He looked up at the wall clock and realized he still had almost two hours to go until lunchtime. He was starving, and it was not helping his mood at all. The teacher continued to drone on and on about health services issues which seemed pretty basic to Willian.
In bored frustration, Willian pulled out his schedule to see what torturous class he had next. Almost laughing out loud he saw it was a pottery class. What could possibly be learned in a pottery class? he thought to himself. At least I won’t be plagued with all of these boring details while I’m slinging mud around.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the end of her typing class, Sofia was desperate to find Jon. It seemed rather peculiar to her that she had not seen him anywhere in the hallways between classes. She raced out of the classroom and down the hall toward his locker. For certain, he would be dropping off his books before heading to The Commons for lunch.
Even before she reached the locker, she spotted him up ahead. With an elated squeal of excitement, she ran full-tilt to catch up to him. She grabbed his arm and whispered, “What happened yesterday? Why didn’t you call me?”
Jon foolishly grinned down at her and said, “It was so amazing, Sofia! It really was our mom, and we had the best time visiting and catching up. I even got to meet my new little sister, Danika.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” she asked again.
“I went with Mrs. Stel to take Mom, Danika, and Barla home. By the time we got back, it was really late, and I didn’t think your parents would appreciate a call at that hour. Besides, I’d rather tell you about it in person so I could see your reaction.”
She leaned in closer and asked, “So it’s true? You are really from Tuala like Behn and Val told you?”
“Yeah, isn’t that crazy? I don’t feel like an alien!” he laughed at his own joke and then sobered up when he started to worry about what Sofia would think about him now. She did not seem upset, yet she did seem slightly troubled.
“So what’s going to happen now? Does this mean you’ll be going home with your mother? Are you going to leave here?”
“No! We’d never do that to our parents. We owe them more courtesy than that. Besides, we still need to spend time getting to know our mother and our past before we’ll decide to do anything drastic. I’d never leave without telling you anyway.”
“That’s good,” she replied. Her grip on his arm tightened, and she said, “I’m so happy for you, Jon. It’s so cool that you’ve met your mom and you have a baby sister, too. When are you going to see them again?”
“I don’t know yet. Mrs. Stel said she’d make some visitation arrangements and she’d let us know.”
Sofia nodded as they moved together through the crowd on their way to the lunch room. Her mind was reeling with the implications of Jon’s revelation. If they were all from Tuala, and they all had special powers, then it was a definite that Juila and Jena had healed her. Maybe it was no coincidence that she was starting to be able to read their minds since the accident. There was so much to consider now that the pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the end of the school day, Willian was even more exasperated than he had been in his health services class. Sofia had been warm and welcoming when she had walked into their shared English class, but it had done little to assuage his frustration at not even seeing Jena at school all day. He wished there was a way to track her down so he could begin working out his differences with her.
Sofia came up to him after class and asked, “How was your first day? Pretty rough?”
“To say the least,” Willian confessed with a big sigh. “I must have gotten turned around after every class.”
“I’ll walk you to your locker,” she offered with a smile of understanding.
“That would be great,” Willian said in relief. He picked up the stack of books he had been amassing from each class and followed after her.
She noticed his books and said, “Why didn’t you put those in your locker?”
“I couldn’t find it in time to not be late for my next class!”
“Not even at lunchtime?” she asked.
“Trust me, it was bad,” Willian admitted with a chuckle.
She had to laugh at his expression. “I’m sorry, I should have found you after your class and made sure you were getting around better. Normally, the office has someone escort a new student for the whole day; I’m not sure why it wasn’t done for you today.”
“That would’ve been nice,” Willian admitted.
“Are you riding the bus home?” Sofia asked.
“No, my guardian is picking me up.”
Sofia frowned slightly at his phrasing. She wondered what his story could be that he would have a guardian instead of a parent. Wishing she were bold enough to ask about it, she instead asked, “Do you want me to walk you out front? It’s the least I could do since you didn’t get the proper guidance during the day.”
Willian smiled at her friendly offer and said, “I’d really appreciate it. Thanks for being so nice to me.”
“I know what it’s like to be the new kid,” she answered with a slight shrug. “Did you get much homework assigned? It’s kind of a rough time to start in a new school with Christmas break right around the corner.”
“I’ve been getting the same impression. I really wanted to get going right away. There didn’t seem to be much point in delaying the inevitable.” He shoved all of his books into the locker and shut the door. “I’m ready.”
“No homework?” she asked in amazement.
“I did it in class already.”
“Wow, that must be nice!” she teased as she thought about how much homework she still had to get done. The accident had caused her to get behind, and she was still playing catch-up. Now she had other distractions with Jon’s mother coming into the picture.
They had reached the school’s front entrance, and Willian watched Sofia walk away yet again. He exited the school and searched for Melissa’s car as he worked his way around the other students. Finally seeing her standing outside the driver’s door, he waved and walked faster.
