“Who were the Watchers?” Barla asked.
Riccan nodded slightly as he declared, “They are a select group of Jehoban’s angels.”
“Oh,” Barla whispered. She stared at her samara on the table across from her with renewed wonder. Hearing how others had communed with their crystals made Barla wish she had also had the opportunity to know what her samara held within its stored memories.
Just as Riccan cleared his throat to begin speaking again, Juila touched his arm and whispered, “I’d like to address the group.”
Riccan nodded and wondered what she would have to add to the conversation. He had learned to appreciate the knowledge his daughters brought to them based on their unique upbringing with Jehoban. “Go ahead.”
Juila slowly stood up, and all eyes immediately turned to her. She could feel her face beginning to redden as the group waited for her to speak. “Some of you know,” and she looked directly at Rasa, “I had an unfortunate incident with my father’s telepod. The crystal drive system malfunctioned while I was transferring between Tuala and Earth and I ended up floating in space. As with all of the other events in our lives, this one turned out to be a good thing in many ways. This,” she said as she pulled out the broken samara and placed it on the table, “is not so good.”
There were gasps around the table as they saw the two pieces lying side-by-side. Her own parents were wondering why Juila had said nothing of this find when she returned. She knew she should have talked to them about it, but she felt terrible about the broken samara so she could not bring herself to tell them. When she had heard there was to be a meeting, she thought the group might be able to come up with a solution.
“Why are we just learning about this, Juila?” Amanda asked in a harsh whisper.
“I didn’t want to be the one to end the prophecy,” Juila whispered back with her eyes downcast.
Amanda immediately felt bad about accusing her daughter of secrecy. She should have known there would be a good reason. Her mind raced through the implications of this revelation.
Alena, in particular, leaned forward and felt a sense of loss at the sight of the fragmented crystal. “This is terrible! What happened to it?”
Relieved to have some answers, Juila replied, “It was being used to power a very large space ship. Unfortunately, the previous engine crystal had shattered which left microscopic dust everywhere. The resonance of the powdered crystal caused this one to break in half.”
“And you think this belongs to someone here?” Alena asked. “How would you find out?”
“So far the aura of each samara has matched the birth crystal color of the owner.”
“What color is this one’s?” Alena could feel a level of excitement and fear rising within her.
“It’s lavender,” Juila answered.
“That’s the same as mine!” Alena announced with a glance around her to see how everyone else was reacting to her statement.
“We thought the same thing,” Juila answered as she gestured toward her sister and saw her nod in agreement.
“What am I supposed to do with it? It’s broken, and I’ve never heard of any crystal being put back together.” She felt so bad for the samara; she wished she could use her healing skills to repair it the same way she would one of her patients.
Chapter Forty-Two
COMPLETELY WITHOUT CONSCIOUS thought, Alena reached out and picked up the two sections. She joined them together like a jigsaw puzzle and felt the energy from the crystal begin to course through her body. It was a feeling, unlike anything she had ever experienced.
“Should we try to get it away from her?” Ahn asked with a concerned tone as Alena continued to remain silent.
“No, it won’t hurt her,” Amanda assured him quietly.
Several minutes passed as everyone watched in fascination while Alena held the now-glowing crystal within her cupped hands. The swirling colors surrounding the samara were mesmerizing.
Not one to waste time when there was a lot of work to get accomplished, Ahn finally asked, “So, who here has their own samara?” He looked around the table as each person raised his or her hand. When Barla put hers up, he stared at her in frank disbelief. “You have one? When did that happen? How come you never said anything to me?”
“Amanda brought it over to me almost three weeks ago. She asked me to keep it secret until she could figure out if there were an actual pattern to who would receive them. She has been keeping it at her house.”
“I still can’t believe you never said anything about it,” he grumbled.
Amanda hoped to prevent a fight between her aunt and uncle and said, “I’m sorry, Ahn. I really did think it was best to keep it secret until we knew more. I never want you to think Barla is keeping things from you on her own.”
“I don’t,” he said unconvincingly.
“Speaking of my keeping the crystal for Barla, I would like to change the arrangement. We need to keep the power emanating from the crystals down to a level which will not draw attention to our locations. The Elders already have the Ascension Gates creating a power vortex which will help disguise the combined power generated from the samaras. So I was thinking the rehoming would go like this: Elder Daven would keep Nena’s and Bryon’s samaras; Elder Debbon will keep Chelesa’s and Barla’s; and we will keep Jena’s, Juila’s, and Riccan’s at our house.”
“Why are you concerned with the power?” Barla asked.
“We have reason to believe Lucinden is sending out people to investigate power spikes throughout the region. We want to eliminate any reason to attract Lucinden’s attention until after we have fulfilled the prophecy given to us by Jehoban,” Amanda answered.
“Amanda is right,” Rasa chimed in. “I have a friend who has it on good authority that Lucinden’s interest has been peaked. We would do well to try to limit our exposure to risk. Amanda’s idea for scattering the samaras is definitely warranted.”
