Lucifer's Daughter. V. J. Banis

      Fred McAndrews took her in his arms. “There, there, Julia. Control yourself. My aunt is not responsible for the things she says or does when she slips into her catatonic state. She remembers nothing. Please calm yourself. Try to understand and remember what happened to you back there.”

      “She said I was the daughter of evil,” Julia cried, and then collapsed against Fred McAndrews’ shoulder in a burst of tears.

      His arm went about her. He patted her shoulder. “I’m sure it means nothing. Calm yourself.” He heard his aunt gasp. When he looked at her, he saw her face grow pale. She was standing rigid, as though frozen. Her eyes stared straight ahead. “I remember,” she droned. “I remember a man appearing to me. He had been speaking with Julia, asking her to come to him. Julia agreed. The man turned to me and told me to prepare her for what she must do.”

      Gradually what the medium was saying began to filter into Julia’s consciousness. She turned on the woman. “Prepare me for what?” Julia demanded, trying to control her sobbing.

      “I do not know that. All I know is that I was told to send you back to your past so that you might begin again.”

      “Begin again?”

      The medium shook her head. “It is all slipping away from me again,” she said. “All I know is that you must begin where you started; that is what he told me to tell you.”

      “He? Who?”

      “That I do not know. He said you must begin where you started and from there your way will be clear. Somewhere back in the beginning a wrong course was taken. You must go back and find the right one.”

      “Go back? Go back where?” Julia asked.

      The medium looked vague. “To the beginning,” she answered. “That is all I know to tell you.”

      Julia found her anger had subsided completely. “But you said I was the daughter of evil. What did you mean? Did he tell you to call me that?”

      “What it means is a mystery to me, my child. I do know that you must go back to your beginning. Perhaps the answers will be made known to you there.” The medium reached out and took Julia’s hand. “I am not trying to frighten you, Julia. I saw something strange in your past. What I referred to when I called you ‘daughter of evil’ I do not know. However, I sense that there was a great wrong done many, many years ago and you must go back and right that wrong, whatever it was.”

      “You aren’t making any sense. I know of no terrible wrong I did.”

      “I did not say the wrong was done by you, Julia. Perhaps the key word in your strange experience was ‘daughter.’ Perhaps it was a wrong of your parents which you must make right.”

      “I have no parents. I was a foundling.”

      The medium’s eyes brightened. “Then there is where you must begin. That is what it all means. Yes, yes, I see now. You must find yourself...your true self. You are not Julia Carson but another girl. Go, look to your past and rid yourself of the accusations that seem to be clinging to you...following you.” The medium leaned closer and peered deep into Julia’s eyes.

      “Who are you, my child?” the medium asked. “Who are you really? Find the answer to that question, Julia. Go. Find the answer.”