“How was your first day?” she asked as they both sat down inside the car.
“Tiring and really confusing,” he admitted with a sigh of relief.
“Well, you’ll have a couple of days off for the weekend to get your bearings back.” She started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. “Did you make any friends?”
“Hmmph,” he grunted with dismay, “I don’t know if they’ll be friends, but I met two people who seemed nice. Sofia was my guide this morning, and then I literally ran into another guy named Luke who helped me find one of my classes.”
“Well, that’s a start at least. Did you eat lunch?”
“I ate something,” he admitted. “I got into the wrong line first and then by the time I finally got an apple, the first warning bell rang for us to get back to class. I ate it while I wandered around looking for my classroom.”
“I’m sorry. Why don’t we stop for something on the way home then? There’s a Burger King up the street, we can get you a hamburger, and you can let me know what you think of one of America’s favorite meals.”
“Sure, sounds like fun,” he answered even as he wished for a foxl sandwich from home.
Chapter Fifteen
BY LATE AFTERNOON, Amanda finally had time to sit down at the patil and see if she had any new messages. She was delighted when she discovered one left by Barla. As soon as she finished reading it, she sat back in the office chair and wondered why she had not thought about doing the same thing. A gathering of everyone involved seemed the easiest way to figure out the answer to the prophecy she had discovered. Now her only problem was finding the time in everyone’s busy schedules to get them together to talk it over.
Looking at her watch, she realized Riccan was due to come home from work at any minute. She would bring this up with him and see if he had any ideas of his own. She turned off the pati
l and stored it back away. She left the office and went out to the living room to wait for her husband to arrive.
The house was strangely empty as the kids had decided to go over to the Wilson’s house after school rather than coming home to study. She wished she could have talked with Jon to see how he was faring with all of the new information he had absorbed the day before.
Thinking about absorbing information made her think about Neal and what he must be going through. Deciding to do the right things, she went over to the phone and dialed his number. On the second ring, the call was picked up.
“Hi, is this Mrs. Taivas?” Amanda asked.
“Yes.”
“Hi, this is Amanda. I was just calling to find out how Neal is doing.”
A moment of silence went by as Jessica absorbed the shock of Amanda actually calling. “He met with Dr. Medin today. Neal seemed eager to work with her which is encouraging. Do you think you’d want to come over and talk to him about everything?” Jessica could have bit her tongue for even asking.
“Maybe after he’s met with Dr. Medin a few more times. When is his next appointment?” Amanda just imagined what types of questions Neal would have after his memory began to return.
“Monday afternoon,” she answered.
“Good. I’m glad he’s getting in so fast. I know how confusing it is to remember only bits and pieces. Pretty soon Neal will be back to normal.”
“Do you really think so?” Jessica could only dream of such a recovery for her son.
“I do. It happened for me, and I don’t see any reason why it won’t happen for Neal as well.”
“Can’t you tell us what his story is? Don’t you think it would speed things along?”
“It’s not my place to talk about it, Mrs. Taivas. I’m really sorry. I’m not trying to impede his recovery; I just think it’ll be healthier for him to regain his memories as he’s ready to know them.”
“I still don’t understand,” Jessica complained.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Mrs. Taivas, I have to get going. My husband just got home. I’ll keep in touch. Bye,” she hurriedly said as she hung up the phone and turned to greet Riccan.
“Who was that?” he asked as he stopped in front of her to lean down and kiss her cheek.
“Mrs. Taivas,” she answered as she put her arms around his neck to greet him properly with a kiss on the lips.
As soon as their lips parted, he asked, “Any progress with Neal?”
“He saw Dr. Medin today and is scheduled to go back to her Monday. Hopefully, he’ll get his memory back soon and then we can all move on.”
“Do you think it’ll be that simple? What about Vinia? She’s going to want to be with him, and maybe he’ll want to go back to Tuala.”
“Maybe,” she conceded and then changed the subject, “but we have concerns of our own.” She told him about Barla’s idea for the meeting, and she could see Riccan approved.
“That plan makes sense. We could let each person in the group try to work out their part of the prophecy. We could also talk about what samaras have been found and the possible connection between the aura and the birth crystal color.”
“Possible connection? You aren’t convinced of it yet?” Amanda asked in dismay.
“I’m convinced, it’s just the others in the group who don’t have a samara yet will need to be persuaded.”
“Okay. I think we should bring some of the samaras with us so we can start to distribute the power source. After we had that break-in, I’m certain that was just a warning for us to do something different. I’d hate to see what happened in the event we had all thirteen samaras here in the same location,” Amanda finished with a shudder of fear.
“Maybe we can have the two Elders involved keep them at their guarded and warded Residences. The power influx would hardly even be noticed.”
“There’s a third Elder’s Residence now, you know since Rasa’s been confirmed. She was also at the meeting which would make her eligible to receive her own samara.”
