Sharla Winslowe

by Christy Lake and Misty Dawn

 

Chapter 5 Spooky things

Part 16 About Ghosts, booby traps, and mental talk

Part 17 Wards and spirits

Part 18 Big Bad Mistress

 

Part 16 About Ghosts, booby traps, and mental talk

Sharla had taken the indirect advice of the Shaman White Running-Bear to heart and practiced her skills as much as possible. During the spring break she had created what she called "Operations" to do things. She had discovered that even though they did not have bodies like the Litter Getters, the Zappers, or even the air core of the Water Swatters, they did exist and she could communicate in a way. As the major pressure of end of term testing mounted, she had created additional "Operations" to take care of things like laundry, repairing clothes, cleaning the bathroom, and even styling her hair when she went to work or on her increasingly frequent dates with Kevin.

These unseen "Operations" became the "ghosts" inhabiting her old dorm. Stories of someone forgetting their laundry in the dorm laundry room, only to find it had been taken out of the dryer and placed neatly folded on one of the sideboards, were being told. In the bath between rooms 308 and 310, Sarah Byrnes, one of the girls sharing that bath, claimed one could expect to be "fluff" dried in an instant by a "gentle breeze" coming out of nowhere. None of the smokers ever complained about the lack of smoke in the dayroom on three, but it was thought to be a bit strange by others.

Sharla was certain something was wrong with her. She could touch Dad, Andrew, or Kevin without any problem. The lightest contact with any other male, especially one who was looking at her, sent waves of sexual tension crashing over her. In a few cases, like that mugger last spring or that jerk who ruined the Halloween Costume Contest and Disco, she received vivid images of sexual assault. But it was crowds containing many males that always very nearly overwhelmed he

Fortunately, she had a ready release for her tensions in Kevin. His touch, his kisses, every physical contact was a soothing balm to her upset spirit. Admittedly, their early "cuddle" sessions had progressed to the point where they were "grope and groan" sessions. Even so, Kevin continued to carefully observe the boundaries they had silently agreed on. The only absolute taboo was inside her panty and she never attempted to open his trouser. On the occasions she had caught glimpses of his thoughts, they were of them together in some totally alone setting of picturesque beauty. They had even brought one another to orgasm, but even at those times, when Kevin’s mind was most open and vulnerable; the images she saw of him taking her were never vulgar or shameful. Undeniably they were full of heat and passion, but it was a heat and passion of a most sweet and sentimental nature. Kevin was going to have to work on one of his dad’s western projects all summer.

**********

Sharla had scanned the First Year Diary of Misty Dawn and then gone back and read it thoroughly during the bus ride home. It was an interesting collection of anecdotes about the experiences of a single woman tutoring a young teenage girl to be a lady in 1726. The odd thing about the fine handwritten script was that it was written in modern English.

Sunday morning, and the sun had just peeked over the horizon. Sharla was wide-awake and rested, thanks to tapping into the green energy reservoir that Mikey and Hazy had been charging.

She had not even had dinner Friday night when her Boss at Turnbulls had called and requested her help. They had been surprised by a convention crowd and needed more girls on the floor. Sharla had gone in and had made enough in tips to probably pay for all of her books tomorrow. She would probably work again tonight.

It was going to be a different summer, for sure. Jenny was with her Aunt in Vermont for the summer. Naomi, because of her photography skill and sketching ability, had landed an all summer job with an Archeological Team excavating some Indian Village in Nevada. Naomi had become so tuned in to people, that she could read lips. Sharla though Naomi was actually reading the thoughts as they were vocalized, but she had not said anything.

After a luxurious soak, Sharla got dressed and took the Second Year Diary with her to the kitchen.

The first few pages were extremely interesting. Misty was telling how after ??? years. "It looked like 107, or 219, or 342, or even possibly 487, but on a page where every letter was extremely precise and clear, that number blurred." Sharla thought in amazement. Misty’s time to return to the Wheel of Life was soon. Misty had prepared the box to hold her diaries and spell books. She engraved, embossed, and burnt spells into the wood and the covers of the books. She knew that the repository would go to someone who could use it but she had no idea as to where or when that would be. She carefully crafted spells to disguise the box as a plain ash, hickory, and oak box with leather hinges from all who did not have the "sight" to see magic. When the future owner of the box was born, the concealment would fade but the motivation to protect and preserve the box would still be in place. The spells would encourage the custodian to get La Caisse to its correct owner.

