Answering Ascension

by Amy Proebstel

  As they got close, Juila announced to her sister and Sofia, “Behn asked me to the dance!”

  The girls smiled and congratulated the two. Sofia tried to ignore the pointed stares from Juila letting her know it would be a good time to ask Jon who sat right next to her. Sofia did not want the invitation to seem as though it were an afterthought. She would wait for a better time or not go at all.

  Valentina perked up and announced, “Ryan asked me to go with him, and I accepted.”

  Ryan seemed suddenly engrossed in the plate of food in front of him. He smiled as he received pokes in the ribs on both sides as both Luke and Jon teased him about not telling them.

  Jena had been considering whether Luke would ask her to go with him, but she could not get over the idea that she would be cheating on Willian. She thought it would be a fun experience, but not enough so if it made her betrothed angry. She was well aware of Juila’s opinion on the matter since she had almost set up a mantra in her own head about experiencing everything Earth had to offer.

  Jena had been very concerned about Willian as of late. She had expected to have heard something from him in the time they had been away, but still, there was nothing. She hoped nothing had gone wrong or that he was not upset with her leaving without discussing it with him. There was nothing in their betrothal agreement which said he was entitled to that type of consideration, but Jena would have liked to at least discuss it with him before they left.

  Juila, once again, interrupted her thoughts with a pleasant, shut up. Jena smiled at her sister and then purposefully shut her out of her mind. It was something she had learned to do which bothered Juila to no end. Juila scowled back at Jena and then turned her attention to Sofia who was telling a rather rowdy story.

  At the end of Sofia’s story, she announced, “It has come to my attention that there is a birthday coming up.”

  Heads turned around to look at each person, and finally, Jon asked, “Whose birthday is it?”

  “Juila and Jena’s!” she announced proudly.

  The twins did not know what to expect. They did not have any expectations since they had not been raised on Earth.

  “You guys are going to have a party, aren’t you?” Sofia continued.

  “I don’t know,” Juila stammered. “We’ll have to ask our parents about it.”

  “Let me know what they decide. I’d love to plan the event for you,” Sofia offered kindly.

  Chapter Twenty

  TRUE TO HER word, Sofia helped Amanda put together a grand party for the girls. Only their core group of friends were invited as well as Chris and Diane. Jena had fretted over the entire event and wondered if it were a good idea at all. She did not like to be the focus of attention, and this party was centered solely on her and her sister.

  The party was scheduled for their actual birthday which happened to fall on a Wednesday. The guests began arriving right at six o’clock. The first to come over were Chris and Diane. After kissing the two girls, the adults went to talk with Amanda and Riccan.

  Chris pulled Amanda aside and furtively returned her journal. He whispered, “I understand what you meant about ‘complicated’ now. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you in your quest. I think you’re right in thinking the prophecy centers around you and your girls.”

  Amanda received the journal and tucked it under her arm until she could put it away upstairs. She hugged her father and said, “Thank you for your support. You can’t know what it means to Riccan and me.”

  “I’ll work on your mother,” Chris promised.

  Amanda smiled unconvincingly at her father. She did not hold out much hope for that conversation going very well. She looked over his shoulder and smiled at her mother talking with Riccan across the living room. Her father was much more optimistic than she would ever be with her mother.

  The doorbell rang again, and Amanda excused herself to answer it. When she opened the door, she came face-to-face with three teenagers who all had a similar family look while each had different coloring. Something about the boys caught her attention; they reminded her of someone, but she just could not place where. “Come in! You must be Behn, Jon, and Valentina.” Amanda welcomed them into the house.

  The trio stood on the porch and stared at Amanda for longer than was comfortable. Behn was the first to recover by smiling and said, “Hi! I’m guessing you’re Amanda’s mother.”

  “Yes, I am. I’m glad you guys could come. This is the first birthday the girls have had in the United States,” Amanda replied as she stepped aside to allow the group to enter. She had almost felt like the kids had shown a flicker of recognition toward Amanda and yet she was certain she had never met any of them on Earth or on Tuala. She shut the door and turned around to see the newest group of kids tilt their heads toward one another as though they were having a private conversation.

  “Did you see her? She could be our mother’s sister! They look just alike!” Valentina whispered as they walked into the foyer.

  “That’s what I was thinking, too!” Jon agreed with his sister. His memories of their time with their mother was not nearly as sharp as his siblings, possibly because he had spent so much time being sick.

  “It has to be a coincidence,” Behn reasoned. “It’s not as if she’s a long-lost relative or anything.” He turned away and saw Juila heading toward them. He waved and moved away from his siblings to greet her. As she came close enough, he leaned in and gave her a quick hug and said, “Happy birthday, Juila!”

  “Thanks, Behn. I’m glad you guys could come.” She looked past him to wave at his brother and sister as they were still lingering in the foyer.

  Valentina and Jon suddenly ended their discussion and came over to wish Juila a happy birthday as well.

