Ascension Watchers

by Amy Proebstel

  He grabbed her wrist hard, liking to see the pain in her eyes, which matched his own. “How do you like me now? Huh? Am I the sweet boy you remember?”

  “No,” she stammered, feeling confused with his sudden shift in mood.

  He wondered what she would do if he were to kiss her, would she pull away in revulsion and prove to him once and for all that he was unworthy? Taking action upon his thoughts, he pulled her forward until her body crashed into his, where he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly while he kissed her roughly, feeling his teeth gnashing on her lips as his tongue forced its way into her mouth until they were both breathless.

  When her arms snaked around his back and began kneading his muscles, he realized what he had done. He pushed her away, angry at himself for treating her like an object rather than a person. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.” Too ashamed to even look at her, he turned and began walking speedily to keep from having to face the pain he imagined he had inflicted on her.

  “I’m not sorry,” Fraya called from behind him, rushing to catch up to him even as he practically ran on his long legs.

  He stopped, turned in amazement, and accused, “You can’t possibly tell me you liked that!”

  “Yes, I can. I loved your passion; it was exciting. I’d love for you to do it again!” Fraya stood her ground in front of him, practically daring him.

  “Oh, yeah. You want passion,” he growled, stalking toward her angrily. He could see the spark of fear in her expression even as she nodded. Grabbing her toward him, he kissed her again. His hands cupped her bottom and pulled her hips toward his growing member. “You want all of my passion?” he asked, feeling his anger fuel his need.

  “Yes,” she said breathlessly, bringing her hands between them to start pulling at the button on his pants.

  Before Behn even knew what he was doing, Fraya was sprawled out on the edge of the trail, her skirt lifted above her waist, while he repeatedly drove his need into her. Rather than having to see her face, he closed his eyes and kissed her mouth with as much force as he could muster. Never before had he felt so powerful and so wanted. Fraya’s hands held him tightly to her as she matched his thrusting with her own.

  After they had climaxed, Behn fell to her side, breathing heavily and feeling more relaxed than he could remember. The smell of sex and crushed plants surrounded them, intoxicating his senses as he kept his eyes closed. Behn felt as though he could live in this moment forever as he finally relaxed from all of the worries and anger he had been harboring.

  “I love you,” Fraya whispered.

  Behn’s eyes snapped open.

  “What are you doing, Behn?” Jon asked in disgust as he rounded the corner of the trail.

  “Jon! What’re you doing here?” Behn scrambled to get up, falling when the pants around his ankles tripped him.

  Jon looked disgustedly from his brother to Fraya, who belatedly pulled her skirt down to cover her nakedness, but not before Jon saw the smears of blood on her thighs. He grabbed Behn by the arm and yanked him to his feet, his anger lending him strength. “Pull up your pants, Behn! You’re disgracing our family with your actions right now! How could you do this…with her?” He gestured toward the ground and Fraya.

  “This is none of your business, Jon!” Behn lashed out, even as he finished pulling up his pants and zipping them. “What I do and who I do it with is none of your concern!”

  “The hell it isn’t! Pull yourself together, Behn, before the others get here!” Jon reached over and slapped at the back of Behn’s head to dislodge some crushed plants from his hair.

  Behn shoved Jon away, feeling his hair himself for anything still out of place. He reached down, offering his hand to help Fraya back to her feet. He turned to Jon and asked, “What others? What’re you talking about?”

  Speaking quietly and with urgency, Jon said, “I’m going to pretend I didn’t just see this. Valentina, Mr. and Mrs. Stel, Jena, and Juila are right behind me on the trail.”

  Still feeling defiant, Behn stated, “You wasted your time coming here to convince me to go back. I’m done with all of you!” Behn began to turn away when Jon’s hand shot out and slapped him on the side of the head.

  “Get your head out of your ass, Behn! This isn’t about you!” Jon shook his head in disgust before brushing past his brother and Fraya to continue up the trail to get to his mother’s house.

  Fraya began to reach for Behn’s hand to offer reassurances, only to be brushed away like the dust and crushed plants on his clothes. She looked up at him with a confused expression, thinking he had to have some feelings for her after what they had just done. “I can come with you, Behn. We can go wherever you like.”

  “I’ve had enough of your ‘help’ to last me a lifetime,” Behn spat out bitterly before following after Jon along the path.

  Watching him walk away, Fraya felt tears of pain and rejection prickle in her eyes. She had just given her body to him, he should have said he loved her in return. Embarrassed at being called out, she ran headlong into the underbrush to hide from the voices she heard coming up the trail.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Debbon returned to the Elder Isle after delivering Willian personally to Emmin’s care in Telae. While he had been traveling, he had kept all of his personal thoughts in check, mostly to prevent an accident during teleport transfers. He discovered Chelesa had not yet returned from seeing her patients by the time he arrived at their estate, allowing him several hours to contemplate all of the news he had acquired during his eventful day.

  He poured himself a bruskin and took it to his favorite chair in the family room. Unlike the men who only drank it to forget about their problems, Debbon merely sipped it, enjoying the flavor while he recalled every vivid detail of his interview with Ian.

