Maya in the Nimbus Valley: The City of Forgotten Spirits

By Albina Ramey

Maya is a special 11-year-old girl. Diagnosed with scoliosis as a baby, she is still a spunky, impulsive dreamer who decides to meet with her mother, who has been separated from her earthly domain. Maya has never known her, but she soon finds out her mother is a Spirit Flora of the Earth. She comes to her in human form and takes Maya to a hidden place created by Mother Nature as the last refuge for forgotten spirits. There, Maya visits the Season Palace, Elements, and Mother Nature herself. While Maya faces great challenges, she adventures with the help of some old Russian folklore figures, as well as friends Snowy, Windy, and Frosty, the spirits of winter. Maya's life in Nimbus, the city of forgotten spirits, becomes an unexpected adventure where she finds herself in the middle of a great plot created by Spirit's great enemy, Almighty Time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781645365631

Albina Ramey

Albina Ramey was born in Ukraine in 1971. She grew up in the era of classicism and is an artist by nature with great influence of folk tales of Ukrainian and Russian authors such as a Gogol, Pushkin, and many more. She dreamed to be a restorer of antiquities. In 1989, as she finished high school, her life twisted in a different direction. After Ukraine declared its independence, the country fell into a hard and harsh economic depression. She, like many other young people of those times, sunk in life. There was no opportunity to work or continue education. To make a living, she took on many jobs in different fields but she felt like she could do so much more with her life. In 1998, her life took a turn as she got an opportunity to move to the United States, where she went to college to become a surgical technologist. Working as a caregiver of labor and delivery, and with the knowledge and influence of Slavic fairy-tales, she began to get a true appreciation of life in the way of birth and the miraculous force in a tiny baby's fight for survival, which Albina Ramey took as a starting point for this allegoric story. Learning about nature spawned the inspirational idea for a story in which a little girl named Maya's life in Nimbus, the city of forgotten spirits, becomes an unexpected adventure.

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About the Author

Albina Ramey was born in Ukraine in 1971. She grew up in the era of classicism and is an artist by nature with great influence of folk tales of Ukrainian and Russian authors such as a Gogol, Pushkin, and many more. She dreamed to be a restorer of antiquities. In 1989, as she finished high school, her life twisted in a different direction. After Ukraine declared its independence, the country fell into a hard and harsh economic depression. She, like many other young people of those times, sunk in life. There was no opportunity to work or continue education. To make a living, she took on many jobs in different fields but she felt like she could do so much more with her life. In 1998, her life took a turn as she got an opportunity to move to the United States, where she went to college to become a surgical technologist. Working as a caregiver of labor and delivery, and with the knowledge and influence of Slavic fairy-tales, she began to get a true appreciation of life in the way of birth and the miraculous force in a tiny baby’s fight for survival, which Albina Ramey took as a starting point for this allegoric story. Learning about nature spawned the inspirational idea for a story in which a little girl named Maya’s life in Nimbus, the city of forgotten spirits, becomes an unexpected adventure.

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to my very dear husband, Wayne. L. Ramey, who never stopped believing in me as an author, and my lovely niece, Jessica Ramey Colecchi, who gave Maya her wings.

Copyright Information ©

Albina Ramey (2020)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Ordering Information:

Quantity sales: special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Ramey, Albina

Maya in the Nimbus Valley

ISBN 9781643789262 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781643789255 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781645365631 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020900683

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published (2020)

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 28th Floor

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

Acknowledgment

I would like to acknowledge Senior Editor Nikki Main, the production team, and everyone at Austin Macauley Publishers.

Austin Macauley is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In this spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone. Austin Macaulay Publishers will not be liable for any and all claims or causes of action, known or unknown, arising out of the contents of this book.

Chapter 1

Maya

Maya wakes late in the morning, and stretches in her bed. Her first thought is about the first day of summer break, and the lazy mornings ahead. She slides her legs down off the bed, and looks around her room. Her luggage bag stands in the corner, set and ready. Today is a big day for the eleven-year-old girl, who is going to see her long-gone mother. Maya knows her mother little to none. From time to time, she tries recalling memories of her mother, the vague beautiful face that comes to her from memories.

