Casting Shadows: Beyond Solstice Gates

By Kimm L Reid

Today would normally be a wonderful day. After all, it is the Elliot Twin's twelfth birthday, but neither Judah nor Jennifer are in a celebrating kind of mood. You see, it is also the second anniversary of their parents' mysterious death. They died in an unexplained accident, or so it might seem! However, the soul of the twin's mamma was stolen bef

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ahelia Publishing LLC
• Release date: May 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9780994732804

Kimm L Reid

Kimm is an excellent fiction writer, bringing the story to life right in front of the reader's eyes! She began writing when her son suffered a brain injury at the age of four. As he got older Kimm noticed that he could not read the same books others his age were able to and so, after extensive tests to determine the reasons for this, the brain injury was determined. After graduating with honors with an Educational Psychology Degree (to better understand the injury and how to work with her son), she began writing books that he would be able to read. With great success, she has bloomed into more indepth fiction works and currently has a number of non-fiction projects published.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Journey to Trilleah

"C’mon, hurry up," Jennifer seethed through her clenched teeth. A watched pot never boils dear, she could remember her mamma saying before... before that stupid accident. She never knew what mamma meant by that but today as she stood grumbling to no one but herself, watching and waiting while her empty belly complained, she understood full well. The combination of missing mamma and being so very hungry made Jennifer grumpy and when Jennifer was grumpy it was a very good time to stay out of her way.

She was just nicely getting settled into the pity party she had decided to throw for herself, when Judah charged full speed through the kitchen and tripped over a pile of towels waiting to be folded. fold those while you’re down there, Jennifer snapped. Many sharp words rolled around on the edge of her tongue begging to be released all over her twin brother, but she made them keep silent.

Some days Jennifer could be so much fun-full of laughter and wisecracks and funny stories. Today did not happen to be one of those days. Judah could tell-he could always tell-but instead of leaving her to her sulking and fuming and pouting he poked at her emotions and tried to force a smile to cross her sour face. It rarely worked but that never stopped him from trying!

Now, with her annoying twin brother sprawled over the pile of unfolded towels, Judah ignored her demands. Instead of folding a towel or two, he jumped up grabbing ahold of one, twisted it tightly and whipped her in the leg. He smirked at her growly squeal, tossed the towel back onto the pile, and headed through the basement door, disappearing down the stairs.

Missed me moron! Jennifer shouted after him.

She grinned to herself because even though her leg stung sharply where the towel had indeed snapped her, Judah didn’t know it had connected. She stuck her tongue out down the stairs and said hmph, with a satisfactory feeling of victory. She kicked the pile of towels down the stairs, hollered Fold these! and slammed the door. Auntie Bella would not be happy about that but Jennifer decided then and there to blame Judah and went straight back to the stove to continue watching the pot, which had still not boiled.

She supposed she should be nice to her brother today because today was not just any day, today was her and Judah’s twelfth birthdays. Her grin faded as she remembered that it was also the second anniversary of that tragic night their parents SUV collided with the train killing them both. Two years can go so fast yet so painfully slow at the same time.

Jennifer couldn’t speak for Judah but she knew that for her, birthdays had become quite meaningless without her parents. It was as if time had dug its heels in and refused to move on. They seemed stuck, powerless to heal from such a deplorable tragedy, unwilling to go forward and unable to go back.

After sharing birthdays with Judah for eleven years, they had gotten used to it. Sometimes Jennifer wished she could have a special day just for herself. She loved her twin brother, a whole lot more since their parents were dead, but every now and then she wished she could have a birthday for herself. Today Jennifer was feeling such a hodgepodge of emotions that she wasn’t certain what she wanted-if anything at all- from this birthday.

She tried to shake all of the intruding thoughts from her parents accident from her mind, but she knew they would all be back, they always came back. Jennifer tried instead to focus on making herself some lunch to satisfy her complaining belly. She thought of making enough to share with her brother but quickly decided against it. Pity partys don’t allow for guests, she whispered into the air.

Jennifer knew she was not supposed to use the stove when her auntie Bella wasn’t home but after all, she was twelve now and decided she no longer needed babysitting for such things as cooking herself lunch.

Daydreams about how her mother might have taught her to cook if she were still here, wandered through Jennifer's mind as she stared mindlessly into the oversized pot of water on the stove. It was not boiling yet but just beginning to rumble a little around the edges.

