“When will you find out if Rasa will be able to help?”
“Barla said she would be contacting her at the end of this week. I’m sure she’ll let me know as soon as she has an answer.”
“That’s good. We’ll have a few days to see what Juila is really capable of.” She looked over at Juila and had to smile at the mess she was creating. The little girl was seemingly no different than any other child she knew, but now she wondered if she would be so much more than anyone could imagine. Alena hoped she would be able to see how she grew up. If not, she would certainly take advantage of evaluating her skills in the time she had left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bryon looked down on his timepiece and noticed it was later than he had thought. He stood up to get ready to go to work, and both women looked up at him with questioning gazes. “Sorry, ladies, I have to go to a meeting.”
“Is it that late already? Where did the time go?” Amanda gazed across the room to where Juila was playing on the floor quietly by herself.
“We should probably make a snack for Juila,” Alena offered as she stood to give her husband a farewell kiss. “We’ll see you later this afternoon.”
Bryon looked down on his beautiful wife and appreciated her expressive brown eyes. He never got tired of gazing into the depths of her soul through those eyes. “I’ll try to make it as short as possible,” he promised as he turned and left the room.
He strode down the hall to their shared bedroom. He almost wished Alena had offered to help him get ready, but he knew it would end up making him late for work. Without dwelling more on that train of thought, he changed his clothes and exited the room. Hearing the girls laughing in the kitchen he grabbed the telepod key from the console table in the hallway and left the house.
It only took him a few minutes to power up the telepod, navigate to Kirma Shipping and Receiving, power down at his parking space, and walk the short distance to his office. He wished he would have more time to appreciate the beautiful weather, but his meeting with Kenen was scheduled for now.
Once Bryon opened the office door he hesitated a few seconds to let his eyes adjust to the dim interior compared to the bright sunshine outside. Without any further delay, Bryon took the final step into the office and let the door close behind him. He smiled at his secretary, Frasnia, just as she hung up a call on her patil.
Frasnia was pleased to see her boss had returned from his visit in time to make this important meeting. “Good, you’re back! That was Kenen’s office on the patil just now; he’s running a little bit late. How was the visit with Captain Ahn? Has Petre been found yet? Were there any leads for locating Jena?”
Bryon was used to Frasnia’s exuberance and sat on the edge of her desk to wait for her barrage of questions to end before he answered each one in order, “It was a great visit, we haven’t found Petre, and we do have a new idea for locating Jena!” His smile got bigger as Frasnia’s big green eyes widened with excitement as the last bit of news was delivered.
“What is it? Can I help?”
“Unfortunately, no. This one’s all on Amanda.” Bryon noticed Frasnia’s expression change as though she had been rejected. He watched her push her straight, dark hair behind her ear as she did when she was uncomfortable. He knew she was desperate to make herself useful since she felt as though she were partly to blame for Jena being taken in the first place. Unquestionably he thought her feelings were misplaced, but no amount of consoling had convinced her she was not complicit. “Really, it’s true. Barla’s daughter might be able to help Amanda locate Jena through her birth crystal. It’s the mother-daughter link which is the key.”
“Okay, but if anything comes up where I might be able to help, please ask.”
“Absolutely, you’ve been invaluable throughout everything. We won’t know anything for sure until after this Jumat since that’s when Barla will be talking with Rasa.”
“This will be exciting.”
“That’s what we think, too. Back to business, how did Kenen’s mood seem?”
“I didn’t speak to him, but to his secretary. She seemed pretty relaxed, so I think he can’t be too bad today.”
“That’s good,” Bryon mused, and then another thought came to mind, “You’ve been dating Ninan, right?”
Frasnia seemed confused by Bryon’s sudden change of subject and hesitantly answered, “Yes. Is that okay?”
“Oh, fine, fine. I was just wondering if maybe he had mentioned any new memories from when he was kidnapped. If we could just find the stolen shipment, it might go a long way toward repairing our relationship with Kenen.”
“I’m sorry, Bryon, he hasn’t recovered any memories from that time. It’s been so long; I don’t believe he’ll ever remember. After all, the trauma to his head was pretty severe.”
“You’re probably right. It was worth asking though. I guess I should review what I’m going to go over with Kenen. Once he arrives, make sure to let me know immediately, so he doesn’t feel as though we are brushing him off. His business with us is very important, as you already know.”
“Sure thing. I put all of their work requests on the right-hand side of your desk. They added a few new things yesterday.”
“Okay, thanks,” Bryon said over his shoulder as he went into his private office and shut the door. He wondered if they would ever recover the lost shipment. Probably once they located Petre and had him questioned, they would be able to solve several mysteries. Until then, it was just going to be business as usual.
