Adventure to Destiny: The Unity Objective Series

by Sandra Golden

  “After a short rest they looked for a guide to take them to the cave but no one would. Everyone was scared, for a witch was protecting the cave and the great treasure. Waiting! Waiting for the chosen ones to come and claim what was rightfully theirs. Many, many years had passed since a great king had gotten a witch to put a curse on a beautiful sorceress, turning her into the ugliest witch that ever existed. The King made the poor dear guard the treasure until his decedents baring his mark would come and take the great treasure away, using it for good. The King had hidden it because a selfish and greedy men wanted the great treasure only for himself. The only way the beautiful sorceress could break the spell was to wait for the rightful heirs of the great treasure. The king knew that the rightful heirs would come and claim what was their birth right and use it for the good of their people He just didn‘t know when.”

  “She had guarded the treasure for a thousand years, the longer she waited the meaner she got. Anyone who got near and were proved not to be the chosen ones would be turned into cattle or chickens, then eaten for dinner. While she waited for the chosen ones to come, she wrote down beautiful stories, created beautiful paintings and tapestries, as welcoming gifts for the chosen ones.”

  Helaina now had the complete attention of her audience. No one noticed that Charlie had come back, giving each adult something, which they then hid in their laps. Then he placed something behind each of the children, so they could get into the fun also. Helaina continued her story. So focused on the faces of her sister and young cousins that she didn’t pay attention to what her Uncle was doing.

  “The brave explorers were on their own. First they took the old broken down jeeps as far as they could, running out of road and gas at the place the forest began and the dessert ended. Following a map that they were given, they then climbed through a dense forest of trees on foot for many, many miles. They were so tired and so hungry they didn’t think they would survive the trip. Then suddenly before them the small stream they had been searching for, appeared out of nowhere. Taking a well-deserved break they sat on the edge of the stream drinking the cool water and splashing water on their faces to cool off. They were really close now, so close that they could hear a waterfall. Behind the water fall was the cave that they searched for.”

  “When rested our adventurers continued their journey up the little stream, finding the waterfall. It was hidden by magical trees, protecting the waterfall, the cave, the treasure, and yes! The wicked witch from outsiders. The scene before them was so beautiful that they stood staring, admiring the beauty, feeling the magical spirit that was all around them.”

  “J.R go hide,” Helaina instructed her cousin using Mind Speak.

  “Okay,” he told her, ready to do his part in scaring the younger kids.

  She continued her story. “They walked slowly, cautiously toward the waterfall. Looking and listening out for the witch.” Pausing for a dramatic touch and to talk to J.R. “Okay J.R when I tell them, ‘When they look around the corner then…’ you jump out yelling like a witch scaring them.”

  “Inch by inch, over slippery stones they went, ever so careful not to splash water as they walked. (Helaina’s voice was barely a whisper now, everyone leaned forward to hear her.) They quietly approached the cave entrance. The witch was nowhere to be seen. The only sound was the water falling into the stream below. (She paused making sure everyone was focused on her) The leader of the group took one more step, then looked around the corner”

  Just then J.R jumped out of his hiding place screeching like a witch, everyone jumped and the little ones screamed, startled by the sudden noise. It took everyone a few seconds for their hearts, pounding with fright, to settle back down to a normal rhythm.

  “Damn, you sure got everyone that time.”

  Everyone began laughing at the J.R and Helaina’s stunt.

  “Can you finish the story now; I want to know did they get the treasure?” Cassie asked after everyone had settled down again.

  “Sure I will.”

  J.R sat down to listen with the rest of the family, after all Helaina could tell a good story and since this one was about him he wanted to find out how it ended.

  “As you know the witch jumped out trying to scare the group away. But that didn’t happen because the leader of the group and his beautiful sister were indeed the chosen ones. The witch knew it immediately because she felt their energy and their goodness. She also saw that they had the birthmark of the king. The witch welcomed the group into her cave and presented them with the treasure. With the treasure came great knowledge and the wisdom of the great kings. She gave them her stories to share with the world and the beautiful tapestries which she had made, depicting the story of the treasure and those who it belonged to. With this done the great explorer and his beautiful sister hugged the wicked witch. Before their very eyes, she turned into a Water Nymph and ...”

  “We know what happens now,” Cassie interrupted, being coaxed by her dad.

  “Okay smarty, what happens now?”

  David whispered something into his youngest child’s ear.

  “Oh yeah! The explorers left the cave and they got all wet,” Cassie laughed.

  Then everyone, now armed with water balloons, thanks to Charlie, bombed Helaina and J.R with the balloons getting them all wet and ending the story. The kids had a great time chasing the younger ones, pretending to be angry. Soon exhausted from their day everyone retired to bed for a good night’s rest.

  William, David and Charlie remained at the beach to watch over the fire, when ready they took buckets of sand and put out the remainder of the hot embers. Before they returned to the house they had a brief conversation.

  “I learned a lot at the Station today. J.R and Helaina are the tenth generation to be born from the ten original leaders that were last to settle here. We know that there are ten Stations around the world. I believe the number ten plays a big part in this somehow. Our geneticist believes that somehow they were born with a pure gene of our ancestors, they are doing tests right now.”

