(Stepping Over The Threshold.) Jatray stood under a tree that glanced over the fence. There was an electrical post beside the tree and it curled its branches around the wire. The tree had green blossoms and colonies of black berries sprouting. A blackbird sat on the electrical wire that ran through the limbs, it pecked at a yellow blossom and dropped it towards Jatray. A gift perhaps, from one blackened soul to the other. Jatray lifted to the sky.She was following a scent. The lure of passion fruit and melon. Jatray had returned to the park twice but Izzy was not there, however her scent had imprinted on Jatray's senses and she wondered if the woman was alright.Now, three days later, the scent had led her to a stone house settled on green pastures. Jatray came down behind a tree and watched Izzy hanging out the last shirt in her laundry basket on a line, with clothespins from her apron pocket. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, picked up the basket and went inside.

(Colliding Worlds.)(Chapter 43.)They were racing each other, flashing and dashing through the rainfall.Lucinda had drawn a broken heart when she was a teenager after feeling the first crushing spasms of rejection. In that drawing was a scar that had ripped the heart in two. This was a different situation. On both sides of her, were the two men who held pieces of her heart and truly she felt broken in another way entirely. "Keep up!"She heard David's thoughts scream. Lucinda realized she was being held back by her conflicting feelings.She broke free and shot to the front."No, you keep up!"She sent back laughing. "Jesus! She is that fast?"Jimmy asked."The fastest of us all. She is not Leader of the pack for nothing."David relayed to him.David howled and picked up speed. Soon he was at Lucinda's tail, then her hind legs, her waist, but it was too late. Lucinda had reached the boundary post before David did.David heard her laughing and he laughed too."Almost got you."Dav

(Almost There.)Hercules went above deck and glimpsed an ice-cream cone of land sticking up from the sea. According to his compass, which he placed back into his pocket, he should be looking at their destination. Being so close, he wasn't sure he wanted to get there just yet.Just last night, he had spent hours alone with Buttercup, just sitting under the sky, discussing magic and his books she had read on Doug's laptop. Doug was kind enough to pay for a few of the books with his credit card information and Buttercup had realized, from her reading, that Hercules was a very interesting man.There was an air of mystery in his novels and it appeared that they shared a love for the supernatural. He was very knowledgeable of the world humans didn't see or perhaps chose to ignore."Where do you get your ideas?"She had asked him."Oh, I pick up bits and pieces here and there and like a spider, I spin them into an organized web of adventure.""Your books are wonderful, one almost thought it

(The Revealing Dream.)When they came off the yacht to the sand, the earth throbbing beneath their feet with a different rhythm. The spirit of the land engulfed them and Hercules's metaphysical blood knew that this was a place where magic happened.Doug was curious that Hercules had not said a word about all the stuff they had talked about with the Mermaid, about Jatray, fairy magic, etc. Not a single word did he utter as he had lowered the anchor and went about his own business.It was nighttime as they walked the long stretch of sandy beach.Moonstruck looked around her and smiled at the familiar places where she had often sat with her friends on the weekends.She exchanged a bitter-sweet smile with Opal, as a serene peacefulness grasped their hearts.Bruce's eyes were glued to the ground with a longing that interpreted, that he wanted to be swallowed up by the earth. Doug and Hercules matched steps, falling back a few feet from the group."So Hercules, anything on your mind?"Doug

(Mate Bond/Soulmates.)Raquel was on her way to her office at the back of the store when she noticed three people enter, one of whom she recognised immediately.Here comes the bitch! She thought. She did not normally serve customers. She had employees who did so, but this was an exception.She heard the bell jingle as the door closed and made a swift walk across the store to arrive at the customers before her employee did.She greeted them politely."How may I help you?"The beautiful blonde woman looked at the curvy, dark lady, with her short pink hair. A pretty teenager had already approached a rack of blouses."We are simply shopping around."The dark skin woman smiled."Is there a special occasion?"Raquel smiled back, there was something about the woman that made one want to be kind to her.Jatray looked at the woman again, silently.They had arrived in Mala three days now and she had vowed to herself to make this a wonderful experience for Izzy and Journey. Where they had cried