It seemed as though the rumblings were calling to her. Jennifer...Jennifer... look at me. Look harder. Look Jennifer, look... She squinted her eyes and glanced quickly around the room but she knew that Judah wasn’t around and Bella had gone to the cemetery to stick fresh flowers on her parents graves. Bella went to the cemetery every year on this day. Jennifer knew very well that she was alone in that kitchen in their little yellow house the corner of Viewmont Lane and Mitchell Avenue.

She gazed back to the water, now furiously boiling on the stove. The voice echoed in her thoughts. It became louder and louder until its piercing cries began to hurt her head. Pressing her hands hard over her ears, Jennifer could not make the voice stop. Finally, under her breath, she looked back to the raging pot and whispered angrily, WHAT? What do you want me to see?

Look at me with the eyes of your heart and see what you must see on this sad day of remembering. See with your heart what your eyes refuse to see.

She looked and looked and looked expecting the water to boil itself dry. Instead, Jennifer noticed that the longer she looked, the more water there seemed to be and the angrier it seemed to become-now fiercely raging. Without taking her eyes off the boiling water she listened for Judah, hoping he was still busy downstairs. She heard no sounds at all from him and knew she was still alone, so she focused all her attention on the voice that continued to call to her by name.

Quite unexpectedly, and not from anything she had done, the eyes of her heart were unlocked. She saw an army bigger than her physical eyes could take in. Terrified, she choked on her own breath and forced her eyes away from the army but it was too late. Her ears had heard the pounding of their marching feet. So many feet it would take to make a sound that loud. Squeezing her eyes closed, Jennifer could shut out the sight but could not drown out the sounds of the marching. . . marching. . . marching.

Such an enormous army, Jennifer thought. Where are they going? Why are they marching? She realized that she was now talking out loud and hushed her voice, afraid Judah might run in and hear her ridiculous jibber jabber and demand to know who she was talking to. He already thought she was crazy and indeed, maybe she was!

The sounds from the army became louder and echoed inside her head. She could hear quiet chattering mingled in among the sound of their marching feet. No, it was something other than chattering. She listened closer. It was chanting. The army was chanting under their breath, as though they didn’t want to be heard but were unable to restrain their voices into silent submission.

Jennifer tried to ignore it, oh how she tried. She began to whistle in a useless attempt to drown out the sounds echoing in her head. The louder she whistled, the louder the army chanted. She looked around again to see if Judah had come looking for his lunch. She was relieved to see he still hadn’t come upstairs but she knew he’d be there soon.

For a brief moment, Jennifer’s hungry stomach was forgotten as the boiling water gently called her attention back.

Jennifer look again. Look again Jennifer. We need you. You must rescue us. You are the only one who can bring back what is lost and return what has been stolen. Jennifer’s eyes sprang open. She recognized the voice! She had heard it thousands of times as a little girl.

A sad unnoticed tear rolled down Jennifer’s rosy but hollow cheek, and fell into the water pot. Then another, and another, and another until there was a steady stream of tears.

Her father had that exact voice. Both firm and gentle at the same time. Jennifer let her mind wander to distant memories of her father-something she usually would not allow herself to do. Then again, she did not usually hear his deep voice coming from such a suspicious place.

In her memories she and Judah were on his lap, giggling and playing games. I spy with my little eye, she replayed in her memory. Jennifer always won eye spy games with her father. He could never seem to guess what she was spying. No matter how easy either she or Judah would make it for papa, giving clues and throwing a gaze towards the object, he could never guess correctly. He’d just throw his head back and laugh, squeeze them both tightly and say, Oh you trick me every time.

Now of course, being much older and much wiser, she knew that he was just playing with them. Of course he could have guessed every time if he’d really wanted to.

Jennifer always felt safe on her father’s lap. No matter what was going on around her, she knew that if she could just get to her father and crawl onto his lap, she would be safe from whatever dangers lurked in the moment. He was her whole world. Oh how heavy the beats of her heart were now that he was gone.

She recalled how he would gently tuck her under his big strong arm and let her reach up with one hand and roll his dark curly hair around her tiny fingers. Jennifer rubbed her fingers together with her thumb trying desperately to feel his curls now, but she just couldn’t make her fingers remember.

She sighed loudly, feeling his arms around her and knowing that feeling and others faded with each passing day. Jennifer was always afraid that the memories would all fade into some unreachable place in her mind but knew that remembering was far too painful to do it often enough to keep them safe from disappearing altogether.

