The 45th Parallel Page 12

  They all looked down into the black bowl. Kat could feel the room getting colder. The water continued to gurgle up through the pump, but now Kat could hear another noise. She could hear the sound of waves hitting the hull of a boat. The water in the bowl went from black to gray, and, slowly, a picture started to form. Kat could feel her heart rate increasing as she gripped her cousins’ hands tighter. Now, Kat could see a man and a woman on a sailboat. They were pulling up close to another boat.

  The woman recognized the people on the next boat and waved. After a moment, the expression on her face changed to confusion, and then to fear. The picture of the sailboat blurred suddenly, and a new picture began to form. It was Kat’s mother standing on a roof. She was tossing out bread crumbs for the pigeons. There was a shadow from someone approaching from behind. As her mother began to turn to see who it was, she was struck in the head by a metal bar. She fell backward unconscious, and was dragged to the edge of the roof and thrown over. Kat could not see the killer’s face as she was seeing everything through his or her eyes. Kat dropped Patrick and Anna’s hands to stop the visions and stood up.

  “Kat, what did you see?” Anna asked.

  “I saw a woman and a man on a boat. They were approaching another boat. Then I saw my mother being hit over the head and thrown off a roof.” Kat looked around the table as everyone stared at her with wide eyes.

  “You didn’t see anything?” Kat asked in desperation. They all continue to stare at her in seeming disbelief. “I must be losing my mind,” Kat said as she backed away from the table. She felt another layer of the binding break as that secret part of her struggled to escape. “I’m not doing this anymore.” Kat turned and walked out the door onto the deck. John got up and followed her out.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “No, I’m not! I’m not only having bad dreams now, but since I have met you, I am having hallucinations as well.

  “You are not having hallucinations, Kat.”

  “Don’t tell me I’m not having hallucinations. I am having hallucinations. No one else saw anything.”

  John took his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out a picture. “Were these the people you saw?”

  Kat looked down to see the picture of a happy couple. They were the people in her vision.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Those were the people I saw on the boat.”

  “That is a picture of my parents, Tom and Vivian Warren,” John studied Kat for a reaction. She felt the blood drain from her face.

  “You have a gift, Kat. I know it frightens you, but you have a gift. Anna, Helene, Patrick, and I have gifts as well.”

  Kat was still holding the picture and staring at it. “What gifts?”

  “Patrick can move things without touching them. Anna is an empath. She can absorb other people’s emotional state. Helene can…well…Helene can…travel outside her body. She can physically be in one place while observing something at the other end of town.”

  Kat thought back to when Helene saw Patrick laying in the woods with a broken leg when we were children. Could this really be true? “And what is your gift?” she asked.

  “My gift is mind control. I can…persuade people do what I want them to do. I like to think of it as the ability to charm.”

  “Is that how you got me to play that game? Are you charming me now?” Kat said as she backed farther away from him.

  “I thought once you saw what you could do, you would be more accepting of your gift,” John said softly. “I could feel your psychic energy the first time I met you. The first time I touched you. I thought that…with all of our abilities combined, we would be able to see what really happened to my parents.” John reached for Kat’s arm but she pulled away.

  “Please don’t touch me. Everything gets worse when you touch me.” Kat turned her back to John.

  “Kat, our gifts have become stronger since you came back to Northport. I know that together we can figure out what happened to your mom and my parents. Please Kat, help me.”

  Kat’s head was swimming. “I would like Patrick to take me home now. I need some time to think.”

  “Look at me, Kat,” John said in a low, dark voice.

  Kat looked out at the lake. “No, you are not going to make me do this…I can’t.”

  “You can’t run from what you are Kat,” John said the tone of his voice softening.

  “I just need to go home,” Kat said.

  John took a deep breath and let it out slowly before saying, “I will go tell them you want to leave.” He went back inside to get her cousins. Kat stood on the deck looking out at the water. The clouds obscured the light from the moon and stars, making the lake a large black void.

  Patrick, Helene, and Anna came out a few minutes later.

  “Do you want to go home?” Anna asked.

  “Yes…this is all very overwhelming.”

  “I understand,” she said as they walked around the side of the house to Patrick’s car.

  Once in the car, they drove in silence for a while.

  Patrick finally spoke, “Kat, we didn’t mean to upset you. I thought you were more aware of our family…heritage. We have all had a sense of it since we were little children. Once your mom died, my dad forbade us to talk about it. When we met John, we finally had someone outside the family who understood.”

  “Your father knows about this?” Kat asked in surprise.

  “He knows we have gifts but he and Mom don’t talk about it. They like to pretend they don’t exist.”

  “Maybe they have the right idea,” Kat said bitterly.

  “You can try to ignore your abilities, Kat, but they will never go away,” Helene said softly.

  “Our family heritage did wonders for my mother.”

  “Based on what you saw tonight, I don’t believe your mother committed suicide,” Anna said.

  “I don’t know what I believe,” Kat said staring out the car window. When they got to Mary’s house, Anna asked if Kat wanted them to come in, but Kat declined. She needed some time alone to think.

  When Kat entered the house, Aunt Mary was sitting in the living room reading. Mary looked up from her book and her face immediately creased with worry.

