Between ascension, p.25
Between Ascension, page 25
part #9 of Levels of Ascension Series
Amanda laughed with relief to hear his plan; it was the best thing she’d heard since the phone call from the social worker. “I’ll leave it to you then. Call me when you know what our itinerary is, okay?”
“Will do! I love you!”
“I love you, too.” She clicked the phone shut and looked up at her dad. “Riccan’s arranging a private jet to get us all home tonight. I hope you don’t mind; I kind of just made an executive decision without even consulting you or Mom.”
“Don’t worry, honey; it was the right decision. Your mom will be much happier at home, and I really can’t see how I’d get any sleep in the hotel room with those two rambunctious girls staying in there with us!” His laughter was forced, but he tried to make it sound as normal as possible while he finished composing himself. They were going to have to head upstairs soon, and Diane needed to see him acting like his old self. “Let’s not say anything about our conversation just now to your mom, okay?”
“Not today, I won’t, but eventually this is going to be discussed.”
Chris nodded with understanding. He always knew this conversation was a possibility, but he never believed it would be because of something another of his daughters knew. That was still a mystery to him which he would discover an answer to at a later time.
Chapter Thirty-Five
SHEMALLA HAD BEEN right in assuming she would end up getting off work late. Anytime she made plans; it was as if her boss knew she wanted to be somewhere else and made sure to come up with as many trivial tasks for her to accomplish before she was allowed to leave for the weekend. His excuse today was because she was not scheduled to work on Sunday so she would have to make sure her morning duties were completed before she could leave.
She pulled into her driveway and left the car running as she raced into the house and grabbed her backpack from where she had left it on the hall chair. There was no way she could take the time to eat, even though her stomach was rumbling with hunger. Using her forbidden power, she created a sandwich and turned to leave the house. Taking a quick bite, she returned to her car and threw her bag in the passenger’s seat.
Carefully looking as she backed up, she noticed a car parked down the street which she had never seen before. She turned around and left the neighborhood the same way she had come in. The radio was playing her favorite song, so she turned it up and hummed along as she took another bite of her sandwich.
The weather was so cold outside that her windows began to fog up. She had to switch the defroster on in order for the fog to begin to dissipate. She checked her mirrors to make sure the way was still clear as she made the side road turnoff to get to the Gate.
Again, she noticed the same car from her neighborhood. It seemed slightly coincidental for it to be in both places, yet she did not have the time nor the inclination to worry about it much further. Soon enough she would be going through the Gate, and she would be back home in Tuala.
After slowing down for the bumpy, gravel road, she finally reached the end of the ‘improved’ roads and parked in the visitor’s lot of the nature reserve. She grabbed her backpack and slung it around her and pulled it on over her back. Thankful she had eaten on the way, she set a brisk pace up the trailhead to get to the cave where the Gate was located.
Several times she thought she heard noises behind her, but she did not bother turning around to check it out. The only thing which did slow her down was her phone ringing in her backpack. Luckily it was in a side pocket so she could reach around without having to remove it from her back. She saw the call was from Amanda and answered it with concern.
“Hey! Is everything okay?” Her voice was slightly breathless as she continued to climb the hill to get to the cave above. If the call had come only a few minutes later, she would not have had reception.
“Yes, I wanted to call to tell you thank you for whatever you did to help us get the girls back. We are heading home in about an hour. I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye and seeing if there were any way we could keep in touch.”
“I’d like that. I’m heading home right now, as well.”
“I didn’t know you worked this late. I’m sorry to bother you!”
“No, no! I’m heading home to Tuala. Since I talked to you about it earlier, I couldn’t get it off of my mind. I’ll be back soon so don’t worry if you don’t hear from me this weekend.”
“Cool, I’m glad to hear you’re allowed to travel home. Are you on the trail right now? You sound breathless.”
“I see you remember that part of the dream too. Yes, I’m on the trail. Another two minutes and you wouldn’t have been able to reach me.”
“Okay, I won’t hold you up then. Call me when you get back, and you’re ready to talk. Take care. Bye!”
“Bye for now.” Shemalla powered her phone down since it would not be of any use in Tuala anyway. She stowed it back in her pack and entered the overhanging cliff which led to the inner tunnels where the Gate was located. She created a sphere of elemy and walked with confidence. As soon as she reached the last cave, she stepped down in the Gate’s depression in the solid granite floor. Only a few seconds went by before she felt the elemy gather around her and take her home.
The many seconds in between the worlds was usually black and silent, a place where she could gather her thoughts and decompress from her work’s tensions. The silence was broken with a heartrending, unmistakably female, scream of terror. Shemalla appeared inside Elder Vargen’s Residence with her hands covering her ears. “What was that I heard?” she asked out loud. She expected Elder Vargen to be at the controls for the Gate and discovered one of his trusted aides had actually implemented her transfer.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nobody has used the Gate today except for you.” He turned to leave the room and said, “I’ll see you on Minggu.”
