Time Conjurer (eBook)

Michael Arthur Kennedy (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
440 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-9180-4 (ISBN)

Infos

A happy little girl haunts Kenny's dreams. When a new dream indicates the death of a family member, he learns that the girl reaching out to him in his dreams is an aunt who disappeared in 1955. The aunt's sister, his grandmother, teaches him a method of Hoodoo-based time travel so he can visit the past. When his grandmother is attacked by the woman responsible for Delilah's disappearance, they must go back to 1955 Charleston. Kenny and his grandmother navigate the Jim Crow South to prevent their evil visitor from finding her way back to 2019 and to find Delilah, who is lost in a time labyrinth. Unfortunately, changing the past creates new terrors that ripple through time and jeopardize the reality of 2019. Kenny must embrace Hoodoo's deeper traditions to save the people and the world he knows.

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Kenny Lawson is an unfulfilled, repressed psychiatrist in Philadelphia who has been haunted by premonitions since childhood. Dreams of a little girl at play were his only nocturnal escape. One night, however, the girl brought him a message of death. His Hoodoo-practicing Nana reveals that the girl in his dreams is actually her sister Delilah who disappeared in 1955. She shows him how to visit lost loved ones using "e;flying,"e; a time travel method she has recently developed. Dogged by a lifetime of relentless humiliation at the hand of his older brother, Kenny "e;flies"e; to his childhood. As a boy he had saved his only brother from a fire, but this time let him die. This changed Kenny into the self-assured man who acquired the woman of his dreams and created a blissful life. It also changed the world around him. Nana saw it all and rebuked him. Before Kenny can restore his old life, Nana is attacked by a foe from 1955 who has somehow discovered their time travel technique. Nana is convinced that her sister is still alive and suspects that her foe will return to look for her. She asks Kenny to join in her search for Delilah, which will take them to Jim Crow's Charleston. There, Kenny and Nana must navigate Jim Crow lynchings, vengeful curses, and the intricacies of Hoodoo magic. As they search for Delilah and try to keep villains in the past, they learn that changing the past has horrifying implications for the future.

Textauszug

CHAPTER 1

A beautiful wide-eyed, dark-skinned, eight-year-old girl in a white dress with an indigo sash and hair bow sat alone at a counter with a fancy glass bowl of strawberry ice cream. She spooned a big scoop of the ice cream and held it up to her smiling face, which beamed and showed her deep dimples. As she looked at the spoonful, a bite-sized portion vanished and reappeared in her mouth. She closed her eyes and savored it, moving it around before swallowing. She giggled as she scooped another spoonful from the bowl, anticipating its magical transference to her mouth.

When she held the last portion, she stopped smiling.

The ice cream on her spoon had morphed from a beautiful light pink treat with chunks of fruit to a deep brown blob with hairy green spots. Disgusted, she left the bowl and spoon and went around the counter to get more ice cream. She saw that the strawberry ice cream container was mostly full, so she lifted the door and leaned over to fill another bowl. As she scooped the ice cream, she joyously hummed her favorite nursery rhyme. When she finished, she stood up and held her bowl up to get a good look at it. As she beheld her delicacy, she saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye.

When she turned to look, she saw another girl sitting in her seat. She had thought she was alone, so her arms and body twitched when she saw her. She was further surprised to see that the other girl also had a bowl of strawberry ice cream. She looked at her own ice cream, and it again transformed into a foul composition. Searching for any explanation, she returned her gaze toward the stranger in her seat. She wanted to ask the intruder a question but couldn’t manage to.

The girl was the same height as her and had the same smooth dark-brown skin. Both had long black hair, wore white dresses with indigo sashes and hair bows, and had deep brown eyes. They held similar bowls of putrid ice cream. They resembled twins, but the seated girl spooned the repulsive blob into her mouth. After she swallowed, her eyelids fused and vanished. Her brows disappeared, her nostrils and lips sealed themselves closed, rendering her face a smooth blank slate. Without moving her head, she turned her body and walked directly to the door.

The girl behind the counter stood in disbelief and put her ice cream in the sink.

“Who are you? What’s wrong with your face?” she asked.

The lookalike ignored her and opened the door. After the door closed, the girl behind the counter ran around the display to the door. When she yanked the door open, her double was nowhere in sight. No matter how far to the left and right she looked, there was nobody around. There was, however, a trail of hairy green spots leading down the road. Following the trail, she ran as fast as she could until it led to an opening in a nearby forest. The forest was a good place for the other girl to hide. It was also a good place for scary animals to hide, so she stopped to consider entering. It wasn’t until she heard the echo of footsteps on twigs and eaves that she resumed the chase. As she went deeper into the trees, the forest darkened. She stopped again to listen for sounds of movement. A faint cracking sound led her further into the dense tree cover.