To insure that the contents would be understood, Misty explained that she had crafted translation spells into each page. For the person who was to use the books, each page would seem to be written in his or her native language. To anyone else, the pages would be blank. One of the by products of this spell was that for something that could have several meanings, the text would show each meaning. Another was that if the reader did not have experience or knowledge enough to fully comprehend the spell, it would be out of focus and unreadable. A third by-product of the translation spells was that it cancelled the effect of the protection, aversion, and preservation spells on boys below the age of 18.

After all this time she should have known better, Misty explained, to concentrate so much negative energy into such a small volume of space. She had to formulate completely new magic spells using the forces of the Earth Goddess. She had been rushed she admitted, because the unbalanced forces were about to explode the box and contents. That much power, randomly released would have completely destroyed a two-mile diameter area.

"La Caisse" or the case was safe and balanced. She had started to analyze the effects and discovered that she had turned La Caisse into a trap. Any male too young to be affected by the other spells would, by opening the box, be charged with female majic. La Caisse controlled the spell and induced aversion. When the boy turned 18, the majic would cause him to start changing. By his 21^st birthday, he would be female and have the talent to be a witch.

If a boy tried to damage the books, or insulted them by inappropriate use, the books would convert male characteristics to female. A second attack would result in him needing to wear all female under clothing, and third attack would result in a need to wear all female clothing. A serious attack would result in an immediate conversion to female and the other spells would become effective.

**********

Andrew came into the kitchen looking for breakfast. After last Christmas, Sharla felt a deep attachment for her bratty little brother, who was not really that much of a brat. She told him in no uncertain terms to say out of La Caisse and to not touch her books.

Naturally, since she could not tell him why, he sulked. She took the Diary back upstairs before returning to make some waffles and poached eggs. The sulk faded and they joked about the past school year. Andrew had inherited his father’s short stature and slight build and their mom’s fine skin and strength.

After recovering from pneumonia, Andrew had exercised daily in the pool. Toward the middle of the semester, he had filled in for one of the girls on the precision synchronized swimming team. That had been fun and he shared his pleasure with the girls on the swim team with Sharla.

Andy and Sharla teamed to make Brunch for their parents and had just set the table when the phone rang. Turnbulls wanted Sharla for an extended shift. After grabbing a quick bite, she changed into her working knit shirt, shorts, and heels and left.

After class on Monday, she whipped out her homework and got back into the diary. There was a lot of technical explanation about why, but what it boiled down to was "some sort of forces" balanced on the book and there was a wild exception. When the seasonal shift was at balance in June and December, exposure to the books could cause significantly different results that would happen progressively each equinox and solstice. Although she read all the way through both diaries, no additional information on the protections of La Caisse or the books was mentioned.

***********

It was a couple of weeks after summer school started. Sharla had left for an early class. Mom had gone somewhere and said that she would not be home for lunch. Dad was at work. Andy wondered what was so special about the heavy, ornate, hand-tooled box Sharla had bought and dragged home with her. Finding himself alone in the house, piqued with his driving curiosity, he easily slipped the useless, to his way of thinking, lock she had had installed on her bedroom's door.

He moved into Sharla's room and cautiously opened the intriguing La Caisse, as she had called it. Carefully he looked through each of the 15 leather bound books of blank paper. Nothing! Blank books! No, maybe something was hidden under the cover! He carefully examined the binding of the Green book he was holding. Very carefully he twisted the cover to see if there was something hidden in the spine of the book. He felt a little shock and a bit dizzy and decided he had been sitting on the floor too long. He put the book back in its box.

Andrew wondered if Sharla would let him borrow that sharp-looking red silk blouse he had seen hanging in her closet. He slipped out of her room, making certain the lock he found so ineffectual was properly secured.

As he strolled through the kitchen, the radio was announcing, "Today, June 21st is the longest day of the year. Solstice, the turning of the seasons officially happened last night at 9:01 P.M."

"Huummm," he thought gazing out the rear window. "Wonder what the other girls are doing down at the pool today?" He shook his head, trying to clear it of the idea he was a girl. "Where's that silly idea come from anyway?"

It was just a few hours later, "Mom!" Sharla urged. "Hurry every chance you get, will you? I don’t want to be late again!" She called from just inside the back door leading out to the detached garage as Andrew sat at the kitchen table sipping a Dew and watch in with detached interest.

"Damn, those shorts sure look good on her. Wonder what I would look like in a pair?" The boy tried not to show his concern on his face as he wondered where all these strange thoughts were coming from the past few days!

"Andrew, be a dear and do up those few dishes left from lunch while I’m gone," his mother suggested on her way out the door following Sharla.

