Ascension Vision- The Levels of Ascension Box Set

by Amy Proebstel

  “Have your stones ever changed color?” she asked suddenly.

  “What? On my birth crystal? Is that what you mean?” he asked in confusion as he saw where she was staring. He’d never heard of such a thing happening, so it caught him off guard. He saw her nod in confirmation of his question and blurted out, “No. Why?”

  “I was just thinking about Jena’s birth crystal. It’s changed colors twice now. Why do you think that is?”

  “Really? That’s interesting. I’ve always wondered why hers would be black, and mine was light green.”

  “Jena’s is now light pink. I think I recall her saying the darkness of the stones’ color was based on the amount of danger the wearer was in. Jena has been through some pretty serious stuff lately, and hers is pretty light now.”

  “If what you’re saying is true, then I’m glad to hear her situation is improving. What about Juila’s? Hers was always a dark red garnet color.”

  “I don’t know. I never thought to ask.”

  Willian could tell Valentina had shifted the subject to something less invasive. He was almost sorry he was going to have to move the conversation back to what they were previously discussing. “Val, I don’t want there to be any secrets between us.” As he had guessed, Valentina began to fidget and avoid eye contact again. “I have a confession to make. It’s something I’m not proud of, but I want to be honest with you.”

  This was not what Valentina had been expecting, and her curiosity was piqued. She looked up questioningly and asked, “What is it?”

  “I used elemy to compel you to tell me your story. I’m sorry.”

  Valentina’s eyes widened, first with surprise, and then narrowed just as swiftly in anger. She slammed her fist down on the table and said in a deadly quiet tone, “Don’t you ever do that to me again! Do you hear me? Never!”

  “I promise I won’t if you promise never to keep secrets from me. We need to be able to tell one another everything if we are going to make this work.”

  “Trust me; there’s nothing for us to work on if you’re going to use your considerable power against me!”

  “It was never against you, Val. You have to believe me. I only wanted to know what you were keeping from me because I could tell it was hurting you to keep it bottled up inside. I love you, and I want to be there for you. Which brings me to my next confession.” He paused as he tried to find the right words to keep her from completely losing it on him.

  “You better spit it out right now before I explode. What else did you do?” she spat the words between her clenched teeth. Her cheeks had flushed bright pink again, and her eyes were sparkling with her fury.

  In the face of her anger, Willian wished he had kept his shut. He mentally shrugged. His decision had been made; he would be honest, or he would walk away. This relationship was going to be perfect, not the farce he’d maintained with Jena. He took a deep breath and hurriedly spoke, “As you were telling me what happened to you on the ship, I was there in your mind watching what you saw and feeling what you felt.” He held up his hands, hoping to stop her from completely coming unhinged as it was apparent she was about to do exactly that.

  “I’m glad I did, Val. I know you think you didn’t try hard enough to stop him, but I saw how you were. You used all of your strength to fight him off. Don’t you see, Val? You fought him, but he was twice as big as you. This was not your fault! You were perfect…you are perfect still. He didn’t take anything from you unless you allow him to. Take back your justice and pride. Leave the guilt and shame with him where it belongs. You did nothing wrong! Do you hear me?”

  After the initial shock of his admission, she began to hear what he was telling her. Had she really done everything? She had felt so helpless like she had shut down. Maybe she could forgive herself. Willian was right about one thing; the guilt and shame belonged to Grobin. Tears began to course down her cheeks as she felt the release of the pain in her mind and heart.

  She was still angry with Willian for invading the privacy of her mind, but she was also relieved to know she would never have to discuss the matter with him ever again. He had already seen the worst thing to happen in her life, and he still wanted to be with her. “Fine, I can agree with your terms as long as you tell me the worst thing you ever did!”

  Willian winced slightly as he tried to decide which story to tell her. He tried to sidestep the question by saying, “I’m sure you’ve already heard plenty of bad things about me from Jena.”

  “Jena has always stood up for you. The only bad things I heard about were from Juila, and I believe she was a bit prejudiced when she talked about you. I want to hear the story from your side.”

  It struck Willian harder than he imagined to hear how Jena defended him, even though he mostly never deserved her devotion. “I would hazard to say Juila was probably more accurate than you know. I’m not proud to say I was insanely jealous of Jena and the opportunities she was given. I was intimidated by her crystal skills and by her calm, self-assurance. I treated her terribly, and I never deserved even to be called her friend, let alone her betrothed. There, is that honest enough for you?”

  Valentina inhaled slowly and nodded slightly before she answered his question. “Why didn’t you just call off the betrothal then? If you felt so strongly, you should have ended it.”

  “I agree with your opinion.” Willian turned his head slightly to the side as he tried to find the right words to explain what his life had been like. “You see, my father’s the First Elder and his position holds the most power of all the Elders. The only ones more powerful than he is Jehoban and His son, Emmanuen.

