by Robyn Steele
Chapter 6
The next morning when we woke up we could tell things were different. We had been exhausted and had slept late. No one had come in to bring us breakfast so they hadn’t woken us up, yet. For some reason Cruz walked over to the door and tried it. It was locked, of course. “I wonder what’s going on out there.” He stated. “Something’s changed, I can tell. I don’t know quite what it is.” Cruz began pounding on the door and yelling for someone to open the door.
“So now you’re buddies with these guys and they’re going to open the door for you?” Nate taunted. “They are just sitting there waiting for you to wake up so they can come get you, huh?”
“Something tells me they are not there. If that’s true I’m busting this thing down.” After a couple of minutes of pounding and yelling, Cruz kicked open the door. We all ran out the door and looked. There was no one around for as far as we could see. We edged our way down the hall, keeping close to the wall and watching and listening vigilantly for any signs of life. We heard nothing. We walked down a long hallway for a while, seeing and hearing nothing. Then Cruz decided to open a door off the hallway. It wasn’t locked.
We cautiously peered through the door. It was another hallway. “Did we come through this door?” I asked the other two. Cruz and Nate were as unsure as I was about the way they brought us in.
“Listen.” Cruz whispered. “There might be someone down here. Let’s go back the other way.” We went back to the other hallway and continued on, hopefully towards the outside. Again we heard a faint sound. “It could be someone coming this way.” We opened another door and slipped into a large empty room. Cruz peeped through the door that was held open a slit to see if anyone was coming.
”Well I’ll be…..Mr. Harrington! We’re in here.” Cruz exclaimed. I practically knocked Cruz over getting to my grandpa. I hugged him so tight. I had never been so happy to see someone.
“What are you doing here? Where’s momma and grams?” I began to bombard grandpa with questions. “Has anyone heard from my dad?”
Grandpa held me and comforted me as he explained that my mom and grandma were right behind him and they were fine. They had attacked the kidnappers and were looking for us to take us home. They had tied all the kidnappers up. I couldn’t understand how the three of them had done that. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me. However, the questions could wait. I just wanted to get out of there and go home. There would be plenty time to hear all the details.
Nate and Cruz came home with us. When we got home, Grandma took Nate outside on the porch for a while. When they came back in things got real strange. Nate walked in like he had just arrived at my house and had not seen me for days.
“How was your trip, Talli?” Nate asked me as he hugged me. “It’s good to have you back. I’ve missed you. I hope your grandma’s feeling better now”
Go along with it Talli. I’ll explain later. Grandpa told me from the other room.
“You wanna go grab a burger or coke or something?” Nate obviously wanted some alone time, thinking he had not seen me for a few days.
“Oh Nate she can’t go right now. I’ve got some things I need her to do for me.” Momma answered. “She can go out later.”
Glad she intercepted that. I wouldn’t have any idea what to say to him. I don’t know what’s happening, but about now nothing would surprise me anymore. My life as I knew it was over. I walked Nate to the door and promised to call him later. I hated lying to him. I had never done that before. I really had a lot of feelings for Nate. I just wasn’t sure if it was love or strong like. We had basically grown up together. We had been through a lot together and spent a lot of time together. My whole family liked Nate. However, I was way too young to know what love is and I wasn’t sure that was the definition of what I felt for Nate.
Back inside the house my family sat in the living room, ready to explain everything. I knew this was serious by the fact that they were gathered in the living room and not the kitchen. I took a seat in the big arm chair by the fireplace. Not next to or by anyone. I wanted a good view of all their faces while they related to me all the information I needed to put my life in perspective.
I was not prepared to hear what they had kept from me all these years. If finding out my family derived from another galaxy was not enough to turn my world upside down, this new information definitely was. The Talitha I thought existed, did not exist.
Momma and my grandparents had heard my thoughts and made a plan from the start. They had figured the approximate area to look for us. Grandpa’s special abilities are reading minds of some people, but not all, he has extra strength, and can see through things like walls and buildings. Momma can read people’s emotions but not thoughts, she is extra strong and has some visions of the future. This was overwhelming at best.
