Debbon could see the internal argument Petre was having with himself and thought this had gone on long enough. He stood up from his chair and thrust his hand out toward Petre and said, “Do we have an agreement for our children?”
Petre did not want this offer to pass him by. He clumsily moved his chair backward so he, too, could stand. Belatedly he thrust his hand forward until it was clasping Elder Debbon’s. He smiled that the solution to his problem with Jena had turned out so favorably. Now he would be able to find buyers for his stolen cargo unhindered by the little girl that seemed like a magnet for trouble. Inwardly he thought that Elder Debbon did not know what trouble he was in for with curious little Jena.
“Great! I look forward to Jena joining my family,” Debbon announced happily. “Let me just have my legal counsel fill out these documents to make them official. Then we can take care of the money matter. We should be done within a few minutes.”
He sat back down and called up his counselor on the patil. “Miorlen, please draw up an official betrothal agreement for me,” he requested as if this were an everyday occurrence. He spent the next couple of minutes answering each of the lawyer’s questions about items unique to the documents. He watched Petre’s expression as he was speaking with the counselor and was delighted to see he appeared content with the transaction.
“I have the documents ready for teleportation, sir,” Miorlen said a moment later.
“Very good, thank you!” Debbon ended the connection just as a stack of papers appeared on the desk beside the patil. “Here we are, Petre.”
He shoved the papers in front of Petre and personally handed him a pen. The documents had flags on the side for each area requiring a signature. Debbon walked around the desk and sat on the corner of the table to flip the pages while Petre signed. When Petre finished his last signature, Debbon took the stack and returned to his side of the desk. Debbon then added his name to each page and removed the flags as he went along.
When the papers were complete, he entered the stack into his replicator and waited the few seconds for the duplicated set of documents to be generated. He took the copies and tapped them on the top of the desk, clipped them together, sealed them in an envelope and handed the packet to Petre. The originals were treated similarly and then put into a locking top drawer of his desk.
From the next drawer down Debbon removed a large bag containing five thousand taj. With a flourish, he handed the bag into Petre’s eagerly outstretched hands. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Petre,” Debbon added for good measure and offered his hand to shake Petre’s again.
Debbon looked at his time piece and then exclaimed, “Is it really that late? Wow, I need to be getting home! My wife will kill me if I’m late again!” He walked toward the door expecting Petre to follow after him.
Petre belatedly realized this meeting was over. He grabbed the envelope and stood up with the money still clutched in his other hand. He strode over to the door to join Elder Debbon. “Am I going to meet your wife now?”
“Oh no, Petre. I’ll be heading home with Jena immediately. The betrothal agreement states that you must not have contact with Jena for at least twenty-four hours from the time the document is signed. We must be sure to follow all of the directives so there can be no breach of contract. I’m sure you understand,” he answered easily. This was the part of the conversation he had been looking forward to for the whole evening.
“Oh, sure, sure,” Petre replied with a confused look on his face.
Debbon took advantage of his confusion and started walking down the hall saying, “Right this way, Petre.” He glanced beside him to make sure Petre was still with him and then hurried through the double doors, out along the garden path, and up to the guard station. Here he stopped and turned to Petre to say, “I guess this is goodbye until we meet again.” He smiled at Petre for the last time.
Petre smiled back and said, “It’s been good doing business with you.” He held up the bag of coins and nodded his head meaningfully.
As if it were an afterthought Debbon snapped his fingers and said, “I’ll need to have my chit back.”
With the envelope in one hand and the bag of money in the other, he did not want to release either one of the precious packages to get to the chit out of his tunic pocket. He tried to balance the bag on the envelope, but the packet was not rigid enough to hold the weight of the taj causing it to fold in half and dump the money onto the ground. Upon impact, the coins bounced out of the top of the sack and rolled in every direction much to Petre’s dismay.
Petre dropped the envelope and started scurrying after each of the coins. After a few minutes, he managed to recover the money and return them to the sack. He tied the top with a solid knot and left the bag on the ground next to the envelope. Digging in his pocket, he retrieved the Elder’s voucher and slapped it into the Elder’s outstretched hand. Petre picked himself up from the humiliating position on the ground and grabbed up his two items with as much dignity as he could muster.
“I really must be going now. Goodbye,” Debbon said one last time and then turned on his heel and walked back through the Residence. He could not contain the smile on his face from the vision of Petre scrambling after the money, but he did manage to keep his shoulders from shaking from his contained mirth.
Once he got to the kitchen where Jena was being entertained by several of the kitchen staff, he spoke to everyone in the room, “I want to thank all of you for your help regarding this matter. Jena is officially ours!” He raised his hands in thanks and was happy to hear the genuine cheers of joy from his employees.
Debbon walked over to where Jena was sitting on the floor. He knelt down in front of her, held out his hands, and said, “Are you ready to go home, Jena?” He was delighted when she raised up her hands immediately to go with him.
Debbon lifted the little girl and held her close to his side all the while feeling the crackling of energy surrounding her body. He backed up a few steps and said to his staff, “Sorry for my bad manners.” With that said, he hurriedly raised sufficient energy, augmented by Jena’s power, and translated the two of them to his personal estate.