“Thanks,” she replied automatically. I guess it was lucky to have Elder Vargen somewhere else, she never really liked or trusted him anyway. Still, it would have been nice to ask him about the odd experience during the transfer. She shook her head without any answer and followed the assistant out of the room and then out to a waiting transport which would take her to her parents’ house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Following the woman had seemed like an easy assignment until she decided to leave town. He was certainly not expecting his target to change her schedule, so it had surprised him when she had driven past him in her neighborhood. As if that were not embarrassing enough, now she had led him out to the wilderness.
He shook his head as he continued up the trail, trying to keep as silent as possible on the gravel path while also keeping an eye on where she had gone. It was inconceivable what drove women to do such odd things, including this trip. Still, he was being paid a handsome sum to keep records on everywhere she went, so he doggedly trudged up the path in his penny loafers.
Being so intent on his footing, he almost broke his own cover until he realized she was no longer moving forward. Instead, she had stopped to take a phone call. He moved as close as he could to try to overhear her conversation, but the wind kept shifting directions making it almost impossible. The two words which were very clear were: home and Tuala.
Ducking undercover as she looked around, he almost missed seeing where she turned into the caves. Heedless of noise, he rushed forward and looked into the black abyss. “Damn it, woman!” he whispered to himself. Of course, he had not thought to bring a flashlight on this adventure either, so he was more than a little reluctant to wander inside an unknown cavern.
Wanting to be as thorough in his report as possible, he entered the darkened cave and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim interior before proceeding further. Keeping the entrance within sight, he went as far as he dared and then had to concede defeat.
Surely, he could wait for her to come back out. How long could she possibly stay inside a cave? Just as he was smiling at his obvious solution, he heard an eerie sound coming from further beyond him. He felt the hair rise on the back of his neck and both of his arms. Then an otherworldly voice which said something like ‘ascension.’
This was the last straw; he was certainly not being paid enough for whatever evil was happening in that black hole. His feet could not move fast enough to get him back into the daylight and down the trail to his car. Feeling like a fool, but not wanting to stay a moment longer, the private investigator left the nature reserve and headed back to Roswell to get a drink.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Riccan wanted Jena and Juila to be able to meet their cousins as soon as he had discovered they were going to be coming home to Florida. He had sent a message to his father’s patil asking if the girls could spend the night at their house when Amanda returned later that evening. Of course, Daven had been more than willing, which led Riccan to wonder what type of drama had been going on for him to be so eager.
The plane was going to be landing in a few minutes, and he scanned the pattern to see if he could see the jet on final approach. Right on time, the aircraft appeared briefly in a clearing and then shot behind another cloud. He could hardly contain his eagerness to see his wife. There was no way he was going to let her be gone for so long again; he would quit his job and go with her before that happened.
Once the jet powered down and the staircase was lowered, Riccan was out of his car and loping across the tarmac to greet his bride. Chris was holding everyone up as he had stopped to thank the pilot and co-pilot for a smooth flight. He spotted Riccan, clapped the pilot on the shoulder one last time, and then descended the stairs.
Chris gave Riccan a handshake and turned to watch Diane help the kids down the stairs. The girls had insisted on taking the stairs themselves; otherwise, Chris would have taken one himself. He smiled when he saw their smiling faces as they looked around their new surroundings while walking down the stairs, two feet on each step.
Riccan had never even seen pictures of the two little girls. In fact, he hardly even knew about either one of Amanda’s sisters or their children or significant others. He knelt as the girls came closer to their grandpa and asked, “And who do we have here?”
“I’m Emily,” the taller of the two girls said confidently.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Riccan, your Aunt Amanda’s husband. I’m glad to meet you. What’s your name?” He turned his attention fully to her sister and waited for a reply which was a little longer in coming.
“I’m April.” Her whispered reply came just as she ducked behind her grandfather’s leg while she continued to peek around him to see the smiling stranger. She stayed hidden while her grandma came down the stairs followed by her aunt. She watched as Aunt Amanda raced over to the man and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly on the lips.
“Let me hold you, April,” Diane said as she knelt and picked her up. April snuggled in close, feeling comforted by her motherly feel. Diane could tell the girl was overly tired but did not want to miss anything on this big adventure. The sooner they got home, the faster they would be able to get them both to bed and begin resuming a new normal life for them.
The pilot had exited the plane and gone to the back to retrieve their luggage. He brought it forward and set it down by where they were standing. “It’s good to see you again, Riccan. You should go flying with us soon.” He tipped his hat before he turned and went to take the plane back to their home airport.
Riccan picked up two of the bags, and Chris grabbed the third one. The girls did not come with anything other than the clothes on their backs so they would have to do some shopping, which Diane seemed eager enough to do. They turned and led the way back to the car while Amanda took Emily’s hand and walked alongside her.
She leaned down and whispered, “You get to sleep in my old bedroom. I’m jealous!”
“I wish I could sleep in my mommy’s room,” she replied softly.
