The Gemini Child Read online

  The Gemini Child

  By

  Shea Meadows

  This book is dedicated to the wisdom of children throughout the world.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Acknowledgments

  From the Author

  Quick Guide to Unusual Characters and Places

  * * *

  Chapter 1

  He exists on the other side of the world, and often in another dimension, but feels a constant tug, a spiritual umbilical cord, that keeps him attached to the house. There is something that belongs to him. Soon there will be a member of his progeny returning to live there. Even though they are both of another century, she will always be his offspring and must respect his authority.

  Time and space are nothing. He is linked to events. The event most fortuitous will be the child’s birth. It will be her second life under the copper-clad roof of the house. This time, he is not her father, but that doesn’t matter. His will supersedes whatever plans others might have for her or any she has for herself.

  He looks around the subterranean space he has chosen for his retreat. The remains of an ancient Chinese tomb-not far from the excavation of the terracotta warriors-is his favorite place to contemplate. Thank the powers of the ancient gods that this small cavern is undiscovered. He has disguised his presence by moving to a higher frequency. This is a safe way to avoid detection. He has primarily dwelled within his cocoon since 1942. It was difficult to be around incarnates. But if he is to reclaim his prize, and make future incarnations more productive, it is time to return to America. The prize is waiting for him as it has been since his death. With one of his family about to be reborn, there was an opening he intends to use. And to think, he had almost done away with the child before her birth but fate stayed his hand.

  * * *

  Chapter 2

  June 2004

  Even with air conditioning at full blast, Ricky sweltered in her gigantic Vikings night shirt as she tried to sleep. She had never been pregnant before, and was not used to her over-sized body, which had slowed her down to a stumble and a crawl.

  Usually, she was an active woman, having taken over the leadership of Moon Angel Spiritual Network after the death of her sister in 2002. Her long black hair, so rich and flowing before, was up in a topknot so it wouldn’t sit damply on her face. Her green eyes were bloodshot and her face puffy. She no longer looked like the slim, elegant woman she was when she met David.

  Ricky’s now husband had been the detective assigned to the investigation of Moon’s seemingly accidental death. They had grown to love each other as he had helped her find the other-worldly culprit who had been attempting to link every living person to a ghost. Ricky had never thought she would bond with all of Moon’s spirit communicator friends, but she did, and they were able to stop the villain and save hundreds of innocent people from enslavement to ghosts with an agenda.

  All the excitement from the last two years played out in her mind as she attempted to get some rest. She tossed and turned in bed as David snored away, making little puffs from his mouth on the exhale. Couples liked to say “we’re pregnant” but the husband didn’t feel the impact of turning into something the size of a rhino.

  Ricky was out of her body more than she was in it, using the techniques she had learned from Moon and her teachers. Out of body trips made it bearable in the hot Minneapolis weather. Summer had arrived in early May and on the first hot day their air conditioner had died. The York Street house was over ninety years old, and both the air and the furnace needed replacing. Thank Spirit their finances were more than adequate to get the repairs done. Moon had left her sister a fortune as a thank you for taking over the ghostly assignments that popped up more frequently than imaginable. It was a good thing, too. The work was costly and the house expensive to maintain. The newest appliance upgrades created many other jobs for the contractors they hired, as the work progressed. It involved breaking up concrete in the cellar and replacing wiring and plumbing in many areas of the house. Old houses ate money; it was a fact of life.

  Ricky called out to her identical twin sister, who was a permanent resident of spirit world. No answer, which was frustrating. Ricky seemed to need Moon’s help the last few days for doing things she’d mastered right after she took over the network, like leaving her body and traveling to other dimensions. Something was shifting, but Ricky was clueless as to what. Nellie was silent. This was strange because her daughter-to-be had chattered for the last month. Ever since Nellie had summoned her to the meeting cave where she had told Ricky they were going to be mother and daughter, the conversation was non-stop.

  Ricky smiled when she thought about that meeting. She had returned from presenting a seminar in New York, bone tired. The weather hadn’t yet changed Minneapolis into a concrete oven, but the third trimester of pregnancy was starting. Her body no longer seemed like a friendly place to hang out. She jumped at the invitation from spirit world where all she had to carry around was her etheric body and the temperature was always perfect.

  Nellie had given her the happy news that Ricky and David were to be her parents in her next incarnation. Being Nellie, the soon-to-be-baby had figured out ways to skirt the rules about the “veil of forgetfulness” that most humans abide by when returning to earth. Nellie was given permission to remember her last life in the house on York Street both as a child and later as a ghost who living the house where she grew up. Ricky was concerned about that, but since Moon had volunteered to be Nellie’s spirit guide, she and David would have constant help from the higher frequencies.

  One more month of this, Ricky thought as she shifted in bed. The baby would be a Cancer according to the doctor’s estimates, her birth day being projected as July twentieth. Tomorrow would be Ricky and Moon’s birthday, June twentieth. David had hinted about plans involving swimming with friends, then dinner, and surprises yet to be revealed. Ricky sighed. David wanted to do something fun, and they hadn’t been to a lake with a beach since right after their wedding. But in this weather and her eight months pregnant? She hoped he’d bring a chaise lounge lawn chair to put in the shallow water near the shore line. She could lay on it and let water cover her protruding abdomen.

