Oracle in the Mist. Linda Maree Malcolm

      

       Oracle in the Mist

      Linda Maree Malcolm

      First Published 2012 by JoJo Publishing

       This edition published 2018 by Woodslane Press

      © Linda Maree Malcolm

      All rights reserved. No part of this printed or video publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

      Designer / typesetter: Chameleon Print Design

      Edited by Ormé Harris

      Digital Distribution by Ebook Alchemy

      Converted to ePub by Winking Billy

      National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Author:	Malcolm, Linda Maree.
Title:	Oracle in the mist / Linda Maree Malcolm.
ISBN:	9780987410399 (ePub.)
Subjects:	Detective and mystery stories. Magic—Fiction.
Dewey Number:	A823.4

      

      My gratitude to my husband Sandro for generously recognising my needs and providing me with all of the tools and enthusiasm and encouragement that were necessary for my development as a writer and to my children and grandchild, for motivating me to write and for being the inspiration for my characters. My beautiful Italian family opened up my mind, accepting and supporting me with love and taught me about their culture. They provided the safety net to my tightrope and always will.

      When I became too serious, my wonderful homeschool community, especially the lovely Melissa, Paula, Rachel, Lisa and Lee, were there for me with their strength, understanding and fun.

      Thank you to my mother Doreen, who also loved to write, for teaching me that to follow a dream is a very sacred thing. My father, Stan, and my brothers and sisters and their children have always encouraged and believed in me. Memories of my two late grandmothers inspired some ideas used in the book. Bobby is named for my paternal grandmother.

      I would like to acknowledge my writing teacher, the late Jenni Overend – an angel in life and in the hereafter and also my Year Nine English teacher, Mrs Harris for telling me I had a talent for writing.

      My professional friends, Marisa, Frank, Lou, Barry, Jo, Duncan and Katie and all of my other friends and family members have been very supportive. Thank you.

      My gratitude to the psychics and mediums and all of the people who have taught and guided me over the years and to my Spiritual Advisor, who has been with me for every step of this journey.

      

       For my family, Sandro, Thomas, Amy, Zac, Madeline, Reuben and Isabela.

       I continue to be amazed and inspired by their poetic, musical, artistic and writing abilities and feel blessed to be a part of this group.

       I hope that we will always be united by our desire to live mainly in our imaginations.

      

      Linda Maree Malcolm worked at a wide variety of jobs before deciding in 2008 to make writing her main focus. The homeschooling mother of four has been completely absorbed in a world of imagination as she has read aloud hundreds of books to her children.

      She was raised in the Dandenong Mountains and then moved to the beautiful Yarra Valley where, as a single mother of one, she married her husband, whose heritage is Italian. Linda has a deep understanding of the esoteric world.

      Linda has drawn on some of her own experiences when writing this book, loosely basing the characters of Oracle in the Mist on people she has met via homeschooling as well as on her own children, but her main inspiration comes from Beatrix Potter, Enid Blyton, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and LM Montgomery.

      

      Acknowledgements

      About the Author

      Chapter 1: The dance of the fairies

      Chapter 2: The crystal ball and the Oracle

      Chapter 3: Sharing family secrets

      Chapter 4: The mystery of the oak tree

      Chapter 5: Decision to act

      Chapter 6: Bobby takes the plunge

      Chapter 7: Professor Lambert and Sebastian

      Chapter 8: Mystery of the eight revealed

      Chapter 9: The evil Oracle

      Chapter 10: Henry, Ina and the island paradise

      Chapter 11: The eight return home

      Chapter 12: Cousins

      Chapter 13: Bobby and David compare notes

      

      Intuition told Bobby that she should wake up as there was something going on that she should know about. She sat up in her bed and listened — yes there it was, beautiful music that seemed a great distance away. Who would be playing music at this time of the night? Certainly not her mother who was probably asleep in her own bedroom, just down the hall.

      Bobby did not feel frightened as she threw back her quilt to go and investigate. It was extreme curiosity that drove her and as she tiptoed down the hall she noticed that the music was becoming louder:

       “We come, softly through the night, as evening falls behind us. Our footsteps leave no mark upon the snow.

       Let your spirit go it will find us.”

      Bobby descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen, listening for the melodious singing again. It had become far away again and she realised that she had somehow taken the wrong direction:

       “We come adorned in spider web and dew, through woodland to the meadow. We come luminous and bright, dancing with the light and the shadow.

       “The summer moon is calling us to play, a sacred light to guide us. The wild music leads us in a trance, spinning to the dances inside us.”

      Bobby climbed the stairs again and holding onto the old banister looked around her. This didn’t make any sense. She could hear the singing, it was all around her and yet it seemed to be coming from nowhere. She went to the bathroom and noticed that the sounds became closer:

       “The air is warm and echoes with the sound of laughter rising higher.

       With drums and bells we sing into the night dancing in the light of the fire.”

      She looked above her and the realisation dawned on her. It wasn’t in her home at all. Or at least not on this level or the