However, the real shocker was the story of grams people. While grandpa was visiting another village, he met my grandma and they instantly fell in love. Although grandpa knew it was not good to get involved with another race, he had already fallen hard for the raven beauty he met while travelling. He spent time with her and her family for almost a year and couldn’t bring himself to leave her. They were married in her village and lived there for a while.
Grandma was from a village of people with special powers, also. Sometimes they were referred to as witches. People referred to them as witches because of their ability to cast spells. However, they were just people with extra supernatural powers. No one could remember where their abilities came from. They did know if it was passed onto generations through blood. So they too kept to themselves and did not marry out of their village. They had a special relationship with the Earth and elements and could command them to do certain things.
Grandma’s people were all like her, for the most part. They tried to be only good and kind and were equally appalled if one of their own was not. Grams explained to me that her family was very misunderstood. That is why they were burned to death a lot in the early years. People feared them because they were different. She reminded me that a lot of people thought that Joan of Arc was a witch because she was strong and smart and led her country to victory in the war against the British. Because of her heroin acts and strong abilities, France and England together burned her to her death.
This was starting to make sense to me and something inside me reaffirmed the stories I was hearing to be true. I felt a closeness to these people I was hearing about but had never met. I truly wanted to meet them. I hope grams would take me to meet them someday.
Even though Grams family accepted grandpa as their own, there were a few people in the village who did not accept him. In fact, they wanted him exiled from their village. It is so sad that so many people are so biased against others who are different from them. I don’t understand that kind of thinking. I was taught to accept everyone. Why couldn’t they do the same?
This is one reason why grandpa and grams left her village and went back to grandpa’s village. They didn’t want to be a source of contention there. When they went back to grandpa’s village, grandma was pregnant with my dad.
“So that means my dad is half… um… witch?” I asked. “And that means I am part witch also?” I don’t think I will ever know who I am now. All these years I thought I was just a person. A human person. I never felt different than my friends. OMG! My friends! What will I tell them? What can I tell them? My best friend Brielle deserves to know something. But what can I tell her? What can I tell Nate? I can’t lie to Nate!
“They don’t refer to themselves as witches. It is not their religion or way of life. They just possess these special powers. We have no idea what qualities of grandma’s people you will possess. We haven’t noticed anything. Your father possesses all the qualities. In fact, his abilities are enhanced by his Teletrian blood. We suspect yours will be also. You really d
on’t notice your qualities until you know who you are and exercise them.’” Grandpa explained.
“Your father can cast a spell faster and farther and stronger than anyone I have ever known.” Grams stated with pride.
“You said “can.” Does that mean you believe he is alive?” I probed.
“We believe he is. We hope he is.” Momma added. “He left when the TEC was searching for him. They said because his powers were magnified they wanted to test him. We were worried they wanted to experiment on him. He didn’t want to be a guinea pig or experiment. We didn’t want grandma’s people exploited. They wanted their privacy. We wanted our privacy. The TEC was not going to leave us alone and dad was afraid they would not stop with him. We were afraid that they would take you also. We didn’t think he would be gone this long and he would have kept in touch. Because of this, we think they found him and have him somewhere. We have not been able to contact or find him.
“The TEC? That sounds ominous.” I mused. What kind of people have captured my father? How dangerous were they?
“Actually the TEC stands for the Teletrian Elected Committee. When Teletrians first came here they wanted to band together and organize themselves. They decided to vote for a committee that would govern the people and the rules that they voted to incorporate. It wasn’t meant to be a dictatorship but more like a democracy. It, of course, does not supersede local governments. It was meant to keep Teletrians from exposing each other. However, due to the fact we were a secret society, there wasn’t anyone to govern or control the TEC once they were elected. They became corrupt and tried to misuse their position.” Grandpa explained. “Some people still support them and others don’t. I went back to Italy and confronted them when we didn’t hear from your father after a while. They denied doing anything but I could tell they were hiding something.”
“So is it the TEC that kidnapped me?” I asked.
