At Debbon’s gesture, they sat down yet everybody remained in an awkward silence. Amanda had the strangest feeling she had met Elder Debbon before, but she could not place where or how it might have occurred. Finally, she said, “I’m certain with the way you’re looking at Juila, you don’t need further proof of Jena’s maternity. Where is Jena?”
Chelesa cried louder causing Elder Debbon had to raise his voice to be heard, “Our family has recently received threats, and we were forced to send our son and Jena away to a safe house. We don’t have her with us.”
“Where is Jena, Elder Debbon? As her mother, I deserve to know.”
Elder Debbon looked uncomfortable until he recalled her actual heritage from his healing of her so many anons before. She would have no trouble believing his answer, so he spoke bluntly, “We sent the children to Earth.”
Amanda nodded as though confirming something she already knew and then asked, “Where on Earth is she? I’d like to get home to be reunited.”
Chelesa stopped crying and gasped, “Debbon, did you know about this? Jena’s mother is from Earth?”
Debbon winced at his wife’s accusing stare and sighed, “Yes, I knew Jena was only half-Tualan. It doesn’t matter to me, and it shouldn’t matter to you, either. We’re all Jehoban’s creations.”
“It’s true, but you should have told me!” She wondered if it would have mattered to her before she had fallen in love with the little girl. In her heart of hearts she wanted to say it would not have been important, but, honestly, it would have been a difficult adjustment to overcome at the time. Her ideas about people from Earth had taken a great leap toward acceptance with the simple fact of her love for Jena.
Debbon returned to the conversation he was having with Amanda and admitted, “To answer your question, I don’t know where Jena is or my son, either.” He raised his hand to forestall her next obvious question and continued to say, “I made arrangements with Elder Vargen to transport them to a safe house on Earth. Only he knows where they are. I suppose I should ask him since we know you are alive.”
Amanda’s heart sank when she heard Elder Vargen was involved. What if he figured out Jena’s true heritage? He was one of the founders of the Old Soul Engineering Facility proving he was definitely not a sympathizer with Earth’s people. If anything, he was more ruthless toward them because of his son’s mistake causing him such disgrace among the Elders. He deeply resented the interference the Earth people had made in his career.
“When will you talk with Elder Vargen?” Alena asked into the quiet which had descended upon the room.
“Let me get him on the patil immediately.”
Debbon went to his patil and activated the emergency switch to contact another Elder. Elder Vargen answered immediately with, “Elder Debbon, how may I help?”
“Can you please tell me the location of my children on Earth?”
There was a pause before Elder Vargen answered, “There’s been a problem, First. My contact has not returned to her post. I’ve been unable to ascertain where your children were placed. As soon as I hear from Shemalla, I’ll let you know immediately.”
“Thank you, Elder. I look forward to hearing from you soon.” He sighed as he disconnected the call and looked at the people in his dining room. Both Amanda and Alena wore expressions which were unreadable. Chelesa looked devastated. “I assume you could hear Elder Vargen.”
Chelesa jumped up from her chair and accused her husband, “I heard him say our children are lost on Earth. How can you be so calm about this? What are you going to do about it, Debbon?”
“We aren’t going to do anything right now. Let’s wait until Elder Vargen’s contact gets back to him. Once we know where the kids are, then we can make arrangements to get Amanda to where she can visit with her daughter.”
Amanda did not like the sound of Elder Debbon’s disconcerted assessment of the situation. She was not planning on visiting with her child, she was planning on taking her home for good. She started to form a protest against the Elder’s statement when she felt a nudge from Alena. She looked at her in time to see Alena shake her head swiftly. Amanda shut her mouth and looked hard at Alena indicating she had some explaining to do once they left.
“Well, it seems as though there’s nothing we can do until you hear from Elder Vargen.” Alena pulled a piece of paper from her purse and wrote down both hers and Amanda’s contact information. “Once you know something, please contact us right away. As you can imagine, we are quite anxious to have this matter resolved. Thank you for your time.”
