The Keepers Files 1.5 A Holding Kate Series Book Read online

  THE KEEPERS FILES 1.5

  Copyright © 2014 LaDonna Cole

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Published by

  HWV Productions

  Print Edition ISBNs

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9912335-1-9

  ISBN-10: 0991233514

  To the Musers,

  the Keepers of my files

  THE IMMORTAL SONG

  Hold me close, fly with me

  Across immortal portals free.

  Fall into the lover’s sea.

  With lips so full of worship.

  I will hold you for all time.

  Come and press your heart to mine.

  With my promise on your breast

  I live in your nearness.

  Hold me fast, come let’s go

  Where fireflies bask in afterglow.

  My kiss enfolds the tender soul

  In bliss so full of worship.

  A FLASH OF lightning tossed shadow spikes through the dark office. Peals of thunder vibrated the weeping windows as the storm raged against the mansion. Mama Ty lifted weary eyes to the clock on the mantle.

  1 AM.

  She sighed, hit the print button and stood. Aching bones and strained muscles defined her last few years as administrator at Heartwork Village. She pressed her knuckles into the small of her back and kneaded at the coiled muscles. Stepping to the window, she peered through sheets of rain to Main Street. All the lights were out except for a small glow emanating through the stained glass windows of the chapel.

  Chaplain Wright worked late most nights. This stormy one was no exception. He’s the man for the job. A tough decision, she had the cowboy preacher or the ex-marine security chief, Charlie Goshen, to choose from as her temporary replacement. Both more than qualified for the job, they would do exactly as she asked, and more importantly, would ask few questions that she just couldn’t answer.

  I’m getting ahead of myself, she chided. She had planned for any contingency. This one was so far down the road that it lacked urgency to even consider at this point. Anything could happen between now and then. The printer spit out her letter and she picked it up to read it once more, checking for errors and typos.

  Mama Ty slipped the letter into the folder jacket with the resumes of the Keepers and dossiers of the Inner Circle. She would add the training reports over the next three weeks and then send the packet to corporate headquarters. The Keepers would be deep undercover by that time.

  She carried the folder to the safe tucked behind a painting of three striking women and a young girl swallowed in a billow of red curls. A plaque attached to the bottom of the frame entitled it, Four Souls. Mama Ty stared at the painting for a long moment, then swung it out. She tapped the code into the keypad and a small section of the wall disappeared, revealing the safe. She tucked the file inside.

  “Ale avèk Bondye,” she murmured.

  THE KEEPERS TEAM is divided into two distinct groups. The first group consists of two teens and two twenty-year olds who traveled via quantum sphere into a jump that lasted 212 years. They gained invaluable life experience during that time. They are treated as adults and allowed to make decisions for themselves.

  SHANNA STEPPED OUT onto the back porch dressed in khaki shorts, hiking boots, and a light blue t-shirt. Her hair sprayed from a pony tail, and she carried a small backpack with water and apples tucked inside. Rick sat on an Adirondack chair on the back porch waiting for her.

  He stood and produced a ball cap out of his back pocket. “You are going to need this or your nose will burn.” He set the cap on top of her head, took the backpack from her and swung it onto his shoulders.

  Shanna pulled her ponytail through the back of the cap, slipped on her sunshades, and said, “Lead the way, Kemosabe.”

  Rick raised his eyebrows quickly twice and took Shanna’s hand, leading her down the porch steps and out into the back woods.

  The mammoth trees swayed in the gentle summer breeze and dappled sunlight played across the needle-strewn path. They walked slowly hand in hand for a long time, enjoying the forest sounds around them. The squirrels chattered in the vaulted limbs above them, and robins sang sweetly as the hikers passed beneath.

  “You know, Shan, quantum theory is over a hundred years old, and we still don’t understand much about it. I think I will restrict your education to how it applies to the event in the lake.” Rick helped Shanna over a rocky ledge and then tucked her arm under his as they continued down the hill.

  “Sounds good,” Shanna agreed.

  Rick took a deep breath. “There are five main ideas represented in quantum theory. One, energy is not continuous. It comes in small but discrete units.”

  Shanna nodded.

  “Two, there are particles and there are waves.” He checked to see if she followed. “Three, these particles move randomly, by their nature. Four, it is physically impossible to know both the position and the momentum of a particle at the same time. In fact, the more you know about one, the less you can know about the other.”

  “Uh hmm.” Shanna furrowed her brow.

  “Five, the atomic world is nothing like the world we live in.”

  “Well, at least I can grasp number five.” Shanna smiled.

  Rick chuckled. “Okay, so if you observe these particles and waves, they blink into existence, otherwise they continue on about their random wanderings.”

  “The filthy strumpets,” Shanna piped.

  “Yes, well.” Rick gave her a playful frown. “Anyway, if you observe one of these subatomic particles, it becomes manifest.”

  “What do you mean if you observe it, then it becomes?”

  “Well, if you perform an experiment, say, and observe a random movement of the subatomic particle or wave, then it becomes what you observed. Otherwise it is happy to continue in its indefinable state.”

