Coalescence (Camden Investigations Book 1) by Gary Starta Page A

had just dropped a bombshell, she would reconsider. Just what the hell
did she mean by special attributes?
    DJ grumbled and turned on her laptop. Maybe there would
be some more news about the crop circles. Then she might have a sensible reason
to phone Darian.
    As she perused a
story, her mind wandered. She couldn’t concentrate. DJ was too upset about her
parents. Out of the blue, Dad had visited Iris warning her to stay out of any
alien investigations, then her mother had morphed from the ether of space,
encouraging her to aid in a case that appeared to possess an extraterrestrial
slant. Talk about a family divided. And apparently not even death will ever
change that fact.

Chapter Seven

 
 
    D RIVING
ALWAYS helped DJ think. Deciding
to become an investigator again, DJ couldn’t help but feel a wave of
uncertainty. She had told herself on countless sleepless occasions that
distancing herself from her psychic gift might put her back on her career
track. Yet, being a medium satisfied a deep-seated passion for discovery. No
matter how successful she might become in the political arena, where her gift
of speech might be rewarded with a senator’s seat, would it ever fulfill her
need to try and answer the unanswerable? Or what some might label the really
big questions humankind had been asking for millennia?
    DJ had had enough of struggling with the dilemma. Her
mother was encouraging. Her father was not. Despite what her mother had just
revealed, her father acted as if her mother’s relations with another man,
perhaps another being, were inconsequential. She wondered if she should try to
talk to her father about this. But how would she approach it? It wasn’t like
this mystery man was her father. Still, his biological essence had possibly had
an impact on her. She still didn’t know exactly what her ghost mom was talking
about. She hadn’t had any visions of strange beings from other worlds. How
could this impact her? Could this mystery man really have changed her mother’s
genetic makeup, which, in turn, changed her? Talk about a paranormal romance!
DJ wasn’t even the man’s biological offspring, yet it was almost as if she
were. DJ balled a fist and vowed she would block further thoughts about her
parents and their “relations” from her mind. She would think about more
pleasant things. This pleasant thing in particular had a name spelled with six
letters.
    Meeting Darian made her realize she wanted to become a
ghost hunter again. His appeal went beyond emotional or physical attraction. He
made her realize she wanted to choose the path less ordinary, despite the
consequences: namely isolation. But if she didn’t feel isolated, she wouldn’t
be capable of feeling special. Part of feeling special was the realization you
were only one of a handful of people privy to the otherworldly information
gleaned by other paranormal investigators. It was painful, but DJ had to admit
her sole reason for quitting the ghost hunting team was her mother’s death. She
had never felt her gift had interfered with thoughts of continuing her
education before. It was the sheer pain of her mother’s parting that made her
despise what her gift could do. Before, talking with ghosts had never been
personalized. She would never be certain last night’s choice to willingly talk
to the dead again would be correct. But at least she no longer let uncertainty
keep her on a fence.
    DJ was certain of how her ghost and UFO hunting
peers felt. Attempts to mask their elation with somber faces had been
unsuccessful. She realized how excited the teams were to have her assistance.
She could read Iris best. Her older sister was glad she might provide her
client a means to return to their home. But she suspected Kassidy and Rachel
were quite curious to discover what the apparition’s connection to the strange
occurrences might be. She knew Mitchell and his team were most concerned with
finding intel about the object. Still, with all these voices