Chapter 139: The Obrelausten

Wednesday, June 16, 1971

“Michael,” Anna said softly. “It’s time to wake up, or you won’t sleep tonight.”

“I’m awake,” I mumbled as I slowly surfaced from the deep slumber. I knew I was tired when I fell asleep after making love to Anna the second time. I was usually good for more than that. However, between all the healing energy I had used on Catherine, and all the other kinds of energy I had used with Anna, I was exhausted. Anna had worn me out, and I could sense her pride at her accomplishment.

“You ready to go again,” I asked, not ready to concede defeat that easily.

“C’mon, big boy,” she teased.

I suddenly decided that surrender might be better as I said, “Okay, I give. You win. You wore me out!”

Anna laughed, then she became serious. “You have got to see Catherine! I mean, I was there when you did it and I still almost didn’t recognize her when she came down for lunch.”

“So I take it she is okay? No side effects?” I asked.

“She dyed her hair a light brown. It’s beautiful! I think she almost looks younger than me!” Anna told me. “We are going to have to come up with one hell of a story for her appearance. And she even acts as if she were younger.”

“Well, we’ll just have to work on that. Right now, my stomach is growling so loud, I can’t hear myself think,” I told Anna.

“It’s after three o’clock and the Dining Hall isn’t serving lunch anymore,” Anna said teasing me. “But I guessed you might be hungry, after working so hard, so I brought you a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches and some potato chips. And there are Cokes in the refrigerator in the kitchen.”

“Lead the way,” I told her. “But I need to make a pit stop first.”

“A shower probably wouldn’t hurt anything either,” Anna told me, smiling. “Or else the others will smell you coming. You must have really worked up a sweat with Catherine, because I could swear, you didn’t work that hard on me!”

I grabbed her and started tickling Anna, who was now laughing too hard to cry for help.

The door to her room burst open and there stood Julie.

“He’s awake!” she yelled back down the hall, before plunging on top of Anna and me. I untangled myself from the feminine mass and ran for the communal bathrooms. I quickly took care of my most urgent matter before jumping in the shower, which is where they found me. I was immediately surrounded by two sets of naked teenaged twins, and all four of them were trying to hug me at once.

After I was finally able to untangle them and kiss them hello, they all began talking to me at the same time. As I tried to listen to all of them, I also resumed my shower. Now, several pairs of extra hands replaced mine. I know I hadn’t been scrubbed this clean since I went through the purification ceremony a few weeks ago.

“When did you all get here?” I asked.

“Just a few minutes ago,” Jenny told me. “They said you were napping, but Aunt Catherine said we could wake you. Only Anna beat us to you.”

“Yeah. We were going to surprise you, with something really good,” Julie said as she reached out with her towel to dry a now stiff Little Mike. “To show you just HOW MUCH we’ve missed you!”

“You were, were you?” I asked as I hugged the older twins to me, and then began to tickle them both.

They pulled away from the tickling, and I quickly grabbed Mandy and Candy to me. I didn’t tickle them because I was using them as human shields against the older girls.

“C’mon. I need something to eat before I even think about taking on four beautiful women!” I told them as I led the four girls towards the small kitchen that was located off the great room.

I saw Ileana talking to her younger brother, Jason, when we got to the great room. I just waved at him without stopping. I knew that there were a couple of sandwiches with my name on them, and I was close.

“Where’s your mom? Did she not come with you?” I asked Julie.

“Dad was going out of town to a convention or something,” Julies started.

“And Mom decided to go with him instead. So Aunt Debbie brought us with her,” Jenny finished.

About that time, Grace and Sandy came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of sandwiches and two bottles of Coca-Cola.

“Just have a seat at the table, Michael,” Sandy said, as she sat down beside me with the Cokes.

As I sat there eating my sandwiches, I realized that fifteen of the sixteen girls who were in that special group that had been selected to help provide me with power, were with me now. And Kalani was on her way.

Kathy Lynn was an unknown, as I had no sign except that she had picked up my thoughts yesterday. And that could have been because her daughter was an empath, and so she was conditioned. After all, I didn’t have my shields in place, and I had been talking empathically with Sunny. So Kathy Lynn could have heard my thoughts through her. Which is why I was not sure if she was number seventeen or not. And I didn’t know of any way to test her without involving the others.

The room began to shimmer in a way that was becoming all too familiar as I suddenly felt disoriented and closed my eyes. When I opened them, we were back in the room of learning, as Spiro had called it.

Catherine, Debbie, Anna, Izzy, Jessica, Hanna, Kathy Lynn, Sandy, Adriana, Vickie, Deedee, Grace, Randi, Abby, Ileana, Nicky, Jenny, Julie, and Candy. I counted noses and there were nineteen. And Kathy Lynn’s was one of them. “I guess that answers my question,” I thought to myself.

“Hurry, everyone. Please be seated. We haven’t much time,” Narvenia told them.

The original old one, Narvenia and Spiro’s teacher, appeared beside me just then. I was expecting him to take me away for some more learning, like last time. But he simply said, “Just watch, my son.”

As she had done before, Narvenia went around the room asking each of the girls, in turn, if their commitment still held true, skipping only Kathy Lynn. Then turning to address them all she said, “All but one of you have committed yourselves to helping Michael in our quest to save your world. Kathy Lynn, it is now your turn. Will you give of the great love in your heart to help Michael as well?”

“I don’t understand,” Kathy Lynn replied. “Are you asking me if I love a guy I only met yesterday?”

“Look deeply inside yourself. You know of what I ask. You were prepared for this day,” Narvenia told her. “Just as each of the others was prepared. The day is now upon you. You must make your choice.”

