Dr. Gascon roared to life as he realized Petre’s intention. He raced around the desk and tried to put himself between Petre and the skull of doom, as he had termed it. “That’s mine! Sit down, Petre! Guard! Guard! Anyone! I need help in here!”
He suddenly found himself unable to move forward, and his eyes grew wide with fear as he no longer had control over his own body. This felt almost exactly like it had when he was a little child with Lucinden. He felt moisture snaking its way down the inside of his pant leg.
Petre took the crystal skull down from the shelf and caressed it in both of his hands. He missed having this connection of power; it was more soothing than any woman ever could be. Power surged through him, and he could hear a commotion outside of the office as Stephen’s cries for help were being answered.
Without another thought, Petre knew he would have enough power to translate himself back home to Tuala. No wonder Lucinden had not made any plans for his return, he had known Petre would do it himself. This was way too easy, Petre thought with a grin as he gathered elemy around him. He watched Stephen’s eyes register terror as he disappeared from right in front of him.
Chapter Thirty-Four
AMANDA’S CELL PHONE rang, and she did not recognize the number. With a curious expression, she took the call while she was sitting with her parents at an early dinner. She listened with increased excitement as the woman on the other end explained what was going to be happening.
The call only lasted a couple of minutes, but it felt like a lifetime to both Chris and Diane as they could only wonder who their daughter was talking with. Their anxiety was relieved the moment Amanda clicked her phone shut and announced, “This is the call we’ve been waiting for: the kids are ours! Dad, get the bill so we can get out of here. They’re only open for another half hour, so we’re going to have to hurry or wait until Monday!”
“On it!” He jumped up and raced across the restaurant to track down their waitress.
“Is this really happening?” Diane asked as she remained rooted to her seat. She had hoped for this outcome, but with how long everything was taking and the lack of communication from any of the county workers, she never believed it could be resolved so swiftly.
“I promise, Mom. Come on; let’s get out to the truck so we can be ready to go when Dad gets there.” Amanda grabbed up her purse and slung her jacket over her arm. She did not even want to waste time putting on her coat even though it was only in the thirties outside. Her excitement was more than enough to keep her warm until they were safely inside their vehicle.
They had just gotten their seatbelts fastened when Chris jumped into the driver’s seat and had the keys in the ignition before his door was shut behind him. As the engine roared to life, he asked, “Where are we going?”
“The county office across from the jail. The woman said they were on the first floor with the red awning.”
Chris tried to maintain some semblance of legal while he was pushing the limit of an acceptable speed limit in his haste to get his granddaughters. They had to circle the block once before they found a parking spot. It was pretty far from the building, but they no longer cared. The time was ticking down for the office to close and they ran from the car to the door with the red awning. Ever the gentleman, Chris grabbed the door and held it open for both Diane and Amanda to enter first and was soon following them as they got to the receptionist’s desk.
She directed them to a side room where the social worker had all of their paperwork laid out on her desk, ready for signatures. They could hear Emily and April playing in the room next door, but they were not able to see them. It was a comfort knowing they were nearby as they entered the room. Amanda remained standing while her parents took the two seats at the desk.
“I’m sorry for the short notice. Everything just got approved, and I figured you wouldn’t mind.”
“Not at all,” Diane gushed. “What do we still need to do?”
“I’ve marked all of the locations where you will need to sign with a yellow flag. These documents make you their legal foster parents, and you will have permission to take them back to Florida with you. A social worker will be assigned to you over there, and she will probably visit your house next week to make sure your home is properly safeguarded for children their age. Also, I must caution you that you are not allowed to have any guns in your home as long as you remain foster parents.”
“Fine, fine,” Diane said absently as she picked up the pen and began meticulously signing her name on the seven different documents. As soon as she finished one, she pushed it over to Chris for his signature.
Chris took another pen from the social worker and added his signature below Diane’s. He wished it would be so easy for them to get Carrie out of jail. It seemed there was little hope of her charges being dropped, but they would do their best to care for her children so she would have one less worry during this terrible time in her life.
Once all of the documents were signed, Diane asked, “Can I see the children now?”
“Please wait a couple of minutes. I want to get copies of these documents for you. As soon as you have your copies, then you will be free to take the children out of here without any further delay.” She rushed from the room and handed the papers over to the waiting secretary. She came back into the room empty-handed and sat down to wait with them. “You must have some very powerful friends to get this pushed through so fast. I’ve never heard of this happening before.”
Chris raised his eyebrows at her statement. He was unsure of how to respond since he was unaware of any special treatment other than Shemalla saying she would help out as much as she could. It must have been her doing, then, and he was going to have to thank her once they had the children back home.
The secretary came back with a manila envelope in her hand along with the originals in a new case folder. She set them both down on the desk and retreated without a word, yet she did have a slight smile for Diane as she walked by.
“Okay, these are yours. Call me if you have any questions. And here are your kids,” she said as the secretary shepherded the two little girls into the room ahead of her.