  “Go on inside and get a snack. We are still waiting for a few more guests before we begin,” Juila said. She wanted to stay with Behn, but she thought her mother might need something. There was something about her mother’s expression which puzzled her. She moved away from the triplets and touched her mom’s arm. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I could swear I’ve seen those kids before, but I can’t place where. And you know what else is strange? It seemed as though they knew me when I answered the door. Weird, huh?” Amanda tried to shrug off the strange feeling.

  The doorbell rang again, and Juila moved past her mom to greet the new arrivals. A squeal of delight erupted from Sofia as she stood outside. Beside her were Luke and Ryan. Sofia rushed forward to hug Juila, and practically cheered, “Happy birthday, Juila!”

  The boys smiled at Sofia’s exuberance, and each said a much quieter, but heartfelt, wish for a happy birthday as they entered the house. Luke asked, “Where’s Jena?”

  “She’s just over there in the living room. Head straight and turn to your left. You won’t be able to miss her,” Juila grinned. She had read Luke’s mind, and she liked the thoughts he was having toward her sister. There might be hope yet in getting Jena away from the dreadful Willian.

  Sofia grabbed her arm and Ryan’s and started to tow them into the living room. She declared, “Let’s get this party started!”

  Juila could not help but laugh at Sofia’s attitude. Their friend had put a lot of time and energy into decorating the living room, kitchen, and back patio for this event. There were streamers, balloons, and banners everywhere which made the normally opulent space very festive. She had really outdone herself, and both Jena and Juila were glad their friend had offered to help their mom in getting it all ready.

  Sofia got the music started in the living room. She had a mixed music cd and was pleased to hear how good it sounded on the surround sound speakers both in the room and out on the patio.

  During the natural progression of the evening, the kids gravitated toward one another, and the adults did likewise. Since it was such a nice evening, the adults convened on the patio and let the kids dance, talk, and mingle without their interference.

  Amanda noticed her mother
paying particular attention to the birthday girls. She seemed to be appraising them in some way. Eventually, Amanda’s curiosity got the best of her, and she asked, “Mom, why are you looking at the girls so strangely?”

  Since it was just the four of them outside Diane did not even attempt to be subtle as she replied, “I read your journal which you conveniently disguised as the innovation book. I figured since Chris was allowed to read it, then I would be able to as well.”

  Amanda felt bad about attempting to deceive her mom, and she replied, “I’m sorry, Mom. I just did not know how to tell you the truth. Now that you know everything, I’m sure you can understand my predicament.” Amanda looked pleadingly at her mother and hoped she would not stay angry for long.

  Much to everyone’s surprise, Diane declared, “I’m thrilled to finally have everything answered! I know I can be hard to convince about certain things, but it’s fairly obvious those girls are yours, Amanda. Anyone with eyes could see that much!”

  Amanda could not believe her mother had come to be on her side so easily. She jumped up from her chair and hugged her mother as she said, “Thank you, Mom! I love you so much!”

  “I love you, too, honey.” She patted Amanda on the back until Amanda pulled away and returned to her seat.

  Amanda wiped the tears of joy from her eyes. “Everything is perfect now!” She looked over at Riccan and could see he was very pleased with the night’s revelation. “No more secrets, Mom, I promise!”

  “Does this mean I get to see the telepod soon?” Chris asked urgently.

  “Telepod?” Diane questioned and looked over at Riccan as she asked, “Do you have one here?”

  “Yes. When the party is over, and the kids all leave, we can go take a tour if you would like,” Riccan suggested.

  Chris smiled as though he had just opened his very own birthday gift. He had no idea Diane had read the journal. He felt guilty that he had left it out where Diane would have had access to it. He should have been more careful with Amanda’s secret. In the future, he would be more vigilant.

  Sofia popped her head out the patio door and said, “I think we’re ready for the cake now.”

  The adults looked guiltily at one another and immediately stood up to come inside. Riccan led the way, and Amanda followed on his heels. They went to the kitchen refrigerator, and Riccan pulled out the half sheet cake and opened the box on the counter.

  Amanda got out the candles and started to arrange them on the top of the cake. She put sixteen of them on each side so each daughter would have her own set of candles to blow out. Since this was their first birthday, she wanted to make sure they had the proper experience.

  Riccan began to light the candles, and the guests started to move toward the kitchen. Jena and Juila were pushed toward the island first so they would be able to reach the candles. They stood there admiring the beautiful cake and wondered what they were supposed to do next.

  Suddenly, everyone burst into song, startling the birthday girls. They looked around with bewildered expressions that everyone seemed to know the same song. Amanda smiled at her children even as she continued to sing the song. When the song was over, Amanda announced, “You each blow out the candles on your own side of the cake. If you do it in one blow, then your wish will come true.”

  “What wish?” Jena asked seriously.

  The guests laughed.

  Amanda leaned forward and replied, “Whatever wish you ask for in your mind. Now hurry up and blow these out before they melt the cake!”

  Alarmed at the idea of everything melting, Juila closed her eyes, made a quick wish, and then drew in a deep breath. She wanted to be successful so her wish would come true.

  Jena scowled at her sister before she also took a deep breath. Together they both blew out the candles on their own sides of the cake. No flames survived, and a plume of smoke rose up causing the girls to back up and fan the smoke away from their faces.

