Answering Ascension

by Amy Proebstel

  Finally, the bell sounded, and the abominable class was over. With flaming red cheeks, the two girls fled the room and sought refuge at their locker. When both Behn and Luke approached them, they had no idea what they were walking into.

  “Hey, Juila,” Behn called when he got close enough. He saw Juila’s strange expression as she turned and saw him walking closer. “What’s going on?” By then he had reached the two girls and stopped beside their open locker door.

  Juila’s eyes darted down to his crotch and then hastily away.

  “We just had a particularly informative lesson in Health class,” Jena admitted.

  Behn smiled as he realized what this week’s lesson entailed and asked, “Sex Ed?”

  “Yep!” Jena replied hastily, ducking down to get her book bag from the bottom of the locker.

  “It’s not anything we haven’t already heard before,” Behn stated matter-of-factly.

  “Maybe for you,” Juila finally managed to speak.

  “Really? You two have never had that discussed in school before?” Behn could hardly imagine where they had grown up to miss out on such a big subject. It was hard to believe South Africa could be so far behind on the subject as to neglect it from the curriculum. “If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them,” he offered cheerfully.

  Juila’s cheeks flushed even more, and she managed to say, “I think we got the idea.” She, also, grabbed her book bag and slung it over her shoulder. She slammed the locker door shut and turned the combination lock so it would not be on the last number entered. She looked around for Sofia so they could get going home.

  “Are you looking for Sofia?” Behn asked.

  “Yes,” Juila said simply.

  “I saw her down by the doors to the buses. She asked me if I could give you a ride home today since she and Jon were going to go out.”

  “They are? When did that happen?” Juila was shocked that Sofia had not told her herself. This was news which girls usually shared with one another. She decided to find out what had happened before the evening was over. Meanwhile, she felt a thrill of excitement with the idea of riding in Behn’s car. She looked over at her sister and asked, “Are you okay with the idea of Behn taking us home?”

  “Sure. Why not? It beats riding the bus,” Jena admitted. She looked over at Luke who had been silent this whole time and wondered if he were going to be riding with them.

  As if he had heard her question Luke said, “I can ride in the back seat with you, Jena.”

  “Okay,” she replied lamely.

  They walked out to the parking lot and got into Behn’s silver Nissan Altima. It was a much nicer car than Sofia’s, and his was an automatic.

  Juila sat in the front seat, and Jena took the place behind her. Luke got into the car behind Behn, and they drove in silence until they left the school grounds and started going faster on the main road.

  “So,” Luke said quietly to Jena as he leaned over closer to her, “I was wondering if you’d want to go to the movies with me tomorrow night. Behn and Juila are going, and I thought…”

  Jena rolled her eyes before she turned her head to answer Luke, “I know Behn put you up to this.”

  Luke looked down and smiled a little before he looked back up into her eyes and said, “Behn suggested it, but I really wanted to do it myself. I’m glad for the opportunity, that is, if you want to go with me.”

  Jena felt bad she had been so rude to him. He really did look as though he wanted her to go with him. She relented and said, “I think it’ll be fun. We can make sure those two,” she thumbed toward the two up front, “don’t get out of line.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Luke sat back in his seat with a pleased expression on his face.

  They dropped Luke off at his house first and then continued on to their house. Juila was torn between the excitement of being alone, sort of, with Behn and the embarrassment of not knowing what to talk about. She decided the group dating idea had been easier since there was always someone willing to chat.

  They got to the gated driveway and had to stop as the gate was not programmed to open for Behn’s car. Jena got out of the backseat and entered the code before getting back in on the other side for the ride up the driveway.

  The ride took an unexpected turn when Behn pulled up to the front of the house and turned off his engine. He turned to the girls and asked, “Do you mind if I come inside? There’s something I wanted to talk to both of you about…privately.”

  The girls looked curiously at one another, and both shrugged before Juila said, “Sure, I don’t see why not.”

  “Are your parents home?” Behn asked.

  “Probably. Do you want to talk with them as well?” Jena asked from the back seat as none of them had made any move to get out of the car.

  “I’d rather not, at least not right now. It’s a pretty private family matter,” Behn replied cryptically.

  “We can talk in my room,” Jena offered. Hers was the furthest away from their parents’ room and from the stairs. They would have the most warning if their parents decided to come in to talk with them.

  Behn nodded and grabbed the door handle. He hoped this was the right thing to do. He had a good feeling about it, and his intuition was usually pretty accurate. He stepped out of the car and smiled at Juila over the top of the car. She smiled in return, and he knew this was going to work out just fine.

  They trooped upstairs without having seen either parent. Not that Behn wanted to be secretive, but he wanted confidentiality. He was surprised to find Jena’s room so spacious. He was glad it was large enough to have its own seating area so they would not have to sit on the bed together. He chose the window bench and sat down with his back resting on the side wall and his leg crooked up on the bench seat.

  Juila sat across from him on the window seat while Jena pulled a chair closer from the formal seating area. They did not know what to expect, so they remained silent until Behn felt comfortable enough to talk.