“We don’t know. It wasn’t the committee themselves that we destroyed to get to you. However, they wouldn’t come here themselves. They would send someone else. Although, they did not identify who they were with, so we don’t really know. We do believe it’s highly probable that the committee was responsible.”
Well now that I knew almost everything there was to know about me and my family, I had to know where my dad was. I needed to bring him home. But if the guys who took me were trying to “smoke” out my dad by taking me, it didn’t make sense that the same people had him that took me. There has to be another entity involved here.
“I agree.” Cruz answered my thoughts. He must have been listening in my head again. I almost forgot he was there, I was so captivated by the stories of my ancestors. “There has to be someone else involved here. But the trick is to know which one had us and which one has your dad.” Cruz continued.
“You’re right.” Grandpa agreed. “Let’s focus on who else that could be. It must be from the other side of the family. Grams family might have a vested interest here. But it’s not likely. They are a more peaceful people. I can’t really think of anyone else that even know our secrets. Unless someone has leaked information.” Grandpa was looking straight at Cruz.
“Don’t think for a minute I would do that. You know me better. I would never put Talitha or her family in jeopardy! You have to know that! She is mi amica! You know that!” Cruz disputed. “You know what losing her would do to me!”
“Enough!” Grandpa shouted. “Don’t say any more. I believe you would not do this. It was just a thought. We need to find out who did, though.” Grandpa obviously didn’t want Cruz to continue, definitely hiding something.
There’s that word again. Amica. Why does everyone use it and no one will tell me what it is. I think I’m still in the dark, here. “OK, no more secrets! All of you need to tell me everything! It’s not fair to me and I can’t help myself or my dad if I don’t know the truth!” I was irritated.
“She’s right dad. You know we’ll have to tell her everything. What can it hurt?” Momma backed me up.
“Thanks, mom.”
“Don’t thank me yet. This may turn your world upside down, again.” Mom said. “Amica means betrothed. Your father and Cruz’ father were friends growing up. They made the betrothal agreement when you were born.”
This took a minute to sink in. “I’m betrothed to him? I don’t even know him! Holy shockers! That’s ridiculous…..wait…..would your father know who this might be that took us?” I asked Cruz. “Or would he know who took my father? Can we call him to see what he knows?”
“Glad I’m not so repulsive now.” Cruz joked. I probably hurt his feelings but I didn’t care. Who are they to plan my future? “I don’t think he knows anything, although I’m sure he will want to help. I’ll call him now. I’ll need to borrow a phone. We didn’t get ours back from the kidnappers.”
Grandpa went to hand his phone to Cruz when there was a knock on the door. Momma walked over and opened the door. “Well, I shouldn’t be surprised, I guess. You and Demetrio were very close.” She stepped aside and waved the guest in.
“I got here as soon as I could, son. Your mother is in the car with your sister. We were so worried about you!” The man said as he ran to Cruz and grabbed him in a full embrace.
“Dad, you got my messages, I see. Sorry to worry you.” Cruz replied. Cruz filled his dad in on all that had happened. He went out to bring his mom and sister into the house and fill them in as well. His mom was elated to see him. She had been so worried when they first received his messages. Although the worry showed on her face, she was remarkably beautiful. She looked about 25. She must have been around the same age as his father but this race is well-preserved. I had always noticed grandpa and grams and momma looked younger than most people their ages. I just hadn’t thought much about it, I just accepted it. Now it made sense why.
Mrs. DaMonico was model tall and slender. Her striking combination of auburn hair and green eyes were stunning. Her daughter was almost a carbon copy of her except she had silky black hair and emerald eyes. Coupled with their designer jeans and high fashion tops, they both could have passed for models. Mrs. DaMonico wore stiletto heels and her daughter wore leather boots that ascended to her knees. Both were more like my mom than I was.
