Ascension Seekers

by Amy Proebstel

  She hastily brushed the leaves back over the hollow in the roots. Amanda clapped her hands together to dislodge any remaining debris from her gloves before she removed them. With nothing else to be done, Amanda picked up the empty box and retraced her steps back to the path where she had separated from the kids.

  Thinking she would meet the trio either along the trail or near the house where the two kids had grown up, she turned off of her path and onto the new one. As she had guessed, both Behn and Valentina were inside the log cabin and Juila was waiting outside to give them some privacy.

  Juila turned suddenly when she heard twigs breaking behind her. She smiled with relief when she discovered it was only her mother and not some stranger. She had monitored the area for signs of life when they had arrived, yet she had let her guard down when she found it deserted. “Did you get what you came for?”

  “It wasn’t there,” Amanda admitted.

  Juila’s eyes widened as she said, “What? Are you sure?”

  “Very sure. I found where it had been stashed, but it was gone.”

  “How long ago do you think it was put there?” Juila asked suddenly as an idea occurred to her.

  Amanda cocked her head to the side as she considered the question. “I got the impression it was hidden about a year ago,” Amanda answered.

  “Where exactly was it hidden?”

  Amanda turned back toward the creek, which was hidden from view by several yards of brush and trees, and pointed as she replied, “Under a tree along the river over there.”

  “Was it near where we walked with Behn the last time we were here?”

  “Yes. Very near there. What are you thinking?” Amanda asked slowly.

  “Those samaras have a lot of energy. If it had been there the last time we were here, we would have felt it. Someone must have taken it before we arrived the last time. If we were to go back in time to before our last visit, we might be able to get it before the other person does.” Juila smiled at the look on her mother’s face as she finished her summary of what they should do.

  “Timing it is dangerous, Juila. Besides, how would I know when to come back here? It could have been more than a year for all I know.”

  “Anon, Mom. We are in Tuala now. For starters, try timing it to the mesan before we arrived last time. If it’s still not there, then skip back another month. You don’t have to do it all in one day since it’s extremely taxing on the body, but at least give it one try today.”

  “I don’t know. I can’t risk Behn and Valentina’s lives on a theory.” Amanda weighed her options. She could leave the kids here while she attempted to go back in time, or she could take them home and come back later. An idea struck her and she asked, “Can you talk to your sister through your mind link?”

  “I haven’t tried. Just a second,” Juila held up her index finger and her eyes lost focus as she concentrated on communicating with Jena. She smiled and nodded her head.

  Amanda said, “Tell your sister where we are. Let her know about your idea about my going back a mesan and see what she thinks.”

  Juila nodded at her mother words while still not looking at anything in Tuala. Her eyes refocused and she looked up at her mom and said, “Jena thinks you should give it a try. She said I should go with you so if anything goes wrong then she’ll still be able to tell Dad where we are. Jena thinks we should leave Behn and Valentina here at the cabin until we’re done.”

  Jena’s idea had merit and Amanda nodded in agreement. “Okay, let’s tell them what we’re up to,” Amanda said as she began walking toward the cabin.

  Valentina did not much like the idea of be stranded in the deserted village, but Behn said, “It’s okay. You two do what you need to and we’ll be waiting here for you to return. I’d like to take some time wandering though the village to see if it brings back any new memories anyway.”

  “Don’t wander too far,” Amanda admonished. She still thought it would be wiser to return the two kids back to Earth.

  “Come on, Mom. Let’s hurry and get this done!” Juila began jogging up the trail back to the telepod.

  Amanda looked over her shoulder at the two kids she was leaving behind. They smiled and waved at her to encourage her to go. They seemed content to stay, who was she to tell them they had to go? Making up her mind, she began running to catch up with Juila.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  VALENTINA WATCHED THE only people who knew where they were leave. While she agreed with Behn about it being nice to have more time to explore, she could not help wondering if it were wise. Since she had traveled by telepod and seen where they used to live, she was thoroughly convinced of their heritage. Now she had some alone time with Behn to talk about what they were going to do about it.

  “Behn, can you show me the first crystal lesson? Since we are here at our old home, maybe it will come back to me easier somehow.” Valentina began to walk back into the old cabin and assumed Behn would follow her.

  Behn was torn between wanting to walk through the village and doing as his sister asked. It seemed as though she were coming around to believing everything which had been told to her. The more prudent choice seemed to be with his sister. He turned and followed her into the old homestead.

  They faced one another at the worn wooden table just as Behn recalled from his earliest memories. He pulled the pendant out from under his shirt and held it in his hand. He spoke quietly to his sister, “Hold your birth crystal in your hand. Concentrate on feeling the energy living inside of the crystals. Focus your thoughts on the energy and feel it expand outside the confines of the stone. Imagine the energy circling around itself in a sphere of energy which you can control.” Even as he spoke, he put action to his words and demonstrated what he intended her to do with her own necklace.

  Valentina felt a spark of recognition in the furthest recesses of her mind as she listened to Behn’s instructions. She knew she had heard these exact words from their mother as she showed them how to use their birth crystals. Even as she began to feel the energy building in her own pendant the memories burst forth from her subconscious. She dropped her pendant and looked wide-eyed at her brother.