  He cleared his throat uncomfortably and then began, “I wanted to ask you about your necklaces.”

  The girls looked at one another with alarm. This had not been what they had expected. They could not share their story without getting them all in trouble.

  Behn saw the look they shared and then decided to try to ease their minds. He pulled up the leather thong from below his shirt and exposed the smoky gray crystal suspended from the same intricate filigreed silverwork as the girls’ own stones. “I was hoping you could help me learn about my own necklace, you see.”

  The girls did see. They were both alarmed and curious. Surely it could not be a real birth crystal. The crystal was suspended not by an ornate chain, but, instead, a leather thong. They had only ever heard of them on an ornate chain designed to match the crystal’s mount.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  JUILA WAS THE first to recover from the shock of seeing the pendant. She leaned forward and saw it did look authentic except for the lack of chain. She asked, “Where did you get this?”

  “I got it from my mother when I was very little,” he replied. “Both of my siblings have them as well, but theirs are different colors than mine. When I saw you both had the same style of crystal, I thought you might be able to help us.”

  “What kind of help are you seeking?” Jena asked suspiciously.

  “We want to find our mother,” Behn said and looked down at the crystal still held in his left hand.

  “I thought you lived with both of your parents,” Juila said. She had not met their parents, but she had heard them talk about them often enough.

  “We weren’t born with the last name of Wilson. You see, Valentina doesn’t like people to know that the three of us were adopted when we were eight,” he answered.

  “Oh,” Juila said lamely.

  “What makes you think we can help you find your birth mother?” Jena leaned forward and asked.

  Behn shrugged and replied, “All of our lives, we have searched for signs
. Up until we saw your necklaces after the dance, we had never seen anyone with anything similar. It’s the only thing we have left of our mother. Maybe, if you can tell us where you got yours, then we can go and ask the seller if they remember our mother or us.”

  Again, the twins exchanged looks, knowing there was no seller of these necklaces; they were gifts from Jehoban. They needed to find out how Behn and his siblings had gotten theirs.

  A simple test needed to be performed. Jena asked, “Can you take it off so I can look at it more closely?”

  Behn looked away as though he were embarrassed and he shook his head slightly as he answered, “It won’t come off. All three of us have tried over the years without success. I know it sounds crazy…”

  Jena shook her head and asked, “Do you mind if I try?”

  “Go ahead,” Behn leaned forward so she could have better access to the leather strap.

  She reached up and touched the leather. It felt normal beneath her fingers as she slipped them under the strap. She tried to lift it off his neck, but it held fast. She tried a second time with no better success. Jena took her hands away from the leather and raised her eyebrows in question as she went to touch the crystal itself.

  Behn nodded approval.

  Jena touched the stone and received a literal shock of recognition. The crystal knew who she was and responded to her touch. It was definitely a real birth crystal from Tuala. Jena did not doubt it anymore. She smiled and let go of the crystal. It swung back down onto Behn’s chest.

  Behn looked at Jena in amazement. Nobody had ever been able to touch the stone before. He had been sure Jena would have been frustrated until he saw her fingers lift up the stone. She had looked as though she were concentrating on the stone, communicating with it almost. It had been very strange.

  She looked up at Behn and smiled. She stated simply, “It is the same as ours.”

  “Are you unable to remove yours as well?” Behn asked hopefully.

  Both girls shook their heads.

  Behn released a sigh and said, “Finally! Now we don’t have to feel so embarrassed about these things.” He tapped the crystal in accusation. “What is it? What do you know about them?”

  Juila spoke first, “It’s called a birth crystal. You were most likely given it when you were only a day or two old. Your mother would have presented you at the crystal ceremony.”

  Behn looked at her in confusion and said, “It sounds like something from a cult.”

  “On the contrary, it’s more like a culture,” she answered easily. This was not a conversation she should be having with Behn. They were going to have to get her parents involved if they were going to discuss this further. Juila was not comfortable discussing Tualan culture with Behn unless he really was from Tuala himself. If he did not remember it, then she was not sure she would be able to help him in his quest to find his mother. “I think we should include my parents in this discussion. I can’t share anything more with you about the necklace unless they want me to.”

  Behn frowned in confusion, and he said, “Okay if you think so.”

  Juila stood up and said, “Let’s go find them downstairs.”

  “You mean right now?” Behn was not so sure about this anymore.

  “There’s no time like the present,” Jena stated as she also stood.

  Behn had no choice but to follow as the two girls left the room to find their parents. At the bottom of the stairs, the two girls split up to search for them.

  Amanda was found in the living room. Riccan was located in his office. Juila led Riccan into the living room where they had all sat down to wait. Jena spent the next few moments letting them know what she had discovered and then fell silent to see what Behn wanted to add to the conversation.

  Riccan looked at Behn with new appreciation. If Behn were from Tuala, then he would be a good match for Juila. The problem then came about where Behn’s parents were and why the children were separated from them. This was a new mystery which he thought would be rather fascinating to puzzle through.

