Writ in Water: Three Novels of Suspense by Natasha Mostert

Author:Natasha Mostert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Thrillers / FIC030000 - Suspense, FICTION / Thrillers / FIC031000 - General
Publisher: Portable Magic Ltd.
Published: 2014-07-17T00:00:00+00:00

Isa pointed to the last sentence: ‘“Done subconsciously by the recipient.” So this is all my fault? My imagination?’

‘Look, I don’t know what it means and maybe a shrink will tell you it’s all fantasy and some kind of subconscious wish-fulfilment on your part—you miss Alette, you’re traumatized by her death—so you start hearing voices. I just find it mind-blowing that Alette had been extremely interested in this subject. Passionate about it, in fact. She was the one who introduced me to this place.’ Michael gestured at the leather-bound books around them. ‘The very passage you just read, she read to me once. And she’s read everything else written on the subject, I can assure you. She told me her interest in afterlife communication started in her childhood. She had this friend; a black woman …’

‘Siena.’

‘Yes. As I understand it, she was the one who introduced Alette to the idea of communication between the quick and the dead.’

Isa said slowly, ‘Regeneration and reincarnation are central concepts in traditional African religion. Siena taught us that death does not liberate you. The newly dead especially are still required to play a role in the lives of the people they care about who are still alive. They help to right wrongs; are instrumental in settling scores.’

‘Of course,’ Michael nodded. ‘I keep forgetting. You were there, too.’

‘Yes, probably lurking somewhere in the background.’

She leaned back in her chair. She was feeling slightly nauseous again. ‘Which reminds me,’ she said. ‘Did Alette ever show you carvings of two wooden dolls—about twenty inches high—very darkly polished?’

He frowned. ‘I don’t think so. Why, what are they?’

‘They’re marriage dolls. They symbolize spirit marriage partners and perfect unity between two souls. Perfect love. Alette had requested they be cremated along with her.’

‘I didn’t know that.’ He sounded surprised. ‘I knew, of course, that she preferred cremation to burial. Fire, to Alette, was a symbol of spiritual energy and a link between successive lives. She was interested in alchemy, you know, and believed, as the alchemists did, that fire is a medium of transmutation: first destroying and then regenerating.’ He checked himself. ‘But she never told me about the marriage dolls. Why do you ask? Do they have something to do with the phone calls?’

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘It’s just something else that’s been troubling me. I don’t know why but there’s something about it that’s not right.’

It was quiet between them. Then he said quietly, ‘Why is she calling you, Isa?’

‘What do you mean?’

He didn’t answer, just looked at her steadily. The green-shaded reading lamp was throwing a pool of light over the book; over his large hands resting on the rice-paper-thin pages. The yellow light illuminated the soft, fair hairs on the back of his fingers.

‘She wants me to do something for her.’

‘What?’

‘I can’t tell you that. But I think last night’s call was because I was thinking of not doing it: of walking away from it all.’

The silence dragged on between them.

‘And I think she’s trying to warn me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.