“Hey, we could probably arrange that if you’d rather.” She stood straighter and let her voice carry further as she called out to her mom. “Is Carrie’s room available for Emily to sleep in?”
“I’d have to move a few things around, but we could probably get it together. Is that what you want, Emily?” Diane recalled the many boxes which had accumulated over the years in her eldest daughter’s room. If it would make her granddaughter feel safer, then it would not matter what she had to do, Emily would sleep in the room tonight.
Knowing what a mess the room had become, Amanda piped in, “We’ll all pitch in and get it ready tonight, right Riccan?”
Wishing he could refuse; instead, he nodded and held the back open for Chris to put his suitcase inside. He rushed around and opened the rear passenger door of the SUV for the women as they got near. Amanda sat up front with him as they began the first leg of their trip home.
“I missed you,” Riccan murmured so only they could hear up front. “The girls are coming home for a short visit tonight. Let’s try to make this a quick stop, okay?”
“Really? They’re coming home? I’ve really missed them.” Amanda was already planning how fast they could rearrange the bedroom so Emily could sleep in there. Suddenly an idea struck her, and she asked, “Could you use some elemy to move the boxes from the bedroom out to the garage. If the girls never saw the mess, they wouldn’t know how much effort it would take. They wouldn’t have anything remarkable to talk about, and we could be on our way faster.”
“You know I try not to do anything outside our own home, but I’ll check it out and see if it’s possible.” He winked to let her know it was definitely happening.
Amanda had her father lean forward so she could whisper the plan to him. She could see from his expression that he liked the plan a lot more than slogging through the house dozens of times carrying heavy boxes of who-knew-what. He nodded and sat back in his seat.
They pulled into the driveway, and Amanda said, “Mom, why don’t you show the girls the playset out back while we get the room ready?”
“Okay,” she agreed skeptically. She had no idea what they had planned, but she was willing to go with whatever Amanda suggested.
Amanda led the way down the hall and had to push the door to get it to open all of the way. “This,” she gestured to the stacked boxes, “all has to go out to the garage.”
“Show me where in the garage so I can at least make it as neat as possible.”
“What are you planning?” Chris asked.
“I’m going to use one of my skills to get this over with speedily. No offense, but I want my wife back at home.” He grinned to take any sting out of his words.
Chris grinned back, understanding completely. He opened the garage door and stepped aside so Riccan could see the empty third bay. “It can all go over there.”
“Why didn’t Mom do that in the first place?”
“I don’t know. My guess is she planned on doing something with it all until it got out of hand.”
Riccan stared at the space for a moment longer before he jogged back to the bedroom. “Wait here. There’s no room for all of us anyway,” he said as he closed the door behind him after squeezing himself into the path in the room. A couple of minutes later he opened the door fully and pretended to wipe his brow with exhaustion.
Amanda looked past her husband and could hardly recognize the room beyond. Riccan had even used his skill to clean the carpets and make the bed with fresh linens. It smelled clean and ready to use, definitely faster than anything they could have accomplished in an entire evening. “I’m starting to wonder why you hire a housekeeper if you’re capable of this,” she said in complete amazement.
“We need to get going home.” He grabbed Amanda’s hand and towed her behind him.
“Wait, I need to say goodbye to Mom and the girls.” She tugged her hand back and made him stop. As much as she wanted to be alone with him, she had to do the right thing with her nieces. Besides, she wanted to see her mother’s expression to the cleaned room. She opened the back door and called out across the yard. “Mom, the room’s ready, and we have to get going.”
“Okay, girls, let’s go inside and get you settled in your room.” Diane rushed the girls along, anxious to see how they might have improved the mess inside the house. She had each of them by the hand and took them over to Carrie’s old bedroom and simply stared with her mouth hanging open at the transformation. “Wow,” she mouthed over the girls’ heads.
Amanda giggled a little and leaned forward to kiss her mother’s cheek. “I love you, Mom. I’ll call you tomorrow to see how things are going.” She kissed her father as she passed him and then let Riccan open the door to the passenger side.
“I wish I had my telepod right now,” Riccan said as he started the engine. He knew it was going to be a good twenty minutes before they got home and the girls would already be there by then. He had wanted to talk to his father before he went back home, but now he was certain he would have dropped them off and left.
“Sometimes Earth sucks,” Amanda teased, not knowing what was making Riccan so anxious to get home.
“Yeah, you could say that again,” Riccan agreed glumly.
Thinking they would have some private time, Amanda told Riccan about her twin sister who had died at birth. Even as she told the story her father had shared, she felt her eyes misting with emotion. She ended with “I’d like to find out where she’s buried so I can leave some flowers at her grave.”
“Sure, I think that would be appropriate given the circumstances. Why do you think your mom would keep that from you?”
“I don’t know, but I promised Dad I wouldn’t bring it up with her for now. I did tell him that it would eventually be discussed, but only after we settle Carrie’s mess. Speaking of which, what do you think we can do about getting the charges dropped?”
