CHAPTER 1
"Moving?" questioned Zeke.
Zeke anxiously awaited a response. Did he reallyjust hear his dad say that they were moving? At dinnerwhen his dad told them they would be having a family meeting thatevening, he wasn't concerned. They had had plenty of family meetingsbefore. Sometimes they were about an upcoming business trip his dadneeded to take or sometimes they were about a sporting event, orsometimes they were just to coordinate their schedules during busytimes of the year, like the holidays. Yes, they were definitely used tofamily meetings. But never, ever had they had a family meeting wherehis father announced that they were moving. Zeke was stunned by theannouncement. He shot a quick look over at his older brother Griffenand wondered what he was thinking.
Dad was expecting this kind of response. It had been a harddecision to make. They had lived in the same house since their oldestson, Griffen, had been born. Sixteen years was a long time. There werelots of happy memories: birthday celebrations, holidays, and of coursethe annual 4th of July picnic they hosted for friends and family.
Griffen sat quietly, taking it all in. "Maybe Dad is joking," hethought. What concerned him is that his dad did not appear to bejoking. And why was Mom being so quiet? He turned to look at her.She smiled at him, but did not say anything.
Dad shifted a little bit in his chair as he continued. "I know thatthis is a bit of a surprise for you boys."
"You can say that again," stammered Zeke. "If we move that meansthat I have to say good-bye to all my friends, my school and sports."He quickly looked at Griffen again. He was waiting for Griffen to saysomething to back him up. Griffen glanced back, but remained quiet.Completely frustrated, Zeke continued to spit and sputter out reasonafter reason as to why he did not want to move. His dad knew hewould have a long list and interrupted him.
"I know, Zeke, your mom and I have thought about all of thosethings and much, much more. Moving is not easy, I understand that.But sometimes there are things that come up in life that are moreimportant than everything that you just mentioned."
Zeke could feel the tears starting to form. He was trying veryhard not to yell, but he sure did feel like it. After all, what could be soimportant that they had to give up their home, friends, school, sports,and everything else they were used to? He blurted, "I don't care. Idon't want to move!"
Mom reached out to touch Zeke's hand, but he wanted nothing todo with it. He knew that this was his mom's way of saying it's goingto be okay. He wasn't ready for that. He was angry and responded bypulling his hand back. "No, Mom, I don't want to move", he repeatedsternly.
Mom pulled her hand back to herself. "Zeke, I know that you areupset, but your dad is right. We put a lot of thought into our decisionand it's not been an easy one." Glancing over at Griffen, she continued."We need you to be strong, and not fight us on this decision. We allneed to be strong. It's not going to be easy on any of us."
Finally, Griffen could no longer stay quiet. He agreed with hisbrother. He didn't want to move either. "Mom, Dad, have you reallythought about everything? I mean everything?"
"Yes, Griffen, we have," answered his dad. "The part you haven'theard yet, or even asked about is, where are we moving to?"
For the first time since the announcement there was laughter inthe room. Zeke hadn't meant to chuckle out loud. In fact, he didn'tknow why he did at all. He was upset over the news, but realizedthat they hadn't asked one of the most important questions of all.Aware that everyone was staring at him, he shrugged his shouldersand responded. "So, are you going to keep it a secret forever, or areyou going to tell us?"
Normally his dad would have addressed his attitude, but he let itgo and answered. "We are moving to the farm."
Stunned, Griffen immediately responded. "Really?"
"Yes," smiled his dad. "Really!"
Zeke was not convinced yet. He wanted to know why? He lovedthe farm. He loved to explore, hike, fish, camp, all of that stuff. Hehad met some good friends on his visit to the farm the summer before.He had met Al and his granddaughter Cat. They had become fastfriends and were in contact often. Actually Zeke talked far more toAl than he did Cat. Cat usually talked to his brother. As much as heloved seeing them in person, he still wasn't convinced that it was agood enough reason to move.
Griffen felt a sense of excitement. Ever since he had met Cat hefelt there was a connection between them. They texted every dayand talked on Skype once a week. He enjoyed those conversations. Itwould certainly be good to see her in person again. He visualized herbeautiful, long, dark hair and big, brown eyes, the mischievous smileon her face when she teased him. He loved to hear her giggle. Maybethis move wouldn't be so bad after all ...
"You're mom and I will be meeting with a real estate agenttomorrow about putting the house up for sale. We know that thehousing market has been slow, but we're hoping that the house willsell within the next couple of months. Even if it doesn't, we plan onmoving as soon as you boys are out of school. I talked to GrandmaCook yesterday and told her that the decision has been made.
"Are we moving into the farmhouse?" asked Griffen.
