Meanwhile, she was actually grateful for the respite considering she was going to have to tell their parents about Vinia. If they reacted badly at all, it would be unfortunate for Vinia to have a front-row seat to the show. She entered the house, still deep in thought, and realized the home phone was ringing. She lunged forward to pick up the receiver and hit the call button.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hi, Amanda. This is Willian.”
“Hi, Willian. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if I could use your telepod after school tomorrow.”
“Sure. Where are you going?”
“Will you promise not to say anything to anybody?”
“I don’t like the sound of this, Willian. What are you up to?”
“Nothing bad, I promise.”
“Spill it, Willian.”
“Fine. Behn asked me to take him to see his mother.”
“Oh, why didn’t you just say that from the start? Of course, you can use the telepod.”
“Thanks, Amanda. You’re the best.”
“Keep telling me that, and I might just give the telepod to you!” She chuckled.
“Um, another thing…do you think you could have Juila somewhere else when we come over?”
Amanda breathed in sharply as she realized what he was asking. “I guess it would be for the best, wouldn’t it?”
“I’m glad you agree,” Willian gushed, thankful to have that part of the conversation covered.
“Yeah, it doesn’t mean I like it. I’ll take the girls to the store as soon as they get home. We won’t be gone very long, so don’t dally. Okay?”
“Sure, we’ll be super fast!”
“Just as long as you’re still careful!”
“Always! Thanks again.”
“Yeah, no problem. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye.”
Amanda lowered the phone, hitting the ‘end call’ button as she did so. She sighed at her involvement in the deception but also realized it was probably for the best for Behn to spend some time with his mother. Maybe she could talk him into staying friends with Juila and end the horrible silence between them.
Chapter Eight
SITTING AROUND FEELING sorry for herself was not her normal behavior; however, Amanda’s revelations had taken more of a toll on her than she could ever have imagined. She wondered if her parents had ever figured out that she was not their daughter. If they had, they certainly never treated her any differently. Still, she had to think they would have suspected something when she grew into a girl who looked like neither of them.
Her mind reeled with all of her memories growing up, glances from the villagers, whispers from her parents when they thought she slept. Everything suddenly seemed suspect, although she knew she was being unreasonable. Realizing this was getting her nowhere, she suddenly felt too confined in her childhood home, she needed fresh air, and most importantly, she needed to hold Danika and tell her how much she loved her.
She entered Ozian’s house without knocking and came to an abrupt stop at the sight in front of her. Ozian sat on the floor in front of Danika. He had a tool in one hand, yet he had probably forgotten it even existed as he focused all of his attention on what Danika was doing. The toddler giggled and laughed at the sticks and droplets of water which she had floating in the air above her, dancing and weaving to a pattern known only to Danika’s mind.
Danika was too young to be doing any of this, which instantly caused fear to overtake Vinia’s senses. She slammed the door behind her, keeping anyone from seeing what her daughter had done. The commotion startled the toddler into breaking her concentration, allowing the objects to fall to the ground in a splatter and patter of water and sticks on the hardwood flooring.
Ozian’s head rotated to see who had entered and immediately beamed a smile as he saw Vinia. “Did you see that? Wasn’t that absolutely amazing?” His smile dimmed when he noticed Vinia did not look pleased. “Is something wrong?” He put down his tools, surprised to even see he still held them, and leveraged himself to stand and strode over to stand in front of Vinia.
“What is it?”
Not wanting to alarm Danika, Vinia whispered, “Danika shouldn’t be doing that yet! She’s way too young and if any of the villagers had seen her…” she shivered with renewed fear, “I’d hate to think what they’d do.”
“How can that be a bad thing?”
“It’s not bad. At least not to everyone in Tuala except to those who live here in Roanoke. Remember how I told you they taught us that using elemy was evil? That was what Danika was just accessing to make everything float. Oh, what am I going to do?”
“Don’t you think it’s time the people here began to get educated? Maybe Danika is just the person to begin the change in thinking.”
“I can’t risk her, Ozian. Surely, you can see that!” She brushed past him to go scoop her toddler up off the floor. Acting as if everything were just fine, she asked her, “Are you ready to eat lunch?” Turning to face Ozian, she said, “Are you coming too?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” He smiled, somewhat reservedly, and tried to pretend as though nothing unusual had just occurred.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just as she opened her mouth to announce her presence to Willian and Behn, Sofia realized they were having an intense conversation. Her curiosity got the best of her, causing her to edge closer, still out of their view, and listen intently.
“Amanda agreed to take the girls shopping while we take the telepod to Roanoke right after school,” Willian whispered. He looked closely at his girlfriend’s brother and asked, “Are you sure you can’t work things out with Juila? You’re both miserable.”
Behn stared unfeelingly before he flatly replied, “No.”
Seeing this was not getting them anywhere, he went back to the first part of their plan and said, “Make sure you’re ready to go because Amanda said they won’t be gone long.”