"Sure, Momma, I’d be glad to," he replied to her retreating figure. "Momma? I’ve never called Mom, Momma in my life!" Then, without giving a thought to what he was doing, the teenaged boy took another sip of the soda, went to the pantry door, took an apron off the hook, and tied it about his waist before beginning the dishes he had been asked to do.

Doing dishes was nothing strange to Andrew. In this family, everyone, including dad, washed dishes and cooked. No, the strange thing was that Andrew used an apron today. Not too many minutes after hanging up the apron, the teen found himself again inside his sister’s room, staring unabashedly at her closet.

Sharla had many pretty things that she had hardly ever worn. Just looking at them in all of the pretty colors and lovely fabrics as they hung in the closets caused Andrew's head to spin. He began just looking at these lovely clothes. Oooooh, I just can’t imagine having so many pretty things to wear! The thought flashing through his mind stunned him! What the hell am I doing here? Then he moved slowly forward, quivering with unaccountable excitement, started sorting through the closet and finally looking through bureau drawers picking out different things he'd like to wear.

He could only imagine what they might feel like against his skin, then forced himself to quit thinking like that. "Damn it! Boys don’t think, or do things like this! Do they? Why don’t they? I would love to feel such softness, to feel sexy inside and pretty outside!

Several items looked like they still had the original price tags on them. With mixed feelings, compulsions and urges, he started getting undressed. When he paused to consider what he was about to do, he almost died of embarrassment. It was bad enough to be a sixteen-year-old boy standing naked in front of his sister's dresser and closet in her room but to be there about to get dressed in her clothes was unthinkable. "For God's sake! I AM a boy! And boys do not dress in their sister's clothes!" he snarled, slamming the drawer shut and literally forcing himself to get dressed and leave the room.

 

Part 17 Wards and spirits

When class started, Sharla had gotten into the habit of "chatting" with Naomi every night at about 9:30, 7:30 Naomi’s time. The first time this had happened, Naomi said that she had told her uncle about being able to talk to Sharla without words. Uncle Running-Bear had performed a Harm Seek Ritual and had declared the mind link beneficial. Naomi and Running-Bear had tried it and been partially successful. At first they had been unable to do more than just convey emotions, things like affection, want, hunger, thirst. They had set up a schedule for every night, Monday through Friday, at 8.00 P.M. Naomi’s time, 9:00 P.M. Uncle White’s time, to practice. Since Naomi normally finished her work for the day around seven, she had been staying in the photo and media lab doing minor clean up until time to talk to Uncle White Running-Bear. The results of their practice sessions had been extremely good, in that they were finally able to pass actual thought messages, to a limited extent.

Except for a growing uneasiness around and in crowds, her academic studying was a breeze Sharla felt, compared with studying the Books of "La Caisse." Every free moment was now devoted to trying to understand the Runes and their applications as described. The big problem was that although the fine script was very clear, whole sections were gibberish. Yet, on a later read, some of the gibberish sections were clear. Sharla was not sure but she thought some of the text was changing each time she read it. A rereading would always give her more to think about.

One of the big bits of information she discovered was a need for Warding or protecting. As far as Sharla knew, she had only done real "Magic" three times, twice when she did the Dancing Flames and once when she had created her green crystal batteries. According to everything she’d read, everything else she had done during the past year was probably just a product of a very unreliable but perfectly natural psionic ability. Reading about wards scared her. According to this, she could have burned down the entire school, not just her dorm or the chemistry lab. When she had created her crystal battery, if anything had gone wrong, she could have blown a hole in North America twice the size of all the Great Lakes combined.

Saturday Morning, after the Summer Solstice, everything she had been reading about wards gelled. She understood. "There must be something about the turning of the Seasons." She mused, when she realized the date.

She checked over what she had done. The "Collector," The "Cleaner," The "Spinner," and the "Weaver" did not have any sort of wards at all. "Mikey the Carpet Cleaner," "Scruffy Scrubber the Floor Cleaner," and "Misty Piggy the Smoke Cleaner" all had strong "Don’t Notice Me" wards aimed outward and very strong "Keep It Inside" Wards. The "Water Swatters" and the "Operations" all had strong "Don’t Notice Me" wards. The blanket she had wrapped around her "Crystal Battery" was supposedly impossible. On the inside was a super strong "Keep It Inside" and on the outside was a combination of "Keep Out" and a "Touch me and you are Dissipated" impossibility.