"Yes, we are. The farmhouse has been in my family for manyyears. And as you know is plenty big enough for all of us," answeredhis Dad. "You will each have your own room, so Barley will have tomake a decision about who he is going to sleep with."
Everyone laughed. Barley was their grandparent's blonde LabradorRetriever. The boys had instantly fallen in love with him the summerbefore during their visit to the farm. He was just a puppy and so muchfun to watch and play with. They had made a quick connection andfrom the very first night that they had stayed at their grandparent'shouse, Barley had slept in their room. Being able to live with Barleywas definitely a plus.
"One more question," said Zeke. "Does Al and Cat know thatwe're moving?"
"We haven't told them," replied his Dad. "We wanted to letyou boys know before we shared our news with anyone outside thefamily."
"Okay," said Zeke as he stood. "I'm going to go and let Al know."
Griffen quickly added, "And I'm going to let Cat know." Both ofthe boys headed to their bedrooms.
As soon as Griffen reached his bedroom, he grabbed his phone andsent the following text to Cat. "Moving"
Cat immediately responded: "Where?"
Griffen: "Farm"
Cat: "Where?"
Griffen: "Farm!"
Cat: "No way?"
Griffen: "Yes, way!"
Cat: "When?"
Griffen: "Summer"
Cat: "Wow. Can't wait"
Griffen: "Me either!"
Cat: "I will let g-dad know"
Griffen: "Zeke wants 2"
Cat: "k"
Griffen: "later"
Cat: "k"
Griffen shut his phone. Now he would start letting his friendsknow.
Zeke decided he wanted to talk personally with Al instead ofsending a text. He still wasn't sure how he felt about everything. Hewanted to be happy, but it was hard. In some ways he was excited andin other ways he was not.
He dialed Al's number. The phone rang and rang. After the sixthring the answering machine picked up and Zeke heard the familiarrecorded message. "Hi, you've reached Al. I can't come to the phonenow. Please leave a short message and I will return your call as soonas possible. Thank You." He had heard this message many times. Theyhad even joked about it.
Zeke's recorded message was so different. He chuckled to himselfwhen he remembered what his first recorded message had said. "Zekehere, leave a message, later peeps." Al had pointed out that he actuallythought this could sound better. Zeke had taken Al's opinion to heart.His message now said, "It's Zeke, leave a message, Thanks!" Hearingthe beep of Al's answering machine, Zeke left a message requestingthat he call him back.
While waiting for Al to return his call, Zeke decided that hewould start letting his friends know that he was moving at the end ofthe school year. He sent several texts and the replies were mixed. Somedidn't believe him and thought he was joking. Some were sad. Otherssaid they were happy for him. Others wanted to start planning a goingaway party.
Before he knew it, thirty minutes had passed. He still had somehomework to do in Math. Not his favorite subject, but he knew thatif he wanted to get into college he needed good grades. He had justopened up his math book when his phone rang. It was Al. They talkedfor the next ten minutes. When Zeke hung up the phone, he feltbetter. Al always seemed to put everything into perspective for him.Al reminded him that everything happens for a reason. Not that hewould understand it all now, but down the road when he lookedback, it would make sense to him then. That he needed to trust in hisparents and their decision. And he told him how happy he was thathe would now be able to mentor him on his dreams in person insteadof over the phone or Skype. This upcoming life change would meanthat they would be working more closely together. Hearing all of thisbrought Zeke comfort.
He met Al the previous summer while visiting his grandparent'sfarm. Griffen and he had gone camping with their Grandpa Cook.Grandpa had wanted to show them an old Indian Burial Ground,which was really nothing to look at. It looked just like a big, ordinaryhill with grass and trees covering it. But it gave him this strangefeeling, knowing that many people had been buried there. Grandpatold them that lots of people had reported seeing ghosts or spirits inthat area. They had not seen any on their trip, but then again, theywent during the day. Those who had reported seeing these spirits orghosts had gone after dark. One of the reasons that Grandpa hadtaken them there was because Zeke had been having dreams about anIndian Lady named Moon Willow.
Al had explained to Zeke that Moon Willow was his "Spirit Guide".He said that everyone has their own "Spirit Guide" who is with themsince birth and at all times. He also learned from Al that there weremany mysteries in the universe just waiting to be discovered. If youhad the type of mind that was open to learning about these mysteries,you would unlock for yourself an understanding that would help youthroughout your lifetime and in many cases, allow you to help others.Zeke and Griffen both agreed that they wanted to learn more. Zekethought the main reason that Griffen had agreed was because Cat wasalso learning how to unlock the mysteries of the universe.