Behn simply nodded, his face set in hard lines.
Sofia thought he always looked angry these days. Ever since winter break, the group of friends had been strained. She knew Behn and Juila had broken up, yet nobody would tell her why, including Jon, which hurt her feelings. Even Willian had been acting strangely, although Val did not seem to notice. It was clear this conversation was not going to produce any answers to the mysteries, but it might provide her with another unique opportunity. She hurried away from the boys so she could make some plans of her own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Debbon had just heard from Rasa regarding her latest troubles with Manzanit, which reminded him of his plans to install the patil on Earth. The small device had been delivered to his Residence only the day before, but his District duties had kept him too busy to make the trip off-world. Knowing he already planned to go to Earth later that day to pick up Willian, he simply decided to leave a little earlier so he could take care of the matter at Valentina’s house.
His thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of Elder Tarshen, who had come to Debbon’s own Residence to discuss an unrelated matter. Once they completed their business, Debbon asked him to come home to his estate for afternoon tea. It was nice to be able to relax with another Elder and not have to worry about any responsibilities for a few minutes as well as spending time getting to know one another personally.
They sat outside in the courtyard, the hot steena tea sitting on the table in front of them, ready to refill their mugs. Both were silent as they breathed in the minty steam from their cups, admiring the view and enjoying the peaceful setting.
“How is Rasa faring with all of her new responsibilities? I remember how difficult I found the transition personally, although now things seemed more peaceful than ever,” Tarshen mused.
“She’s going remarkably well. I just spoke with her before you arrived.” Debbon paused as he tried to formulate his next question without drawing suspicion. “How are things more peaceful?”
“I don’t kn
ow how to explain it, but the usual instigators of trouble suddenly moved away. My workload has diminished to almost nothing. I don’t know who to thank for my luck, but I’m certainly appreciative, all the same!” Tarshen picked up his mug and took a sip of the tea, savoring the scent as much as he now enjoyed his tranquil life.
“Congratulations! Maybe you should share your secret with the rest of us!” Even as Debbon joked about it, he wondered who to thank for it as well, surely Rasa would like to speak to that individual since it appeared they had arranged for them all to go to Manzanit to cause trouble.
Not long afterward, Tarshen set down his empty cup and stood up, saying, “I’m sorry to say it’s time for me to head home to eat an early dinner with my wife. It’s been a pleasure.”
“My pleasure as well. Thank you for coming and keeping me company,” Debbon replied as they returned to the Residence where Debbon could operate the controls to send Tarshen back home to Sambur.
Debbon remained in the Gate room, wondering how many other Elders were experiencing the same relief from their problem citizens. He also needed to interview some of Rasa’s problem people to find out why they had decided to relocate to Manzanit all at the same time. This reeked of a conspiracy which could only have been instigated by someone in high enough authority to keep their names out of it. Again, Debbon’s mind turned to the four usual culprits: Yingun, Quentien, Uvan, and Xylen. It bothered him greatly to have such dissension among their group.
Even before Rasa had been put into the mix, those four usually tried to pull something over the rest of them. He could understand both Yingun and Xylen feeling like they were less important since their Residences had basically been set up by coercion and force many generations before. Their locations were considered lesser Gates, yet their ancestors had insisted on the need for letting them join the ranks of Elders. Jehoban had sanctioned the request, which should have ended the feelings of inferiority and insecurity, yet it had not.
Debbon gave up trying to figure out how to assuage their tender sensibilities and decided, rather, to focus on locating Vinia’s missing fiancé. He had been trying to get to Apio for over a week. With no pressing concerns in his District and Chelesa out of the house treating her patients, Debbon decided to make the trip happen immediately. Setting the controls to his desired location, Debbon stepped down into the Gate and waited for the pulse of elemy to send him on his way.
Arriving in another Ascension Gate room unannounced was always a tricky thing, yet Debbon had more latitude than most since he was First. More out of curiosity than anything else, Debbon scrutinized the interior of the room while he still had privacy. Other than discovering a niche in the wall where a samara might have resided in the past, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It suddenly occurred to him that if Elder Wilken had been a descendant of the Watchers, it was probable that other Elders had been at one time as well. It could also stand to reason that his samara could be housed in any of the Districts, just waiting for him to come and claim it. Debbon felt his spirits lift as he suddenly had a possible direction, although vague, in which to search for his crystal.
It was only a matter of a minute or so before Vargen came to investigate the intrusion. Vargen’s expression changed immediately upon seeing him, becoming warm and welcoming. “First, to what do I owe this honor?”
Debbon was not fooled by his act, he knew the man detested him for getting elevated to First over him. He nodded cordially and replied, “I’ve come to investigate a couple of matters which have been brought to my attention. Would you mind walking with me?”
“Sure. What can I do to help?”