For now, for this brief moment, Jennifer allowed herself to smell his woodsy cologne and get caught up in his soft, dancing eyes. For just a second her ears listened as her mind replayed the memories of him singing to her when she was afraid or sleepy. She was daddy’s girl-his one and only. Now he was gone forever.

Jennifer carefully packed her memories away and gazed back down at the water seething on the stove. She grabbed the dish towel, quickly wiping the tears that she hadn’t realized were escaping, as though if she could wipe them away fast enough, she could pretend they were never there.

Sniffing loudly and wiping the back of her sleeve across her nose, she was again caught up by the hypnotizing rumblings and familiar voice coming from the violent water.

Yes! Jennifer decided. She would peer one more time into the screaming pot and see where this great army was coming from, and where it was going.

Forcing her thoughts back towards the voice still replaying in her mind, Jennifer soon found she was mesmerized, unable to turn away. With her big brown eyes glued to the water she couldn’t help but notice the boiling rage had calmed into a swirling motion beckoning to her. A tunneling whirlwind had replaced the raging water and would soon carry her into a foreign land where she may discover, she did not want to be.

Come Jennifer, the voice eerily begged.

Whispering quietly to the unseen voice, I don’t know how, Jennifer’s eyes began to reflect what seemed to be a red light under the water. It was more like a pale glow coming from somewhere far beyond what she was able to take in.

It grew brighter and brighter and as she watched, blinking her eyes hard as if to make clear what they were seeing, the eyes of her heart caught sight of a creature resembling something of an overgrown white stallion, but nothing like she’d ever seen before.

It was beyond even her greatest imaginings, with its two enormous wings and two smaller wings coming from its back and two more wings wrapping themselves around the front legs of this creature. Jennifer recalled briefly that she had heard of something described in one of her children’s books that talked of just such a creature. She tried to remember which book that was, but it was much too long ago now.

With a head that looked more like a lion than a horse and red eyes with black lashes that looked like ferocious spears, Jennifer knew those eyes were the source of the red glow coming from the water.

She squeezed her eyes together one more time and violently shook her head as if to delete her thoughts. Suddenly she found herself on the back of this beautiful creature. Jennifer was whisked away to a place far beyond what her imagination could ever consider.

Down, down, down through the twisting water, as though caught in the center of a hurricane, Jennifer dug her fingers deep into the creatures mane and hung on tight. In her head she was terrified yet noticed that her heart was calm. She knew she was safe, at least for now. However, not knowing how she got here or where she was heading made her uneasy, yet she felt a deep calmness that she couldn’t understand.

Praying that Judah wouldn’t notice she was gone and that she’d return home before Bella, Jennifer suddenly wondered if she would find her way back home at all. Everything seemed to be out of her control as she continued spiraling through an abyss of the unknown. Right now, getting home again didn’t concern her nearly as much as where they might be going.

Deep in her belly she somehow knew that if she could remain with this creature, he would return her home when the time was right. There was something about this being who was carrying her, even though she couldn’t really find words to explain what that something was, she felt comfortable and safe.

Jennifer realized much time had passed since she left the safety of her kitchen, and she wondered to herself if they even had a destination or if this magnificent flying creature was taking her anywhere in particular at all. Why did you take me from the kitchen? Where are we going? Nearly before the last thought was fully formed in her mind, another voice, unrecognizable to Jennifer, answered.

We are nearly there child. Be patient just a little longer.

What? She screamed and looked around wildly but could see nothing other than she and the creature carrying her. Where did this voice come from? Who did it belong to? How did it answer her? Had something unseen entered her mind that would know her thoughts? She hadn’t spoken anything out loud, but the words were merely a thought captive within her own mind.

Again, as her mind formed the questions, this other voice-clearly not her own-was answering them. Fear stirred up, knowing that in this new place she had entered, someone-or something-was hearing her thoughts. Certainly some unseen thing had indeed barged straight into her mind.

It is I, the creature thought, for no words were passed. It is I who can hear what you do not say.

But. . . that’s not possible. Jennifer protested in a hushed panic. Animals or ghosts or whatever you are, do not talk and they don’t read people’s minds. How are you doing that? Are you magic? A witch or a sorcerer maybe? Suddenly overwhelmed with great panic she screamed out, Where are you taking me?