She plucked Amanda’s sleeve to get her moving. She wanted to be well away from Elder Debbon before Amanda started asking questions. Alena opened the door for Amanda and Juila and then closed it behind herself. She put her finger to her lips indicating Amanda keep quiet until they were further from the school. They walked hurriedly.
Amanda was bursting with questions. She was certain Alena had figured something out, and she was dying to discover what she knew. No sooner were they outside the school gates when she could contain herself no longer, “What’s going on, Alena?”
“You heard Elder Vargen say his contact was Shemalla. You know who she is and where she’s located. All you have to do is go back through the same Gate you used to get here and go ask. You don’t need to involve Elder Debbon anymore. You can go home and be reunited with your daughter on your own.”
“You’re brilliant, Alena. I didn’t like how Elder Debbon made it sound as though he were planning on keeping Jena and allowing me visitation. That’s just wrong. She belongs to me, not him!”
“Actually, Amanda, Elder Debbon does have a claim to Jena whether you want him to or not. There was a betrothal agreement signed, whether it was illegal or not, and the formal procedure was performed and then blessed by Jehoban. Your daughter is irrevocably linked to Elder Debbon’s family, and her future is set with his son.”
Amanda looked at Alena with growing horror as she imagined Jena’s future. She did not want someone to tell her daughter whom she would marry. It was just not done that way on Earth. There had to be some sort of appeal to Jehoban or something!
Alena squeezed her arm to comfort her and said, “Let’s worry first about finding her and then you can worry about her future.”
Amanda continued to walk toward home with Alena, nodding her head in agreement. She started to review her options for returning to Earth not liking the idea of taking Juila through an unsanctioned Gate. The risk was too high, yet she also did not want to leave Juila behind to search Earth for Jena. Suddenly she recalled Riccan’s offer to help, coupled with the fact that his father was an Elder with an Ascension Gate of his own. Maybe Riccan could talk to his dad to send her and Juila to Earth. It was certainly an avenue to consider seriously.
They reached Amanda’s house where Alena took Juila from her so she could use the patil to update both Rasa and Riccan of the evening’s events. First, she left a simple message for Rasa letting her know the prediction of Jena being on Earth was correct. She told her she would appreciate any ideas for getting home before signing off.
Her next call was to Riccan. She expected to leave him a message also but was pleasantly surprised when Riccan’s image came onto the screen.
“Hi, Amanda. What happened with Elder Debbon?”
“He has been raising Jena, just as we suspected. He also told us he sent Jena and his son to Earth to keep them safe from threats to their family. The part which wasn’t so good was when he called Elder Vargen, who transferred the kids, we found out nobody knows where the kids were sent.”
“So now what are you going to do?”
“I found out the contact was a person I already know at the museum in Roswell. I was hoping you could ask your father to send both Juila and me through his Gate to Earth.”
“I can do one better; I can take you there myself!”
“Riccan, I don’t want to take a chance with Juila by using an unauthorized Gate.”
“Have y
ou ever heard about the Elders having a portable Gate?”
“Actually, yes, I have. Shemalla told me about them before I made my way back to Tuala. Does your father have one?”
“No, but I do. I built it into my telepod.”
“You mean the telepod I saw at work has a portable Gate?”
“Exactly. When do you want to go?”
“I’d say immediately, but we both have work in the morning.”
“I think work is irrelevant right now. Besides I can time the travel just as easily. We can go over there, stay as long as you need, and still come back before we need to go to work in the morning.”
Amanda finally felt all of the pieces clicking together. She mentally said a silent prayer of thanks for all of the wonderfully supportive people she had in her life and then spoke, “How soon can you be ready?”
“Meet me down at the office in ten minutes. I’ll be ready!”
Amanda barely started to agree before the screen went blank. She imagined Riccan was excited to go on this adventure with her. She stood up, turned toward the kitchen, and watched Alena serving Juila her dinner.