She was only six years old when her mother left her, and since then, Maya had not heard anything from her mother for years—not even a Christmas card. Maya grew up with her father, who had come to be Maya’s everything, her world. She never knew how much her father loved her mother, but after her mother left, Maya saw that he never wanted to date, or even tried to meet with another woman. In fact, he kept his wedding ring like she was still around. He always said to others, he already has the most beautiful young lady in his life, pointing to Maya.

After many years and little hope of seeing her mother, Maya held little or no hope to seeing her mother at all. However, on her eleventh birthday, Maya received a very strange letter in the mail: it was addressed to her. It was simply folded, had no visible return address, and it was written in blue moonlight ink. It was from her mother.

The first time her father spoke to Maya about her mother with great affection, was in the form of a story coming from his heart. The story was about love between a common man, and the Goddess Flora. Fairytale love changed his life forever by giving him a daughter. Flora taught him how to see beauty of nature that is so often hidden from others. As he told Maya the story, he showed her a contract which had allowed her mother to be in the human form for only six years. Ever since the day he told her this story, Maya felt deep inside that her father kept believing that there was a blessing and a curse for his love.

Maya was born with disability as their punishment. Maya had a curve in her back that worried her parents. At the doctor’s office, Maya had some X-rays taken and was finally diagnosed with scoliosis, a curvature of the spine which over time grew into the hump on her back.

However, soon they both found out Maya was not just an ordinary child; she was born with a special gift to see the spirits in physical appearances. After her mother had left, little spirits, in forms of wild animals, began appearing to Maya during the winter time. As time went on, she could see them in many different forms. One of them, the spirit of the snow, named Snegurochka, appeared to Maya as a girl with watery blue eyes, and a dreamy look on her pale face. She was wearing a hat fur-trimmed and crowned by diadem made of ice crystals. She was dressed in very unusual style white, long coat; it was outlined with fur, and had sleeves as long as coat’s length with a simple cut for arms up to elbow and free looped on her back. She looked fragile and gentle, but at the same time, strong. She always came to the Earth in the way of a calm and heavy snowfall. Usually, she would bring with her a little cousin ‘Frosty’—an early fall frost also known as the spirit of frost. To Maya, he was a gifted artist in the way he could decorate neighboring woods in magical white crystals. Over time, Snegurochka and Frosty, they became not just her guardians from spiritual world, but very good friends which came every winter. Frosty occasionally told Maya about a world in the clouds with a magical place called Nimbus Valley.

The noise from downstairs disrupts Maya’s thought. It is her father making breakfast before they have to leave. Her father calls Maya to come down for breakfast. As always, he makes her favorite pancakes and hot chocolate. She indulges with a great appetite. In an hour, they are on their way to Lake Erie to relax, and they will finally meet with her mother.

Chapter 2

The Place of Magic

The trip to Lake Erie takes only a couple of hours. A swift ferry takes Maya and her father, along with a few other tourists, to the village of Put in Bay. The village is located on South Bass Island, and is one of many Lake Erie islands. The high waves of the lake with force break over the front of the ferry in a fine mist of fresh water constantly splashing cars and washing over the ferry deck. The blue sky, bright sun, and fresh green leaves of the trees all point to the beginning of the upcoming summer, but are quickly spoiled by unfriendly and cold northern wind, and the cool water of the lake raging from a recent storm. Hiding her cold hands in an oversized-hooded sweater, Maya and her father sit on the upper deck talking about the weather while trying to stay warm.

Maya, you are possibly the only child who can see the world of spirits, and possibly be the only a child up there. Her father gleams with excitement pointing with his finger into the sky.

I would be the only one, Maya says with awe in her voice as she looks up into the cloudy sky.