Sharla had read about a lot of different types of talisman being used to establish wards. Personally, she could not see that an object really made any difference. To prove it to herself, Sharla established a ward around her room with a strong "Keep It In" on the inside and a "No I Don’t Want To Go There" on the outside. Somebody, maybe Janine or even Andrew had been in her room a couple of times this week. The cover over La Caisse had been moved and some of her clothing in the closet had been shifted.

Around the edges of her parents’ property she established a ward that would divert hostility but admit harmony. On the inside, she established a "keep it in ward" for any type of stray magic. Both sets of wards were keyed to let Naomi in without question. The outside wards were much less restrictive and would admit all the family members and anyone thinking positively about the family.

On Monday, Naomi was giddy with excitement. Naomi and another of the team members had been using the sonar to trace what seemed to be a natural chimney deep inside the cliff. About one hundred feet below and thirty feet to the side of the active dig, the sonar had detected a large opening with some sort of structures inside. Feverish excitement ran high when it was discovered this new cavern was right on the level of the trail going up to the active dig.

Their team chief had been interested and dedicated a day’s labor to digging a way into the camber. From the preliminary observations taken by flashlight only from the end of the tunnel, before the team chief declared the new find off limits, there was a very well preserved mini cliff village in that cave. Naomi had a hunch this was an extremely ancient and very important find. Now she wanted Sharla to use the talent she had used to discover her jewelry to examine the new site.

Following only a bit of discussion, Sharla readily, almost eagerly, agreed and then established a firm connection to the Green Crystal Battery. She used Naomi, setting on a picnic type bench inside the media lab as a reference, and projected her awareness out of the lab and up the trail to the new tunnel. Just a few inches, maybe eighteen, from the end of the new tunnel, she discovered a strong Green Energy Ward. It was designed to keep all physical objects out. Whoever had set it up had been one very nasty person. This ward had a component that would suck all the moisture out of any living thing and store it in a cistern at the back of the cave.

Summoning her Amazon Warrioress mode, she easily slipped through the barrier intending to spread her awareness out to get a feel for the entire area enclosed within the ward. She was immediately assaulted with screams, demands, orders, and entreaties. In near-panic confusion, she slipped out of the warded area and recomposed herself so she could communicate with Naomi. As she focused on her partner, she realized that Naomi was not setting but was standing, wide eyed, and holding out a long lab coat.

"You better put this on before someone comes in, or you get cold." Naomi "said." Looking down as she reached for the coat, Sharla realized she was setting on Naomi’s bench wearing only the sheer leopard print thong and spike heeled mules she had been wearing in the warded security of her room.

Slowly Sharla wrapped the lab coat around her nearly nude body, but quickly explained what she had observed of the ward and the spirit voices. Her overall impression was that the entire area included in the octagonal shaped ward was a magic workshop or medicine lodge.

Naomi immediately suggested a consultation with her Uncle White. Sharla agreed and watched as Naomi assumed a Lotus sitting atop the sturdy picnic table and concentrated. A soft smile curled her full lips as she reached for her uncle. Sharla could almost see the link. She boosted it a bit with her Green Energy and almost saw, and through Naomi, felt the link snap into place. Sharla withdrew the energy boost, but whatever had been done was done, and the link was strong.

Again through Naomi, Sharla heard a strong pleasant man’s voice say, "Oh my, after this accomplishment I can’t call you my Little Fawn any more, can I?" Sharla felt Naomi’s blush of pride before her partner launched into a recital of the events of the last two days. She then went into Sharla’s observations and impressions. Try as she might, Sharla was unable to take part in the conversation. She could hear both sides, but to ask or answer questions she had to address Naomi and then remain silent while Naomi relayed the information on.

Uncle White asked several questions, one of which caused Sharla to go back and inspect the corners of the ward. Each of the eight "Anchors" for the ward was a baby’s skull buried in deep holes. He deliberated a bit and then said that it was very fortunate, but not that unusual, that Naomi’s friend had been able to see the wards. What really amazed him was that she had been able to escape after looking inside. The use of baby’s brains to form the ward anchors indicated that a form of mind magic, not related to the Growth of Life Magic of the witches, or the Natural Force of the shamans, had been used.

About the trapped spirits, the only thing he knew of was from oral tradition. Normally the Star walker would create a Talisman to trap and protect the spirit so it could be moved out of the ward. If the Star Walker died before releasing the trap, there was only one known way to free the spirit. That was for an experienced shaman to stun the trapped spirit with a blast of power from an assembled circle. Then another experienced Spirit Walker, using power from another assembled circle, could dismantle the wards and free the spirit.