  “Whoa, that is really weird!”

  “You think?” Rick cocked his head wondering if he explained it poorly. “All of these particles are linked somehow. They seem to know where the other ones are. There is an unknown element that ties together all subatomic particles.”

  “So this is scientific theory, not just science fiction?” Shanna stopped in her tracks.

  “Yes, Shan, the greatest minds that existed studied quantum physics: Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Max Planck. This isn’t just a freaky alien TV show.”

  “So you’re saying that my father had an experience at the lake and sought to explain it through science.” Shanna started to feel a release in her chest.

  They came to a large boulder situated under a sprawling oak overlooking a secluded crescent-shaped meadow. Rick hopped up on the boulder and then lifted Shanna to join him. He shrugged off the backpack and fished out two water bottles. Shanna took off her sunglasses and tucked one handle down the front of her t-shirt and pulled off her cap. They each took a swig from the water bottles and twisted the lids back on. Shanna pulled her knees up under her chin and rested her head on them, arms wrapped tightly around her shins.

  She sat in that position watching the wildflowers in the meadow sway with the breeze and cloud shadows shift across the field. Her mind found solace in the thought that her fathe
r had not been crazy after all. Which meant this handsome and affectionate man sitting next to her was probably not crazy either. She sighed, relieved at both prospects.

  “So your theory is what, that somehow through these subatomic particles you can hear a woman singing from another county or state?”

  “Or dimension.”

  “Dimension?” Shanna backpedaled toward crazy again.

  “Remember, the atomic world is nothing like our world. It is possible that another dimension of reality exists side by side with our own.”

  “So a woman in another dimension can be heard singing in our pond because of quantum physics?”

  “In theory, because remember, all particles and waves are interconnected.” Rick spoke softly with several pauses. She was glad. It allowed the words to find a resting place in her mind and imagination before he rushed to another wild theory.

  Shanna turned her head and rested her cheek on her knee and studied Rick. His face was deeply tanned, and he had tiny creases starting in the corners of his eyes. He returned her gaze with interest and intensity.

  “The woman in the lake is there, because Dad observed her.” Shanna’s lower lip quivered and she leaned into Rick. “Confusing.”

  He wrapped his arm around her and she rested her head in the crook of his arm. He pulled her tightly against himself and kissed her hair. They comforted each other with soft words and caresses and let the shared loss of her dad become a lighter burden in the sharing.

  They reclined on the sofa for a long time very aware of the savory tension swirling in the air around them. Rick wrapped his arm around Shanna’s waist and pulled her close, covering her arm with his and entwining his fingers through hers, his hand protectively enclosing her hand. Shanna stared at their hands for awhile, watching the pulse in his veins slow gradually.

  “Tell me more about quantum theory,” Shanna hummed, craning her neck around toward him.

  “Okay,” he spoke softly and leaned down to kiss her ear. “Well, did you know that every subatomic particle is made of superstrings? They are tiny donut-shaped dots of energy that spin at a frequency or vibrate on a pitch.” His breath warmed her ear.

  “Like a song?” She lifted her head into his whispered caresses.

  “Yeah, of course they aren’t real in this dimension until someone observes them. Then the quantum wave or particle collapses by that observation, we call it popping a qwiff.”

  “Popping a qwiff,” Shanna reiterated, almost a hum.

  “Yeah, so when you pop a qwiff, you observe the particle singing and it becomes something in our reality.”

  “So basically hearing the particle song causes something to cross into our dimension?”

  “That is the theory, well in its most basic, simplistic, and-completely-elementary-to-the-point-of-really-showing-a-complete-lack-of-understanding form.”

  “Well, as long as I am truly getting it, right?” Shanna joked.

  “Right.” Rick grinned and pulled her tighter to him.

  “This reminds me of something I heard in Mass once.”

  “Seriously, your priest was versed in quantum theory?” Rick chuckled.

  “No, I doubt it. But he said one time that the Bible said to call those things that are not, as though they were, and then he said something about ‘God has chosen things which are invisible to zero out those things which are visible.’”

  “Sounds like quantum theory to me,” Rick agreed.

  “Hmmm.” Shanna sat there deep in thought, trying to make sense of everything. Quantum this and qwiff that jumbled around in her brain. She felt she had a very basic understanding of what Rick knew and not quite sure she bought into the whole quantum theory as a science thing. But truth rang through the words that she could not explain.

  ©Excerpt from Threshold, Tsian the Wise, Sisterhood of the Sword Saga, by LaDonna Cole

  HEARTWORK VILLAGE IS a Residential Recovery facility for teens who have had difficulty with transition or who have experienced great loss. The village has utilized quantum technology through stabilized jump spheres that was developed over the last 100 years. The spheres carry the facility residents in teams through obstacles that bring them to a place of recovery through emotive educational experiences.