“Grandma!” “Grandpa!” the girls shouted in unison as they jumped into their laps since they were still seated in the chairs.
“You get to go home with us!” Diane announced happily to Emily as she hugged her tight to her.
“Is Mommy coming with us? Where is she?” Emily asked innocently.
“Mommy has to stay here and take care of a problem. Come on; let’s get out of here so these nice people can close up the office and go home to their families.” Diane stood up with Emily still in her arms and settled the little girl on her hip. Walking back to the car with both children was definitely the best moment in a really long string of terrible moments.
Amanda brought up the rear, smiling in delight with the outcome of this part of their journey. She still had to work out what they could do to help Carrie which made her think of Carrie’s bombshell of a dead twin sister which she had not mentioned to her parents. She also wanted to spend more time with Shemalla to find out what else she might know about the prophecy. But mostly, she wanted to get home to her husband where everything seemed to work out better when he was nearby.
The girls were bubbling with excitement over their new adventure as they were buckled into their seats in the back of the 4-Runner next to Amanda. She had missed these ages with her own daughters and wondered if they were at all similar; somehow she doubted it. They drove back to the hotel, more sedately than they had driven to get the girls, for which Amanda was also grateful.
Once they parked at the hotel and the kids were released from their seatbelts, Diane took one hand from each and led them into the lobby to go back to their room. Chris waited for Amanda and asked, “What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing.” She wanted to brush it off and worry about it later.
“Start talking, Amanda,” Chris said in a tone which told his daughter he meant
business.
“Carrie said something in the jail which I’m sure is untrue, and it bothered me. Don’t worry about it, Dad.” She stepped faster as the wind caught the zippered edge of her jacket and tossed it open. She grabbed the cloth and pulled it closed over her chest.
Chris put his arm around her and tried to shield her from the worst of the wind until they were safely in the lobby. He pulled her in the direction of the seats in front of the fireplace and pointed for her to sit in one of the chairs. He took the one directly across from her and leaned forward, eagerly awaiting her story.
“Carrie told me I should have died with my twin sister. I know it’s ridiculous and I shouldn’t have even given it the time of day, but…” Amanda looked up from where she had been twisting her fingers together and saw the look on her father’s face. “Dad, it’s not true, is it? I didn’t have a twin, did I?”
Chris closed his eyes and let out a long breath. After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked at his youngest daughter’s agonized expression. “I never wanted to keep it from you. That was your mother’s doing. She always said it wouldn’t do you any good to know about it, but it would hurt you to know. I can see now; it was a mistake to let her convince me to keep this from you. I’m so sorry.”
Amanda was stunned by her father’s admission. There was no way Carrie could have been right with this terrible news. How could she have known? Amanda voiced her question to her father and waited to hear his answer.
“I have no idea. She must have found something of your sister’s when she was growing up. Your mother kept a few of her things to remember her by. It was really hard on her to lose the baby.”
“What happened?”
“We still don’t really know; we only know what we were told. Back when you were born, twins were always delivered via Cesarean section. Diane was admitted to the hospital when she was only thirty-four weeks pregnant. Her water had broken, and they took her in right away. Since everything was progressing so fast, they drugged your mom and took her into surgery immediately.
“The doctor came out after only fifteen minutes and told me that the first girl had been stillborn. Her cord was wrapped around her neck, and she was already gone by the time they delivered her. Then they delivered you, and they said you were vigorous and healthy, crying before you were all the way out.”
“What happened then?”
“We were crushed, of course. We had the two girls at home, and you were in an incubator, helping to keep you warm since you were a little bit early. There were so many decisions to be made, and we were so sad. We let the hospital make all of the arrangements for her funeral. They called in a clergyman, and we had a memorial service for her at the hospital sanctuary. I’m sure your mother has visited her grave, but I’ve never been able to bring myself to go. I had you, and you were all I needed.”
“Where is she buried? What did you name her?”
“There was a cemetery not far from the hospital where they laid her to rest. Her name was Virginia Ellen Covington. Ellen was for your grandmother. You know that’s the first time I’ve ever spoken her name out loud? I never even got to hold her. They didn’t do that back then. They said it was an easier break if you never bonded. I think they were wrong; it would have been a comfort to say goodbye to her.” His voice broke, and he felt tears trickling down his cheeks just thinking about the little, lost life who never got to feel her parents’ touch or hear their voices tell her how much they loved and wanted her.
“Oh, Dad, I’m so sorry I brought this up. I never even thought about how hard it had to have been for you all of these years. I can be so selfish sometimes.” She knelt on the ground and put her arms around her father’s shoulders which shook with the tears of release he had held back for so long. “All I could think about was why I wasn’t told, never thinking about how much you lost on the day I was born. I’m sorry, Dad, I’m so sorry.” She rubbed his back, wishing she had kept her big mouth shut rather than see how much pain she had caused her beloved father.