Debbon spoke for the first time and asked, “How are we supposed to go about finding our own samaras? I imagine there must be some way to find them. How have you found the others?”
Amanda and Riccan exchanged a knowing glance. Debbon’s question fit right in with their next plan of action. Riccan stood up and drew everyone’s attention, except for Alena’s, and said, “We had brought the journal pages from when Amanda was in her coma. In her unconscious dream state, Amanda managed to see our lives through other people’s eyes.
“Unless anyone has any other suggestions, we propose that each person who still needs to receive their samara should read through the stories to see where the account has discrepancies. Without anything else to go on, we believe it’s possible the answers lie within the inconsistencies of the stories.”
Juila took the stack of papers her mother handed to her and stood up. She walked around the table and passed out the sections of stories to the appropriate people and then returned to her seat next to Jena.
Her sister had yet to say anything since arriving at the meeting. Juila had noticed her glancing over at Elder Debbon and Chelesa before she returned her eyes to her lap. Juila knew this was a difficult time for Jena since she was questioning her betrothal with their son.
Before anyone could begin to read their portion of Amanda’s journal, Alena gasped as her hands fell away from her samara. She looked over to Riccan with an amazed expression and said, “That was incredible! I think I know how to fix it.”
“How?” Riccan asked. He had felt unaccountably disheartened when he had seen the two pieces. If there were any way to fix it, he would be the first one to volunteer to help.
“I think if each person touched their own crystal and focused healing energy toward my samara, then it would have the power to fuse itself back together again.”
It was not lost on Riccan that the number of samaras needed to heal the new one was seven. It seemed as though Jehoban regularly used the number seven as a significant number. He thought Alena might have a valid option for the healing of h
er stone, so he nodded his approval and stood up to bring his samara closer to himself.
“Use the towels to grab your own samara,” he cautioned the others. “We don’t want to have to wait until you are all free again before we’re able to start.”
Jena, Juila, Bryon, Barla, and Nena all moved over to the head of the table to pick up their samaras to take back to their seats. Chelesa brought her own crystal out of the bag she had brought with her. When everyone was comfortably seated again, Riccan nodded his satisfaction of their arrangement.
“We will wait for your direction, Alena,” Riccan announced.
“Remember to focus your thoughts only on healing this stone,” she cautioned. Alena took a steadying breath and once again cupped her hands around the two halves. Just before she had them touching one another, she cried out, “Now!”
The seven others around the table immediately put their hands on the tops of their samaras. Even those without their own crystal could feel the electricity in the air as their combined energy formed a colorful cloud of light around Alena’s hands. Alena focused her own mind solely on using the energy to draw the two pieces together to form a solid stone, fusing the edges together so completely that no scar was evident.
“It’s done!” she cried, and she jerked her hands away to be free of the charged power still surrounding the stone.
Slowly, the other participants were able to disentangle themselves from the collective healing. Their minds felt as though they had worked very hard even though it appeared they had done very little. One by one, each person removed their hands from the samaras and looked across the table to see Alena’s triumphant smile at what they had accomplished.
Alena felt tears of joy falling down her cheeks. She knew it was ridiculous to cry over the healing of a stone, yet she felt more alive than ever. It was almost as if the stone had filled a piece of her which she did not know was missing. Now she understood what her husband had been trying to tell her about his own samara. The bond was unmistakable as well as indescribable.
“I’d like to know why we would each want to have a samara. What good will they be to us? If you think it’ll draw Lucinden’s attention, maybe we should stop trying to find them,” Ahn reasoned.
There were nods of approval from those who were still without them while the owners could not disagree more vehemently. Daven looked over to his wife’s radiant expression and realized he had to speak, “We need to continue on. If Lucinden is trying to stop it, then we must carry on. We must do everything in our power to thwart Lucinden so that Jehoban’s prophecy can be fulfilled. There can be no greater calling for the children of Jehoban than to serve Him.”
“So we’re supposed to read these papers,” Ahn said dubiously, “and then we’ll be able to locate our own skull.” He thought there must be a better way, something more structured than simply reading someone’s dreams and gathering clues by finding the errors.
“It’s a starting point, at least,” Barla insisted.
Amanda nodded and then changed the subject by asking, “I’d like to ask everyone to write down what you learn from your own samara. Maybe we can discover the true purpose of the crystals or see if there is some type of samara cycle which needs to be completed. I believe by documenting everything it will help us move forward faster.”
Chelesa spoke up for the first time. “I’ve spent several days talking with my samara and learning the history from it. There has been so much lost over time, and I think Amanda is right to ask us to document everything. We are embarking on an amazing journey in which Jehoban has given us a powerful tool to ensure our success. We need to have faith that He will guide us the rest of the way, but we also need to use the brains He gave us to do so.”
“I’ve been wondering how you’ve been doing, Chelesa,” Amanda began. “After we rescued Neal we were so busy with the fallout from it that I wasn’t able to get back in touch with you to see how you were doing with it. I’m glad you have spent time learning from it, you might be able to give the rest of us some pointers about it.”
