“Goodbye, Amanda. Bye, Riccan!” She called down the pathway as she waved farewell. She watched them close the front gate and walk up the sidewalk hand-in-hand on their way back to the landing ground.
“What’s going on Riccan? What plans do I have this afternoon?” Amanda asked as soon as they were out of earshot.
“You don’t. I just had the feeling you needed time to go over everything we discovered from Vinia today. Which reminds me, my mom asked if she could have a copy of your journal.”
Amanda’s head seemed to be swimming with the sudden change in direction of Riccan’s comment. Of course she would agree, yet she still asked, “What does she want it for?”
“I don’t know. You could stop by and ask her yourself, if you want.”
“No, I don’t think so. You’re right about me needing some time to process these latest discoveries. What would be the easiest way to get your mom a copy of my journal?”
“I’ll show you how to scan it into the patil so you can send it electronically to her.”
“It can do that? How long will it take?” Amanda had never heard of this aspect of the patil.
“It’s fast. You just have to lay the book down on a reader plate and it instantaneously digitizes the contents. My guess is it’ll take you less than ten minutes.”
“Cool!” She nodded in satisfaction at the efficiency of the Tualan technology. After a few more steps she asked, “Why are you playing hooky?”
“I needed some time to cool off after my meeting with Ela Nena so I took an early lunch. I hope you didn’t mind my intrusion on your meeting with Barla and Vinia.”
“Never! I’d prefer you to be with me twenty-four seven if I could arrange it!”
“I think you’d get tired of me before then,” he replied with a chuckle.
“It’d never happen. There’s never enough time with you.” She wrapped her arm around his and snuggled closer to him as they neared the landing field. “Are you coming home right now?”
He nodded and replied, “I’ll show you how to scan your journal, but then I’ll have to go back to work for a few more hours.”
“Bummer,” Amanda pouted. “I had high hopes for a very pleasant afternoon with my handsome husband.”
Riccan pretended to be shocked by her innuendo, but his smile ruined the effect. Amanda’s suggestion began to grow in his mind and he realized it might be just the thing he needed before he returned to work. Besides, he could always add some time to his day on his return trip so Ela Nena would not have another thing to add to her growing list of complaints against him. “I like the way you’re thinking! You may need to demonstrate what your ideas are for a pleasant afternoon!”
“Gladly!” Amanda grinned mischievously up at her husband as she palmed open the door to her telepod. “I’ll see you at home!”
Riccan glanced down at his timepiece and realized it was later than he had imagined. The girls would be getting home from school soon and what he had in mind would need more time than they currently had. He grinned back at her and said, “Time it to noon.”
Amanda did not have to pretend a startled expression at his suggestion. He was the one who always told her timing it was dangerous. “Okay,” she chuckled at his suddenly reckless mood.
He nodded and then hurried around her telepod to get to his own. The foul mood which had plagued him earlier had been completely banished by thoughts of being alone with his wife. He had to restrain himself from leaving the landing square before she did.
Riccan fidgeted through the startup procedure. He was much quicker at it than Amanda since he had anons more practice than she had. He watched out the windshield to see her telepod rise from the ground and then blink out of existence. His telepod followed an instant later.
They both arrived in the garage at the same time. Riccan rushed through the shutdown procedures and palmed open the side door. He stepped out of his telepod, closed the door, and waited impatiently for Amanda to exit her vehicle.
Finally, they walked together across the empty bay of the garage. In unison, they hit their remotes to activate the concealing shields on the telepods. Riccan could not contain himself any longer and he reached down and picked Amanda up into his arms. She squealed and grabbed around his neck in her surprise.
“Riccan! Put me down!”
“As soon as I get you upstairs, then I’ll put you down. Until then, use your mouth to give me a kiss!”
Amanda giggled again and did as she was told. Her kiss was so effective, it took them even longer to get through the garage as Riccan had to stop walking with the amount of passion his wife poured into her kiss on his lips.
Reluctantly, he pulled his mouth from hers and moaned with anticipation of what was going to happen once they were undressed. He could not imagine how he had lived without this much passion before. Nothing compared to the fire they shared when they were intimate. With a one-track-mind, he rushed through the garage, into the kitchen, up the main stairway, and into their bedroom. Riccan kicked the door shut behind him as he took the last few steps to reach the bed.
He set her down carefully on the edge of the mattress. He began unbuttoning her shirt as she tugged at the belt around his waist. They were getting in each other’s way in their urgency to get undressed. Both ended up laughing at their antics.
“I think this would be faster if we each undressed ourselves!” Amanda growled in frustration.
“If you don’t hurry, I’ll use the elemy to make your clothes disappear altogether!” Riccan bantered back.
“Don’t you dare, this is my favorite shirt!”
“Consider yourself warned,” he teased even as he pulled his pants down and stepped out of them.
Amanda looked up with wide eyes and asked, “Did you go commando today?”
“It happens,” he said as he tugged his shirt over his head, threw it on the floor, and began moving forward intently.
Amanda giggled in anticipation and renewed her efforts to speedily undress. Somehow she managed to finish just as Riccan reached her. Together they tumbled backward onto the bed with their lips and bodies joined.