Alena looked up expectantly, noticing Amanda’s eager expression as she came into the room. “Did you get some good news from either call?”
“The best news, actually. Riccan is going to take Juila and me to Earth as soon as we get over to the office. This dinner is going to have to be on the run, Juila. We’re going to take a trip!”
Juila smiled at her mother as though she had known this was going to happen which caused Amanda to look at her daughter thoughtfully. Juila seemed to have a rather accurate intuition about a lot of things lately.
Alena looked devastated by the news. “So soon? I’m not ready for either of you to leave. Please promise me you’ll come back.”
“I’m sorry, Alena, I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen. We’ve got to meet Riccan in ten minutes which means I’ve got to get moving. Please tell Bryon I said goodbye. If it’s possible, I’ll do my best to come back to visit you both. Riccan did say we could be returning before tomorrow morning if we don’t turn up anything. You two may as well spend the night here if you don’t plan on going home tonight. Please let Rasa know what I’m doing. I’ve got to run. Thank you for everything.”
Alena grabbed Amanda’s arm to get her full attention and spoke urgently, “At the girls’ crystal ceremony I saw images of your children’s futures. I’ve had time to review what I saw, and you need to know they will both be back on Earth as they get older. It will be okay.”
“Thank you, Alena. I know how hard it must be for you to break your vows to give me the reassurance that I’m doing the right thing. Now I know everything will be turn out well. I really do have to go now.”
Amanda grabbed up Juila and went to their room to gather a few things they would need for overnight. A minute or two had passed since she had spoken with Riccan and she was elated to finally be doing something. She gave Alena a hug and whisked out the front door. Amanda practically ran to the office building. Just as she got to the front door, Riccan opened it from inside, smiling at her flushed cheeks and the twinkle of excitement in her eyes.
He also looked eager as they took the elevator up to the roof. Riccan used a remote to open the cargo door for the three of them to enter the telepod. The door closed silently behind them, and Amanda placed Juila in the seat immediately behind her own. Amanda wanted to make certain Juila was as safe as possible for this trip, so she opted not to carry her on her lap as she normally did for transport. She buckled Juila in before moving to the right front seat of the telepod. She fastened her own seatbelt and saw Riccan had already done his own.
Now for the moment of truth: Amanda was finally going to take a ride in Riccan’s amazing telepod with an epic journey landing them on Earth. With his hand poised over the plascreen console, Riccan said, “Tell me where we’re headed so I can get the coordinates on the screen.”
“I think Roswell should be our first stop. If we can’t locate Shemalla in a reasonable amount of time, then we’ll head to my parents’ house in Florida. They were supposed to be speaking with her regularly to get any updates on my status here in Tuala.”
“Okay, Roswell it is. We’ll have to come in under cover of darkness so fewer people will have a chance of seeing the telepod. It wouldn’t do to create a commotion, now would it?”
Amanda grinned at Riccan’s joke, yet knew it was no laughing matter. Secrecy was important for Tuala to remain outside of Earth’s inquisitive reach. She wondered when they would leave just as darkness overtook all of her senses. Her question was answered; however, it did nothing to alleviate the nagging feeling something had gone wrong when they continued in the nothingness for longer than she ever had felt during trips with Bryon. She felt a jolt then noticed she could faintly see outside the front window. They must have arrived in Roswell based on the stark desert landscape.
Riccan set the telepod down without a whisper of a jolt. He was pleased to have greased the landing and preserve the paint on the bottom of the telepod. With practiced ease, he scrolled through a series of screens on the flat panel as he deactivated the telepod. Riccan unbuckled his restraint and announced, “Okay, all systems are down, and we’re ready to go.”
As he was the first to exit the cockpit, he unbuckled Juila from the seat and carried her through the cargo door. Amanda followed immediately, turning to see the telepod door close silently after she stepped off the ramp. She wondered what they were going to do about hiding the telepod when it suddenly seemed to disappear.