Amanda’s phone began to ring. She was going to let it go to voicemail rather than take her arms away from her distraught father.
“You should get that,” he said as he pulled away and wiped his cheeks with the backs of his hands while he sniffled loudly.
Thinking he probably wanted a little privacy to pull himself together, Amanda nodded and reached into her purse. She opened her phone and hit the button to connect the call. Putting the phone to her ear and looking at the floor, she said, “Hello?”
“Hi, honey. Is everything going okay?” Riccan asked.
Relief rushed through her just at the sound of his voice. She picked herself up off of the floor and settled back into the chair as she said, “Yes, we have the kids. We just got them, in fact. As soon as we can arrange flights, we’ll be home. I haven’t called the airline yet, sorry.”
“Hey, don’t be sorry. That’s actually good. I’m going to call a plane for you. I’m done with waiting for you to get home, and I certainly don’t want you to have to sit around waiting for some stupid commercial flight to finally decide when to bring you home. What good is all of my money if I can’t use it to get you home to me?!”
Amanda laughed with relief to hear his plan; it was the best thing she’d heard since the phone call from the social worker. “I’ll leave it to you then. Call me when you know what our itinerary is, okay?”
“Will do! I love you!”
“I love you, too.” She clicked the phone shut and looked up at her dad. “Riccan’s arranging a private jet to get us all home tonight. I hope you don’t mind; I kind of just made an executive decision without even consulting you or Mom.”
“Don’t worry, honey; it was the right decision. Your mom will be much happier at home, and I really can’t see how I’d get any sleep in the hotel room with those two rambunctious girls staying in there with us!” His laughter was forced, but he tried to make it sound as normal as possible while he finished composing himself. They were going to have to head upstairs soon, and Diane needed to see him acting like his old self. “Let’s not say anything about our conversation just now to your mom, okay?”
“Not today, I won’t, but eventually this is going to be discussed.”
Chris nodded with understanding. He always knew this conversation was a possibility, but he never believed it would be because of something another of his daughters knew. That was still a mystery to him which he would discover an answer to at a later time.
Chapter Thirty-Five
SHEMALLA HAD BEEN right in assuming she would end up getting off work late. Anytime she made plans; it was as if her boss knew she wanted to be somewhere else and made sure to come up with as many trivial tasks for her to accomplish before she was allowed to leave for the weekend. His excuse today was because she was not scheduled to work on Sunday so she would have to make sure her morning duties were completed before she could leave.
She pulled into her driveway and left the car running as she raced into the house and grabbed her backpack from where she had left it on the hall chair. There was no way she could take the time to eat, even though her stomach was rumbling with hunger. Using her forbidden power, she created a sandwich and turned to leave the house. Taking a quick bite, she returned to her car and threw her bag in the passenger’s seat.
Carefully looking as she backed up, she noticed a car parked down the street which she had never seen before. She turned around and left the neighborhood the same way she had come in. The radio was playing her favorite song, so she turned it up and hummed along as she took another bite of her sandwich.
The weather was so cold outside that her windows began to fog up. She had to switch the defroster on in order for the fog to begin to dissipate. She checked her mirrors to make sure the way was still clear as she made the side road turnoff to get to the Gate.
Again, she noticed the same car from her neighborhood. It seemed slightly coincidental for it to be in both places, yet she did not have the time
nor the inclination to worry about it much further. Soon enough she would be going through the Gate, and she would be back home in Tuala.
After slowing down for the bumpy, gravel road, she finally reached the end of the ‘improved’ roads and parked in the visitor’s lot of the nature reserve. She grabbed her backpack and slung it around her and pulled it on over her back. Thankful she had eaten on the way, she set a brisk pace up the trailhead to get to the cave where the Gate was located.
Several times she thought she heard noises behind her, but she did not bother turning around to check it out. The only thing which did slow her down was her phone ringing in her backpack. Luckily it was in a side pocket so she could reach around without having to remove it from her back. She saw the call was from Amanda and answered it with concern.
“Hey! Is everything okay?” Her voice was slightly breathless as she continued to climb the hill to get to the cave above. If the call had come only a few minutes later, she would not have had reception.
“Yes, I wanted to call to tell you thank you for whatever you did to help us get the girls back. We are heading home in about an hour. I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye and seeing if there were any way we could keep in touch.”
“I’d like that. I’m heading home right now, as well.”
“I didn’t know you worked this late. I’m sorry to bother you!”
“No, no! I’m heading home to Tuala. Since I talked to you about it earlier, I couldn’t get it off of my mind. I’ll be back soon so don’t worry if you don’t hear from me this weekend.”
“Cool, I’m glad to hear you’re allowed to travel home. Are you on the trail right now? You sound breathless.”
“I see you remember that part of the dream too. Yes, I’m on the trail. Another two minutes and you wouldn’t have been able to reach me.”
Ascension Vision- The Levels of Ascension Box Set Page 52