Levels of Ascension BoxSet

by Amy Proebstel

  “Just wait,” Shemalla said cheerfully as she grabbed his hand and pulled him across the lawn toward a line of yellow cars. She hailed a cab and pushed Willian into the one which stopped for them. She gave directions to the driver and remained silent as she watched Willian continue to take in the sights from the relative safety of the cab.

  Shemalla took him through several stores to find him the appropriate clothing for Florida. He now owned several pairs of shorts, a couple pairs of pants, at least a dozen shirts, and several options for shoes. The most embarrassing aspect of the whole trip was when Shemalla asked him which style of underwear he preferred and then she began choosing several options for his inspection. He thought he would die of embarrassment before a male salesperson stepped in and took over.

  The last stop was in a store for luggage. She said he’d need an appropriate travel bag which would blend in better than his travel sack. She chose a black Briggs & Riley bag with four wheels on the bottom. Willian was fascinated with the innovation and spent a few minutes pushing it across the floor and turning to see if it would keep up with him.

  When Shemalla instructed him to put all of their purchases in it as well as his travel sack, he finally understood its value. He was relieved to not have to tote around so many bags. Now he only had the one thing to drag around after him. He kept looking back at it to see how it rolled so easily over every surface.

  Shemalla was entertained by his antics. She kept track of the time so they would not have to worry about the traffic getting to the airport. When they left the luggage store, she hailed another cab and instructed the driver to take them to JFK.

  Willian was about to see his first airplane and he could barely contain his enthusiasm. As they neared the airport he could hear loud engine rumblings above them and he plastered his face to the window to see the huge aircraft flying low overhead to come in for a landing. He felt a thrill of fear and delight that he was about to get in one and take his first Earth flight.

  They were walking through the terminal to get to their gate when Willian heard a foreign language for the first time. “I still don’t know why they don’t all speak the same language. It seems pretty inefficient to me!”

  “We have an ancient language, too, you know. We mostly only use it for ceremonies now, but there was a time when it was all that was spoken.”

  Willian raised his eyebrows at her observation; he had to admit she was right. Again, he was going to have to put more thought into things before he judged so hastily. Hopefully, he would eventually learn this lesson.

  The time passed swiftly since he spent all if it people-watching. They were called to board the plane and Willian followed Shemalla to see where to go. They took their seats and she showed him how to fasten the seatbelt which was slightly different than what was used in a telepod. As soon as all of the passengers were on board, the front door was sealed and the airplane pushed away from the gate. Willian could feel the aircraft bumping along the tarmac and he looked over at Shemalla with a childish grin of delight.

  She knew how he felt and was glad he was enjoying himself. Soon he would be tired of the many hours of travel and would be asking how much longer until they reached Florida. It was always exciting to see the world through new eyes when she showed Tualans Earth for the first time. It had been many years since the last time she had done it.

  Takeoff had been just as Shemalla had hoped; Willian was thrilled. The hours of flight also proved tiresome, yet instead of complaining Willian fell asleep. Shemalla thought it was just as well. When the pilot announced their imminent landing, Shemalla woke Willian up so he could look out the window and see where he was going to be living.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  JESSICA HAD PLANNED on staying in New York City until the end of the week, but when she was unable to have any contact with Neal, she decided to go home early. At first she could understand the center’s desire to give Neal the intensive treatment he required until they refused to give her any information citing patient confidentiality. She worried continually about what could be happening to her son without her being able to make sure he was still okay.

  Finally she had had enough. She got into her car and drove over to Amanda’s house. She pressed the intercom button again on the gate box and waited impatiently. Thinking about honking her horn until she got some response she almost began when the gate slowly slid open. “About time,” she mumbled as she pulled into the property. Even through her anger, she had to appreciate the beauty and luxury of the estate.