“True,” Riccan said as he nodded agreement. He put his arm around Amanda and began leading her through the house so he could change out of his work clothes. If the journey happened to lead to something else, then he was not about to complain. “Where are the kids?”
“They are studying over at the Wilson’s house.”
Even better, Riccan thought as they began to climb the stairs.
Amanda could sense a change in his mood. She looked up into his face and saw the gleam of excitement in his eyes. Her worry, for the time being, could be put on hold for them to have a proper home-coming. They could always think about their options much later.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The patil buzzed for the third time, and Riccan began to wonder if his parents were unavailable. He looked at his watch and thought his mother, at least, should be around. Raising his hand to disconnect the video call he almost hit the button when his mother’s face appeared on the screen.
“Well hello, Riccan! I’m glad you rang me up,” she cheerfully said.
“I’d like to ask a favor of you,” he replied.
“Sure, what is it?”
“Can you arrange a time and place where everyone who was at Jehoban’s meeting can get together again? We’d like to have me, Amanda, and the twins present as well, so maybe we can find some answers faster.”
“Oh, what a wonderful idea. You should have Amanda bring copies of her journal so each person can read his or her own account of Amanda’s memories of them and see if they can identify the discrepancies. Maybe we can find a pattern or something.”
“You’re brilliant, Mom!”
She beamed with pride at her son’s compliment.
“Will you be able to set up the meeting?” Riccan asked again.
“Sure. It’ll have to be sometime in the afternoon since the girls will be there. It’ll also be easier for myself and you to get together. When were you wanting it to happen?”
“As soon as possible. Also, Amanda wants to begin redistributing the samaras to keep the power signal dispersed a bit more. I’m hoping to use the separate Residences since they are already warded against intrusion or attack.”
Nena frowned slightly. She was still leery of the other samaras even if she knew hers to be harmless ever since she had bonded with her own. “I’ll talk to your father about it and let you know what he thinks,” she answered noncommittally.
Riccan knew his father would agree with his own assessment and took it as an affirmative and replied, “Thanks, Mom. I’ll let you go for now.”
“Thanks for calling. I can’t wait for the girls to come over and spend time with us.”
“Yes, that’s right around the corner, isn’t it?”
“Yep and I’ve made so many plans for us!”
“You know you don’t have to entertain them, right?” Riccan cautioned.
“Oh, I know. I’m just having fun,” she childishly grinned.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Nena replied and then she tapped the screen to disconnect the video call.
Riccan turned to Amanda and said, “There, now Mom will get it all together and you won’t have to worry about a thing until she tells us when to show up.”
“I’m glad. I think everyone will be more receptive to Nena’s request.”
“You give yourself far too little credit, Amanda. Nobody you’ve ever spoken with has refused anything you’ve asked of them, you know.”
“That’s true,” Amanda replied as she reviewed all of her previous contact with the Tualan people. They had always been more than willing to do whatever she had proposed. “I like your mom’s idea about sharing my journal. I’ll have to start making each person’s packet so they will only have to read the parts which pertain to themselves.”
“We’d be there forever if everyone read the whole thing, wouldn’t we?” Riccan teased.
“I think I hear the girls in the other room. Let’s go tell them what we’re plann
ing,” Amanda said as she stood up and left the office.
The twins were inordinately pleased to be included in such an auspicious meeting. “I hope Grandma can arrange it before the winter break,” Juila said.
“Do you have plans for the break?” Riccan asked.
“No, I just don’t want to wait that long!”
Everyone laughed at Juila’s reply and then Amanda asked, “Do you have any plans for this weekend?”
Jena answered, “Behn, Val, and Jon are coming over tomorrow afternoon to practice their crystal skills.”
Juila dug her elbow into Jena’s ribs to tease her as she added, “And then Jena is going to the movies with Luke again in the evening!”
Jena blushed at her sister’s implications. It was true she had developed feelings for Luke, but she still was unsure what to do with them.
As if reading his daughter’s mind, Riccan said, “We’re going to be discussing a dissolution of your betrothal with Willian. It’s pretty clear it’s not working out for the two of you.”
Jena’s posture loosened in her relief. She had not wanted to bring it up, yet she wanted to get it over with.
Juila suddenly whooped in delight at their father’s announcement. “It’s about time! Jena, isn’t that amazing? You’ll finally be free of his controlling demands.”
Jena sat down on the couch and worried about what the Tualan people would say or do. This was not a matter to be taken lightly. She did not want to hurt Willian or his status.
Chapter Sixteen
IT WAS MID-AFTERNOON before the Wilson triplets were able to come over to the house. They were in high spirits because all three of them would be learning to use their birth crystals. They had also discussed at length what they wanted to do about visiting with their mother in Tuala.
“Do you think your mom could arrange for us to spend time with our mom both here at your house as well as in Tuala?” Behn asked Juila.
“I’m sure she’d love to. She knows how hard it is for a mother to be without her children.”
Ascension Vision- The Levels of Ascension Box Set Page 9