Chapter Twenty
“IT SEEMS AS though Amanda is once again using the father-figure of the Elder to protect her inner child. Her account of Petre being taken advantage of tells me there was some discord among the people who know where Nealand is located.” Stephen Gascon pursed his lips as he continued to read the case file.
“I wonder how I can use Amanda’s ability to move between these two worlds to my advantage. As disorders go, multi-dimensional disorder seems to meld both the rational and irrational mind together to create order out of chaos.” Dr. Gascon pressed the stop button on his hand-held recorder as he responded to the knock on his office door. “Come in!”
“Dr. Gascon? I’d like to discuss Amanda Covington’s case with you.” Jasmine Medin asked as she entered the office.
“Sure, I was just going over her notes.” He pointed to the stack of papers on his desk. “What are your thoughts?”
“I’d like to suggest a change in medication.”
“You know where I stand on this issue, Dr. Medin.” Stephen sat back and crossed his arms, irritated to be having this conversation yet again with the hypnotherapist.
“I know, Dr. Gascon. I’m not asking for Amanda to be taken off the medication, only for a reduction in the dosage. She has lost weight since she’s been here and I think a lower dose would be just as effective without having any harmful side-effects.” Jasmine rushed through her explanation, hoping to encourage the Director to agree with her summation.
“I’ll take that into consideration. In the meantime, I’ve received yet another phone call from the Taivas family wanting to know about our progress in finding their son. I was not very happy to report we have no further news. I’d like you to push Amanda harder in your sessions. She must divulge where Nealand is soon.”
“I’m not sure pushing her harde
r will yield better results. Our sessions are already lasting almost four hours, and that’s longer than I would keep anyone under hypnosis in any situation. Please consider her dosage reduction as the next step to speeding up her recall.”
“Fine! I’ll put in the order right now.” He turned to his computer and typed a few notes on Amanda’s chart. He jammed his finger down on the enter key and turned back to Jasmine. “No more excuses, Jasmine, get me results!”
Jasmine still felt a thrill of excitement that she had actually won a battle against Dr. Gascon. She smiled at Amanda as she sat on the couch across from her, “I’ve convinced Dr. Gascon to decrease your medication dosage. I’m sorry I couldn’t get him to banish it altogether, but he has a definite affinity for drugging all of the patients. It was a small victory, but more than I’ve achieved in the past. Shall we get started?”
Amanda smiled as she prepared herself. She could feel the medication entering her bloodstream as it increased her heart rate. It also made her feel hot and uncomfortable at times. She was glad to know Dr. Medin was working for her best interest. She followed her relaxation instructions implicitly and soon found herself back in Tuala…
Amanda felt disoriented as she started to wake up. She lifted herself back into a sitting position and wondered what had happened. When she looked around, she noticed she was in Bryon and Alena’s living room. “It worked,” she whispered to herself as all her memories came flooding back.
“Amanda?” Alena asked quietly. “Are you okay now?”
Amanda turned her head and saw Alena kneeling in front of her. She smiled at Alena and said, “I think I’m perfect now!” She leaned forward and gave Alena a huge hug. She pulled herself away from the hug and asked, “Didn’t I see Juila before I passed out?”
“Yes, Bryon is holding her just behind you,” she replied and waved her hand for Bryon to bring Juila over for Amanda to hold.
Bryon rushed around the chair to kneel down next to Alena and held Juila out for Amanda to take into her lap. As happy as he was to have Amanda back he was also worried about telling her that Jena was now missing. Never in his life was he dreading a conversation more than that one.
“Oh, she’s gotten so big! How old is she now?” Amanda asked in wonder as she looked intently at the daughter she had not seen for two and a half months. She was shocked at how much she had changed. Juila’s big blue eyes looked into her own brown eyes with comprehension and curiosity. She was trying to sit up on her own, that was new too.
“She’s six mesans old now and crawling everywhere,” Alena replied but did not move from where she sat protectively in front of Amanda.
“I can’t wait to see Jena! Are they even harder to tell apart now that they are moving around?” Amanda smiled at Juila and did not notice the desperate look that passed between Alena and Bryon. Neither of them answered Amanda. She realized something was wrong and looked directly at Alena and asked, “Where’s Jena?”
“I wish I didn’t have to tell you this,” she paused to measure her words and then continued, “She was abducted the day before yesterday. We are relatively sure Petre MacVeen took her.”
Amanda hugged Juila close to her chest and stared uncomprehendingly at both Alena and Bryon. She wished desperately that she had misheard what she had said. Seeing the apparent fear and dejection in their eyes, she had to conclude she had heard correctly. With her cheek resting on the top of Juila’s head she asked in a whisper, “What’s been done to try to find her?”
“We’ve had a hit on the beacon from the stolen freighter telepod. The authorities are checking it out as we speak,” Bryon said with some hope in his voice. “Frasnia is continuing to search for the beacon signal from the personal telepod from the freighter. She has promised not to sleep until she has found it.”
“Okay,” Amanda said slowly, “Have you checked her birth crystal?”