Chapter Nine
“I FEEL AS though Amanda is weaving an intricate tale to keep us distracted from our goal of finding Nealand!” Dr. Gascon thrust the latest session notes back onto his dark, mahogany desk and glared at Dr. Medin over the rims of his glasses. “And please don’t tell me you believe all of this bullshit because that’s exactly what it is. I’ve decreased Amanda’s medication dosage, and yet the story seems to be getting more involved rather than less.”
Jasmine watched as the Cannon Memorial Asylum Director of Psychiatry’s face turned several shades of red as his anger increased over Amanda Covington’s case. She knew he was not going to be happy with her latest case notes, but now she was worried he would do something drastic to prove his point.
“I’m encouraged by the fact she feels it’s okay to move on. I think she’s on the verge of telling us what you want to know.”
“What we want to know, you mean?”
“Yes, Dr. Gascon, what we want to know.”
“But now Amanda claims she has the same powers as the other people!”
“Exactly my point. She no longer feels helpless; she’s able to play a more important role in society. I just need to direct her to feel powerful enough to tell us where Nealand is located and then we’ll have news to share with the Taivas family. We’re on the right path, Dr. Gascon. I’m sure of it!”
“You better be right, Dr. Medin. That’s all for now. I need to think.” He raised his hand and waved it impatiently to encourage Dr. Medin to leave immediately.
Not needing any further encouragement, Jasmine stood from the leather chair and left the Director’s office without looking back. As had become her normal routine, Jasmine collected first Amanda’s afternoon medication from the nurse’s station and then proceeded down the hall to Room 426 to retrieve the patient herself. At a quick knock on the door, Amanda exited her room and followed the doctor to her office.
Amanda had been waiting for the doctor to come and get her. She was excited to know she would be missing yet another dose of the dreaded medication. They entered Dr. Medin’s office, and Amanda watched as the doctor balled up the paper cup containing her pills and threw it into her waste basket.
Jasmine turned and smiled at Amanda sitting in a patch of sunshine cascading through the office window. For the first time, she noticed Amanda wearing a crystal necklace. Jewelry was not permitted in the Psychiatric Ward so of course, she asked, “Amanda where did your necklace come from?”
&nb
sp; Amanda’s hand reached up and gently touched the ornate pendant of crystals. She almost seemed surprised to find it there herself as she replied, “I don’t know. I didn’t even realize I was wearing it.” She continued to stroke the gems as she thought she could feel heat emanating from its core.
Jasmine checked the visitor’s record and noted that Amanda had not received any visitors. She was just as astonished by the new addition. Since she did not have any explanation and neither did Amanda, she decided to let the matter go until she could think on it further.
“Amanda how do explain that you’ve been in Tuala for two years and yet you are still living with Alena and Bryon? Why haven’t you gotten a job?”
Amanda cocked her head to the side as she considered the question. “I don’t know, really. I guess each day just slipped by. Alena was busy with her wise-woman practice, and Bryon had his work to do. I spent my days around the house with the children, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of any errands to make life easier for the Kesh family.”
“Do you think it was a fair trade: their hospitality for your services?”
“I hope so. I would hate to think that they may have resented my staying there so long.”
“Why do you think it took so long for you to remember to go see your Aunt Barla? I would have thought you would’ve tried to get in touch with her immediately.”
“Yeah, that was bad. It just seemed as though one thing after another happened and it just slipped my mind.”
“For two years? Don’t you think that’s a little long for ‘slipping your mind?’”
“When you put it that way, it does. I can’t explain it; I was distraught with worry over finding Jena.”
“What about finding Nealand, was that important, too?”
Amanda looked up in confusion. “I looked for Neal; everyone looked for Neal. But when I came home I found out he had been looking for me. He had been fine the whole time here on Earth.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Of course I’m sure! Dr. Medin, just what are you asking me? Has something happened to Neal?”
“Why don’t we start your hypnosis and we can explore that a little further, okay?”
Amanda felt a little unsure of herself as she stretched out on the leather couch. Something did not feel right about Dr. Medin’s questions. She closed her eyes and willed herself to pay attention to the doctor’s soothing words until she no longer heard them anymore…
Amanda felt an unexplainable urgency to tie up loose ends before the end of the week. She did not know about Rasa’s cooperation, but she had decided no matter the outcome she would have to make plans for her future here in Tuala. She was not ever going to give up looking for Jena, and she wanted Juila to have a stable place to call home. It made her feel bad she was thinking about leaving the family who had come to feel like her own, but she also knew there was a limit to how long a person should be visiting a family before it was just too long. Two years seemed to be about the limit.
After gathering all of her clothes as well as Juila’s clothes, Amanda left her room and wandered into the kitchen to get a bite to eat. She stopped short in the doorway as she registered Alena was holding an impromptu birth crystal skills lesson in the kitchen with all of the children. She had wondered at what point Alena’s kids were going to begin their crystal lessons.
While she was addressing all of the children at the table with the directions for pulling energy out of their individual birth crystals, Amanda noticed Alena was especially evaluating Juila’s limits. Amanda imagined these tests were similar to those administered to children when they entered school. As long as Juila did not mind the tests, Amanda was more than willing to see what would happen.
