The Crystal Circle: A Paranormal Romance Novel Read Free Page A

Hordes of tourists lounged on the beach, their sunshades closing one after the other, all keeping relatively quiet, respectful of the glory and splendor of the magnificent sunset.
    When she climbed up from the beach, it was getting dark, and the stalls along the boardwalk were in the throes of sales and business. Each stall had its own loud music and sold Chinese hats, shirts, glasses… an endless chain of cheap temptation illuminated with fluorescent lights. The selling and marketing was conducted by shouting, “Ma’am, you won’t find such merchandise anywhere, believe me, lady, not even in Tel Aviv!”
    “Ma’am” An especially cocky salesman grabbed her arm. “You have to see this necklace. It’s perfect for you. Just perfect!” he bellowed in her ear.
    She escaped his grip with one strong move, her face flushed, and hissed, “Leave me alone, loser! Imbecile!”
    He looked at her in disbelief and began to roar with laughter. Lynn didn’t have the time to digest the violence in her voice, because now she was approached by a large man.
    “What did you call my guy? You freak!” The big guy looked at her with a piercing gaze and she took off her shoes and started running. She was sweating, despite the dryness of the desert prevailing in Eilat. When she got close to her hotel, she calmed down, bought a bottle of juice, bread and some cheese at the convenience store in the gas station, and went up to her room. A new clerk was standing at the counter. It must be the night shift. She ate the poor meal in her room, and then stood in front of the bathroom mirror. She looked at her hair, at the tiny wrinkles that had sprung up around her eyes, and her exhausted smile.
    She began speaking loudly to her reflection. “Listen carefully, Lynn. You’re good with languages. You look good and speak nicely. You have a lot of self-confidence, courage, and a sense of adventure. Where has this taken you so far?” She looked at her reflection, but it didn’t answer. “You don’t have any special connections in Tel Aviv, right? You had a job you didn’t like, an apartment you didn’t like, and a life you had to escape from, damn it!”
    She lowered her eyes and began to whisper. “And... you have a desperate urge to succeed here, in this remote place at the end of the state. You came here to start a new life, and maybe... there aren’t any coincidences. There’s something in store for you here. So now you’re Michal - or Lynn - what does it matter?” She gazed at the jacket with the leopard print lapels lying on the bed, and then looked at the white sandals. They seemed very foreign and strange. She lifted her gaze again to the mirror. “What, haven’t you noticed that your memory’s random, fragmented and unrelated to your feelings? You remember the guy you went out with a few months ago, but your heart doesn’t ache. It’s like he was a person you heard about on the news. You left work and you can’t even remember the names of the girls who worked the shifts with you. Do you even remember your parents, Lynn?” She tried hard to think, but all that came to her mind were a couple of vague pictures as she passed the dining room on her way out of her apartment. “Even if you are Lynn, and even if... you... maybe are not Lynn, and you’re just developing Alzheimer’s at a young age, it doesn’t matter! Intuitions work. Go with your heart, because you can’t count on your brain. It plays tricks on you. It’ll be good. I feel it and I’m telling you! You’re not alone.”
    She rolled over on the bed and clenched her fists. Eilat was an ideal city for her plan. Detached from Israel and crowded with tourists, maybe someone would take her to another world, overseas. She thought she might even start to like the heat, to like the landscape that combined the sea and the desert, too.
    “A change of place, a change of luck,” she decided. The mere fact that she got to play the part of someone she’d invented and