Free The Raven Mocker by Aiden James

spirit guides for help, the answer remained just beyond her awareness. Part of the answer to the riddle was missing. Aside from the harsh lecture she planned to give her grandfather for hiding what had obviously been going on for a while now, she berated herself in silence for ignoring her intuitions and instead believing his statements that “everything’s just fine”. While seething about this, all at once the message from the birds became clear.
    “ Grandpa—we need to get in touch with Dr. Kirkland, and David! They’re both in grave danger!!” she told him, raising her voice above the din that threatened to engulf the cabin and everyone inside.
    “ I’ve been trying to do just that for the past two weeks!” John replied, perhaps more harshly than he intended. “Dr. Kirkland’s out of town, I think, and I can’t get a hold of David! The line just crackles…crackles like—”
    “ It did back in October?” Evelyn interrupted, finishing his sentence. “S hit!!”
    She ran her hands through her hair, seeing in her mind’s eye the implications of what this all meant.
    “ Evelyn— wait!” John warned her. “Wait until this passes!”
    He couldn’t stop her impulsive urge to run and grab his phone, to make the calls he didn’t complete. No sooner than she picked up the phone and prepared to dial Peter Kirkland’s number herself, a sudden flash of light flew through the room, knocking the phone from her hand and killing the electricity in the house. Immersed in darkness except for the fire that still burned in the fireplace, she scurried back to where her sister and grandfather huddled by the hearth.
    “ Wait! …You must wait until the anisgina’s fury passes over us,” he told her, his eyes filled with compassion.
    This time she heeded his advice, while the sound of angry hornets descended from the roof of the darkened cabin.
     
     
     
    Chapter Nine
     
     
    The doorbell rang just before eight o’clock that night at the Hobbs residence in Littleton, announcing the arrival of Sara Palmer. The family gathered in the living room with Janice, trying to enjoy the strawberry mousse she’d prepared. Still on edge…everyone waited for the slightest hint of another frightful disturbance like what happened that morning.
    After a later start than planned, an afternoon of Christmas shopping with Ruth proved to be a welcome distraction, and David treated the family as promised to an excellent steak dinner at the Mercantile in downtown Denver. Afterward they had just enough time to navigate the Sunday evening Christmas traffic rush to get home in time to meet Sara, who graciously agreed to come out to the house and meet with them.
    “ Well, Merry Christmas!” she said, as soon as Miriam opened the front door. Snow flurries swirled around Sara, dancing as a chorus-line of miniature white crystals as they alighted on her coat and knitted cap when she stepped through the doorway. “‘Sorry to hear what’s been happening lately. I can already feel the presence you told me about earlier today.”
    Blond with bright green eyes, Sara Palmer was a stoutly built, though attractive, woman in her early forty’s. Dressed for the evening’s chill, amethyst crystal earrings dangled beneath her navy cap, matching the necklace visible inside her coat. The jewelry was the only thing that pointed to her Wiccan affiliation, leaving her easy smile and soft voice to disarm most anyone offended by her vocation as a professional paranormal investigator and healer. It was enough to win Miriam over when the two met back in October, through Janice, and they had become close friends since.
    Sara looked warily passed Miriam to the staircase leading upstairs on the left side of the foyer, and then glanced toward the dining room. Janice emerged from the living room on the right.
    “ Would you like some dessert?” she offered, stepping around Miriam, who closed the front door behind Sara. “I’ve made a splendid