  She parked the car in the circular drive and stalked up to the front door. Just as she raised her hand to knock, the door opened. Jessica glared at Amanda and said, “You’re not going to avoid me anymore. I need answers.” She pushed her way past the younger woman and marched through the foyer. She stopped at the living room and turned to confront Amanda. “Do you know where Neal is right now?”

  Amanda’s eyes grew wide as she thought Neal had disappeared again. “No, I thought he was at home with you. He’s missing again?”

  “No, but he might as well be. He checked himself into a psychiatric facility to help him try to get his memories back. Now the center won’t give me any information and I’m worried about him. Tell me what you know so we can get him out of there.”

  “Surely, the hospital will be the best place for him, Mrs. Taivas. I think you should let them do their job. Please have a seat.” Amanda walked around Jessica and stood in front of the couch to wait for Jessica to decide if she were going to join her.

  When they were both seated Amanda asked, “Has he been able to recall anything?”

  “He said he could remember a woman who looked like you. He thought her name was Vinia or something like that. He also said the place he lived was called Tuala. That’s all he knows. Tell me what you know.”

  Amanda was both relieved and appalled at the things Neal did remember. She closed her eyes and tried to decide what she should do or say to help.

  “Say something, Amanda. What do you know?”

  “Vinia wants to see Neal, too. I told her to wait until his memory returned. I didn’t want to upset him by having her come around.”

  “She’s real? There really is a woman named Vinia?”

  “Yes. She was here yesterday.”

  “And you still didn’t bring her to see Neal. Not that it would have mattered since Neal is now in New York.” Jessica could hardly contain the sarcasm in her voice. She felt slightly vindicated to finally be getting some answers from Amanda. She needed more.

  “When is Neal’s treatment expected to be over? I can arrange for Vinia to meet with him when he gets home.”

  “I don’t know. Dr. Gascon won’t even answer my calls now,” Jessica answered with a disgusted tone.

  “Did you say Dr. Gascon? Dr. Stephen Gascon?” Amanda stood up with alarm.

  “Yes. What? Do you know of him? What’s wrong?” Jessica was picking up on her panic and it made her own heart begin to race with anxiety.

  “That man is a lunatic. He’s dangerous! We have to get Neal away from him however we can! How long has he been in his care? I hope we aren’t too late to save him,” Amanda was wringing her hands and pacing the floor. She no longer even knew Jessica was in the room with her. Her mind was only focused on plans for helping Neal escape from the clutches of the doctor who should be in prison for his treatment techniques.

  Amanda ran to get her cell phone. She flipped it open and hit the speed dial number three. The phone rang several times before a woman answered the call. Amanda practically cried as she said, “Dr. Medin, I need your help. There’s an emergency!”

  She no longer cared what Jessica heard as she spoke to her friend. “Riccan and I found Neal and took him home. We thought he was recovering there, but his mother is here now and she said they took him up to New York to be treated by Dr. Gascon. We have to get him out of there before something terrible happens. Can you help?”

  “Did Neal check himself in or did his pare
nts?” Dr. Medin asked.

  Amanda held the phone away from her mouth as she asked Jessica the same question.

  “He filled out everything. Why? Is that important?”

  Amanda held out her hand for silence as she began to tell the doctor.

  “I heard. We have a problem, Amanda. Neal is an adult and he signed himself in. We don’t have any recourse to interfere. I’m sorry, it’s the law.”

  “There has to be something, a loophole, anything! Dr. Gascon will use electric shock therapy if he doesn’t think he’s getting good enough answers. I should know, how do you think I woke up?!”

  Jessica tried to follow what Amanda was saying. It did not appear to make much sense. The fear in Amanda’s tone told her more than anything and now she only wanted to get her son back home even if his memory never returned.

  “Thank you, Dr. Medin. If you think of anything which might help, please call me. Anytime! Day or night, I don’t care. I know. Thank you. Bye.” Amanda shut her cell phone and groaned with frustration. There had to be some way to get him out.