  Rubbing his hand across his face, Debbon realized he had really opened a complicated chapter worth addressing, yet he wondered if he were up for the monumental task. Just thinking about what Ian had been put through over the anons he had spent in Tuala made him want to take immediate action; however, he had to bide his time and handle everything carefully.

  Time…there was that word again, a commodity he had in short supply lately.

  Deciding he should document his findings, Debbon went to his office and began typing his notes of the interview with Ian. After several minutes, he finally felt he had covered the salient points of the problems which Elder Vargen had created with his intake program as well as his unethical use of resh to keep his alien workers hostage to its addiction, eventually leading to their demise.

  He started to formulate a plan to fit around his busy schedule in which he could begin interviewing the old souls which he had already identified. Once completed, he forwarded a copy of it to Ian. All of this would hinge upon Ian’s continued silence and cooperation in setting up the meetings. Obviously, Debbon felt an urgency to settle the matter so Ian could be taken home, and Vargen’s operation could be shut down.

  The part which disturbed Debbon the most would be the final punishment for a fellow Elder. This type of situation hardly ever arose, even the extensive history of the Elders contained only two other men who had been punished for misuse of power. He had a sinking feeling that Elder Vargen’s case would turn out to be the third in documented history, and he was going to be the one responsible for turning him in. As First, he accepted the responsibilities, the good with the bad, yet it did not mean he had to like it as well.

  With everything documented, Debbon no longer felt the need to dwell on the matter in Apio until he could make arrangements for meetings. Instead, he focused his attention on the family scene he had witnessed at Valentina’s house. Certainly, things had been intense, to say the least, yet he could understand Valentina’s adoptive mother would not have been at her most hospitable upon discovering her son had run away to be with his birth mother.

  An inspiration struck, causing him to turn back to his patil. He tapped on the messaging button and sent a quick
note to Valentina letting her know Willian had safely arrived in Telae. He also reiterated his request to continue training her with her crystal skills, giving her the times he would be available. He hit the send button and hoped to see a confirmation of her having opened it. Unfortunately, it remained tagged as unread after several minutes passed and he finally gave up.

  The chime on his patil brought him back to full attention, making him think Valentina had replied. Immediately, he discovered the responder had actually been Ian letting him know the first interview had been arranged for the following evening. With a sense of excitement tinged with nervousness, Debbon tapped on the accept button, letting Ian know he would be there.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “DO YOU KNOW how much trouble you’ve caused at home, Behn?” Valentina started in on her brother the moment she caught sight of him. Her anger kindled hotter as her brother continued to ignore her as if she had not spoken at all. “What is your problem? Why don’t you and Juila make up and stop behaving like an idiot?”

  Jena came to stand next to Valentina, putting her hand on her friend’s arm as she faced Behn and accused, “You didn’t tell them?”

  “Tell us what?” Valentina turned on Jena with a look of dismay.

  Amanda stepped up between the girls, placing her arms over their shoulders to redirect them into the house. “Let’s talk about this inside, shall we?”

  As soon as everyone had settled around the table, except for Behn, who remained pacing the length of the room, Amanda asked, “Vinia, do you want to explain, or should I?”

  “Go ahead,” Vinia sighed, looking down at her clasped hands resting on the table, not wanting to face anyone in the room.

  Almost all eyes were on Amanda as she recounted what she had been told by Copa. She could tell when Valentina and Jon realized what Behn had been troubled with because they both gasped and turned to look at their brother.

  “I’m so sorry, Behn, I had no idea this is what the problem was, I never would have said…I’m sorry, Behn,” Valentina ended quietly. Seeing he had no interest in communicating with any of them, she turned back around to face her mother. “Are you okay, Mom?”

  “Me? Yes, I just worry because of what this means for all of you,” she answered, gesturing to all of the kids.

  “It’s definitely a lot to take in,” Jena admitted. “When we were growing up on Acaim, we didn’t know any family except each other. In such a short time, our family has grown tremendously to include parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We just wish we could have known all of you our whole lives.”

  Valentina appreciated Jena’s attempt to smooth things over even though she did not think it would make an appreciable difference for her brother. Her heart broke for what he must be enduring knowing there was no possibility of him getting back together with Juila. She realized her anger had dissipated as rapidly as Behn’s relationship, leaving her only with the fear of what their adoptive mother had done to them. Clearing her throat in the silence of the room, she said, “I think we should talk about the danger we might be facing on Earth.”

  Behn swung around, this change of subject finally managed to penetrate the shield of pity with which he had surrounded himself. “What danger?” He swung around to face the group, waiting impatiently for an answer.

  Valentina sighed and admitted, “I guess at least one good thing…if you could call it that…that came out of you running away…”

  “I didn’t run away,” Behn muttered sullenly, even though that was exactly what it started to feel like.

  “…was that Mom, Zoey that is, admitted to having called Dr. Gascon about Mom.” She pointed across the table to Vinia.

  Riccan picked up the story and said, “Which means at the time Vinia had been taken, the Wilson’s house was not under active investigation as we had originally feared.”

  “But?” Vinia asked as she could feel something was being left out.