  “Dad is that even possible?”

  “According to the geneticist we carry the genes within our DNA, sometimes they lay dormant for generations, sometimes only part of that gene is passed down, sometimes none of it, and very rarely, the complete gene is passed on. They think that J.R and Helaina have the complete DNA make up of our people who, of course, come with the gene that makes us unique”

  “Could this happen with other’s? What about Tina, Paul and Cassie?” Charlie wanted to know.

  “Yes, maybe, I don’t really know. If J.R and Helaina are an example of the powers that can materialize because of this, there might be problems.”

  “We will take one problem at a time, like always. But we need to nurture their skills.”

  “Agreed!” Charlie and David answer in unison.

  “Talk to your wives, discuss how we should proceed, than we will talk with the kids tomorrow night.”

  The fire went out and all was calm. But for how long?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  A NORMAL SUMMER DAY FOR THE FAMILY

  William and Helaina weren’t the only early birds the next morning. Cassie, Helaina’s sister, and Tina, J.R’s eight year old sister, and Paul, who looked identical to his older brother and was ten years old, were wide awake at 5 a.m. Tina and Cassie, were very close in age always got to share a room together any time they visited with each other. When one woke up, she usually woke up her cousin. Cassie was small for her age, just 70 pounds of pure energy, with long thick wavy hair the color of dark chocolate, with deep blue eyes, the color so striking it was the first thing anyone noticed about her. Tina being a few months younger, was taller than her favorite cousin, she had thick red hair which fell in waves half way down her back, and she had eyes the color of jade. They both loved to see what they could get their hands into. For them cooking, painting, needlework, sand castle building and sculpting something, from things they found, was a favorite past time. The fa
milies little artist as they were fondly known as. The family learned that whatever they thought might be trash, the girls believed it to be a treasure in which to make something out of it. With these two around you better make sure that your valuables were somewhere they couldn’t get to.

  One time the girls horrified poor Helaina. They used her training bra, which mistakenly fell into the trash in the bathroom, and when it was found by Cassie and Tina they turned it into ear muffs. No one was immune; William once found a few of his car parts, mistakenly left out on the driveway, gone. The two girls having watched the men solder things together, decided to try it themselves. They took the parts, soldered them together and made a modern art statue for the garden. The sculpture now stood in Jennifer’s garden near the recreation room. David and Charlie once found a few of their golf clubs missing, after they had left them leaning up against a garbage can then forgotten about them for a few hours while they went for a swim. When they returned to put them away they had been cut up with a hack saw and used for a jungle gym for the girl’s dolls. J.R’s spare parts were used in collages, Paul’s math calculations and old comic books ended up as paper in the girls scrap books. But their little hearts were in the right place, they made Jennifer and Hanna hand carved wooden recipe boxes, and their mothers beaded necklaces from shells and old jewelry they found. It seemed that the men were just their favorite targets for acquiring the stuff to make it with, after all boys have the best toys.

  Helaina and William made Cassie, Tina and Paul some chocolate milk and made them promise to be quiet until everyone else had woken up. Sitting at a table in the kitchen drinking their milk Cassie and Tina put their heads together and came up with an idea.

  Cassie, the more outspoken of the two, was the one to ask her Granddad, “Granddad, we have a great idea.”

  “Now what would that be Sunshine?” William asked using the nick name the family used for her. They called her that because of her sunny disposition.

  “Since everyone is still sleeping, lets surprise them by making breakfast for them, it would be fun.”

  Thinking that this would keep them busy, and out of trouble, he believed that this was a great idea. Besides what could possible go wrong, especially if he supervised. Right?

  “You know, I think that is a wonderful idea. Does your Mom let you cook?”

  “Sure, all the time. Remember Helaina, I made breakfast for Mom on Mother’s Day.”

  “I remember you made some really good French toast and sausage,” agreed her sister.

  “Let’s make a menu first and assign jobs. Bacon is my favorite thing to cook,” said Paul, who was like his father, and would make a great business man because of his organizational skill. When it came to math he was already doing advance college level work.

  William got some paper and Helaina wrote. It was decided that Cassie and Tina would make French toast; Paul would fry the bacon and sausage, and William would supervise. Helaina was in charge of making scrambled eggs, and setting the table. When that was done they would cut up some fresh fruit, warm up some blueberry muffins, and make some fresh orange juice.

  Everything was going extremely well, they got all the ingredients from the refrigerator. The girls worked with the electric grill on the counter to grill up their French toast. Paul and William used two cast iron pans on the stove, when the pans were hot they started frying, bacon in one, sausage in the other. Placing those that had finished cooking on plates, he cooked five pounds of link sausage and three pounds of bacon, which took him about 20 minutes, he did an excellent job. Having thought they finished their part of the family’s breakfast, Paul sat down at the kitchen table with William and started looking at the new comic books he brought with him. Both of them forgetting to turn off the burners to the stove, and leaving the greasy pans still sitting there. It was only when smoke started filling up the kitchen, they noticed they forgot to do something. But not before the smoke detector went off, which woke up the rest of the family, who got up to see what all the commotion was about.