Sometime later, Amanda relaxed in Riccan’s arms and enjoyed the fresh scent of his body. She would never grow tired of being with him and she doubted he would ever tire of being with her. Their bond was too strong to ignore and too powerful to be stopped. She sighed deeply with satisfaction at the same time Riccan did and then smiled in satisfaction at their shared bliss.
“I hate to dampen the mood, but didn’t you say you had to go back to work?”
“Ugh! That more than dampens the mood, Amanda, more like utterly crushes it! You’re right, though. We should get dressed so I can show you how to scan your journal and then I’ll be on my way.” He rolled away from her and got off the far side of the bed to head into the bathroom for a quick shower.
Amanda watched him walk away and wished she had saved her comment for later. She turned over onto her other side and opened the drawer of her nightstand. She pulled out her journal and shut the drawer with the back of her hand. Rolling again onto her back she held the book above her and simply stared at the cover without needing to open it. What mysteries did her memories withhold? What could she believe? How far would this journey take her?
She groaned at all of her unanswered questions and pulled herself out of the bed. She slowly dressed herself as she heard the shower running in the bathroom. After Riccan was gone, she would take a shower herself. If she went in there now, Riccan would be even later in getting back to work.
Just as she found her missing sock under the bed, Riccan came out of the bathroom, naked except for the towel wrapped around his hips. He could see Amanda’s appreciative gaze as she looked him over from head to toe with a small quirk of her lips. He imagined she was having the same ideas of a repeat performance and he sauntered a little more seductively to his pile of clothes on the floor.
“Woohoo,” Amanda called out as he let his towel drop.
�
��Later, baby,” he teased as he hauled his pants up and fastened them.
“Mmmhmm! Do you think we’ll ever get tired of this?”
“I hope not!” He pulled the shirt over his head and then looked around for the belt Amanda had painstakingly removed earlier. Riccan smiled as he located it across the room. He had been too distracted before to see her fling it out of the way. “Let’s get downstairs,” he said as he picked up his belt and began threading it through the loops on his pants.
Amanda opened the bedroom door for him and they went down the back stairs to go to their office. She watched as Riccan opened the secret compartment where the patil resided. She was even more surprised when he opened a second door which housed a glass plate she had not known existed.
He activated the patil and waited the few seconds for the main screen to light up. “Let me see your journal,” he said as he held out his hand. He opened the book to the first page and pressed it down to the lit glass surface. Almost immediately he lifted it up again and turned the page. He looked up behind him and said, “It’s fast, like I said. You just need to touch it to the glass and then you can turn the page to do the next one. When you get through all of the pages, then click here,” he said as he pointed to a new icon on the screen. “This compiles all of the recent scans into one document and then asks you what you want to do with it. From there you just add it as an attachment to a standard message. Do you think you have it?”
“It sounds pretty straightforward to me.”
“Good.” Riccan stood up and kissed Amanda hurriedly on the lips. “I’ve got to get going. I love you!” He pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back sensuously.
Amanda squirmed out of his grasp and laughed, “Keep it up and you won’t get back to work!”
“Ugh, I hate it when you’re right!” He pulled his hands away and turned to leave the room. He called over his shoulder just before he left the office, “We’ll pick up where we left off when I get home from work tonight!”
“I love you!” Amanda sank down into the vacated seat. She listened intently for the garage door to close before she opened the journal to the second page. As instructed, she placed it on the glass surface momentarily, picked it up and turned to the next page. Before she knew it, she had reached the final page and smiled with satisfaction as she saw the many pages indicated on the screen of the patil. She tapped the icon and watched it format all of the pages into one document.
She opened a message box and entered Nena’s call sign. She attached the document and wrote a quick message for her mother-in-law.
Nena,
Riccan said you wanted a copy of my journal. I have attached it for you. I can’t wait to hear what you have in mind with it.
Talk with you soon,
Amanda
She hit the send button, turned off the patil, and slid everything back into their hiding places. With nothing left on her agenda for the rest of the day, she went back upstairs and undressed for a shower. As she bathed, she reviewed all of the revelations of the day. Her intuition was telling her she had learned something today of vital importance. Agonizingly, she could not put her finger on what it could possibly be. She turned off the water and toweled herself dry.
After getting dressed again, she went downstairs to watch some mindless television. Hopefully, if she relaxed her mind would come up with the solution on its own. She sat down on her favorite couch and grabbed the remote.
Without warning, her mind tensed as she realized her daughters were in trouble. She tried to focus on Juila’s birth crystal. With a cry of frustration she had to start over, visualizing each color which symbolized her daughter. Finally, a scene came into focus which did not reassure her at all.
She could see Sofia lying in a pool of blood on the asphalt. Amanda had no idea what had happened to the girl, but she could tell from Jena’s expression across from Juila that they were both intent on keeping Sofia alive. Keeping the link active, she watched the scenes unfold until the EMTs put the now conscious Sofia onto the stretcher and into the ambulance.
Amanda sucked in a much-needed breath as she disconnected herself from Juila’s birth crystal. Obviously she could not call either of her daughters about what she had just witnessed without giving away the secret of the necklaces. She would have to bide her time impatiently until the girls either came home and told her or if one of them thought to call her.