  “But now they are on Dr. Gascon’s radar. Then there’s also the concern we have about what might have been disclosed to Dr. Gascon while you were there, Vinia. It’s been several days since you’ve come home, is there anything you can recall about questions which were asked, or what you might have talked about with the doctor?”

  Vinia inhaled deeply, sorting through her fuzzy thoughts around those four days of captivity. She felt there should have been something she could share with the group, yet her mind could not pinpoint anything specific enough to make sense. Pursing her lips, she shook her head slightly and answered, “I’ve got nothing. All of my memories are just blurry images, like snippets of time, without any sense to them. I’m sorry I’m not more helpful.”

  “You were drugged to unconsciousness when I got you out of there,” Riccan admitted.

  “There may be a way,” Jena spoke slowly and softly.

  “What’s that, Jena? Did you say something?” Amanda asked, leaning forward eagerly.

  “Yes, I was thinking there may be a way to unlock Vinia’s memories.”

  “What are you thinking?” Riccan asked, equally excited.

  Looking down at her folded hands as though it helped her recall the details, she began talking in a slow, almost metered voice, “I don’t know the specifics of how it’s done, but I read something about how Elders can unlock memories which have been purposefully hidden. There’s some sort of technique where they can reroute the brain past the blockages to allow the memories to become present again. Do you know how to do that, Dad?” Jena’s gaze cut over to her father, expectantly.

  “Unfortunately not yet,” Riccan admitted. “Although I’m sure my father would be willing to help us out.” He pushed himself up from the bench with renewed hope. “I’ll just send a quick message over to him and see if he can come and help.” Putting action to words, Riccan turned on the patil’s screen and began typing the message to be delivered to Pantano. He added a special code to the end of the transmission before sending it which would let him know his father’s availability even if Daven were not around to answer for himself. This was a new program he had installed on his father’s patil mirrored after Earth’s e-mail system for ‘out of office’ autoresponders. Although he received an instant response, the message was not what he wanted to hear.

  Riccan returned to the table to tell everyone the bad news. “Father is away on District business until tomorrow. I’m thinking we might just go home for now and plan on returning tomorrow when my dad can be present. What do you think?”

  “What about the AFOSI team?” Amanda asked, feeling as though nothing had been resolved and worrying about the safety of all of the children.

  “We can’t very well stay here,” Riccan pointed to the small one-bed cabin. “Besides, the Wilson kids have to go home, or their adoptive parents will call the police.”

  “I’m not going,” Behn announced stubbornly.

  “Behn!” Valentina growled, wishing her brother could just be reasonable and cooperate just this once.

  “No, I’m not leaving here.”

  Riccan could hear the boy’s inflexible tone as well as see the defiance in his stance. He had once been a teenage boy and knew he would change his mind in time. “Give it a rest, Valentina. Maybe he’ll change his mind over the weekend.”

  Valentina looked as though she wanted to argue, only seeing Riccan’s slight shake of his head kept her from speaking out.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Even as they entered the house, the shrill ringing of the phone punctuated the silence.

  As the first person inside, Jena raced forward and grabbed the receiver, pushing the talk button as she raised it to her ear. “Hello?”

  “Hello, this is Yoshida Castillo, Sofia’s mom. Is this Jena or Juila?” Her accent sounding thicker as she struggled with her fear.

  “This is Jena. What can I do for you, Mrs. Castillo?”

  “I’m hoping Sofia is over at your house or that you might know where she went.”

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Castillo, I
haven’t spoken to Sofia since we had class together today. Have you tried calling any of her other friends?” Jena worried that this did not sound like her friend’s usual behavior.

  “No, not yet. I’m going to call Jon right now.”

  “He’s not home, he’s over here with Valentina…and Behn,” Jena added hastily. Even though Behn had not come home with them, she could easily account for his whereabouts. “Maybe she went over there to wait for Jon. I think you should try over there anyway.”

  “Oh, okay, if you hear from my Sofia, please tell her to call us right away or just come home.”

  “Absolutely. I’ll ask Juila if she knows anything as well. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.” No sooner had the words come out of her mouth, she heard the other end of the call disconnect. Mrs. Castillo had to be very worried to be so abrupt. Jena wondered where Sofia had gone to cause her family so much concern. Looking at the clock, she saw it was quite a bit later than she had realized; long past the time when Sofia should have been home even if she were out with Jon or another friend.

  Jena used her mental link to ask Juila if she knew anything.

  Nope, I hardly talked to her today.

  “Who was on the phone?” Amanda asked as she entered the kitchen, followed closely by Jon and Valentina.

  “That was Mrs. Castillo looking for Sofia. She didn’t come home from school today. Did either of you hear her say she had other plans?” Jena looked at her friends, cousins, she corrected herself, to see if they had any answers.

  Even in Juila’s thoughts, Jena could feel the pain in her sister’s mind whenever she brought up the wrinkle in the family’s relationship. The revelation that Behn’s mother was their own mother’s sister made everything quite complicated.

  Jon frowned with concern before he suddenly asked, “You don’t think the people from AFOSI took her, do you? Or maybe Dr. Gascon?”