“Where did it go, Riccan?”
He laughed, held out his fist, wrapping his knuckles on the outside of the telepod as he answered, “It’s still there it’s just using the colors of its surroundings to camouflage. I’d say the program works rather nicely!”
“You could say that again. How will we be able to find it when we get back?”
“I have a homing beacon programmed into the remote. Roswell is about a mile east of here. Let’s get walking.”
A strange, niggling idea continued to bother Amanda, knowing it was something important. Suddenly the idea blazed through her mind: she had crossed the veil, and yet she had retained her memories of Tuala! “Riccan! Something is wrong!”
“What?” Instantly on the alert, he began scanning their surroundings to discover the source of trouble.
Amanda saw his sudden tenseness and hastily tried to ease his mind by touching his arm and explaining swiftly. “Riccan, I still remember everything even though I’m back on Earth. The three other times I crossed over I completely lost my memory. Don’t you think that’s strange?”
Riccan was relieved to discover the problem was just her memory and not an outside threat. He considered her concern and asked, “What was different this time?”
“I can’t think of any difference, really. Maybe I was more prepared? Well, no, that’s not exactly true. When I came over here with Shemalla’s help, I was as ready as I could get.” She wracked her brain to figure out anything else which might have changed. With a flash, her mind centered on the pendant suspended from her neck which prompted her to ask, “Do you think my birth crystal has something to do with it?”
Riccan pondered her question for a few moments. With the training he had already received from his father, he was well-versed in Jehoban’s ability to change people. He smiled as he realized more had happened during Amanda’s birth crystal ceremony than she ever knew. “Amanda, you’re exactly right. When Jehoban decided to give you the crystal, he was proclaiming you a child of Tuala. He bestowed all of the Tualan blessings upon you which include the birth stone, using the elemy, and the ability to pass through the Gates without any detriment to your memory.”
Amanda simply stared at Riccan, hardly able to believe what he said was true; yet her full memory was a testament of truth to his proclamation. “Does this mean I can come and go from Earth with impunity?”
“I believe it does.”
> “Wow, that’s so amazing!”
They resumed their journey to Roswell in silence. Amanda was glad Riccan had continued to carry Juila. She would have been quite winded if she had offered to take her from him. Her musings were interrupted when Riccan suddenly began speaking.
“I’m really glad I was finally able to help you with this problem,” Riccan began as he tried to explain what he had been feeling.
“Me too.” Amanda agreed wholeheartedly. She shivered at the idea of making this trek in the dark by herself.
“When we were at your house, I really wanted to step in and arrange for you to meet with Elder Debbon. You do realize he is a friend of my family since my father is also an Elder, don’t you?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it. Why didn’t you do it then?”
“Because I remembered you saying how guilty Alena felt because of Jena being abducted. I could tell it meant everything to her to try to make it right by arranging the meeting with Elder Debbon. I didn’t want to take that from her, however, had she been unsuccessful, I would have stepped in at that point.”
Amanda nodded thoughtfully as she realized Riccan had really paid attention to her when she had shared her whole story with him. He was probably the most thoughtful man she had ever met, which only endeared him to her more. She had no idea where they could possibly go, relationship-wise that is, but she wished she would have an opportunity to find out.
Before long, they arrived at Shemalla’s house and knocked on the door. Amanda wondered if her friend might be asleep as the house was completely dark inside. She knocked again before trying the doorknob and discovering it was unlocked. They cautiously walked inside as Amanda called out, “Shemalla? Are you home? It’s me, Amanda.”
They searched every room without finding any signs of Shemalla or a hasty retreat. Amanda began to worry something dire might have happened to her friend. Without any other leads or options, they left the empty house to begin the journey back to the telepod. The return trip seemed shorter, for which Amanda was thankful since she would be able to rest in the comfortable co-pilot’s seat. Her feet were killing her; she had not walked this much in one evening in as long as she could remember.
Ascension Discovery Page 80