  “Jena and I were betrothed when we were six, which was actually abnormally late for such a formal agreement. We didn’t even have a normal betrothal as Jena continued to live on Acaim instead of coming to live with my family, as is the custom. I got teased a lot in school because Jena only spent short periods of time at our house. The kids used to say even she couldn’t stand to be with me, so she lived on Acaim to get away. You know how cruel kids can be, but I agreed with their assessment, and I began to resent Jena for putting me in such an awkward situation socially.

  “Then we began attending special sessions for heirs to Elders. Right away everyone began talking about how skilled Jena was in everything related to elemy, and it’s when I started getting jealous of her. I was even more arrogant and overbearing than usual, and I’m sure I said many hurtful things. Yet she never seemed to get mad, and I always ended up apologizing later. It’s hard to stay angry at someone who won’t fight back, you know.

  “The reason I ended up coming to Earth was because I was stupid. I sent her several nasty messages and threats, which Jena never received but were intercepted by Riccan. He brought up the matter with my father, who then came down pretty hard on me for my inappropriate actions. I had disappointed my father, and I had to make it right.

  “So I guess my decision to come here to make things good with Jena still wasn’t for the right reasons. I was never interested in being with Jena, only in making my father proud. I guess it’s why I never even considered breaking the betrothal since it was his idea to begin with. You must think I’m pretty horrible after hearing all of this. But since I’ve found you, I can turn all of this around. There’s no jealousy where you’re concerned, and we can start brand new because we want to, not because we’re forced to by circumstances beyond our control.”

  Valentina appreciated his honesty but had to wince slightly at his final summation. “So let me get this straight…you don’t have to be jealous of my crystal skills because I don’t have any?

  “No! That’s not what I meant! I’m sorry if you…” he stopped talking when she started to laugh. “What? What did I miss?”

  “I was only teasing you! It’s true, I don’t have any crystal skills, but I promise you I’m going to learn them all someday!” She still kept chuckling as she avidly watched his expression. When he began to smile she continued, “But I don’t agree with your las
t statement. I think the merging of our life-lines is pretty much the same as being forced by circumstances beyond our control!”

  “True, but at least we can be happy. I never felt at ease with Jena. I guess my heart just knew she wasn’t the right one for me. Don’t you feel the same way with me?”

  “I guess.”

  “Wow, don’t be too enthusiastic!” His sarcasm was so thick he could hardly contain the mirth lurking beneath the surface.

  “Oh, I won’t,” she teased right back. “I’m glad you got to tell me your side. It let me know what was going on in your head. One day, I’ll learn the mind-reading trick, and you’ll have to let me experiment on you.”

  “Deal!” He pushed his hand across the table waiting for her to shake on it. “I’ll even teach you myself if you’ll let me!”

  Valentina promptly grabbed his hand and smiled at the electric current coursing between them at the first contact. “Deal!” She smiled as she started to plan when they could begin their first training session.

  Chapter Ten

  THE HOUSE WAS once again quiet as the girls had left the previous evening to go back to the Stel Residence in Pantano. Amanda had remained at home while Riccan flew them in his telepod back to his parents’ house. For some reason, Amanda had not wanted to go visiting. There had been so much happening lately, Amanda had decided it would be good to have a few hours of peace and quiet to clear her thoughts.

  Riccan was currently out in the garage tinkering with the software for the plascreen panel of his telepod. Amanda had gone upstairs and pulled the diary she had written from her nightstand. She returned to the couch and curled her legs underneath her to settle in for reading. For some reason, she felt as though she had missed an important detail, but she could not figure out what it might be. Hopefully, her journal might shed some light on the matter.

  She opened to a random page, thinking it was just as likely to be discovered randomly rather than starting from the beginning. Her life so far had consisted of one coincidence after another anyway, so why change things now! Her eyes scanned the hand-written words which seemed like from several lifetimes ago now.

  Without even seeing the page anymore, she began to realize how much her life had changed in such a short period of time. She had gone from being comatose for seven years to now being married with twin sixteen-year-old daughters. Her husband was wealthy beyond belief, she lived in a mansion in Florida, and she had her very own telepod to transport herself to anywhere in Tuala she wished to go. It seemed too good to be true and yet, she had already lived another life while she had been in the coma, so this was her reality. Her dreams had literally come true.

  Slapping the book shut, Amanda decided she was not going to spend the Sunday afternoon cooped up in the house. She was going to finally visit her sister’s grave. Seeing the words written in the headstone, and being in close proximity to her sister’s remains would surely stir something inside her. All the time she had been growing up, she had wished for a twin, never even imagining it had already been true but kept secret from her.

  Today would be the change. Today, she would be with her sister for the first time in twenty-six years. She rushed upstairs to put her journal away and change into clothes fit for being seen outside the house. On her way back down the stairs, she ran into Riccan who was coming up to take a shower.

  “Hey what’s the rush?”

  “No rush, I’ve just decided to go visit my sister’s grave.”

  “Do you want company?”

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to do this alone.”

  “I understand.” He gave her a quick hug and then continued up to their bathroom.

  Amanda grinned after him. She just loved how easy-going he could be with everything. He never hassled her for what she wanted to do, and he supported her during times of trial. He really was the perfect husband. She continued down the stairs until she reached the foyer. Her purse was still in the kitchen causing her to backtrack slightly before she could be on her way.