  Riccan pulled the cake back toward him and started pulling the candles out so he could cut it to serve. “Amanda, can you please get out the ice cream?”

  After everyone ate their fill of the dessert, the evening wound down rapidly. There were no gifts to open since the girls had requested that none be brought. The two groups of three left at nearly the same time. Within a few minutes, the house was strangely quiet.

  Chris turned to Riccan and said, “Can we see the telepod now?”

  Riccan rolled his eyes toward Amanda and said, “You were right!”

  Everyone laughed as Riccan led the way to the telepod garage. He opened the garage door and reached into his pants pocket to get the remote for the telepod. As he stepped down into the garage, he hit the button on the remote to deactivate the cloaking shield. As if from thin air, Riccan’s red telepod appeared in the garage. It had every appearance of being a spacecraft as it was rounded, without wings, and no wheels on which to rest.

  Chris paused at the garage doorway and admired the functional piece of art. He had never seen anything like it, and he was beyond amazed at how excited he was to be one of the few people from Earth to see it. He stepped down into the garage and looked back to see how Diane was reacting to this new revelation. Chris was not disappointed to finally see Diane react to an innovation.

  Diane could hardly believe what she was seeing. While she had read the journal and she wanted to believe the children were Amanda’s, somehow none of it seemed real until she personally saw the telepod appear in front of her. She had no way to refute what she had seen, and now she was going to have to be more open-minded with everything her daughter and new family shared with her. This was going to be quite the mental adjustment for her. She reached forward and took hold of Chris’ hand for support.

  They took a few steps into the garage to allow room for Amanda, Juila, and then Jena to step down out of the doorway. Suddenly there was a commotion behind Jena.

  “Hey, you guys! Sorry to barge in, I forgot my purse…” Sofia said from the garage doorway. She had gotten her first glimpse of the telepod, and she became speechless. Her eyes got huge, and she finally managed to ask, “What is that thing?”

  Riccan whirled around and saw the problem immediately. Now he had to decide how he was going to handle the situation. He had a couple of options: he could mind wipe Sofia, so she did not remember seeing the telepod, or he could lie and say it was a top-secret engineering project for work. After seeing the scared expressions on both of his daughters’ faces, he opted for the latter.

  Riccan took a step back toward the garage door and said, “It’s a project from work. You can come and take a look at it, but you must promise not to tell anyone you saw it. I could get into a lot of trouble at work if they knew I was showing this to anyone.” He knew how stupid he sounded as he was obviously showing the vehicle off to Amanda’s parents.

  “I’d love to look at it, but I’ve got to get home,” Sofia replied. “I won’t tell anyone about it. I promise. Again, I’m sorry for letting myself in. I knocked on the door, but nobody answered.”

  Jena turned around and walked back toward Sofia. “That’s okay,” she said as she came back up next to her. “I’ll help you find your purse.” She steered her away from the garage and back into the kitchen.

  “Where did you leave it?”

  Sofia seemed to be having a hard time concentrating. She took a few seconds to answer, “I thought I left it in the dining room.”

  Jena spent a few moments reading Sofia’s thoughts. She wanted to make sure their friend would actually keep her word and not share their secret with anyone. Everything they had wanted to achieve on Earth could be ruined if Sofia could not restrain herself with this knowledge. Luckily, Sofia’s thoughts coincided with Jena’s wishes. She had no desire to ruin her relationship with the girls by getting their dad in trouble. Sofia was going to remain silent.

  “Let’s go look in there again, shall we?” Jena asked as she kept walking through the kitchen. She could have used some of her own powers to take the me
mory from Sofia’s mind. She was glad she would not have to resort to such measures.

  They walked into the dining room and looked around. Beside, and slightly under, one of the chairs they located the missing purse. Jena picked it up and said, “I found it!”

  “Oh! Thank you!” Sofia gushed as she came forward and hugged Jena for helping her. “My mom would have been so upset if I had actually lost my driver’s license.” As if the scene in the garage had not happened, Sofia asked, “When are you and Juila going to get yours?”

  “We hadn’t really thought about it much lately,” she answered with a shrug of her shoulders.

  “It was all I could think about from the time I turned fifteen and got my permit. Anyway, I’ve really got to get going. Happy birthday, Jena! I had a great time. I hope you did, too.”

  “It was really great, thanks to all of your help!” Jena replied and gave Sofia another quick hug. “I’ll walk you out.”

  Together they left the dining room and moved across the foyer to the main entry. Jena opened the door for Sofia and waved at her as she got into her car and drove away. Jena leaned against the doorframe and closed her eyes with relief. Their secret was still safe, and they could remain on Earth for a while longer. She closed the front door and retraced her steps back to the garage in time to see Chris and Diane entering the telepod.

  Chris saw there were several rows of seats covered in a soft, smooth leather. All of the interior was covered in either fabric or some foreign substance, so none of the metal framework showed, even on the floor. “What type of material is this?” Chris asked with his hand still touching the wall.

  “We call that plasfilm. It’s a durable and flexible type of plastic film,” Riccan replied.