  At least the rest of the meal was almost completed when that happened. Cassie and Tina made wonderful French toast, even putting a sprinkling of Cinnamon in the batter, when they were finished grilling up two large platters full of the French toast; they sprinkled the top with powdered sugar. Helaina scrambled up three dozen eggs. Putting the oven on warmed, they slipped in the Blueberry muffins, French toast, scrambled eggs, and the bacon and sausage to stay warm until the rest of the family came down stairs. Which was about three minutes after the smoke detector went off. After being assured that the house wasn’t burning down, the sleepy heads went back upstairs to get dressed.

  While they waited for everyone to come back to the kitchen the girls washed the fresh fruit, and sliced it up, as William and Paul used the juicer to make fresh juice. It started out as just orange juice until they decided to experiment, they added some pineapple slices, then a few apples, and just for good measure added two bunches of green grapes. The result a very tasty morning fruit juice, which the two guys thought was a work of genius.

  Everyone was so busy making breakfast that they did forget one little detail; actually, it was a very big detail. The huge mess that they were making. Egg shells were filling empty egg cartons, grease was all over the stove, someone had spilled the milk, there were fruit peelings everywhere, and dishes piled high in the two sinks. By seven breakfast was made, and waiting in the oven so the cooks took a break. Sitting at the kitchen table they were surrounded by the mess they had made.

  “Something sure smells good in here,” said Jennifer looking at the mess when she returned downstairs dressed with Joanna and Katie.

  “Grandma, we made breakfast. Mom! Tina and I made French toast for everyone, and Paul cooked the sausage.”

  “And the bacon!” Paul injected.

  “We kind of made a little mess, but we will take care of it,” promised Helaina.

  “Well ladies, I think we are going to have a treat this morning, it sure smells good, and a bit smoky. I think we can help our little breakfast cooks and do a little cleaning up.”

  “I think if we all worked together, we will be done in no time,” agreed Katie.

  In fifteen minutes the counters were cleared, the garbage thrown away, and the dishes in the dishwasher. Even J.R helped, by setting out the plates and cups so that everyone could enjoy their breakfast as soon as the work was finished. He was hungry and thought that it would be best to help so he could get his breakfast. Cassie and Tina’s French Toast was delicious, as was everything else. After breakfast, everyone headed in different directions.

  William took J.R’s Grandparents, Hanna and Carl, to the air field. They were headed to meet a cruise ship for an Alaskan adventure they were going on that week. A package, full of the motorcycle parts that William had ordered arrived, so J.R, Paul, Charlie and David went to the garage to see what they could do to get it working. William joined them when he returned from his little trip to the air strip. J.R had drawn out what he wanted the machine to look like when it was completed. He also made a complete parts list, drawing each part showing exactly where it should be placed. But the first plan of action was to finish dismantling the old motorcycle. While they worked, they discussed improvements that could be made, like how they could make it faster and lighter, and what extras they would try to outfit it with. Good thing J.R’s mom couldn’t hear the conversation; she worried about his safety and just wanted the thing put into the garbage. Charlie had convinced her it was a good learning experience for the boy, even though he was the one being taught by his fifteen-year-old son. By the time eleven thirty came they had finished the dismantling of the bike, the goal for the day, and all the men in the family were covered with grease and grim. They cleaned up, changed clothes and were waiting for the girls by the pool when they got back from their shopping trip.

  Jennifer, Joanna, Katie, and the three girls went to the new clothing store in town. All the new fashions for fall were out and they just
couldn’t resist trying on a few things. This of course led to them to purchasing a few things for themselves. When each young girl had a bag full of new clothes, for school of course, and the women a few new things for themselves, it was then decided to hit the mall. Lucky for them they found a sale on men’s jeans and tee shirts, and even on some nice suits for the office. The women always carried the current sizes of their men folk with them; never know when you might come upon a sale, so, it didn’t take them to long to outfit their men also and getting the boys everything they would need for school. Finally, they made one last stop at the craft store to pick up some supplies that Cassie and Tina wanted. Tired from shopping they stopped to pick us some lunch before returning to the house, with a car full of packages.

  Everyone met for lunch out on the patio. The women brought home with them, eight large pizzas, a large pan of lasagna, and another pan filled with enough salad to feed twenty people from the best Italian eatery in town. While they were eating, the younger members of the family made plans to spend the rest of the day at the beach; the adults would relax in the cabañas. The adults sat enjoying cold drinks out of the sun, while they kept a close watch on the kids as they rode the jet skis and swam nearby. They even took turns taking little naps, after all it had already been a very busy day and the kids seemed to have a never ending supply of energy.

  J.R, Helaina, Paul, Cassie, and Tina were excited to see that many of their friends were also enjoying time at the beach. Even Emma, Dylan, Kellie, and Mark were enjoying a picnic on the beach. Soon the kids were all occupied fishing off the pier, jet skiing, building sand castles or playing volleyball, even snorkeling in the refreshingly cool water as the adults were all but forgotten about as they relaxed with their drinks.

  “I'm just enjoying watching the fun,” David thought, now they could discuss with William and Jennifer the decisions both parents made for J.R and Helaina.