  As she drove away from the house, she imagined what it would be like to be reunited with her sister, even if only in spirit. Her father had told her the name of the cemetery, but beyond the name, she had no idea where her sister’s grave was located. In her mind, the plot would be manicured perfectly with fresh flowers in a wire frame at the base of the stone.

  Thinking of flowers, she decided to stop at a florist shop to bring her own flowers with her to beautify the gravesite. Feeling anxious for the delay, Amanda picked the first shop she came upon and hurried inside. For some reason, she felt drawn to the sunflowers over any of the other fancy, or heavily scented flowers. Virginia deserved a little sun of her own. The florist wrapped up a dozen of them and handed them to her in a crinkly pink wrapper. Amanda took the flowers in her left hand and paid for them with her credit card.

  Once back on the road, Amanda pressed the gas pedal a little further down to make up for the lost time. She had almost reached the edge of town where she would have to turn off the main road when her gas light lit up and began beeping at her. More than a little frustrated, Amanda slammed her palm against the steering wheel and began scanning the road ahead of her for the closest gas station. The last thing she needed was to get stranded on the side of the road.

  She experienced a déjà vu moment from when she had been searching for Riccan in the first place. Unfortunately, she actually had run out of gas then and had to push her vehicle to the station. Luckily, she spotted a station several blocks up the road, past her turn off. She pulled up to a pump and shut off her engine.

  After getting out and putting the pump nozzle into the tank, she turned and used her credit card to get the gas flowing. The screen blinked several times and then displayed a message telling her to see the attendant inside for assistance. “Seriously!” she almost screamed at the blinking message. This had to be the most ludicrous situation ever! She never had any issues with her credit card, why would it start today of all days?

  She stomped her way across the lot and flung the convenience store door open. The door slammed against the glass panel and made a loud banging noise. Instantly, Amanda felt foolish for creating such a fuss over something so stupid. “Sorry,” she called out when the attendant glared at her from behind the cash register.

  After waiting in line for several people buying lottery tickets and arguing over which ones they should get, Amanda was again frustrated by the delay. Eventually, she was the next customer to be helped, and she opened her mouth to voice her complaint about the faulty control panel outside.

  Before she even uttered a single syllable, the attendant received a phone call, and he picked up the receiver and held up his finger indicating Amanda should wait for him to finish. It soon became apparent it was a personal phone call, which further annoyed Amanda. She turned around to roll her eyes in frustration only to come face-to-face with Dr. Gascon. Panic struck her instantly, and she began to look around her for a way to escape.

  “Are you okay, miss?” the man asked her.

  Amanda glanced back at the older man and realized it was not Dr. Gascon after all, only someone who looked eerily similar to him. The voice was quite different, which is what had tipped her off. “No, I mean, yes, I’m fine. You just startled me. I’m sorry.”

  She turned around to face the attendant again and could not help but feel exposed by having her back to Dr. Gascon’s double. It was starting to feel as though she should have stayed at home or at least allowed Riccan to come with her. Home was not too far from where she was; she could always go back and get him.

  “What can I get for you?” the attendant asked in a bored voice.

  “Oh, my card wouldn’t work in pump six.” She held out her card for him to scan manually.

  “Yeah, we’ve been having problems with the pump. Sorry about that. Would you like to get a lottery ticket today?”

  “Sure,” Amanda replied automatically. She had no idea what prompted her to accept the offer; she never play
ed the lottery. Apparently, she was more flustered than she had previously believed. Really, what she wanted more than anything was to leave the gas station and her haunting memories behind. When the attendant handed her the lottery ticket and credit card, she shoved them both into her purse without a second glance. “Thanks,” she said automatically, and she almost ran out of the store without looking back.

  The pump was busily dumping gas into her tank when she stopped beside her truck. She tapped her foot and rested her palm against the side of the 4-Runner until the pump clicked off. As fast as she could, she ripped the nozzle from her vehicle and slammed it back in the pump cradle. She twisted the fuel cap back on until it clicked several times and then shut the side panel carefully.

  Almost running, she took the couple steps to get to the driver’s side door and got in. After throwing her purse into the passenger seat, she almost cried out in relief when the engine started on the first try. So many things had gone wrong already, it was almost feeling like nothing was going to go as planned, but nothing was wrong now. She checked all of the gauges just to be sure as she put on her seat belt and put the truck in gear.

  On her way back to her turnoff, she gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles were white. She took a deep breath and consciously began to relax her overanxious body. She shook first one hand out and then the other as she continued to navigate her way to the cemetery. Twenty minutes later, she pulled up to the quiet location and pulled into the visitor’s parking lot. She contemplated leaving or taking her purse with her, finally deciding on the latter.

  With purse in one hand and flowers in the other, Amanda got out of the truck and through the open gates. There were more headstones than she imagined. This was going to take a while since she had not thought to ask her father about any directions once she got to the place. He probably thought she would not end up going.