I am none of those things, the voice answered calmly. I was sent to protect you and guide you while you are in this land called Trilleah.

Do you have a name? As Jennifer asked this, she became aware that she did not speak it out loud. In fact, very little of this conversation was outside the walls of her own mind.

My name is Simeon and I belong only to you, the voice answered to her mind. I have always belonged to you Jenny, you just didn’t know me until now, but I have always known you. Then suddenly, the calm voice took a bit of a turn toward excitement. Look below! Simeon thought. You can see the armies from here. We are nearing the destination. Can you see them? His words, not heard by her ears, startled her greatly and brought the vision of the armies and their marching feet back to her memory. The one she’d seen in the pot.

Jennifer gasped. Now, looking down over this peculiar and colorless land, she saw armies so large that her eyes could not take them all in at once. She looked this way and that. Everywhere she turned her eyes, they fell on more of the armies.

They were all marching to the same rhythm and they were all chanting the same thing, although she could not yet tell what it was exactly. In that moment she didn’t care what they were saying or where they were going. She was far more concerned with their friendliness-or lack of it-and she begged to be returned home.

Simeon flew without a sound, his enormous wings gracefully moving up and down in complete silence. As he touched the ground, Jennifer found herself standing behind an unusually icy cold row of the most odd looking trees. She strained her neck so that her head might tilt back, her eyes strained to find the tops of the trees.

These were not trees like any she had seen before. They were thin on the bottom but as they got higher they grew thicker. There were very few leaves at the bottom and the ones Jennifer could see were a dead gray color. Back home, in the fall as the leaves died, they fluttered to the ground but here, these leaves though dead, seemed to hold on tightly, refusing to let go of the dead branches.

The dead gray leaves got thicker higher up until they all matted together looking like one big gray cloud. The sky was completely hidden. Not even the slightest sliver of sunlight could sneak through the entwined gray mass.

The trees had hundreds of branches which looked as though they would easily snap off if even the tiniest of birds rested on one, although she couldn’t recall seeing any birds here at all. She’d only just arrived so perhaps birds were just not here at this moment.

Jennifer tuned her ears carefully hoping to hear some birds chirping in this dull dungeon of gray. Instead, she heard an eerie sound coming from the trees themselves. At first, she thought it was a humming sound but as she listened closer she recognized that it was more of a moan. The trees were moaning-or maybe it was something in the trees, she really couldn’t decide.

She shivered, suddenly feeling very cold, and looked around, straining her eyes to see but realizing that here, in the forest, she could see much farther without straining at all. Scanning the forest she saw no one and nothing other than Simeon. Yes, it must be the trees, she pondered. That’s odd; groaning trees.

Forgetting that Simeon was a hearer of words not spoken, she was again startled when he spoke to her mind. They groan because they are old and tired. There are strange beings that live in their branches, heavy beings. Not heavy in weight like you would think but heavy in spirit. Simeon paused, likely to let such deep thoughts be pondered, as if pondering senseless thoughts such as these might suddenly make sense. They did not.

These trees were not always trees Jenny, he continued. Jennifer’s heart cringed and her body stiffened at being called Jenny. Her father, and quite rarely Judah, were the only ones who had ever called her that. She desperately wished both of them were here now.

They were once kind and gentle beings with eyes of glass and souls like doves. Simeon seemed to be saying many things to her mind that were complete nonsense. However, Jennifer was determined to hear every thought and hoped it would all click together soon. Like a puzzle! The picture didn’t make sense until all the pieces were locked into place. Perhaps she just needed more pieces before all this nonsensical jargon would become sensible.

Remember that what you see with your human eyes may not be what is truth. Human eyes deceive. The more Simeon tried to explain, the more confusion he brought instead. Here, in this land, you must learn to look with the eyes of your heart for that is where truth shall be found.

I don’t know how to see with any other eyes than these, Jennifer sniffled and rubbed her big brown eyes, partially hidden beneath her long dark hair. Such naivety caused Simeon to have a great amount of pity on her. "You will learn, he said out loud. Until you do, believe nothing you see. Remember that your eyes will try to deceive you."

What happened to the trees? Jennifer asked. Or. . . whatever they used to be?

The heavy creatures that live in their branches tricked them and stole their souls. They are now under the curse of the Trows, which is why they groan.

Simeon stopped speaking out loud but Jennifer still heard him in her mind. Jenny, I must warn you, the creatures will try to steal your soul too. You must be