Chelesa laughed and looked guiltily over in her husband’s direction. “Be sure to eat, drink, and get lots of sleep before ever touching it. Also have someone around who can force you to stop listening to it, because time flies by without you noticing. Debbon can attest to that the first time I used it at home.”
“Yeah, Chelesa said she was going to her office to check out her samara as I left for work in the morning and when I got home late that night, she still hadn’t moved from where I left her. It was really eerie because she looked so peaceful and content.
“After several attempts, I finally freed her hands from the stone and broke the connection. Chelesa scowled at me saying she’d only had a few minutes with it. When I showed her my timepiece, she was appalled to realize she had lost the entire day.”
Chelesa nodded her agreement throughout Debbon’s recounting of her first attempt to use her samara. “Since that day, I’ve taken extra precautions by asking staff members to help me, or make sure Debbon will be home within a decent amount of time from when I start.”
“That’s sound advice,” Riccan praised. “What else have you noticed through your link?”
“My birth crystal is much stronger than it has ever been before. I find it very easy to heal my patients now which is a blessing all around. There’s also a feeling of rightness about it, which is more difficult to explain.” Chelesa chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to find the words for what she was saying and finally shook her head. “I can’t find the right words to describe it.”
“I’m sure each of us who has a samara knows what you are eluding to,” Riccan assured her. He looked around the table and saw each person nod in acknowledgement.
“I’d like my samara to be kept with Bryon’s here at the Residence if you don’t mind,” Alena said as she turned her head to see Elder Daven and Nena. She was relieved when they both nodded readily in agreement. It scared her to have so much power in her home, more so than when Bryon’s had been there. Now she knew what the power was like and she wanted to keep her children safe from Lucinden and his people.
“I think we should all keep in contact via messenger on the patil. I’ll create a group box so we can all see what everyone is working on or thinking about. The more we share, the faster we’ll succeed. Does anyone have any objections?” Riccan asked. He looked around the group and only saw heads shaking. “I guess this concludes the meeting. Go home and read through your pages. See if you can discover where your own samaras are, and we will keep working on it as well. Thank you for coming and safe travels home.”
With the meeting adjourned, Nena stood up and announced, “I have refreshments and snacks available in the great room for anyone wishing to stay and visit.”
Amanda rewrapped the crystals which would be going home with them and returned them to her satchel. She gestured to catch the attention of both Elder Debbon and Elder Daven. When they were both gathered around her, she lowered her voice and said, “Be sure to put these somewhere safe and build wards of protection around them. I’d suggest limiting the number of people who even know they exist just as an added precaution. I’m already uncomfortable with Chelesa letting the house staff see hers.”
Debbon nodded his agreement. “I trust our staff implicitly, but I understand your concern and caution. I’ll do as you ask.”
“As will I,” Daven agreed.
Amanda handed Barla’s wrapped bundle to Debbon, and his expression changed to surprise when he still felt the tingle of power even through the cloth wrapping. “Give that to Chelesa to put in her bag until you get home.”
Amanda then handed Bryon and Nena’s crystals into each of Daven’s hands. Likewise, his expression changed upon his first contact with the power. She watched him hurriedly leave the room to secure them somewhere in the Residence.
All of the occupants of the meeting had migrated to the great room. Most only stayed for a single glass of steena tea and a couple of
sweets before they left to attend to their children at home. Only Elder Debbon and Chelesa remained with Daven and Nena on the patio overlooking the landing field.
Amanda was anxious to get home and put the remaining samaras back into their secret room. She had been unaccountably nervous about bringing all of the stones with her to this location, so it was a relief to be leaving with fewer of them. Once they were back home and Riccan had taken the satchel from her, she noticed how quiet Jena had been during the entire outing.
Chapter Forty-Three
BETWEEN HER SISTER’S silence and Valentina’s continued absence from school, Juila was about ready to scream. She was going to do something about one of them at least. She picked up the phone and dialed Behn’s number. After he greeted her, she got right to the point.
“Can I come over to your house to talk with Val?”
“Sure! Do you need me to pick you up?”
“Yes, please. I don’t want to ask my parents right now since they’re working on something else.”
“Okay, I’ll be over in a few minutes. We just finished dinner, so your timing is perfect.”
“Great! I’ll be waiting out front then,” she replied and hung up the phone.
Jena stood nearby and asked, “What are you planning?”
“I’m going to get at least one person to stop sulking. Val is going to come to school tomorrow if I have to compel her to do so!”
“I’m not sulking, Juila, so don’t start with me. I have a real problem now that Willian is actually being a decent human being. Just today at school, he did as he promised and apologized to Luke. He even offered to carry my books for me.”
“I’m sure Luke loved that! So now what? Is he stalking you? How did he know where to find you?”
“Juila don’t act this way; it’s not very pleasant. I ran into him and asked him to walk with me to our locker.”
Ascension Vision- The Levels of Ascension Box Set Page 26