Cruz was showered with hugs and kisses from his mom and sister. Obviously they had been very concerned about his safety. Introductions were made all around and then we got down to business trying to figure out who had kidnapped us and who had my dad. Mr. DaMonico, Alessandro or Alex for short, had a theory that the TEC had my dad and grandma’s people had taken me and Cruz. But grandpa didn’t agree with that because grandma’s people would have used spells to keep them from finding the underground bunker. Grandma argued that even if they used spells, the spells would be useless against her powers. They decided that it might have been the other way around. Grandma’s people took dad and the TEC took us. We weren’t sure why they wanted dad but it was the only conclusion we could come to. It was a place to start. Either way, we were going after both groups.
Cruz’ sister Lissandra was 16. She and I became instant friends. Even though she was from another country, she was just like most of my friends. I decided Brielle would really like her. They are a lot alike. “So you and I may become sister-in-laws, huh.” Lissandra said with a slight accent. “I think I like that idea.”
“Well actually, I just met your brother and I just now found out about the arrangement our fathers made. Here in the United States we don’t do things that way.” I countered.
“Oh honey, most the world don’t do things that way. We’re just special. Don’t you know that by now? You had to have noticed while you were growing up that you were different than others or that your family was different. We’re Teletrians, honey. We make these “arrangements” as you called it to protect our race.”
“R
ight. I know, that’s what they told me, but it’s still foreign and strange to me.” I protested. “And I have a boyfriend. Nate has been my boyfriend for a long time.’
“Awww. A boyfriend. And you love this boyfriend?” Lissandra asked with skepticism as she sat on my bed picking up a picture of me and Nate at last year’s Prom. “He is handsome. But not as handsome as Cruz, no?”
“Look, I like Cruz. He is cute and all, but I am not making plans for marrying anyone at my age! I’ve got a lot to do before I ever get serious with anyone. There’s college and…”
“So you admit he is cute! That’s good enough for now. My mom and dad were betrothed, of course, but it took a while before they fell in love. Everyone takes their time getting to know each other and building a relationship. That’s where you two are now. Get to know each other and let it go from there.” Lissandra said.
The idea was not as appalling anymore. Cruz was good-looking. He was even fun to be around. The only objection I had was not making the decision myself. I was not used to people planning my future and making decisions for me. And I was still very young. “So are you betrothed to someone?” I asked Lissandra.
“Well of course! Mi amica is so handsome! I’ve known him all my life and we have been good friends our whole life. We’ve grown up together. He is actually my age so we have a long time before we ever marry. We have plans for college, too. In fact we want to come to the U.S. to study. We both graduate this year and have been accepted to attend Stanford University.”
“You’re graduating this year, too! So am I. That’s exciting for you two. I haven’t thought about where I want to go yet. I really don’t even know what I want to be.”
“You have plenty of time to decide. I just wanted to graduate from college early and begin my career. I’m driven that way. Paolo, my boyfriend is just following me so we can be together. You see, we are in love, very much. It usually turns out that way.”
“Your brother said he couldn’t remember anyone not ever falling in love with their betrothed. I guess I’ll just wait and see what happens. I’m not against getting to know Cruz. I guess I kinda like him. I never thought about it because we were trying to survive out there.” I considered. I thought about Cruz’ ombre blue eyes that invite you in, and his dark brown, thick hair that begged to have fingers frolicking through it. The dimples that graced his cheeks when his smile began to form were adorable. Even his serious look was full of charm. He really was someone I could enjoy getting to know. If I could just get past the aversion I have against people making decisions for me. Like promising me to someone in marriage. I’ve never even let people order my food at a restaurant. It’s just so weird to think that people are actually betrothed in this day and age. That’s so middle ages.
Just then my mom knocked on the door and opened it. “Nate’s here to pick you up. What should I tell him?”
I totally forgot about Nate! I promised to go out with him tonight. “Uh...just tell him to wait a minute for us.” I told momma. Then I turned to Lissandra and asked her. “Do you wanna hang out with Nate and me for a couple of hours?”
“Sure. You can show me around your charming little town here.”
When we went downstairs and announced that we were leaving with Nate to hang out for a while, Cruz invited himself to come with us. It seems like a rather forward thing to do but he made it seem so natural that it didn’t feel intrusive at all.