Echoes from My Past Lives (Spell Weaver) Read Free

then smiled. “Well, of course you were! I am learning that there have been a great many Taliesins in the family. It was perhaps arrogant of me to think that your parents named you after me. But if you trace the name back far enough in the family, you will come to me.”
    I didn’t think anything would surprise me at this point. Clearly I was wrong. I was also, despite myself, intrigued.
    “So you’re telling me that you are someone from the past, someone who was at Camelot with King Arthur, someone who is my ancestor.”
    “Yes, and no,” replied Taliesin. “I lived a long time ago, far in the past from your point of view. I did serve King Arthur. I am an ancestor of yours. However…” He let the last sentence trail off and looked at me with those piercing blue eyes. “You are going to have a very time accepting the next part, I’m afraid.”
    “Try me,” I said, somewhat impatiently. Yeah, against my better judgment, I was caught up in the story.
    “I am more than an ancestor. I am you.”
    “How is that possible?” I snapped, suddenly exasperated. Just when I thought I was getting a grip on what he was saying, he threw a curve ball like that!
    “How could you be me? We’re talking to each other.”
    Of course, I could have, uh, what’s the term for it? Split personality—no, there’s a newer term for it. Dissociative identity disorder, or something like that. Great! How many psychological problems could one person have all at once?
    Taliesin seemed uncertain of how to respond to me—and I could tell from his general manner that he was not accustomed to being at a loss for words.
    Stop thinking about him as if he were a real person!
    “I know it is a lot to grasp,” he said finally, seeming to weigh each word. “I also know you can do it.”
    “Yeah, I’ve been doing so well I’m in a hospital. Next I’ll be in a mental hospital.”
    “Stop it!” snapped Taliesin. Despite myself, I backed away a little. He immediately calmed down. “I’m sorry. I know this is very, very hard for you.”
    “Hard?” I almost yelled. “Hard doesn’t come close.”
    “Listen to me!” he said quietly but with an intensity that made me pay attention. “We haven’t much time. I know you understand the idea of reincarnation.”
    “How could you possibly know that?” It was true, of course—we had studied major world religions a little bit in school—but he could not possibly know…could he?
    “I know many things,” Taliesin replied quickly. “Actually, I can know everything you know if I concentrate hard enough.”
    “You can read my mind?” Given everything else that was wrong, I had no idea why that bothered me so much, but it did. Having my mind shattered into tiny pieces was bad, but having someone rummaging around in it was worse.
    “Not in the way that you mean it. I can know what you are thinking not because I can read your mind, but because I am part of your mind. I wish you would stay calm long enough to let me explain. I cannot convey in mere words how important it is that you understand and accept what I have to say.”
    “What’s so urgent?” I said, barely holding back my anger. Yeah, I was angry with him, feeling that he must be responsible in some way for what was happening to me. But I was also angry at myself for getting drawn into this dialog with someone I knew couldn’t be real. I was also frustrated, and tired, so tired, and so very ready for my life to be normal again. But what if, what if it never became normal again? What if this craziness was my new normal?
    Abruptly the ground beneath me lurched so violently that I nearly fell. Taliesin looked around worriedly.
    “Tal, we have less time than I thought. I want you to concentrate on staying with me, whatever happens. If we get separated, it may be difficult for me to find my way to you again.”
    Another lurch, this one strong enough to send me sprawling on the ground. Hallucination or not, the impact jarred me just as