  “Tell me the name of the place where he’s being treated?” Amanda asked suddenly. She grabbed a notepad from the desk beside the kitchen.

  “Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens. What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to research the facility on the internet and figure out how I can help him escape.” Amanda replied simply as she continued to write down what Jessica had told her.

  “Just that simple, huh?” Jessica drawled.

  “Yes! I’d think you’d be a little more creative since it’s your son’s life we’re talking about!”

  “Don’t you think you’re being a tad bit melodramatic?” Jessica tried to smile as she convinced herself of Amanda’s tendency to overreact.

  “Melodramatic? Seriously? Why don’t you look up the Cannon Memorial patient records and see how many people died under Dr. Gascon’s care? Why do you think he moved his practice to New York?”

  She did not want to believe what she was hearing so she said, “Surely if that were true, he would’ve had his license to practice taken away.”

  Amanda tried to keep her patience as she explained, “He paid people to lie for him. The records speak for themselves. Cannon Memorial asked him to step down or they would take him before the Malpractice Review Committee. The records are available for anyone who really wants to find them. I’m shocked you didn’t bother to look them up! You really should go now. I’ve got a lot of planning to do if I’m going to help Neal. Let me know if you come up with anything. You know where the door is.”

  Amanda did not wait to see if she left because she was already on her way to the computer in the office. She needed more information before she could create a viable plan. Her mind was racing through all of the complications. She was definitely going to need help to pull this off.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  AMANDA CONSIDERED SENDING a message to Riccan at work and then decided against it. She already felt bad enough for involving him in Neal’s initial rescue from Tuala, she did not want to bring this added burden to him. How many times could she ask her husband to help her with her ex-fiancé, after all?

  She thought about the people who would be more than willing to help and wrote them all down: his parents, Neal Sr. and Jessica, her parents, Chris and Diane, possibly her sisters, maybe Barla, definitely Vinia. She stared at the list and thought the group was abysmally small. As she thought about her sisters she realized they lived too far away and had families of their own to worry about. She crossed their names off. That left six people.

  The ones to whom she would not have to explain much would narrow the list to four. Neal’s parents may have money, but they also had no idea what their son had gone through. She crossed off Neal’s parents. They would have to get this done without them.

  Amanda picked up the home phone and dialed her parents’ number. After several rings, the answering machine picked up. She toyed with the idea of just hanging up until the beep sounded and she left a short message saying she was thinking about them. Frustration was beginning to cloud her mind so she turned to what she could do: research.

  She turned on her computer and began looking up anything and everything regarding Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. A small amount of hope reappeared when she located an article about one of the patients escaping the facility several years before. Surely they would have relaxed their security since then.

  Without anything more to learn about the actual facility, Amanda turned her research to Dr. Gascon himself. She did not know what she was looking for, she just needed to come up with anything which would help her. Suddenly an article appeared which gave her an idea. Dr. Gascon was presenting at a Psychiatrists convention in two days. If he were going to be away from the center, then they would have an opportunity to get Neal away from there. She would have to make it work.

  Amanda gathered her notes and ran out to the garage. She needed to speak with Vinia and Barla as soon as possible. Maybe discussing the problem with them would help her come up with a rescue plan.

  The flight to Cresdon was quick and Amanda barely wasted any time landing. She almost forgot to cloak her telepod in her haste to get to Barla’s house. When she knocked on Barla’s front door she was breathless.

  Barla took one look at her face and immediately ordered her inside. “What’s happened, Amanda?”

  “Is Vinia around? I just found out Neal is in danger and I’m going to need help.” Amanda hurried down the hall and into the living room as she spoke.

  Barla remained in the doorway and said, “Vinia’s upstairs with Danika. Let me go get her. Sit down and catch your breath, I’ll be right back.”

  True to her word, Barla returned almost immediately with Vinia in tow. They sat down across from Amanda with anxious expressions.