  “What?!? Did you get hurt? Did your birth crystal do something to you?” Behn questioned even as he jumped up from his seat and came to kneel beside his sister. He began to be afraid as Valentina continued to stare at him without saying a word. Reaching up, Behn shook her shoulders and asked, “What’s going on, Val? Talk to me!”

  Valentina’s eyes refocused on her brother and she suddenly grinned broadly and declared, “I remember everything, Behn. I remember our mom, our life here, and our lessons with the birth crystals. It’s amazing, Behn!”

  “Jeez, Val, you scared me half to death!” He rocked back on his heels and let out a sigh of relief. Now he knew Valentina would be on his side since her memories had returned. Behn stood up and stepped back over to his seat. With another sigh, he slumped down into the chair and said, “Tell me what you remember.”

  “Mom sat right here,” she gestured to her right. “She taught us the first five lessons of the crystal skills and told us we had to keep it a secret from the villagers. She said they wouldn’t understand and they would treat us badly if they ever found out we had powers which they could not possess. Behn, none of the villagers had birth crystals!”

  “Wow! I wonder why not?”

  “Mom said they were an old community with strange customs. They did not trust outsiders and did not welcome anyone into their lives who was not born there.”

  “Our mom had a birth crystal. How did she come by one if the villagers wouldn’t allow it?” Behn wished he could recall the things Valentina obviously had no trouble remembering.

  “Let me think for a second,” Val said as she thought about her brother’s question. She nibbled on her lower lip as she reviewed her new memories. “Ah,” she said and looked up at Behn. “Our grandfather was not from the village. Our grandmother brought him back with her when she went on a journ
ey. She told the village leader she was pregnant and married so they allowed him to stay. They never made him feel welcome. When our mother was being born, he insisted that a wise-woman come in for the delivery and to make sure the child was healthy.

  “The leaders tried to stop him, but even they had to admit the birth was not going well. Grandma was going to die unless someone came in to help. As it was, the delivery damaged Grandma beyond repair and she was never able to have any other children. The wise-woman was able to stop the bleeding, but she couldn’t fix the damage.

  “Before she left, and while Grandma was weak in bed, Grandpa insisted the wise-woman perform the crystal ceremony for his daughter. He didn’t want the ignorance of the villagers keeping his daughter from her birthright and the protection of the birth crystal.

  “He taught Mom how to use her crystal and he took care of our Grandma who never really recovered her strength from the childbirth. She died several years later when our mother was only six. The villagers had no choice but to put up with our Grandpa for our mother’s sake.”

  “What an amazing story. Hopefully one day I’ll remember it as you do.” Behn leaned forward with his elbows on the tabletop and asked, “Show me what you recall of the first five lessons.”

  Valentina smiled at the challenge and once again held her birth crystal in her palm. With renewed pride in her birthright, she proceeded to demonstrate all five levels with ease. When she was done, she smiled smugly at her brother.

  Behn had to admit he was slightly jealous of the ease in which she had performed the tasks. She had performed seemingly without any instruction what had taken him days to perfect. Maybe he should have taken Juila up on her offer to implant the skill in his brain to speed up his progress. He grinned, shook his head slightly, and said, “You obviously remember Mom’s lessons!”

  “This is so cool, Behn. I can’t wait to learn more! I know Juila offered before, but do you think she’d let me sit in on your lessons so she could teach me as well?” Valentina reached across the table and grabbed his arms in entreaty.

  Behn smiled broadly and answered, “I’m sure she would. Now we just have to convince Jon about what we know! I think I’ll leave it up to you.”

  “Thanks!” She sat back in disgust. Behn had a point. Jon needed to know the truth. She just was not sure how to break it to him. He never did have as many memories of their childhood; they had always blamed his sickness on it.

  “Let’s go take a look around the village,” Behn suggested. He had an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia suddenly. He needed fresh air and a nice brisk walk to clear his mind.

  “Sounds good to me,” Valentina said. After all, she had gotten exactly what she had hoped for…her memories back.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Amanda and Juila sat in the telepod. Juila tried to convince her mom of the proper way to time a teleportation. Amanda remained unconvinced since she and Riccan had never gone over the procedure.

  “Are you sure? This could be very bad if we were to do it wrong,” Amanda asked again. “Why don’t you ask Jena what she thinks? Maybe she could get ahold of your dad and ask him.”

  Juila rolled her eyes at her mother’s paranoia. She humored her and consulted with Jena on the matter. In a few moments she refocused her eyes on her mother and said, “Jena agrees with my plan. Look, why else would there be a date function on the plascreens unless it was meant to program in the date you wanted to arrive somewhere? If I’m wrong, then we’d end up back right here at the same time as when we left. We really have nothing to lose by trying.” She sat back and crossed her arms with finality.

  Amanda could not help but smile at Juila’s reasoning. She knew their lives would be at stake if they messed it up. However, she could not fault Juila’s logic about the date counter. Besides, she seemed to recall Riccan using the time function on his telepod to change the time of their return to Earth after visiting with his parents late one evening. “Fine! We’ll try it your way. Change the date to one month before our last visit to this location. Hurry before I chicken out!”