Debbon set a quick pace out of the Gate room and through the outer corridors of the Residence. He felt certain if his samara were anywhere in the vicinity of the Residence, he would feel the power of it. “It’s come to my attention that there has been a shifting of troublemakers from the Districts.” He left the thought unfinished as he pretended to admire the gardens as he passed them by in the shade of the breezeway.
“Now that you mention it, I’ve noticed a decline in issues coming to arbitration. Where do you think they might be heading? Why would they go?”
Debbon stepped down from the breezeway and into the sunlit gardens, knowing there was an exit to the city at the other end. He weighed Vargen’s words to see if he really were telling the truth. “I was hoping you might have some insight as to either of those questions.” He glanced over to Vargen, seeing his expression turn hard as he felt as though he were being accused of something. “Mind you, I’m not blaming you at all. I’ve been asking all of the Elders as I see them. I just happened to need to come to Apio for another matter entirely, so I thought I’d see if you might have heard anything about this.”
Vargen’s expression promptly cleared of anger. He laced his fingers behind his back and hung his head in deliberation before speaking. Several seconds passed before he shook his head and answered, “I’m sorry. I can’t think of anything at the moment. If I do come up with any leads, I’ll let you know.”
Debbon’s timing could not have been any more perfect. He had arrived at the exterior gate just as Vargen finished speaking. He put his hand to the security panel and activated it to open. “Thank you for your time, Vargen. Now, I have some personal errands to run before I head back home.” He shoved the gate open and walked through, leaving Vargen sputtering for something to say at his abrupt departure.
“Won’t you need a transport?” he called out from inside the garden, holding the gate from closing.
“I’m good. Thank you!” Debbon called out over his shoulder as he kept walking briskly to put as much distance between him and the other Elder as fast as possible. With each step he took, he felt himself being drawn further into the city, almost as if he were being called. He had no idea how long he had been walking, but he was not tired.
His pressing mission was to discover if Vinia’s missing fiancé had somehow ended up in the Old Soul Engineering Facility, which was now directly ahead of him. For some reason, he was optimistic that he would get answers to his questions today, and he could feel the excitement of it building within him. He wanted to have good news to share with Chelesa by the end of the day.
He reached the outer entrance, approaching the security guard’s shack with utter confidence in his posture. Again, he used his position to gain entry to an otherwise secured facility. Nobody would dare question him or attempt to limit his access to any spaces within, a blessing which he planned to put to good use for himself personally that day.
Chapter Nine
SOFIA PARKED HER car in a public park near the Stel home. Knowing she would have to hurry, she ran until she got a stitch in her side, then forced herself to continue at fast walking pace to get to the estate’s gate before anyone came home. Just as she was nearing the entrance, she noticed the gates moving inward. Glancing around furiously, she threw herself into the prickly shrubbery just as Amanda and the twins left the property in the 4-Runner.
Luckily, they had turned in the opposite direction from where she had hidden, so she had not been required to crawl further into the scratchy bushes to escape notice. Extricating herself became another unsavory task as she carefully peeled the thorny branches from her clothing to keep it from tearing, cringing silently as some of the thorns pierced her skin underneath. Finally free, she peered around the stonework surrounding the gate, Sofia could see the truck turning another corner at the end of the block. She jumped away from the screening shrubs and shimmied through the entrance gates just before they locked shut.
Her heart raced furiously in her chest at how closely she had come to being discovered. However, until she reached the safety inside the house, she could not relax or delay any longer. Holding her hand against the renewed stitch in her side, she forced herself to continue running, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Moving off the driveway to the left, Sofia jogged around the garage to enter inside through the man-door located at the back. She was not about to risk
having someone else be in the house to catch her in the act of trespassing.
She held her breath as she reached out to turn the knob on the door. When it turned easily, she almost shouted for joy but restrained herself because she still had the challenge of gaining entry into the telepod before the boys arrived. She let herself into the cavernous garage and quietly closed the door behind her.
Looking inside, she wondered if she were already too late because the space appeared completely empty. She could see from one end to the other, and neither telepod was present. Furious at being thwarted by bad timing, Sofia stomped across the concrete hoping to find some evidence of their recent departure.
The only thing she accomplished was abruptly running into something which stopped her in her tracks. “What the…” Sofia whispered as she held up her hands and felt something solid beneath her fingers. She began to chuckle as she realized the telepod had been there all along; however, it had somehow been made invisible to the eyes but not to the touch. Now she only had to figure out how to get inside it even though she had never seen how.
Holding her palms against the fuselage, she began walking toward the overhead doors feeling the changes in the structure as she went. After several more passes with her hands at different heights, she heard a sound before she saw the interior of the telepod coming into view. Somehow she had managed to trigger the side door to open, and she watched as the door dropped to the ground to create a ramp to the main cabin.
She scrambled inside and began searching for a way to get the door to close behind her. The whole plan would be ruined if the boys saw her standing inside the aircraft, or even suspecting something was amiss because the door had been left open. It would have been her luck that they would search the interior before the flight and send her packing before she could prove her point.
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