  The scientist credited for the discovery of the quantum veil is Richard J. Wilson, PhD, who pioneered the science of sphere mechanics in quantum streaming. He was a tenured professor at Georgetown University and lived in First Cabin with his wife Shanna Wisenberg Wilson, the first known person to cross into another dimension through the quantum veil.

  TSIAN’S CROSSING

  Shanna woke late in the night. She was hot and sweaty pressed against Rick. The fire had died down but the room still blazed. Carefully slipping out from under Rick’s arm, not wanting to wake him, Shanna crept to the front door and opened it to let in some of the breeze.

  The cool night air hit her face and buffeted her hair away from her sticky neck. She stretched and enjoyed the refreshing breeze. Stepping out onto the porch, she yawned, drawing the cooling draft deeply into her lungs. She turned to go back inside when she heard it.

  Shanna stilled and listened. The wind rushed through the trees and the crickets played their accompaniment. She had just about convinced herself that she had heard nothing when the wind carried the lyrical refrain to her again.

  It was music. She glanced in all directions wondering if a radio or something played but could not locate the source of the sound. She listened more intently to the strangest music she had ever heard. Sounds in frequencies that should not be possible to hear with the human ear trilled through the grass and onto the porch where she listened. Intermingled in the music harmonized a crashing surf, a choir of children’s voices, a deep guttural rending, a tinkling high-pitched crystal, the fracturing of an iced-over lake, and the music! Oh! A woman’s voice resounded in ethereal tones. So hauntingly compelling, it rose in waves of ecstasy and descended to near whispered refrain. The song defined beauty and purity, life and light.

  Light? Shanna tilted her head as the pond drew her focus. A blue glow in the center of the lake pulsed in cadence with the song. Bare feet whispered in the dewy grass as she made her way to the pier and strained to see the phenomenon.

  Curious and wanting to investigate, she stepped into the fishing boat, released the docking rope, and rowed to the center of the lake where the pulsing luminescence throbbed rhythmically with the enchanting voice of the lady.

  She rowed directly over the blue light and back paddled to bring the boat to a stop. Setting down the oar, she leaned over to gaze into the cerulean incandescence. The glow beamed out of the lake onto her face, revealing a mirrored image in the water, dancing with the ripples as the music vibrated the surface of the pool.

  What should have been her own reflection startled her. She gasped and threw her hand up to touch her face.

  The image in the water mimicked her motions and expression, but the face reflecting back to her was that of a child of about 8 years. Shanna leaned closer to better see this strange spectacle. She reached out her hand toward the surface and saw that the child reached toward her in echo. The music pulsed and danced around her and called to her with a very primal intensity. Feeling timeless, as young as a babe and as ancient as time itself, Shanna felt drawn inexplicably to the girl in the night lake.

  Stars danced in the ripples around the mystical and magical child of light. The otherworldly music drew at her spirit, compelling her to be noble, pure, and whole. Tears ran down Shanna’s cheeks as the music washed over her soul in waves of truth, peace, and love. She had never felt this before. She had never known such a pure and true love. She could not get enough of it. It broke over her, filling her spirit to the point she thought she would not be able to take anymore or she would burst into pure energy, and yet the song continued and the infilling continued, growing ever deeper. It filled her so completely that there was no corner or crevice of her heart that had not been scoured, illuminated, and fille
d with holy presence.

  She longed to touch the child. She seemed so real, yet so surreal. They stretched their hands to one another. When Shanna’s palm broke the surface of the numinous pool, a mighty force latched onto her and wrenched her from the boat. She pierced the plane of the lake, drawn deeper and deeper into the cerulean light song.

  She knew she should struggle, fight for life, but the deep blue was too compelling and it drew her down and deeper into its pulsating warmth. The thought crossed her mind that she was probably dying, but the blanket of peace wrapping her prevented all alarm. She willingly and eagerly drew the liquid into her lungs, drinking the tranquility in insatiable gratitude.

  Soon I will be with father, she reasoned, not afraid of that prospect. The blue song wrapped her tightly in a cocoon of wholeness, love, and healing peace. Shanna knew joy and crossed over.

  Rick woke at the sound of the crickets and shivered. He sat up expecting to see Shanna nearby. She was not. The door stood wide open. He pushed himself off of the couch and walked out onto the porch. Something on the lake caught his eye. The moon’s blue glow seemed radiant and illuminated someone in the boat. He squinted his eyes and focused through the mist that crept along the shoreline. A flash of strawberry blond curls whipped in the breeze and he realized Shanna was in the boat on the lake. He walked down the path to the pier and strained to see what she was doing. Just as he got to the end of the pier, she leaned over the edge of the boat and fell into the water.

  He laughed. “Shan, what are you doing out here?” Crazy girl, serves you right, getting out in the middle of the night. He expected her to break to the surface sputtering and spewing water any second. She did not resurface.

  “Shan?” He began to get worried. The blue light died down and faded and he realized that it was not just the reflection of the moon on the water. It must have been the event, the quantum flux. “Shanna!” Rick dove in the water and swam wildly toward the boat. “Oh God! Shanna!” he shouted.