  Juila looked strangely at her mother’s odd colloquialism.

  “It means, before I change my mind!” Amanda laughed.

  Juila chuckled even as she tapped the screen until the date she wanted was displayed. “Okay, we’re all set. Let’s go!”

  “You’d better be right,” Amanda said even as she pressed the activation button and held onto the manual control stick just in case.

  Darkness overcame them. Six seconds passed. Then another three seconds went by in darkness. Just as they were both starting to panic, light flooded through the windows and they both sighed in relief. Amanda hurriedly set the telepod down on the ground and performed the shutdown procedures. She noticed her hands were shaking and her heart was racing.

  When she looked over at Juila, she knew her daughter was feeling the same thankfulness at being alive. To cut the tension she asked, “Can you still contact Jena?”

  “Let me try,” Juila said. A few moments later, Juila let out a loud breath and said, “That was definitely weird! Not only could I talk to Jena, but I could hear myself as well. I’m not sure I liked the sensation!”

  “Well at least we know it still works across time. Let’s get outside and see if the samara is where it should be now!” She grabbed up the box and gloves, hit the button on the dash to open the side door, and hurried out of the telepod.

  Juila was right behind her. As Juila stepped off the ramp, she hit the close button from the outside. As they walked away from the telepod, both looked behind them to watch it disappear when Amanda hit the cloaking button on her remote.

  Amanda led the way back on the trail. She had an odd sense of déjà vu since everything looked the same as it had a few minutes before. She hoped the timing had worked. Her steps got longer until she found herself jogging. Her breath was coming harder and she realized she was going to have to slow down. She still was not in the best shape since coming out of the coma. Times like this demonstrated it very well.

  Finally, they arrived back at the hiding spot. Amanda handed the box to Juila. She put on the gloves and knelt down at the tree. She knew about their success even before she removed the brush since she could feel the energy emanating from the samara. Once the crystal was exposed, both Amanda and Juila sighed with relief. Their mission was almost complete.

  Amanda picked up the samara carefully and turned toward Juila. Her daughter fumbled with the box lid and bent forward for her mother to put the precious object inside. Juila put the lid back on and grinned at her mother.

  “We did it!”

  “Almost. Let’s get back to our real time and pick up your friends. I won’t consider this a success until we are safely back at home!” Amanda stood up and started walking back toward the telepod.

  “Mom, can you carry this? It’s making me itch all over with its surging energy.” She rushed to her mother’s side and handed the box over.

  Amanda still had the gloves on and could only feel a slight tingling sensation. She wondered if it were the gloves or the fact she did not yet have her own samara. Maybe she was just less sensitive to the energy. In any event, they needed to get back to the relative safety of the telepod before anything happened to them. Someone had taken the samara before, it could have been themselves, or it could have been someone else. She was not willing to risk the former coming after them for their prize.

  They walked as fast as they could, just shy of jogging. When they got to the beach again, Amanda reached into her pocket and hit the cloaking button to reverse the effects. The telepod reappeared in front of them and they entered the vehicle swiftly. Amanda was the first in and she hit the button for the side door as soon as both of Juila’s feet hit the inside of the pod.

  Not wanting to attract any attention to themselves, Amanda once again cloaked the telepod. She initiated the startup procedures and verified all of the green lights. She did not want to rush the process and make any mistakes, but she despera
tely wanted to be gone from this place. “Enter in the correct date, Juila. Be quick, I want to get out of here!”

  Juila felt exactly the same way. She tapped out the correct date and said, “Done!”

  Blackness engulfed them almost immediately. Knowing the transfer would take at least nine seconds, they both counted silently. When light once again entered the windows, both of them whooped out a cheer of delight.

  “You stay here with the samara, Juila. I’ll go get the kids and be right back.” Amanda unbuckled and left. She closed the door and cloaked the telepod as she slipped along the loose sand up to the brush line. Once again, she retraced her steps along the path. She turned toward the cabin and kept walking briskly.

  She wished she were able to talk to her daughter through a mind link. She had to content herself with knowing she could look in on Juila’s birth crystal. She would know if Juila were in any danger through the parent link.

  Several minutes later, Amanda reached the dilapidated cabin and rushed inside to collect the kids. The dwelling was clearly empty. She ran back outside, put her hands to her mouth, and called out, “Behn! Valentina!”

  She hurriedly looked around the cabin and noticed there were fresh footprints in the dirt leading away from the house. She realized the kids had probably gone exploring in the village. Amanda followed the narrow trail, wishing the whole time the kids would have stayed put in the cabin. Calling out the kids’ names again, Amanda kept walking.

  “Hey,” Behn called out from the distance.

  Amanda sighed with relief and kept walking forward. “Where’s Valentina? We need to get going now.”

  “Val! Come on, it’s time to go,” Behn yelled behind him.

  Valentina stepped out of the trees and brushed the debris from her pants and asked, “Were you successful?”

  “Yes. We can talk about it in the telepod. Let’s go!” Amanda turned and retraced her steps back to the main trail. She could not help but feel as though she were being watched and it was making her even more jumpy. The sooner she was back in her own home, the happier she would be.