The summer isn’t as warm as one would expect. The strong gusty winds, and often with cold rain showers, followed by low temperatures one day, rapidly change to scorching heat in the next one. Early in the summer season the town of Put in Bay is still very quiet. They plan to stay there for three days. The first two days had promised good weather, but rain showers keep them inside the hotel room. In between rain, they spend time driving all over the island looking for a spot where they can catch good views of the sunset. To their surprise, there are not many places on the west side of the island. They find one campground still empty due to the cold weather. They spend two evenings there, but nothing unusual happens due to skies completely covered with a thick blanket of clouds, and pop-up thunder storms.

Freezing from the cold evenings, they return back to the hotel with disappointment.

What exactly are we looking for? Maya asks, covering herself in a warm cardigan.

I really don’t know…some sign of some sort. Her father says going through TV channels trying to find one of his favorite programs.

"Your mother always said, ’you need follow her up to the sun by the golden way if you want to find the city in the sky of forgotten spirits.’ That’s only what I know, Pumpkin." says her father.

Well, it’s getting a little late. You need to go to sleep, he says, turning off the TV.

The sound of thunder booms outside hinting the upcoming storm. Maya begins to have the same dream from her childhood where she would hear the familiar words carried by a swarm of lightning bugs:

"Lightening bugs, lightening bugs

The messenger of the night

Show me the way to the secret place

Where there is no sickness or death

Just light."

Maya awakes early in the morning to the sound of an incoming message on her cell phone. She opens her eyes and looks to the side. The bed next to her is empty. Her father has already left the room. Maya sits up in her bed looking through the messages on her phone. One is from her father.

Good morning sunshine. I am at the restaurant where we ate pizza last night, drinking my coffee. Come join me.

Maya closes her phone rub her eyes. It’s hard to wake up so early in the morning, she thinks. She swings her feet down from the bed, and stretches from side to side to ease her numb back with hump. Half-asleep, she moves her toes around until they stumble upon something soft and poofy. Maya moves her slippers into a position where she can put her little feet in them. Shuffling her feet against the carpet, she walks to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. Once she finishes with her morning routine, she stretches her arms like a bird. The sharp pains in her back make her shrug. The hotel bed does not seem to be any good to her back. In normal circumstances, the pain eventually goes away on its own, but staying in same place for several days makes it worse.

After she slowly dresses, she goes back to the room to look in the luggage for her pain medication. She looks from pocket to pocket trying to remember in which of them she packed the plastic bottles. Suddenly, she touches something warm. It is a letter in a familiar yellow envelope she received in the mail several months earlier from her mysterious mother. Every letter of every word in the letter and on the envelop burning from within. The letter reflects a little girl’s face reminding her why they had come to the island in the first place. The flashbacks of earlier events remain fresh in her memory. She still has nightmares of the crashing dome, and the spirit of snow, Snegurochka, who saved her life and became her friend.

The life spirit appeared in the single human form of a girl, and can be seen only by Maya. She had read the fairy tales from many different cultures about the spirits coming to her rescue when she needed it most. Maya’s memory instantly produces the pale face of the spirit with watery blue eyes. She seems so light and fragile at first, but yet displays strength and power. With her little cousin, Frosty, the two help her get to safety. Once more, Maya reads the letter from her mysterious mother.

Maya, my dear child, I have missed you tremendously. I know this letter finds you well, although I’m sure your heart has many questions for me. I would like you to come and visit me at my home. It is called, The Seasons Palace in the Nimbus Valley. We are hosting games for our new millennium in the months of July and August. There will be huge celebrations, but one in particular is the Celebration of Harvesting, which is when the seed is taken from the Tree of Life by the champion of the game. The seed is then presented to the Earth. Please come and I look forward to seeing you again.

P.S Darling, Happy Birthday!

Love you always.

Your mother, Flora

After she finishes reading the letter, she puts it back in the luggage, takes her pills and leaves the room. She is going to the different world that exists, and she will enter sometime soon.

Maya walks through the little town, quiet and empty from tourists. Put in Bay has a northern charm and relaxing feeling in the morning hours when most population of the town is still asleep. Maya stumbles upon a cozy little Italian restaurant where a few local people sit by the bar, drinking their coffee and reading the morning newspaper. Her father sees her and waves to Maya from the bar where he is