Chapter Twelve
JUILA’S FEARS WERE relieved when Sofia was finally released from the hospital with several sets of stitches to show for her accident. The doctors had told Sofia how lucky she had been to only have a small gash on the back of her head as well as a deep cut to her side. They had taken several x-rays and an MRI to ensure there was no internal bleeding.
Jon had refused to leave the hospital until he knew Sofia would be released. He had walked beside Sofia’s wheelchair as she was taken to her mother’s car. He still could not believe she was being sent home so swiftly after such a horrific accident.
“I’ll call you tomorrow to see how you’re doing,” Jon said to Sofia just before the hospital worker shut the car door.
Mrs. Castillo stood at the driver’s door and spoke to Jon, “Don’t call until after school lets out. I want to make sure Sofia gets as much rest as she needs after her ordeal.”
“Sure thing, Mrs. Castillo.” He took a step away from the car and waved goodbye to Sofia as the car backed out of the parking space.
Behn walked over to his brother and put his arm across his shoulders to comfort him. “Juila told you Sofia was going to be okay. I think you owe her an apology for how you treated her earlier.”
“I know, I was just worried and I took it out on Juila.”
They strolled over to Behn’s car where Juila and Jena were already seated inside. Jon opened the back door and sat in the seat. “Hey, Juila. I’m really sorry for being so rude to you.”
“It’s no problem, Jon. I knew you were upset.”
Behn pulled the car out of the hospital parking lot and drove slowly down the road. He wished the day had gone differently since he had been looking forward to learning more about using his birth crystal. On the bright side, Sofia was going to be okay so he was thankful everything had turned out okay in the end. There would always be tomorrow to learn more.
As they turned into the Stel’s driveway, Behn realized suddenly that they had forgotten all about Valentina. “Oh man, I hope Val found a ride home! We were supposed to ride over here together to study this afternoon…”
“She’s fine,” Juila interrupted him with a knowing look.
Behn looked at her strangely before turning his attention to navigating the long driveway up to the front door. He pulled to a stop and leaned over to give Juila a quick kiss and hug. While he held her close he whispered in her ear, “Did you read Val’s mind?”
Juila nodded and whispered, “She’s upset, but she’s at home.”
Behn nodded and sat back in his seat. Both rear doors opened as Jon and Jena got out. Jon walked around the back of the car to get into the front seat. The brothers remained silent with their own inner ruminations on the day’s events.
The girls waved goodbye and went inside the house as Behn drove away. It was late enough that they could hear their parents making dinner in the kitchen. Belatedly, they realized they should have called their mom to let them know what had kept them out so late.
“Hey, girls,” Riccan called out as soon as they entered the living from the foyer. “What kept you out so late?”
“Sofia got hit by a car in the school parking lot,” Jena stated matter-of-factly.
“What? Is she okay?” Amanda pretended to be shocked by the news.
“Juila had to use her power to heal her. She actually died on the scene with a burst artery to her heart. Then she suffered convulsions with her head injury until Jehoban stepped in and healed her.”
“Thank goodness! It’s a good thing you were there for your friend, Juila,” Amanda stated with tr
ue feeling. She had never imagined the situation was as bad as Jena described. More than ever, Amanda felt blessed for her children to have been raised by Jehoban so they could save Sofia’s life.
“I thought for sure I was going to lose her. I’m just glad Jena was with me to back up my work. Mom, it was so bad! Sofia was lying there bleeding out onto the pavement. Before I even knew what I was doing, I had tapped into her life-line and began fixing all of the broken bones and internal bleeding.” Juila stepped closer to the island and pulled out one of the stools since she suddenly felt weary beyond words.
Jena stepped up behind her sister and gently rubbed her back while mentally asking, Hey, are you okay?
I’m fine. It just hit me how close we came to losing Sofia today. I’ve never experienced anything like that before. Juila dropped her elbows onto the countertop and let her head fall into her cradled hands.
Riccan recognized the signs of taxed powers and suggested, “We were going to make dinner right now. Why don’t you tell us what you would like and I’ll use my powers to create it. You look like you could use something to eat sooner rather than later.”
“A foxl burger and fried krumpli sounds wonderful,” she answered hurriedly. Just thinking about the wonderful smell and flavor began to revive her worn body.
“You got it,” Riccan said cheerfully even as the plate of food appeared in front of Juila. “What about you, Jena?”
“Ditto!” She chuckled as her plate of food showed up even as she finished asking. “Thanks, Dad!” Jena sat down promptly on another stool in preparation for eating.
“I’ll say the blessing so you two can get started,” Riccan announced and bowed his head to pray. “Father, we thank You for what we are about to receive, and pray that Thou will bless it, and us to Thy service. In Your name we pray, amen.”
The girls said ‘Amen’ quietly in unison and then picked up their hamburgers to take unladylike, massive bites. They both moaned in appreciation of their father’s cooking skills.
“Do you want the same thing?” Riccan asked Amanda when she finally turned away from watching their daughters.
Levels of Ascension BoxSet Page 62