Exousia (Karass Chronicles Book 4) Read online

  Craig said he would be along soon. He had to lock up. After Hank and Mandy left, he sat again in the old chair and tried to feel what Mandy meant.

  Was there a darkness in the room? Was he mistaken about Dr. Joe? No, he was sure that wasn’t it. Probably it was because so many people had waited for the doctor for all these years, some of that pain and sorrow must have built up.

  Mandy was right. He needed to smudge the whole building. He would do that tomorrow. Tonight, it was time for friends.

  Six

  Dr. Joe Hellard stared at the pile of crap he had removed from the storage room above his office. Fifty years of files. He was tempted to start a bonfire in the backyard and take every box out and burn it. It was hard to remember why he had kept them in the first place.

  He supposed it was because when he first started meeting patients, he wanted to refer back to his notes as he worked with them. What helped them? What didn’t help? Over time, taking notes became less necessary. Instead, Joe and his patients found that his methods almost always worked, so he rarely looked at his records. Once a year, he would drag a box or two up the stairs and leave it there to get to someday.

  It was someday now. Joe had just turned eighty. Most people didn’t realize he was that old. He still had his hair, although long gone gray. Unlike many of his friends, he hadn’t lost any of his height. He wasn’t that tall to begin with anyway. But he had changed in ways he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Perhaps he just didn’t care as much anymore.

  Times had changed. Who was he kidding, everything had changed. The Doveland he had moved to fifty years before was not the same.

  When he had first moved to town in the early Seventies, it was in recovery. Once a thriving farming town it had shrunk to just a few hundred people, and only a few farmers were left. Then the young kids, the boomer kids, began moving out to the country to get back to the land. Doveland was ripe for picking. The old farmers were ready to retire, and making a profit by selling their property was unexpected but welcome.

  Some of the young people formed communes and worked the land together. They had their own rules and their idea of a personal community. Free love and shared families.

  Doveland’s long-time residents at that time didn’t understand what they were doing. But the young people with their new ways spent their money in town, improving the town’s bottom line and tax base, so they were begrudgingly accepted and mostly left alone.

  However, some of the real old-timers, now long gone, didn’t like those hippy farmers or commune groupies. They would sit on benches in front of the Diner during the day, and in the bars every night and complain about them. More than once Joe had stopped a bar fight and often worried that something more violent would take place.

  The town’s revival didn’t last long. Within a few years, most of the young ones learned that farming and living off the land was much harder to do than they thought it would be. The winters could be brutal. When spring arrived, more than one farm would have been abandoned during the winter as the young ran home to mom and dad, or to a corporate job that paid well.

  If someone was paying attention, they could get a lot of land for cheap in those days. They could wait until the bank foreclosed on the property and then buy it up for a song. Joe was one of a few men who took advantage of the glut of land on the market.

  He did it quietly, and very few people knew how much property he ended up owning, both in and outside of town.

  The problem was, Doveland never fully recovered after that brief boom of prosperity. It stumbled along doing its best to remain viable. But when the children of Doveland grew up, they almost all left for the city or warmer climates. There wasn’t enough tax money to keep up maintenance of many of the buildings, so Doveland became just another small town, falling into disrepair.

  Then a few years ago something happened. Joe figured that if you wait long enough, things will cycle around again. And that’s what happened to Doveland. A new group of people decided to try the country. Not hippies this time. Mostly young people who were tired of the city and ready to live in a small town and either farm, cater to the farmer, or run a small business.

  The internet gave people the freedom to run a business from their homes anywhere they wanted to live. Once a few people found Doveland, more people were attracted to it.

  And then that group of friends of Craig’s arrived. That changed everything.

  Not only could Joe now retire, but he also had someone who would buy his practice. Joe wasn’t hurting for money though. Being a doctor in a small town doesn’t earn anyone much wealth. Instead, Joe had learned other ways to become wealthy while enjoying the amenity of small-town life, combined with trips to discover the glories of mother earth.

  It had been a good life. In fact, he planned to continue to have a good life. But right now, he had to decide what to do about the records of that life. Maybe it was time to get a really good shredder and get started cleaning things up.

  Slapping his hands on his knees, he stood up, stretched, and turned his back on the boxes to look out the window of the office in his home. It was a view he had enjoyed for years, but perhaps it was time to chuck the whole thing, sell his house, and move on.

  He had already sold his property that bordered the road out to Concourse to Craig’s friends. They had some crazy idea of making a bike path from Doveland to Concourse. Joe couldn’t understand why anyone would want to do that, but it seemed to be all the rage these days. Made no difference to him. A walk around the golf course was all the exercise he needed, and he certainly didn’t need all that land anymore. He was happy to let it go.

  Yes, it was probably time to let all of it go. Clean stuff up. That would be his motto for the spring. Hang around for a year to help out Craig and then maybe go live in that small town in Spain that he had stayed at years before.