Since meeting Al the summer before, his dreams were beginningto change. In the past it seemed that all of his dreams had somethingto do with family. His Grandma B and her cancer fight. Then therewas his Grandpa Cook. He had had several dreams about Grandpahaving a heart attack. His grandfather had been rushed to the hospitalfor heart by-pass surgery. The day that dream came true was one of hisscariest, one that he would rather not repeat again. Even though Alhad explained to him that it was actually a protection dream, he stillneeded to learn more about appreciating these types of dreams.
He had had dreams about his Dad, his mom and even Griffen.Nothing really scary and nothing like a protection dream. Just ofsomething that was said and then soon afterwards, he would actuallyhear the person he had dreamt about say the exact same thing. Henever mentioned it to any of them. What was weird is that not oncehad he had a dream that said anything about them moving. Hewondered why? He would have to remember to ask Al that question.
Remembering his math homework, he sat down and spent the restof the evening making sure it was complete. Just as he closed the bookhe noticed a dark shadow move across his room. It was fast, almostlike he didn't see it at all. He looked quickly around the room to seewhat could have cast the shadow. The bedroom light was on, as wellas the desk lamp, which were the two lights that were always on whenhe was in the room. Not being able to figure it out, he decided it neveractually happened at all. He was just imagining things because he wastired. He changed his clothes, turned off the lights and crawled intobed.
He was just about to doze off when he felt a chill. It was the typeof chill you might feel after you have bitten directly into an ice creamcone and it sends a shiver down your spine. Zeke had felt this kindof chill before and knew what it meant. Slowly he opened his eyes.Standing next to his bed in the dark room was a dark shadowed figure.Even though he was getting better at not being afraid, it was still scary.Startled, he sat up in bed.
"Who are you?"
The dark shadow was just that ... a dark silhouette. There was noface, yet Zeke knew this shadow belonged to someone. He watched asthe dark shadow shifted ever so slightly. Then he heard a high pitchedmale voice answer, "Austin."
Zeke waited for the dark shadowed silhouette to say more. Nothearing anything, he pressed on. "Why are you here?"
This time the voice seemed louder. "Need your help."
Zeke followed Austin's dark silhouette as it floated slowly to thecenter of the dark bedroom. After there appeared to be no moremovement, Zeke only had one thought. "How can I help you?"
He had barely finished this thought before he heard in his mind."Tell my parents I'm okay."
Another mystery that Al had helped Zeke to understand is thatwhen you were communicating with spirits, you didn't need to talkaloud like you usually did. They could hear you and you could hearthem through your mind. He hadn't explained how this all workedexactly, but Zeke knew that when the time was right, he would.
Puzzled by Austin's request, Zeke thought. "I don't know yourparents."
"Yes, you do."
This was the confusing part, telling the difference between yourown thoughts and the thoughts of the spirit that was communicatingwith you. When he asked Al how he knew, he had answered that withexperience he would learn to tell the difference. One of the main wayswas just trusting that you could. He had also mentioned that youneeded to be aware of all your senses. Hearing thoughts was just oneway of communicating. Sometimes it might just be a feeling, a smell,a vision, a dream. There were many different ways of communicatingand each person's experience would be unique to them. The one thingthat had stuck in Zeke's mind was when Al had told him to neverpay attention to any voice or event that told him to hurt himself, hurtothers or hurt animals. Luckily Zeke had never experienced anythingthat negative.
Zeke climbed out of bed. He felt like he should be communicatingwith this spirit named Austin standing up. "What are their names?"questioned Zeke.
"Dan and Mary"
Recognizing these names, Zeke was both startled and amazed."Thompson?" he thought.
"Yes."
Just to be sure that he understood correctly, Zeke stared at the darksilhouette standing in the center of his dark bedroom as he thought."You're Austin Thompson?"
Zeke gulped hard when he heard the next thought in his mind."Yes!" Austin Thompson had died in a car accident several monthsback. He had been good friends with his brother, Griffen. They hadstarted kindergarten together, played sports together and had hungout together. Zeke's entire family had attended the funeral. Never ina thousand years did he think that he would be communicating withAustin Thompson now, in his bedroom, in this way!
His own thoughts were interrupted when he heard Austin say, "Ineed you to tell my parents that I'm okay."
The realization of what was happening baffled Zeke. "How in theworld would he ever tell Austin's parents that, even though their sonhad died in a car accident, he was okay?"
"Please!"
Zeke once again watched as the dark silhouetted spirit of AustinThompson started floating. He continued to watch until the spirit hadfloated over to the bedroom door. For a moment Zeke thought thespirit would open the door and then float out, but that didn't happen.Instead as the shadow reached the bedroom door, it stopped. A whitelight appeared behind him and for a split second Zeke saw the familiarface of his brothers' friend. He was wearing his U of M ball cap witha sweatshirt and blue jeans. As Zeke started to move closer, he noticedthat Austin was beginning to fade away.
