The Reincarnationist (38 page)

He was back in the present, forgetting all of that, remembering, there was more than one criminal here, more than one man who must be stopped. Josh saw Malachai's face moving out of his line of sight. He saw his eyes flash the same way they had always flashed whenever he'd
talked about the stones. Josh needed to push up through the pain to tell them that Malachai was getting away, that he was taking the stones with him. Josh had to break through this haze of time folding back on itself to tell them to go after him, tell them Malachai was the one who had plotted out this whole charade, that he had the stones now, and he was getting away.

He had all of the stones now and he was getting away.

He had all of the power.

He was dangerous. Not just in the present. But for the future.

But when Josh tried to speak, all that came out was another sound: a long, drawn-out, soft
shhhhh
as he tried to quiet this child who was part of another child who was part of him, but Quinn continued crying, saying the same word over and over, “Daddy, Daddy.”

So it had been Quinn whom he had been fated to help. Not Rachel. Not Gabriella. It was the baby he and Sabina had not lost as much as saved. Their child. Now this child. She had been saved again.

“Daddy, Daddy.”

The ringing was back. But this was a different sound. Circling closer. When he realized what it was, Josh tried to smile. The siren meant Bettina had understood what he'd silently asked her to do. Everything would be fine now. Malachai wasn't paying attention to the sound; there would be no time for him to get away. The police would stop him. It was all fine now. The kidnapper. Malachai. They'd both be trapped.

It takes whatever strength he has left, but somehow Julius manages to drag himself down into the tunnel. The pain from his wound has turned to fire and the fire is devouring him. His insides are aflame. He gasps for a breath but he can't get any air in his lungs. He can't
breathe. Julius cannot breathe. Panic fuses with pain. Sabina is waiting for him just at the end of this passageway, on the other side of that dirt wall. He tries to inch forward toward it. He can't. Can't even lift his head from the grime and muck and stones. So, this will be his tomb, too. This dank, dark narrow space. Here he will turn to dust and bones, rubble and ruin only a dozen breaths from Sabina. A dozen breaths that he doesn't have.

His pain was ebbing, turning into colors that were swirling behind his eyes. His skin buzzed. Josh was made of blinding light, enough to illuminate a whole city, a light that invigorated him even as his eyes closed and he slipped into the familiar zone of another life, of a life in the past that had gone wrong, that he had finally put right.

If he died now, would someone see that strange aura above his own head?

What life would he live next?

They say when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. For Josh, it was all of them, the people he'd photographed, the people he'd known, the people he'd loved, the people he'd been, so many people. The human chorus. The music of souls.

While
The Reincarnationist
is a work of fiction, whenever possible I relied on the facts of history and preexisting theories about the subject of reincarnation to construct the backbone of this tale.

Life in ancient Rome, paganism, early Christianity and ancient beliefs in reincarnation, as well as the Vestal Virgins, are as history recorded them. So are the descriptions of Vestals' duties, domicile and temple, as well as the rules they lived by. Their vows of chastity were sacrosanct, and they were buried alive for breaking them.

I have taken liberties when discussing their involvement with the Memory Stones—which are wholly my own invention, as are the Memory Tools.

Many of the locations in this novel exist. The Riftstone Arch is in Central Park; the Church of the Capuchins is where I describe it in Rome. Several tombs of Vestals have been discovered in various locations around Rome, but Sabina's was not found, as there is no record of a Vestal by that name.

The Phoenix Foundation does not, unfortunately, exist. And while Malachai and Dr. Talmage are entirely fictitious, I was inspired by the amazing Dr. Ian Stevenson, who has done past life regressions with over 2,500 children.

Josh, Natalie and Rachel experience past life regressions in ways that are similar to those of people I've met and read about, but their stories are entirely my invention.

My own reading and research into reincarnation theory has been an ongoing process, and what I described in these pages was culled from the tenets and writings of those who have studied and believed over thousands of years. Included at the end of this novel is a list of books
for those of my readers who wish to delve further into this fascinating concept.

Please visit
Reincarnationist.org
for more information.

Beloff, John.
Parapsychology: A Concise History
. St. Martin's Press, 1997.

Bowman, Carol.
Children's Past Lives: How Past Life Memories Affect Your Child
. Bantam, 1998.

Chitkara, M. G.
Buddhism, Reincarnation and Dalai Lamas of Tibet
. A.P.H. Publishing Corporation, 1998.

Chopra, Deepak.
Life After Death: The Burden of Proof.
Harmony, 2006.

Cott, Jonathan.
The Search for Omm Sety: A Story of Eternal Love.
Warner Books, 1989.

Darling, David J.
Zen Physics: The Science of Death, the Logic of Reincarnation
. HarperCollins, 1996.

Faulkner, Raymond, translator.
The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day
. Chronicle Books, 2000.

Fenwick, Peter, and Elizabeth Fenwick.
The Truth in the Light: An Investigation of Over 300 Near-Death Experiences
. Berkley Publishing Group, 1997.

Gauld, Alan.
A History of Hypnotism
. Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Head, Joseph and Sylvia Cranston.
Reincarnation: The Phoenix Fire Mystery
. Julian Press, 1977.

Jung, Carl Gustav.
Man and His Symbols
. Pan Mac-Millan, 1968.

Jung, Carl Gustav.
Memories, Dreams, Reflections
. Pantheon, 1989.

LaGrand, Louis E.
After Death Communication: Final Farewells
. Llewellyn Publications, 1997.

Sabom, Michael B.
Recollections of Death: A Medical Investigation
. Harper & Row, 1982.

Shroder, Tom.
Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence for Past Lives
. Simon & Schuster, 1999.

Stevenson, Ian.
Children who Remember Previous Lives
. University of Virginia Press, 1987.

Stevenson, Ian.
Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects.
(2 vols.) Praeger Scientific Publishers, 1997.

Stevenson, Ian.
Unlearned Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy.
University of Virginia Press, 1984.

Tucker, Jim.
Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives.
St. Martin's Press, 2005.

Weiss, Brian L.
Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives.
Warner Books, 1988.

Woolger, Roger J.
Other Lives, Other Selves.
Crucible, 1987.