Prologue

“She was an angel like creature.  Sent to earth to help others,” stated a woman.  Who was speaking with another woman, in the basement of an Alaskan house in the woods.

  A twelve-year-old girl was sitting on the stairs.  Overhearing her aunt and her mother talking.

  “This can’t be true,” gasped her mother’s voice.  “I don’t believe you.”

  “As a Wiccan, June.  I really can’t lie about this.”

  “But you’re still a witch.”  The girl knew that her mother was trying to keep her voice down.  She could still hear the undertone of yelling from her harsh words.

“Ava is special, June.”

“Don’t you think I don’t know that,” hissed June.  “But she’s, my daughter.”

“Stop hissing at my wife, June.  I know that you’re step-sisters, but it doesn’t give you the right to yell at her,” stated a deep voice of her uncle.

Ava Miller was brought to Alaska by her mother.  She seemed to be running from everything that they knew or cared about.  All due to the young girl’s fear that came from the age of eight.  She did not know what was causing her to tell her mother that she saw someone.  Her mother calmed; was not in the room with her.  With such clarity.  

June had told her daughter that they needed to move to Alaska for a while.  To talk to some family members that Ava had no idea that they had existed.  Not until the moment that they had entered the far-off state.  

“I’m sorry,” June sounded hurt and tired.  “But I need to know more than what you are saying, Ida.  She is my daughter.  I have a right to know.”

A strike of a match was sounded.  As the fire hissed.  Ava wondered if her aunt was lighting a candle or something.

“I will try to tell you.  But I need the board to help me.”

“Ida, you know I don’t like those things in front of me.”

“How can I help you, if you won’t let me consult with the board?”

A sigh of defeat was sounded from her mother, “Alright.  But I am not touching it.  I won’t experience what I had gone through, like the last time.”

“Sammy, I’m going to need your help then.”  Ava heard some movement before anything was said.  “What questions do you want to be asked,” the voice of Ida had asked.

“Why can Ava see ghosts?”

Movement was made and Sammy’s voice calling out, “S... P... I... R... I ... T... W... A... L... K... E... R...”

Ida gasped, “Spirit walker.  But I had thought only the Native Americans can do that?”

June’s voice sounded small, “My mother’s mother was Cherokee.”  

Ida growled, “Didn’t your grandmother say anything?”

“No.”  Ava heard her mother sound lost and confused.  “She wouldn’t tell anyone anything about her life.”

Sammy’s voice asked the next question, “Didn’t you see ghosts too?”

“Yes.”  She had never heard her mother sound so sad.  “Doctors nearly locked me up because of it.”

Ida sighed, “No wonder you worry about your daughter.  But I must tell you, from what I know about the Spirit walkers.  Their gifts are passed down through the bloodlines.  Do you think your mother had the same gift?”

“I don’t know.  She never said anything to me about it.  It would explain why she would sleep for many hours during the day.”

“What else do you want to know?”  Sammy's voice did not sound too friendly.

“Is my daughter going to have a normal life?”

“Yes... No...” sounded a confused Ida.  “Explain!”

“Yes...U... N... T... I... L... 2... 0...”

“Until she’s twenty?  Then what?”

Ava then heard a scraping sound of something moving.  Along with something hitting the floor.  

“They are done with the questions.  You have gotten your answers,” stated Ida.  

“No, I didn’t.  I want to know what happens to Ava when she becomes twenty.”

“STOP,” yelled her aunt.  “They can’t predict everything June.  You are going to have to wait and see.”

“But what do I tell my daughter?”

“The truth,” stated Sunny.

“But... I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” hissed Ida.  “You are her mother!  She looks to you for answers and it's up to you to tell her the truth.”  After a long moment of silence.  “But I have a feeling that you won’t have to answer those any time soon.  She already thinks that you don’t believe her.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Why else did you come to me?  Traveling from Washington to travel across Canada and into Alaska.  Just talk to me about any of this?”

“Because,” stated a lost-sounding woman.  A sound that Ava had never heard from her mother.  “I didn’t know who else I could trust.”

A huff was sounded.  “Trust your daughter, June.  Allow her to open the doors of the unknown.  Let her explore through the teachings of the ghosts, themselves.”  

“Why,” asked a hollowed sounding voice that Ava could never imagine.

“Because one of the ghosts is your grandmother’s mother, Willow.”

June sighed, “When will they start teaching her?”

“Not until she is twenty.”

“In eight years?”

“It’s better than they had ever done for anyone else, June.  Some of them do not even wait that long.  Some start while the child is eight years of age.”

“What about your own kids,” asked June.

“None of them have the gift,” stated Ida.  “I’m hoping that my grandchildren would have the sight.”

The sound of the movement told Ava that it was time for her to move away from where she was stationed.  Her mother, aunt, and uncle were on their way back up the stairs.  She moved back towards the living room and sat on the same chair that she was in before.

‘Is my mom afraid of my gift?’

When the adults were in the same room with her.  None of them said anything.  Knowing that it was not the time to say anything.  All of them feared the unknown.