MESSAGE FROM KOGINKA

Welcome Center, Conference Room

5 hr 28 min to Birth

Preeti left the pool room and walked down the hall. The energy in this place was terrifying. And she couldn't feel any connection back to Lindsay or Koginka. They had to be gathering energy for a confrontation.

She needed to connect with them. She walked through the receptionist area, like a ghost, and into the classified part of the Welcome Center, to the secured conference room.

She peered in. The overhead projector screen was still on, displaying a view of the desktop of the computer where they had chatted with Nemo a few minutes ago.

She logged into her email. She disliked email, just as she disliked most technology. She had never known Koginka to use a computer. Computers represented everything that Koginka and his followers were against. They were part of the dark energy threatening the Divine Mother, blocking and obscuring the spiritual energy of the world. But she and Lindsay talked on the phone and sometimes Lindsay relayed messages to her from Koginka.

No new messages. The most recent old message was from Lindsay. She opened it.

Preeti,

I just called you. I heard from Koginka. He is calling a workshop starting tomorrow. He said there is a great emergency, a huge wave of dark energy. I don't know if you can feel it but I definitely can. He is concerned that it may be related to the New Year.

I'm not sure yet how I will get down there but I'm going to try to leave tomorrow morning if I can. I asked him if you should come and he said definitely, it was a part of your destiny. We are having it at the same part of the wildlife refuge.

Lindsay.

That was her only guidance. The dark energy on the island blocked her from connecting with them through meditation.

The thoughts she had on the plane came back to her. Maybe these events were not obstacles to helping Koginka. Maybe they were leading her on the right path somehow.

She got a chat:

Lindsay: Preeti, are you there?

Preeti: Lindsay!

Lindsay: I know you are surprised to hear from me like this. But, as you know, the circumstances are unusual... and urgent.

Lindsay: Koginka asked me to talk to you.

Preeti: Yes.

Lindsay: There is a great disturbance in the energy. Koginka can feel it, and so can I. The threat that was prophesied is coming to pass.

Preeti froze at the computer.

Lindsay: But there is more, Preeti.

Lindsay: It is the reason Koginka asked me to reach you this way.

Lindsay: He can feel that you are near the source of the negative energy.

Lindsay: Your meditations have been troubled, have they not?

Preeti: Yes.

Lindsay: Not surprising.

Lindsay: You are near the center of a dark force. I think you must feel it.

Preeti: Yes.

Lindsay: You must be there for a reason.

Lindsay: Everything happens for a reason.

Lindsay: Don't you think so?

Preeti: Yes.

Preeti: But what is the reason?

Lindsay: You must be there to confront the darkness.

Preeti couldn't respond to that last comment.

Lindsay: Don't worry, Preeti.

Lindsay: I think you know by now that you have an unusual connection to the light energy.

Lindsay: Didn't you think so?

Preeti: Yes.

Lindsay: It is no coincidence.

Lindsay: You are there to confront the darkness.

Lindsay: And you can do it.

Lindsay: With our help.

Lindsay: Do you know where to find it?

Preeti: I think so.

Lindsay: Of course you do.

Lindsay: You must go there.

Lindsay: The path will present itself.

Preeti: Yes.

Lindsay: Go as soon as you can.

Lindsay: Much depends on you.

And with those words, Lindsay logged off.

Overwhelmed, as if in a trance, Preeti closed the window and walked out of the room.

She knew the darkness was on the island, nearby. She knew it was not in the Welcome Center. She walked out through the lobby and out the front door.

The man at the reception desk watched her go. Her movements were a violation of protocol. But given all the rules that the visitors had broken already that day, he was happy to let her go. She seemed like a hassle.