a restless soul and saved a girl from death. And it was her first time doing it all without Dad hovering over her. Ha! He wouldn’t be able to tell her anything, now. She could run her own missions to the spirit world without him criticizing every move like a stage mom.
Still, that odd taste in her mouth lingered…
“Hey, babe. Anyone ever tell you that you look like Tyra Banks?”
Kelsey had already stepped off Carianne’s porch and was headed through the front yard. The two guys were still on the neighboring porch with their drinks in hand. The tall one, who looked like he lived at the gym, held up an unopened wine cooler in invitation.
She hated confrontation, and just said with a smirk, “I get it all the time.”
Never mind the fact that she was a hell of a lot shorter and had darker hair and eyes. She grabbed her car key from her denim jacket pocket and hopped in before they could say anything else. When she turned on the ignition, she chanced a final glance at the men. Oddly, they had disappeared. The slow burn came back, rising up her throat and assaulting her tongue. She could’ve sworn a shadow near the neighbors’ front porch ran across the yard.
Maybe it was a little too early to celebrate her victory. She would have to tell her father about this. For some reason, an imbalance still hung in the spirit world, and it very well could have been her fault.
3
Kelsey called up her best friend, Tina, as she drove home. She knew she was out of town on a business trip, but one thing she loved about her friend was that no matter what time she called, she’d always answer. She put Tina on speaker.
“How’s your trip going?” Kelsey asked.
“I’m bored to death. And these misogynist jerks can’t wrap their heads around a pasty goth girl instructing them on cyber warfare. I ought to hack them on principle. Anyhow, I fly back to L.A. soon, maybe tomorrow. What are you up to?”
“I’m saving the world.” Well, sort of. But it felt good to say that.
“A little soul retrieval, eh? That is so freakin’ cool, Kelsey.”
She couldn’t help but grin. “Thanks, girl, but today I had a ghost situation. She popped in on me at lunch and followed me everywhere. I couldn’t even go to the bathroom! But I helped her make it over to the spirit world, and I saved her daughter. She was still in college, and it all would’ve been lost. I’m glad she made it. But, I’d bet my dad would still nit pick everything I did and tell me what went wrong.”
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