Alena glanced up when she noticed movement from the doorway. She smiled at Amanda and continued talking with Juila while setting an object down in front of the child. “Can you lift this spoon from the tray, Juila? No, not with your hand, use your mind.”
Within moments the spoon was hanging in the air between them.
“Very good, Juila. Now set the spoon down gently.” Alena smiled as the spoon clanged loudly back onto the tray. “We can work on that!” She then gestured for Amanda to come into the kitchen and sit at the table where they were practicing.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to interfere.”
“No problem. While my children are working on the first skill required for school, I decided to see what Juila was interested in doing with the elemy. We are just discovering her limits. We aren’t learning anything new.”
“I still find the whole thing fascinating.”
“It certainly has gotten more interesting for me as well!”
“What have you found out?”
“Well, we already knew she was able to bring items from out of sight, and that’s a pretty advanced skill. I’ve determined as long as Juila understands what it is I’m asking her to do, she is able to do it. So far we’ve only worked on moving physical things. The next thing to cover is a mental manifestation of something such as wind or fire. I’ve been working on the skills a little out of order for her since she seems to like to move objects around the kitchen.”
“Won’t it be kind of dangerous to teach her?”
“I won’t be teaching her, just asking if she can do something. You may as well participate, too, since you haven’t been assessed in these things either.”
Amanda smiled at the thought of testing at the same time as her toddler. She was more than willing to learn since she had always thought this was possible even while she was living on Earth. Thinking back on her time with Shemalla, she remembered using the borrowed crystal to push energy outside of it. Now she wondered just how much more would be possible with her own crystal attuned to herself and using the original energy source here in Tuala.
“Okay, push the energy out of your crystal and into my hand.” Alena directed Juila’s hand to touch her own dark red birth crystal. “Juila, can you feel the energy living inside these stones?”
Juila solemnly nodded her head.
Justan and Andera watched intently to see what Juila would do with their mother’s instruction. They had each completed this task mere moments before and were pleased to find they could each do it rather easily.
Kyelon sat with his arms crossed and his chin resting on his chest in a dejected posture. He wanted his mom to teach him since he was older than Juila, but his mom had told him he was allowed to watch, but not to participate.
“Good girl. Push the energy out of the stone and into my hand.”
Amanda could see Juila concentrating on the task. Since Amanda had already learned this from Shemalla, she waited to demonstrate it until Juila was done. A moment later Amanda could see a pulsing energy move from Juila’s crystal and land on Alena’s outstretched palm.
“Excellent, Juila. Now put it back into your crystal.” When the energy returned to the crystal, Alena turned to Amanda and said, “Now it’s your turn.” She was pleasantly surprised to see the ease in which Amanda complied with her request. “Have you done that before?”
Amanda smiled and said, “Shemalla showed it to me before she took me to the Gate to come back.”
Alena simply nodded and looked down at the sheet of paper on the table. She made a short notation and then read the next item on the list:
1. Pull energy out of the birth crystal
2. Move energy to a noted location
3. Put energy back into the birth crystal
4. Create breeze
5. Boil water
6. Freeze water
7. Extinguish flame
8. Create flame
9. Move object
10. Memorization
11. Heal
12. Create
13. Distance notation
14. Navigation
15. Aura detection / Matchmaking
16. Intuition
17. Deception / Illusion
18. Health detection
19. Tel
eportation
20. Push
21. Light source without flame
22. Mind read / Mind swipe
23. Extra sensory perception
24. Levitation
25. Time jump / Time warp
26. Invisibility
27. Adaptation
Amanda leaned forward to see what was written on the page. As she read each item, she started to appreciate there was a lot more to these birth crystals than she realized. She had only thought of them as items for convenience in making dinner, teleporting, or monitoring their children. She had no idea each citizen was tested for all of these items as well. Her appreciation for her pendant was growing rapidly as she understood these were things now available to herself as well.
“Are children tested for all of these items when they enter school?”
“No, only the first four items are evaluated in their first anon of school. By the second anon, they are also evaluated for items five through ten. Once they enter middle school, they actually have mandatory classes on crystal energy so they can learn healing, creating things such as meals, writing notes at a distance, intuitive navigation, detecting auras in people, and developing concise intuition. The rest of the skills are usually only taught to people who need to use a particular talent for their occupation.
“I’m curious to see what Juila’s limits are based on her heritage. I promise I won’t push her beyond what she wants to do. My thinking is if I show Juila how to do something and then ask her to repeat it, then I’ll know if she possesses the skill. She won’t have to try to perfect any of it, just demonstrate the ability to perform it at all. Some of these things are never learned by individuals, but that’s what makes us each unique.”
“I wasn’t worried about it. I know you think of her as your own daughter, too. Are you able to do all of these things?”
Ascension Discovery Page 62