  David rolled over, stretched, then muttered something about Chester in his sleep, and searched for her body next to his so he could wrap his arms around her. He took his responsibilities as her husband, body guard and business partner very seriously. He still had flashbacks to that difficult time when they were trapped out-of-body on the planet Prime where the Soul Stealer planned to enslave them. Ricky had pretty much put that adventure behind her.

  It was too hot to spoon. As much as she loved David, cuddling was not her favorite activity at the moment. She felt pressure in her abdomen, alerting her to bodily needs, so she extracted his arm, pushed to the edge of the bed and stumbled toward the master bathroom attached to their room. This used to be Moon’s house and Moon’s room, but Ricky and David had felt uncomfortable in it when it contained everything Moon. Most of the house was still the same, but the bedroom reflected their individual preferences.

  She turned on the bath
room light, leaving the door ajar, and lowered her elephant-sized body to the toilet. A sharp pain tightened every organ in her body, and a cascade of clear fluid streamed out of her womb. Not urine, she thought, amniotic fluid. Guess Nellie wants to be born.

  “David, I need you. Nellie made a mess in the bathroom,” Ricky called out. No answer from the bedroom. “David, our daughter needs our help,” she called again, trying to remain calm. No answer. “David, get in here!” she screamed as she hit the metal wastebasket with a brush from the vanity. That did the trick.

  David lunged into the bathroom, his bare chest dripping with sweat, his black hair in disarray and his blue eyes wide with panic. “Is someone attacking you?”

  “No dear heart, it’s Nellie; she’s breaking out of confinement a month early. Careful, the floor is wet,” she cautioned, then grabbed her abdomen as it contracted again. “That’s about three minutes since the first one. Nellie never fools around when she makes up her mind.”

  David supported her as she walked to the bedroom, helped her into a shift and sandals, and called out for their friends Dylan and Jessica Patton who were using a room across the hall until their new apartment was ready. Jessica rushed in and took over the Ricky prep project and Dylan pulled on some yoga pants and ran out to start the car.

  It took fifteen minutes for them to reach the hospital, and the contractions were a minute apart; not enough time to contact the midwife Ricky had lined up to help with the planned home birth. As they pulled into the emergency entrance Ricky could hear Moon’s voice: “She’s coming, she’s coming; she’s too excited to wait any longer.”

  Baby Nellie was born in a sterile labor room with the assistance of the obstetrics resident, Dr. Jim Baxter, and then moved with her parents to a cozy “family” room on the obstetrics floor. She weighed in at five pounds, two ounces. When handed to Ricky she squirmed around and cried like any other baby, and then to the nurse’s astonishment, opened her eyes smiled and nodded her head. Her small face twisted in frustration when taken for the post-birth exam and blood draw conducted by a tall woman with thick glasses and spiky red hair, who then deposited the baby in an oxygen-equipped isolette complete with digital readouts. The incubator was wheeled next to Ricky and David. The new daddy was given permission to put cleansed hands through the ports to run a finger along the side of his little girl’s downy black hair.

  “I’m Dr. Susan Fry and will be your daughter’s pediatrician if that works for you,” the red haired woman said, as she reached out to take Ricky’s hand. “It’s an honor to meet your family and be part of the happy occasion. I used to come to Moon Angel’s public readings and have been to your seminars.”

  Moon’s voice whispered, “She’s one of those rare medical people that don’t think what we do is for crazies. You can trust her.” David heard Moon as well and nodded in agreement.

  “You come with my sister’s stamp of approval,” Ricky said with a smile. “Tell me, how is our daughter doing?”

  “You are calling her Eleanor?”

  “Yes, that’s what she wanted. I knew her when she was between lives, and she wanted that name again.”

  “And a middle name?”

  “We are using Marie, my mother’s name,” Ricky answered.

  The doctor nodded as she added this to the child’s chart. “She’s thirty-five weeks. Her Apgar score is a ten, but she’s tiny at five pounds-two ounces and nineteen inches long. We’ll let her warm up for a few minutes then bundle her and let you give her a meal. Are you breastfeeding?”

  Ricky nodded. “I see she’s sucking her hand. That’s a good sign.”

  “We’ll be watching intake. She’ll be weighed daily and seen each week. You’re an RN, right?”

  “Not practicing at present but twelve years of experience before joining my sister’s spiritual network. I was a geriatric acute care unit manager for the last ten years and trauma nurse before that, but I did a lot of research on newborns recently. Is there something I need to know?” Ricky asked.

  “Nothing to be alarmed about, other than her size. Her heart and lungs are good; we did a blood draw to see if there’s anything we need to look at. She whimpered slightly when we took the blood which is unusual. Most of them scream in protest. She smiled at me throughout the exam, eyes wide open and absorbed in everything,” Dr. Fry said, with a smile. “Not your usual preemie behavior. Looks like she’s well aware of what’s going on.”