Alena looked guiltily at Bryon since this thought had never occurred to Alena until Bryon reminded her and now it was the first suggestion from Amanda. Alena looked back to Amanda and said, “Yes, we’ve both been checking it. Most recently there was a disturbance with the connection…”
“What does that mean?” Amanda interrupted with rising concern.
“We think it means Jena was drugged, either for transport or because of an injury. We’re not sure which yet but we were about to try again when you came knocking on the door,” Bryon continued while trying to sound as reassuring as possible.
“Why don’t you try to connect with Jena’s birth crystal? As her mother, you would have the best connection,” Alena offered.
Amanda had a moment of concern before she thought to ask, “Why don’t you lead me through the steps again. This is too important to mess up, and I’ve been out of touch for the last two mesans.”
“Absolutely,” Alena replied instantly while nodding her head in agreement with Amanda’s assessment of the situation. “Let Bryon take Juila for a few minutes while we get this sorted out.”
Bryon instantly bent forward and offered his hands for Juila. With only a moment’s hesitation, Amanda lifted Juila from her lap and into Bryon’s waiting hands. She eagerly watched Juila snuggle into Bryon’s arms and felt confident her daughter would be safe while she tried to find her other lost daughter.
“Okay,” Amanda said to Alena, “I’m ready to begin.” Amanda closed her eyes and took several deep breaths and slowly exhaled as she settled back into the chair to relax her body and let her mind roam free.
“First, picture the deep black color of Jena’s birth crystal. As you breathe deeply, imagine the elemy surrounding Jena’s crystal. Focus on the colors of the energy which are unique to Jena. Can you see the colors?”
“Yes,” Amanda said slowly as she started to see details surrounding the colors distinctive to Jena. “The connection seems as clear as I last remember it. I can see a small room surrounding Jena. The shades are drawn making the room darker, but it’s obviously daytime outside.
“There’s a woman sitting in a chair beside the bed where Jena is sleeping. She’s reading from a book in her lap, and I can only see the top of her head.” Amanda was feeling the strain of using the crystal from such a distance, and she broke the connection.
She took another deep breath and slowly opened her eyes as she exhaled. She had the strangest feeling she had seen that room before, but that was impossible since she had only been in a few homes in Tuala. “Maybe you should check in on her and see if you know the location where she’s sleeping.”
“Okay,” Alena agreed. She spent only a few moments to confirm that the fuzziness from before was now noticeably gone. Unfortunately, she did not have any clue where Jena was sleeping nor did she recognize the woman sitting beside her.
Breaking the connection, Alena said to both Bryon and Amanda, “Jena appears to be fine now. Whatever affected her before when we were checking in has either passed or was taken away by a powerful healer. I think I’ll contact some of the best healers I know to find out if they’ve treated a baby today. This might be our best lead yet!” Alena jumped up with renewed hope. She swiftly left the room to make the inquiries on the patil.
“I can take Juila back now,” Amanda said to Bryon. She was glad he was quick to replace Juila onto her lap. She felt somehow empty knowing that her other daughter was amongst strangers and possibly hurt. She did not know what to do now other than hold on to her daughter and hope that Frasnia would find the personal telepod swiftly so they could have another lead on which to follow up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Petre had hoped Elder Debbon would fail to remember to ask for the chit back. Oh well, he thought, in the end, I got the better deal! With a snap to his step and he smiled as he passed each person on the way back to his water craft. He imagined almost everyone whom he passed would soon know, if they did not already, that he was now a part of Elder Debbon’s family.
Never had he anticipated when he took Jena that this would work out so favorably for himself. He was al
so relieved to know someone else would have to deal with all of the messes Jena would get into. He really did not think much of Bryon’s skill at raising Jena as she was not very cooperative with anything, especially eating.
By now he was striding up the wooden dock and almost at his water craft. He wondered if enough time had passed for the beetlesnatch bombs to have cleared out any infestation on his craft. It was more than a little concerning to think those critters might be loose on his craft while he was sailing out on the vast oceans. He stood at the edge of the dock looking down onto his vessel and then decided he would rather not risk it, he turned around and went back into the vendor’s square to purchase an anti-venom kit from the vendor who had sold him the extermination bombs.
After a few negotiations, Petre owned an anti-venom kit and hoped he would never have to use it. He tucked it under his arm and soon returned to the dock. If he hurried, he would be well away from the sandbars, coral reefs, and riptides before the sun set. He hopped over the railing of his craft and went down the several stairs to the main cabin door. There was no longer any smoke coming out of the cracks in the door so Petre felt reassured enough time had passed to clear out the malodorous fumes.
He opened the door and walked in. While the smell inside was not very pleasant, he decided to leave the cabin door open to allow the sea breezes to clean out the remaining stench. Petre dropped the anti-venom kit, the bag of money, and the envelope full of betrothal papers onto the table as he passed by on his inspection of the cabin for any beetlesnatch bodies.
Back up on the deck, Petre unhooked the tie down ropes from the dock. He concentrated on navigating his vessel away from the dock and the surrounding water crafts. As he continued to stand on the bow of his deck, he smiled with satisfaction with his life in general. Only the incident with the spilled money put any type of damper on his mood.
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