  “I’m hoping the two of you can come to Earth to help me get Neal out of the hands of a maniac doctor,” Amanda stated baldly.

  “I can’t go, Amanda,” Barla spoke with fear in her voice. “I need to stay here to take care of Danika.” She seemed relieved to have the excuse to stay.

  Amanda could barely hide her disappointment, but rallied valiantly as she turned her gaze expectantly on Vinia.

  Vinia nodded enthusiastically. “I’ll do anything you ask, Amanda. You know I’ve wanted to see Neal ever since you stole him away from me. If he’s in danger, I want to help.”

  “Thank you, Vinia. We’re going to have to travel quite a bit to get to him. His parents took him to a place called New York. You’re going to see quite a bit more of Earth than you bargained for so I hope you can handle it.”

  Vinia’s expression showed a little bit of fear, but her resolve to help Neal helped her to cope with the uncertainty of the dangers on Earth. Besides, she reasoned, her children had been living on Earth for anons and they had been safe. Her mind was made up, she was going to help however she could.

  Barla snapped her fingers and jumped up from her chair, startling both of the other women into silence. “I just remembered something,” she said as she pulled a book off of the bookshelf. She hurriedly sat down and opened the book on her knees, flipping through the pages. “Here,” she said as she pointed to a spot on the page. “I thought it was the same place, but I had to be certain.”

  Amanda leaned over to see what Barla had wanted to show them. Instantly she recognized the atlas from her dream where Barla had entered Earth names on the Tualan maps. Barla was pointing to the place known to them as Manzanit; in Amanda’s world it was New York City. She raised her eyebrows and looked at Barla in wonder.

  “I see you understand what I’m saying,” Barla said as she nodded her head.

  “Will somebody clue me in?” Vinia asked petulantly. She glanced from Barla to Amanda and back again while she waited.

  “My daughter, Rasa, was just confirmed as the successor for Elder Wilken in Manzanit. You two will need help in New York City where Neal is being held. Rasa will only be an As
cension Gate away if you need more assistance or a quick getaway plan.”

  “Oh,” Vinia said as she only partially understood how this would help.

  “Do you think Rasa would agree to transport us to Earth from that gate? It would save us a lot of travel time on Earth if she would.” Amanda asked.

  “It wouldn’t hurt to ask her. Let’s go send her a message right now.” Barla closed the atlas and returned it to the bookshelf on her way to the kitchen to get to her patil. She hoped Rasa would read it in time to be of assistance. She typed up the short request while both Vinia and Amanda looked over her shoulders. Barla hit send and then looked up behind her and said, “Now we wait and see what happens.”

  “I hope she agrees to help,” Vinia said.

  “I hope Elder Wilken agrees to let her help,” Amanda said with more emphasis on the implications of the whole affair.

  Barla turned to look at Amanda to see if she were trying to say something else. She wondered if Amanda knew more about the situation on Tuala than she were letting on. “What are you thinking, Amanda?”

  “Just that it’s too much of a coincidence that Neal’s family has sought medical help for him in the one city where we also have access to a gate. It just seems as though we’re meant to go there for some reason. Hey, is that a reply already?” Amanda asked as she pointed back to the screen.

  Barla promptly turned and almost yelled, “Yes! Let me see what she said.” She touched the message and saw there was also a request for a video conference. She selected the video instead. The screen immediately filled with Rasa’s face.

  “Well, hello everyone!” Rasa greeted them with a smile as she took notice of the three women seeing her call.

  “Hi, honey. Thanks for getting back to us so fast. We really have a strange situation and we were hoping you could help.”

  Rasa kept a neutral expression on her face as she listened to the story as it was told by both Vinia and Amanda. When they were done, she raised her eyebrows and said, “Why don’t you come on up here and we can discuss this in person. I’m sure I’ll be able to help. Chelesa is here at the Residence with me for another matter, we can include her in the discussion as well. She might have some ideas to add.”