  Checking his watch, Joe realized he better get moving. There was a meeting of the rotary club in town. That woman, Valerie, wanted to talk about a fundraising event for the next solstice celebration. No one really knew how close that had come to being a total disaster last year.

  Nope, Joe thought as he shrugged into his overcoat and grabbed the keys to his car. It almost was, but not this year. This year, if he had anything to say about it, there would be just a regular good old-fashioned small town celebration—his favorite kind.

  Seven

  It wasn’t unusual for everyone to gather at the Ander’s home on the spur of the moment. Just a few miles outside of Doveland Ava and Evan’s house had become the hub of what Hannah had started calling the Doveland Circle. The original Stone Circle had expanded to include all their friends and family, and they needed a way to talk about who they were. Their Karass was definitely growing.

  Ava thought that their expanding circle was proof that people are drawn to each other over many lifetimes. But Ava knew that first people have to accept that there are many lifetimes, before they would begin to recognize their personal Karass.

  The Doveland Circle had met so often everyone knew to bring food when they got together. No planning was involved. Each person either picked up something on the way or brought what was already in their house. Of course, Pete and Barbara brought food from the Diner, and Grace and Mandy brought deserts from Your Second Home.

  Unlike some meetings called by the Doveland Circle to discuss a problem or decide on a project, this one was just a comfortable gathering of friends on a Friday night catching up on what was going on in each of their lives.

  Although cold outside, inside with a fire in the woodstove everyone was warm and cozy. The friends sat in groups content to chat about nothing.

  However, since Leif and Eric had gone, there was always a sad spot. Neither Sarah nor Grace had been quite themselves since summer and Hannah would often sit beside them and talk about school or things she wanted to do. Ava knew t
hat Hannah was doing her best to cheer them up. At the same time, Ava knew that Hannah was also struggling with missing Leif, Eric, and of course her past-dad, Jay.

  That’s why Ava was pleased that during the height of the party, both Leif and Eric showed up causing everyone who could see them to babble with excitement. Those who couldn’t see or hear them waited patiently to be told what they had to say.

  Hannah and Sarah had discovered that sometimes if they touched someone who couldn’t see the travelers from another dimension, that person could not only see the travelers with their own eyes but hear them too.

  Everyone who couldn’t see them directly hoped it was just a temporary problem. They hoped that over time they would learn how to see the travelers without assistance. More than anything, it was a state of mind and a point of view that blocked their abilities.

  Nothing in the human experience made it impossible; it was only conditioned belief. A hard one to get over, though, Ava thought.

  Leif and Eric didn’t stay long. Although they had told some people that they wouldn’t be around much, not everyone knew, and once Leif and Eric heard about the party, they thought it was an excellent way to tell everyone at once.

  No one was happy about it, but everyone understood. Sarah wondered why it was so easy to understand and still feel so terrible about it at the same time.

  After Leif and Eric left, Mandy broke the pall of silence that had fallen over the group by asking who wanted dessert. She had been trying out recipes for making sugar-free cookies and needed people to try them, and let her know what they thought.

  No one needed a second invitation, and soon the room was buzzing again with chatter over which cookie was best. Everyone loved every cookie, although they each had a favorite, which pleased Mandy. She would have a choice of which kind to make each day.

  Watching from the sidelines, Hank stood beside Ava and asked her if there was anything he could do to cheer Hannah up.

  “I thought she might like to take some kind of lessons. Maybe music, or art, or even dance.” Ava said.

  “Dance? Did I hear the word, dance?” Hannah said from across the room. She skipped over to the two of them and grabbed their hands as she looked up at them. “I would love to take dance lessons. It was lovely watching those dancers at the solstice. Do you think I could do that?”

  “Absolutely,” Ava said. “I’ll have to find out the name of that teacher and get you set up.”

  “Well, that’s handy,” Hank said. “I know her. Her name is Emily Sands. Emily hired me to help her build a summer camp for dance and art. For now, she is renting space in the town hall. Would you like to meet her and try out lessons?”

  There was no need to hear Hannah’s answer. Her face had changed into the bright face they knew before last summer.

  “If you want to dance, Hannah, we’ll make sure that happens for you,” Ava said.

  “Yep, I will take you to Emily’s house after school on Monday. I promised to bring some plans by for her to look at, so that way we will take care of two things at one time,” Hank said.

  It was a happy Hannah that went to bed that night. She had continued the practice of kneeling by her bed each night to say thank you for the day. Recently her thanking felt forced, but tonight, the words of gratitude were heartfelt.

  As soon as Hannah heard the word dance, something clicked inside, and she went from being okay in the world, to joyful. Whoever this Emily is, Hannah thought, I am going to enjoy every minute of learning to dance.

  Hannah was not the only one who gave thanks that night. Everyone had seen the transformation and were overjoyed to see the light come back into her eyes.