His advice, even though Naomi could lose this major archeological credit, was to collapse the tunnel and pray no one else would ever get interested. With that type of protection, it was just too dangerous to meddle with.

 

Part 18 Big Bad Mistress

Sharla knew how much this major find would help Naomi’s career, so she determined to open it up. She fortified herself mentally and made sure she had an ample connection to her Green Energy source. Slipping her awareness free, she sent it back into the warded area. "SILENCE!" She blasted before the spirits could even realize she was among them. Once she had their attention, she quickly interrogated each entity before wrapping it in a package of Green Energy and slipping it out of the warded area to disperse, or whatever. Several times she had to draw on the crystal batteries for power to almost pound some of the more obstreperous entities back into the most reluctant silence imaginable. Sharla wanted badly to learn as much as possible from the captured spirits.

The first ten spirits that Sharla addressed were dreamers who had been trapped by the ward. Most of them were from not so long ago that it was not certain that their bodies had died, that they might lay comatose in some hospital. As she released each from captivity she wished them peace. The next twenty-seven entities were magic users from throughout the ages. The first was a priestess of Isis. She explained a spell that she had used to capture information from the spirit of the dying and then release the spirit to move peacefully to its natural destination. She had not been able to use it because it demanded too much energy. Sharla reviewed this spell and discovered that she could store the information, like on separate removable hard drives within her mind and then disconnect the media and set it aside so that she could review it at a later time. With that image fixed firmly in her mind, Sharla was then able to quickly release the rest, one after another without incident.

The remaining three, the hard cases, as she had identified them in her mind, made a concerted attack. Without Sharla’s Green Energy source to draw from, these three did not have a chance. She sternly overpowered them and they, finally seeing the light, reluctantly eased into a quite respectful silence. Something about these three seemed strangely familiar, but she put the feeling aside. "Look, all I want to do is release you from this trap so I can take it apart and make this site safe. Do you understand?" She demanded.

"Yes Master Dawn, as you have directed in the past, so I will follow your guidance now. The Step outside of time before time’s beginning, a walk that you taught me, will insure that I now return to my rightful time and place," the first entity replied. As Sharla applied the spell to free this one, her mind was filled with an impression of a tall headdress depicting a hawk’s head in the center, a muscular male body clad only in a short skirt of reeds, and a pair of sandals with lacings up to the knees.

The next entity seemed to be a tall man draped in a brown hooded robe. "Mistress Dawn, I abjectly apologize for my misguided actions aimed to thwart your benevolence. The only meager excuse I can offer is that I did not recognize you. Be now assured, most Honored, that all Speakers, Heralds, and Minstrels will know of your deed and honor you for it." She quickly recorded the Druid and slipped him through the ward.

The remaining being, was clearly a Base Warrior from early Europe. "Mistress Dawn, once again you free a member of the Knights Templar from mischance caused by their own foolishness." He addressed her. "It is only that we have to transport and hide many relics of Power that I dared this seeking. I now offer my thanks for your release from this prison that I may rejoin the many of The Brethren who have already prepared to dedicate their lives and their souls to the protection of these Holy items through the rest of eternity. I was in search of repositories of the Devine Energy that occur to charge this talisman when I wandered unknowingly into this foul prison seeking naught but a Guide to a Repository of Devine Energy." He held up a cross that was a mass of cut and polished emeralds, held together by a fine gold frame.

"Let me free you and then see if I can charge your talisman." Sharla answered. She performed the spell to record the Knight Commander and then slid through the ward with his protected essence. Once outside the ward, she let a trickle of energy flow to the cross. It flared brilliantly in the twilight world of the awareness. Tears seemed to be flowing down the man’s cheek as he said, "Thank you Madam Misty Dawn from all members of the Order. Your generosity will insure the four masters and each of their supporting dozen will be able to remain strong and vigilant thru the ages." Then he disappeared.

It was but a matter of moments to slip back in and modify the wards so that they were just providing a physical repellant around the site.

Sharla pulled her awareness back to Naomi. She explained what she had done. She had left the wards in place so that the site could be properly preserved. Naomi could cancel the wards by placing a straight stick of wood in a specific hole drilled in the rock and rocking one of the skulls. The ward would disappear, like it had never been.

With a small sad smile and a quick wave good-bye, the beautiful young woman visualized her bedroom as an anchor point and was there in the next instant. No more than two full heartbeats passed before she chuckled aloud and opening the borrowed garment to again get comfortable wearing only her thong and high-heeled mules, asked, "Wonder if Naomi is gonna need the lab coat?"

 

 

 

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© 2002 by Christy Lake. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.