  “Are you all right?” she asked. “You look like you have seen a ghost.”

  Kat went over and sat in the chair next to Mary. “Do you think my mother killed herself?” she asked. Mary’s eyes filled with tears.

  “No,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “I never believed she would intentionally leave you.”

  “I had a vision of her being pushed off the roof.”

  Aunt Mary reached out and grabbed Kat’s hand. “Oh Kat, I want you to leave this alone. I feel you will be in overwhelming danger if you keep looking for answers. We can’t bring her back.”

  “I have spent the last fifteen years being angry at Mom for jumping off that roof and leaving us. Now I find out someone may have killed her. Don’t you want to know who is responsible?”

  “I’m not sure the answers will be worth the cost.”

  Kat had the same fear, but she didn’t understand why. Kat hugged her aunt tightly, and then went into the kitchen to make some of Mary’s sleeping tea. Kat wanted to sleep so deeply that she would not remember her dreams tomorrow morning.

  Chapter Twenty

  When Kat awoke the next morning, she felt like she had been drugged. It took a good five minutes before the memory of the prior day came flooding back to disrupt her tranquil haze. She trudged to the bathroom and splashed water on her face and brushed her teeth.

  She went downstairs into the kitchen and glanced at the clock on the microwave. It was ten-thirty in the morning. Kat couldn’t remember the last time she had slept that late. She heard her cell phone ringing and rummaged through her purse which had been sitting on the kitchen counter. It was her dad.

  “Hi Dad,” she said in a groggy voice.

  “Hi honey, did I wake you up?”

  “No, I was up.”


  “Just checking in to see how you are doing.”

  “I’m…fine. The job is good. Aunt Mary is great.”

  “Have you seen your cousins?”

  “Yes, Anna, Patrick, and Helene are up here for the summer.”

  “Oh that’s nice. Betty and I will be going out to Arizona for a conference.”

  “What are you doing with Will and Lilly?”

  “Oh, they are coming with us. We thought we would get a little family vacation.”

  “Oh,” Kat said unenthusiastically. Her father droned on about their trip for another ten minutes before they said their good-byes. Kat could not focus on anything he was saying. All she could think about was her visions the day before, and of John. Kat wondered if his only interest in her was to use her to figure out what happened to his parents.

  She looked through her messages. There was one from John and one from Anna. Both messages were the same. They wanted to see how she was doing and they wanted Kat to give them a call.

  Kat didn’t have to be at work till four o’clock. She wished she were working all day. The last thing she needed was idle time to let her mind wander. Why would anyone kill my mother? Kat began to feel a dull throb in her temples. Maybe she would get cleaned up and go down to help Mary and Carl at the store. At least it would keep her busy.

  Although she had no appetite, Kat ate a piece of toast and made some coffee before jumping in the shower and walking down to the store. As she was going in the front door, Greg Tilmas was coming out and they almost ran straight into each other.

  “Oh, excuse me Greg,” Kat said. Greg was carrying a large paper bag filled with white flowers which he almost dropped trying to avoid colliding with Kat. Kat looked at the flowers and then at Greg. He didn’t look like the same energetic man she had met at John’s party. His skin was pale and he had dark circles under his eyes. “Are you all right?” she asked with concern. I hope I don’t catch this nasty bug everyone is getting.

  “I haven’t been sleeping very well,” Greg said.

  “Aunt Mary has wonderful homemade teas for that. She doesn’t sell them in the store, but I can get some for you.”

  “She has already fixed me up,” Greg said as he looked down into the bag he was holding.

  “She gave you a bouquet of flowers to help you sleep?”

  “These flowers are anise. I’m going to hang them over my doors and windows. They are to ward off…bad dreams.”

  Kat looked at Greg skeptically. “Bad dreams come from within your own mind. They don’t come crawling through your doors and windows.”

  “Some do,” Greg said as he gave her a hug and walked around to his truck, which was parked in front of the store.

  Kat went into the store and waved at Aunt Mary.

  “Greg Tilmas was just here,” Mary said. “He doesn’t look very well.”

  “I literally ran into him on the way in. You gave him flowers to help him feel better?”

  “Anise is to ward off evil and bad dreams. If nothing else, it will make him feel safer.”

  “What does he need to feel safe from?” Kat asked.

  “I’m not sure, but something is making him sick.” Mary looked over at Kat with concern. “What exactly happened yesterday Kat?”

  Kat hesitated a moment, embarrassed to tell her aunt she had participated in a séance. “John’s mother had a glass bowl that he keeps in his wine cellar. He said you can see visions in the water.” Kat took a deep breath and continued. “We all held hands and stared into the bowl and John asked it to show us what happened to his parents.”

  “I think you should stay away from John,” Mary said sharply. Kat looked at her aunt with surprise. “I know it sounds crazy, but I sense you are in danger when you are with him,” Mary explained.

  “Do you think he would hurt me?”

  “It’s not that, exactly, I just sense…danger.”

  “I don’t think we’ll be seeing each other anymore. I don’t think it’s healthy for me to participate in things like that,” Kat said.