  Even Grace and Sarah seem better, Ava thought and breathed a sigh of relief. It looked as if spring would be not only bringing flowers and warm days but a renewing of life for all of them. It had been a hard seven months. They were ready for something good to happen, and no more surprise evil events. Was that so much to ask for? Ava didn’t think so.

  Evan walked everyone out to their cars, and made sure that they were safely on their way before coming back inside. On the way to bed, he stopped in both Ben and Hannah’s bedrooms and kissed them on their foreheads thinking that he was probably the luckiest man in the world.

  In spite of everything, he was still the proud father of two beautiful children and the happy husband of the love of his life.

  The problem was, he couldn’t shake the feeling of foreboding that came over him when Hank talked about building the dance teacher’s summer camp.

  Shaking it off, he walked out onto the back deck and looked up at the star-laden sky. Although it was still cold, the snow had melted, and he knew that the daffodils had already started coming up. It was a new season of renewal. He was ready for it.

  Eight

  The wind grabbed the door and swung it open sending a sheet of rain into Your Second Home. It was Saturday morning so almost all the tables were full, and everyone turned to look at who had caused the disturbance and brought the cold into their cozy environment. Their expressions ranged from total exasperation to a smile of understanding. They had all done the same thing at one time or another.

  Sam Long said “Sorry, sorry,” as he shook out his hat and wondered where to hang his wet coat. Mandy put down her coffee pot on one of the few remaining empty tables and hurried over to help Sam with his hat and coat.

  “We should’ve built a pass-through door, shouldn’t we have?” she asked Sam, already knowing the answer.

  “Yes, you should have, and a place to put wet stuff. You still could you know.”

  “How?” she asked.

  “Well, Hank could push the doorway out. You are set back from the sidewalk far enough that the town will probably let you, and then you could turn the right-hand side of the store at the front into a kind of coatroom. You would lose one set of front windows, but it might be worth it.”

  Looking at all the people sitting with wet coats hooked on to the back of their chairs, Mandy agreed. She and Grace could talk to the permit department at the town hall and then arrange for Hank and his crew to do the build out. Mandy thought it would help Grace take her mind off of missing Eric.

  “Are you ready to taste a lot of cookies and pastries?” Mandy asked.

  “Absolutely. Keep the coffee coming, and bring another cup, Mira is meeting me here.”

  “She’s already here, hiding in the back.”

  Breaking into a big smile, Sam walked back to join Mira, thinking that moving to Doveland and living with Mira was the smartest thing he had ever done in his life. Some days he missed the excitement of puzzling out a mystery. But the stress of hunting down Grant and Lenny had been the final breaking point for him. He had resigned from the FBI in the fall. They weren’t happy with his leaving, and he had a hard time adjusting, but Mira had helped. They only let him go after he agreed to be called in as a consultant on a case by case basis. He hoped he would never get that call.

  To give him something to do, Mira suggested that Sam go back into catering. Of course, it was a small town, so there wouldn’t be that much work. So how about an internet business of some kind around his food? Or even write a cookbook? They decided to begin with the catering company in town and see where that took them. Catering business was what they were doing today. They were tasting Mandy’s desserts that they would include on their catering menu.

  The rest of the business would have to grow more slowly, but they weren’t in a hurry.

  Sam glanced around the room and realized he knew almost everyone. He loved that. Small town living where you know everyone.

  However, Sam was not naive. He had spent too many years chasing down criminals who lived ordinary lives. Their neighbors never knew that the man they borrowed the lawn mower from also kidnapped young girls. Or the guy who worked at the grocery store ran
a gambling ring. People thought that criminals had a face of a criminal, or you could tell they were lying by watching their eyes or their body language. Sam knew how untrue that was. It was almost always the person you least expected that had done the most serious crimes. Sam was glad those days were behind him.

  In the corner of the room, Valerie Price and her husband Harold were sitting with another couple that Sam recognized from town hall meetings, although he couldn’t remember their names. At first, Sam thought they were having a conversation, but then realized that they were listening to Harold, who didn’t even appear to take a breath as he spoke.

  Tilting his head in their direction, he asked Mira, “Do you know Valerie and Harold very well? Harold seems to like to dominate a conversation. Is he that interesting? I worked with them last summer when we discovered it was their son Johnny who lit the fireworks at Grant’s request, but other than that, I don’t know them well.”

  “Speaking of Johnny,” Mira answered, “I see him once in a while when I stop in at the Diner to see Pete and Barbara. It was such a nice thing for you to do for him. To give him a chance to work off what he did rather than go to jail.

  “To answer your question, though, I know Valerie pretty well. She put together the solstice celebration last year. She is excellent at managing people and planning events! But Harold, I don’t know him other than overhearing his stories when I go by their table. He seems to think he knows everything about everything. Not that he does, he just acts like the authority.”

  They both glanced over at the table again where Harold was still holding court. Mira caught Valerie’s eye, and they waved to each other. Then Valerie went back to listening to her husband as if that was the most important thing she could be doing.