  “Tell me what you remember from the time before you were adopted and you all were still with your birth mother,” Riccan prompted as the room remained silent.

  “I think we had a pretty typical childhood. We played a lot with one another since we were all the same age. I don’t remember too many other kids our own age. I do remember an older man who I think was the leader of the community. I think his name was Grobin or something like that. We were pretty poor, and our house was made from logs. During the winter it was pretty cold and drafty.

  “One particularly bad winter, Jon got really sick with a cold. His lungs were bad, and he had a hard time breathing. He coughed all of the time. Our mom was sick with worry, and she asked Grobin for help many times. He came over to our house and stood over Jon with his arms crossed.

  “After a few minutes, he turned to my mom and said, ‘You have too many kids anyhow. It won’t hurt if you lost this one. I’m not going to risk any of our men to go get you a wise-woman.’” Behn scrunched his face as he remembered the right term from his memory.

  He looked up and said, “I know this sounds crazy. Sometimes I think I must have dreamt it all up until I talk to Valentina and she remembers the same thing.”

  Riccan had been surprised to hear the term for the healer from Behn. He had been uncertain before, but, with that one phrase, he had no doubt about Behn’s story. They were from Tuala. “I’ve heard stranger things. Please continue,” Riccan urged.

  “My mom clutched her stomach when Grobin left our house. She was crying loudly, and she kept looking around the house as though she were trying to figure out what she would do next. Suddenly she stood up and rummaged inside a high cupboard. She took out something we’d never seen before and turned back to us kids. ‘Get your things together. We’re going to get you kids to safety,’ she’d said as she held the wrapped bundle from the cupboard to her chest.

  “We didn’t know what she meant for us to do. We didn’t really have much of anything, so we just stood there and looked at her dumbly. She moved around the house and picked up a jacket for each of us and told us to put them on. She didn’t yell or scream or anything other than sob quietly.

  “She helped Jon to sit up and put his coat on carefully. Then she urged him to his feet and told us we were going for a walk. We didn’t know what she was talking about since it was cold and dark outside. She opened the door and herded us ahead of her. As we walked and stumbled through the woods, Mom kept giving us directions to turn or to keep heading straight. We held on to one another and kept Jon between us to keep him upright.

  “Finally we came to a creek and followed it for some time. Mom had us spetch the creek until we were standing on a small island in the middle. She didn’t follow us across. I heard her mumble as we walked, ‘Corva said it would come to this. I hope she knows what she’s talking about.’” Behn looked up and asked, “Does any of this mean anything to you?”

  It had been forever since Riccan had heard the Tualan term ‘spetch.’ He instantly translated it to ‘jumping over the narrow area of the creek.’ Riccan nodded slightly and asked, “Can you please tell us the rest?”

  “Okay, we stood on the island, and our mom unwrapped the bundle she had been holding. It was dark outside, but I could have sworn it was a small skull she held. The picture of it in her hands still haunts me when I’m sleeping. She held it out in front of her, and she yelled, ‘Outside Ascension,’ and then everything turned black. I couldn’t feel anything or anybody around me for several seconds.

  “We must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remember we were sitting just outside of a cave and it was daylight. We had no idea where we were, but we knew we had to get help for Jon. He was delirious by now, and he was so hot that his eyes kept rolling back in his head. Val and I each took one of Jon’s arms and slung it over our shoulders. We walked and stumbled until we found a house. When we knocked on the door, an old lady saw us and immediately brought us
inside. She called an ambulance, and they took Jon away.

  “We went into the foster system since we didn’t know where our mother was and, eventually, Jon was reunited with us. We were moved through at least seven houses before we were all adopted by the Wilson family.” Behn sat back on the couch and waited to see what Riccan and Amanda would say.

  The room remained quiet while everyone absorbed the details of Behn’s story.

  Amanda was the first to have a question when she asked, “You were so young when all of that happened. How is it you remember it so well?”

  Behn easily answered, “I’ve dreamt about it often. I used to think it was a reoccurring nightmare until I started talking to Val about it. She remembered it almost the same as I did. When we talked to Jon about it, he gave us a blank stare. He says he doesn’t recall anything until the time we were adopted.”

  “Traumatic events can do that to a person,” Amanda reassured Behn. She had certainly had her own share of traumatic events to draw knowledge from in her past. She still could not recall the details of Jehoban’s version of her time in Tuala. “It doesn’t mean the events didn’t happen the way you remember,” she continued.

  Riccan suddenly jumped up from the couch and left the room. Nobody seemed to know what to make of his actions, so they sat quietly in their seats until he returned several minutes later. He had his hands behind his back as he entered the room.

  “I’m going to show you something, and I want you to tell me your first thought when you see it. Okay?” Riccan said as he stopped directly in front of Behn.

  Juila stiffened immediately because she could feel the power of the samara as her father entered the room.

  Riccan brought the samara around to the front of him and waited for Behn’s reaction.