  “Not surprised. I’m grateful it was you doing the exam. Most doctors would turn her alertness into a problem,” Ricky commented.

  Susan Fry nodded. “Majority opinion among medical doctors is if it’s different than expected it might be abnormal. But knowing who her parents are, and what kind of a soul they most likely attracted, not a surprise. I might take a little flak for my lack of alarm, but you’ve had a lot of publicity around here, taking over for your sister. Depending on the lab work and her ability to breastfeed, we will try to keep her hospital stay to a minimum, you being a nurse. Will you and David have help at home?”

  “I have someone arriving with lots of experience, but it’s a month earlier than I thought.”

  Ricky turned to David who was absorbed in the smiles of the baby. “What time is it anyway? Is it too early to call Katera?”

  Susan Fry looked up in surprise and asked a question before David had time to answer his wife. “Katera? Is she the shaman who taught you and your group to shape shift? What an amazing woman. And she has twin daughters too, doesn’t she?”

  Ricky nodded. “Yes, Katera is the one that released me from the fear that was planted in me as we were searching for the Soul Stealer in Georgia. She is the closest person to a mother that I have. She calls me ‘Dear Heart’ and her daughters do also. I call them my ‘Radiant Sisters’ since we all share the same mother.”

  David had been communing with Moon while the doctor and Ricky talked, and chuckled as he focused on what was being said in the room. “Moon tells me she’s already taken care of that. Katera and the twins are coming and should be here tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Both of you communicate with her?” Susan said her eyes wide in wonder.

  Ricky laughed, leaving the doctor a little confused. “You knew Moon’s work, Doctor, and she’s the same as she always was, only more transparent.”

  Ricky nodded. “You don’t think she’d sit by and let us do it by ourselves do you? That’s why my taking over for her has gone well.”

  Susan Fry waited until a nurse finished checking Ricky’s vitals and palpating her abdomen, then leaned in close, speaking quietly.

  “From what I read in the Spirit Communication series, the whole thing wasn’t a walk in the park. You almost ended up enslaved in another reality. Is the baby the Eleanor Reston that used to haunt your house?”

  David smiled back at the baby as she played with his finger and smiled at him. “Yup, she’s the same Nellie that trapped us in the servant’s stairs when we first met her. Didn’t you, sweetheart?” The tiny girl cooed in response.

  “She used to love playing in the pantry. I imagine she’ll gravitate toward it when she’s big enough to crawl,” Ricky added.

  Dr. Fry removed the baby from the incubator, swaddled her, put a pink cap on her downy head and handed her to Ricky. She then observed how well Nellie nursed and weighed her again following the first meal.

  “She’s gained an ounce, so she must have gotten some milk from you, which is unusual. Her temperature and vitals are perfect. You can hold her while she rests. The nurses will check every half hour to start and less as you both stabilize. If you have concerns, put your light on. You realize her weight may dip as her body adjusts to the birth process. Little ones eat often to make up for lost womb time. I’ll be back with lab results in about an hour.”

  Ricky and David sat quietly as the child cuddled up to her mother. Ricky whispered to David. “Did you hear her? All the time she was nursing, her thoughts were audible again. I missed her voice last week.”


  David nodded. “I heard she wants to be called Nory in this incarnation, to help her get used to her new persona. Your dad is spreading the word about her birth. I told him to have visitors wait until we get home from the hospital.”

  Ricky sighed. “Still haven’t heard how long they’ll keep us. The room is nice and we have a big support crew, but ghosts are wandering around, and I’m too exhausted to help them cross over.”

  David focused on a corner of the room. “There’s a baby’s spirit up near the ceiling, and Nory is out-of-body, trying to convince her she has to go back to spirit world and take another go at incarnating.”

  “That’s our daughter. She’ll fit well in the family business,” Ricky said with a smile. “I need to nod off. Could you hold the little princess while I give this body recoup time?”

  David took his daughter, not disturbing her ghost-busting project in the least, as Ricky rested until the next nurse visited.

  ***

  Little Nory, a week old, was the center of attention as she arrived at the house on York Street. Surrounded by her fan club, she endured the restraint of the car seat, chattering to those able to hear.

  Can’t wait to see Pigeon. I’ve missed her. And I was out convincing spirit babies to go over to the other side and wanted to get home so I could see if there are ghosts there. And Katera and the Radiant Sisters will be there and maybe they’ll teach me how to change into a rabbit or an owl….

  “Hold on, Nory,” Ricky whispered. “Get used to having a body again. It’s too soon for shapeshifting.” The conversation continued as Ricky realized how tricky it would be to have a daughter who remembered her former life. She could see the positive aspects of the veil of forgetfulness.

  The van drove up the narrow Minneapolis alley; David clicked the remote for the garage and George, their driver, parked. It amazed Ricky she’d lived there less than two years. She shared the close association with this space that Moon established and Nory claimed as the daughter of the original builder. She remembered Moon’s tutorial on the origins of the place they called home.