  Mary eyed her skeptically. “I’m sorry honey. I know you really like him, but maybe that is for the best.”

  “I think I will go unpack some boxes in the back,” Kat said weakly as she turned and walked back to the storage room. Kat unpacked a couple boxes of wind chimes before sitting down on a chair in the corner. She could feel depression settling in. Every breath she took was difficult, as if someone were sitting on her chest. What she really wanted to do was lay in a dark room and sleep. If only she could be guaranteed it would be a dreamless sleep.

  “Kat, do you want to get some lunch?” Mary called.

  “No thanks, I’m not hungry. I think I will go down to the bookstore and pick up some new books,” Kat answered.

  She made herself stand and trudged out of the store down to Dora’s. When she went in, Dora was standing toward the back of the store talking quietly with a customer.

  Kat picked up a book on the History of Northern Michigan and began to thumb through it. As Kat was flipping through the pages, a picture caught her attention. Underneath the picture, the caption read “Drawing from newspaper of strange markings carved into murdered surveyor’s chest.” The picture was a sketch of a crescent shape with a counterclockwise spiral above, just like the one carved into the chest of the dead woman in the gray dress.

  “That’s an interesting book,” Dora said. Kat jumped at the sound of her voice. Dora was standing behind Kat looking over her shoulder.

  “Do you know what that symbol is?” Kat asked.

  Dora studied the page and then said, “Oh yes, I remember reading about this. After the War of 1812, the border between Canada and the U.S. was settled and surveyed, most of it along the forty-fifth and forty-ninth parallel. One of the surveyors was killed in a strange manner after returning from the Upper Peninsula. He was found on Beaver Island tied to a tree; his neck and wrists were slashed and that symbol was carved into his chest. There were many border skirmishes at that time and it was thought the surveyor was killed by Indians, although the symbol couldn’t be traced to any one tribe.”

  “What do you think it means?” Kat said.

  “Well…that crescent shape looks like the Native American symbol for the moon. The Indians marked the twelve months of the year with the twelve moons. All the month symbols have that crescent shape but none of them have the spiral above.”

  “Did they ever find the murderer?” Kat asked.

  “No, it remains a mystery to this day.” Dora studied the picture more closely. “That spiral shape if similar to those found on ancient druid tombs in Ireland.” Dora looked up and noticed Kat staring at her with wide eyes. “I like to study Pagan religions,” Dora said as she smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

  Kat stared at the picture in shock. Maybe the dead woman in the gray dress is real. Maybe she isn’t a figment of my imagination.

  “Please excuse me, I hear my phone ringing,” Dora said as she walked over to the front desk and picked up her cell phone. Kat continued to stare at the picture until she heard Dora say, “Oh my God, how did that happen? She was so young. Yes, of course, I will let them know.”

  Dora began crying as Kat approached to see what was wrong. “Are you all right?” Kat asked.

  “I just got word Barb Gillen was found dead this morning. They found her in her parents’ front yard. She had not been feeling well…” Dora trailed off.

  “I’m so sorry,” Kat said.

  “I’m going to close the store for the day. I just don’t understand how it could happen.”

  “Please let me know if there is anything I can do,” Kat said.

  “Yes…thank you,” Dora mumbled. As Kat left the store, she wondered how a surveyor’s murder in the early 1800s and the dead woman in the gray dress could be connected.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Greg sat on the floor of his bedroom. The anise was hung above every window and every door of the house. He had even mixed a powder from his own s
upplies and sprinkled it around the house to provide a magical fence.

  She would come soon. She always came when the moon was out. He knew he must resist going to her. He could barely remember their first few encounters, but now he would wake with vivid memories of their nights together and he was becoming weaker with every one. What type of creature is she? Was she being sent by my former employer?

  Greg stood in the center of the room and sprinkled the powder in a circle. He then sat down in the middle of the circle. This magical powder would prevent him from leaving the circle until the break of dawn. He did not trust that he had enough will power to resist her call. He had to break the spell she had over him.

  Greg watched as the last bit of daylight evaporated from the room. Once the sun was down, he could sense her presence before he even heard her voice from the yard below.

  “I’m waiting for you. I want to make love,” she called softly below.

  Greg felt an immediate erection at the sound of her voice. “No,” he muttered as he closed his eyes and covered his ears.

  “I need you. I can feel you inside of me,” her seductive voice floated in through the window.

  His desire for her was like a burning thirst. “Oh God,” he said as he tried to cross the magic circle to go to her. Greg was immediately thrown back to the center. He could feel trickles of cold sweat running down his back.

  “We can do anything you want, just come into the vineyard with me.”

  “Please go,” Greg pleaded.

  “You don’t want me to go. Come to the window and look at me in the moonlight.”

  Greg tried again to cross the circle and move to the window, but was again thrown back to the center. His loins were throbbing. It was so painful to resist her. He didn’t think he would make it through the next hour let alone all the way until dawn. Greg heard a thud on the roof and the sound of footsteps.

  “Why are you denying yourself pleasure? I can make all your pain go away,” she said. Greg moaned and clutched his swollen crotch. “You cannot find pleasure without me.”