Light from an opening amongst the trees made her hasten her pace. When she arrived, she stood still and gasped. She saw a large black wolf with menacing eyes and raised fur on its back. It glared at her and growled. She slowly stepped backwards. The wolf stood over the lookalike’s body as if protecting its kill. She decided her only option was to run. After a quick pivot, she dashed through the trees toward the road.

“Not today . . . not today. I ain’t home yet,” she repeated between heavy breaths.

Turning around never occurred to her. If she turned, she might lose the advantage of her head start and her last vision would be of a menacing beast approaching and violently capturing her. She decided the ice cream shop should be the last image in her mind even if the wolf caught her from behind. Her only other advantage would be if the wolf needed to protect its kill instead of wanting a bigger feast.

The girl’s legs burned as she exited the deepest forest, but when she heard rustling behind her, she pumped her arms and legs faster. The beast wanted her after all. She heard the rhythmic sound of front and back paws treading on the soil, and she tried to move even faster. Some of her steps were unsteady on the uneven dirt and tree roots beneath her feet. She almost lost her balance a few times but recovered quickly.

The wolf’s growl grew louder. It was gaining on her.

She was worried the wolf would overtake her. She was on the animal’s turf, and its paws were accustomed to the undulating earth. She knew four-legged animals ran faster than humans.

Where is that road? How long will it take me to get there? she wondered.

The road was a smooth straight path; she could be more surefooted and swifter there. When the wolf barked, she felt her heart skip. Where is that road? she thought more desperately.

In another moment, she reached the road and turned toward the ice cream shop. As she had suspected, her feet gripped the road better than the forest soil. She moved faster and more confidently. Her lips turned upward in a slight smile. It was too early to celebrate, but she felt she had a better chance of keeping her lead. Then she heard the clicking of claws behind her. She told herself that the road made the claws sound louder than the dirt had. That was the only way she could avoid falling into despair. If it was a lie, it was a necessary one. Another growl from her pursuer made her lips turn downward.

As her arms and legs burned and her chest felt as if it would burst, the shop came into view. Sweat poured down her face and soaked her clothes.

If I can see it, I can make it, she told herself and soldiered on.

A strange and hollow guttural noise from the animal echoed through her body like a passing train. Only a few more seconds to the shop . . .

To her surprise, she reached the ice cream shop safely and ran through the door she had left open. She shut the door quickly and leaned her back against it to assure it stayed closed. Her head throbbed and her legs shook while she struggled to catch her breath.

Suddenly, she heard scratching from the other side of the door. Then a loud, angry howl shook the door. She kept her body against the door as a barricade. When another howl pierced the air, she covered her ears with her hands.

“No, no, no!” the girl screamed. When the beast howled again, she screamed again.

If she could drown out the animal’s noise, she might calm down enough to prepare an escape plan. How could she get away with this monster waiting outside? How long would the wolf wait for her? How long could she wait for it to grow bored and return to the other girl’s body?

She sat on the floor with her back to the door and repeated, “No . . . no . . . no . . . I just want to go home. I just want to go home!”

After repeating the phrase four times, she noticed silence outside. She waited for a few moments, then removed her hands from her ears. She only heard the chirping of nearby birds and leaves rustling in the wind. She got up from the floor and walked tentatively to the front windows. She peered out from one edge of the window frame and saw no wolf. Now she felt more confident and leaned toward the center of the window, and her pursuer was still not visible. The pleasant sunny day beckoned her outside to frolic among the field of flowers across the road. But she didn’t know where the wolf was, so she walked to a booth and sat.

A tall glass bowl of strawberry ice cream rested in the center of the table. A spoon lay on a napkin next to it. The girl reached out to touch the bowl, but her sweaty hand shook uncontrollably. Her whole body shook. She was drenched with sweat, and her throat was dry from panting. The ice cream would certainly soothe her overheated body, her parched throat, and her terror-stricken soul, but her ordeal had started with a bowl of her favorite dessert. Maybe another lookalike would visit her again if she partook in the treat. She took the napkin from the table and wiped her brow and neck.

She turned to look out of the window again. Was the wolf watching from a hiding place nearby? Was the ice cream part of its trap and the other girl a lure to get her out into the forest?

Who was that other girl? Why did she look like me? What happened to her face? she wondered.

There were no answers. Her happy sanctuary had become gloomy, and it was time to leave. She sat long enough for her breathing to slow and her body to stop shaking. When she felt stable enough, she stood and walked to the counter where she had been sitting to eat her ice cream. She stared into the mirror behind the counter.

“I want to go home!” she tearfully said out loud. She turned to one side and walked along the counter to a side door. She opened it and exited, closing the door behind her.

Kenny abruptly woke from his dream and involuntarily yelled, “No, don’t go there!” He sat up and tried to make sense of what he had just seen. In his dream, he felt she had looked into the mirror as if through a window and stared directly at him. The angel who had brought him joyful images and restful sleep was now possibly...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.8.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-9180-4 / 1667891804
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-9180-4 / 9781667891804