Read Online A Haunting Dream (A Missing Pieces Mystery) by Joyce Lavene, Jim - Free Book Online Page A

understand how all of this works.” She spun slowly. “Everything magical works on emotion. The stronger the emotion, the better it works.”
    “This isn’t magic, Shayla,” I scoffed. “This is science. This is something your brain does. What does that have to do with emotion?”
    “Okay. Let’s talk science. A scientist will tell you that your brain chemistry is affected by emotion. You have endorphins flooding through you when you’re happy. God knows what kind of terrible name they have for the bad stuff.”
    “I’m not saying I couldn’t be affected by what happened,” I argued. “But how would that play into Chuck coming back from the dead?”
    “Let’s take a glance in the looking glass.” She sat at the small wicker table and invited me to do the same. “Can you face your demons?”

Chapter 7

    “B ring it!” I said, sitting down. I was going to prove once and for all that a lot of what Shayla did was hocus-pocus. Some things, admittedly, were something else. “Magic” might be too strong a word. I was trying to make my point and not think about those other things.
    We both looked into the crystal ball. It appeared to be very old, something I might have collected for Missing Pieces. Shayla said it had belonged to her great-grandmother in New Orleans.
    The glass was clear when I first looked into it, but the more I stared, the hazier it got. I looked away then looked back to make sure it wasn’t my imagination. The glass was still cloudy. “Do you have a mini fog machine?” I glanced under the table but saw nothing hidden there.
    “Shh! We’ve made contact.”
    “With who?” And did we
want
to make contact with whoever it was?
    I studied the crystal a little more carefully. An image began to form—Chuck Sparks in his suit and tie getting into the burgundy Lincoln.
    “Is that him?” Shayla whispered.
    “Yes. How are we seeing this?”
    “Reruns from your vision, no doubt.”
    “I didn’t see this. Maybe you should close it down now.”
    “It’s not a TV, Dae. It sees what it wants to see.”
    I thought about Betsy. Maybe we could use this to our advantage. “I’m looking for a little girl. I think she may be Chuck’s daughter.”
    As soon as I said the words, Chuck looked right up at me from the crystal ball. “Help her.”
    Why does this keep happening?
I almost fell over trying to either push back or get out of the wicker chair. “How could he see me?”
    “It’s unusual, that’s for sure.” Shayla lazily got up from her chair. “Not unheard of. I didn’t realize you were so close to him.”
    “I hardly knew him. I don’t know why he decided to give me this message.”
    She shrugged. “The dead keep their own secrets.”
    “I wish they’d keep them to themselves.”
    “What? You got your answer. Go find that child. He won’t rest until you do. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to see his face behind you in the bathroom mirror next time you brush your teeth.”
    The idea made me shiver. “I don’t understand any of this, and you’re no help,” I said accusingly. “But if he
does
have a daughter, I’ll find her.”
    Shayla wasn’t that impressed. “You do what you have to do.” Her dark eyes narrowed. “Stay away from that woman with Kevin, Dae. Something bad is coming up in her future. She reeked of it yesterday. That woman will do no good.”
    “Then how am I supposed to fight for Kevin?”
    She brought out a pink bottle. “My passion flower mixture will do it. He loves you. This will make it so he remembers that and doesn’t even think about doing the right thing with
her
.”
    “No, thanks. Either he loves me and it works out, or not. You don’t think she’d hurt Kevin, do you?”
    “I don’t know. She has problems.”
    “Okay. I’m going home now. See you later.”
    Less than an hour later, I had been home, eaten a little something, changed clothes and was at Duck Elementary School. Every nook and cranny of this place held memories for me.