I could see the tumblers click into place as a mystery was solved. She now understood, but she took her time analyzing it in the new light. Finally, she turned and looked at me as she said, “I choose yes. I choose to give Michael my love.”

Turning to look at Narvenia again, I could sense a great peace come over Kathy Lynn. Evidentially, she had been deliberating her decision for some time.

“That is good,” Narvenia said. Then turning towards me she said, “Master, there are but four who remain of those we selected. Michael has not had contact with them since we arrived. What should we do?”

It turns out she was addressing her teacher, standing next to me.

“Bring them. Time grows short,” the old one instructed.

A few seconds later, there were four shimmering images in the center of the room. I heard Grace gasp as she recognized one of the forms.

As the four new figures appeared in the center of the classroom, I heard Grace gasp in surprise.

“Natalie?” she cried, rising from her seat.

“Grace?” Natalie replied as she looked around the strange room. “What’s going on?”

“All will be explained, Miss Richards,” said Narvenia as she held up her hand to stop Grace from running to Natalie.

Spiro turned to the other three figures beside Natalie. “Welcome to our classroom. You are Eve?” Spiro asked. I realized then that there must be others, unseen, watching what the sisters were doing, because I was sure that Spiro and Narvenia already knew who everyone was.

Eve nodded as her eyes scanned the rest of the group. She didn’t relax until her eyes met mine. Then she smiled really big. “It’s Michael,” she said to her sister.

“And you are Eve’s twin sister, Rose, correct?” Spiro asked the girl beside Eve.

Rose just nodded as she looked at me in awe. “I KNEW IT! He is a god!” she was thinking.

“And you must be Rose and Eve’s mother, Dawn?” Spiro said to the woman standing between the sisters. Dawn’s face remained a blank as she nodded. She, too, glanced around, pulling Eve and Rose closer to her, protectively, as she stared at me.

“And you are Grace’s twin sister, Natalie? Correct?” Spiro asked one last time as she verified identities.

“Uh ... yeah. Where am I?” Natalie asked.

“Welcome to our classroom. My name is Spiro, and this is my sister, Narvenia.”

“And this is our teacher,” Narvenia said, indicating the Old One beside me. “He is called Radapel, which translates to ‘Teacher’ or ‘Master’ in your language.”

I turned and looked at him. In all the time we had spent together, he had never told me what to call him. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever asked,” I thought.

As he looked at me, a slight smile creased his lips, then to Narvenia and Spiro he said, “Continue. Time grows short.”

Spiro looked to me. “Michael?” she asked, indicating I join her in the center of the circled chairs.

I walked down the slight incline, past the circle of white seats to join Natalie, Rose, Eve, and Dawn. I quickly hugged Rose, Eve, and then Natalie, before turning to face Dawn. I scanned and saw that she had hid her love for me from her daughters, and was scared now. Scared of hurting them by announcing that she, too, was in love with me.

I was a little mystified. I could see why Rose and Eve might have been chosen. There was an old prophesy among their people, the Omugi, that foretold of a visitor, sent by the sun god to save the world. And according to the ancient prophesy, the daughter of the chief would be given to the Waharahi when he came. As both tribute, and to help in saving their world. So the fact that Rose and Eve were here fit the ancient foretelling. But Dawn? I wasn’t sure I understood.

“My name is Spiro, and this,” she said indicating the other girl, “is my sister Narvenia.”

“Welcome to our world,” Narvenia told the new arrivals.

“We are from another time and space,” Spiro continued. “I think that you commonly refer to it as another dimension. You were brought here because we have become aware that your world faces a grave danger. Since we are forbidden to interfere, Michael was chosen to save your world, and we believe that he needs your help to avert that danger.”

“Are you gods?” Rose asked in awe.

Eve had taken my hand as I stood beside her, and now looked up at me. I smiled at her reassuringly. Natalie shivered slightly and the worried look on Dawn’s face grew darker. Rose moved beside me and just grasped my other arm with both hands.

“We have been called that by your ancestors, Rose. And I am sure that we may seem that way to you now. But the simple truth is that my sister and I, with the help of our teacher, have set in place a plan to try to prevent the disaster that faces your world. And as I said, that plan involves each of you. However, our time with you grows short, even as the danger approaches. When we leave, we will not be back until your year 2011,” Narvenia explained. “So we brought you all here, now, in order to give you everything we can to help you prepare.”

Spiro picked up the narrative, “Twenty-three of you were chosen based on your capacity to love and other reasons. We had hoped that there would be time for your relationships with Michael to grow more naturally, in accordance with your world’s customs, but we are afraid you are about to run out of time, so we have decided to assist you.”

“The twenty-fourth, Ayida, or Deedee, as you call her, was not planned, but when Michael discovered her, we added her special gift to the group as well,” Narvenia added.

I had started to scan the girls, when, on a whim, I changed my focus to Narvenia and Spiro. I immediately sensed something in them, something that was being withheld.

“Narvenia,” the Radapel thought to his two students, “he senses it.”

Narvenia stopped and looked at the Radapel. Then looking at me, her eyes wide in amazement, she nodded before continuing with what she had been about to say.

“However, before we can begin, we must ask each of you,” she said, indicating the five standing beside me, “to make your decision.”

Natalie, Rose, Eve, and Dawn looked at her uneasily.

“Natalie, to help protect your world, are you willing to give Michael your love?”

Natalie turned to look nervously at her twin sister, Grace, who was nodding her head enthusiastically.

“Okay,” Natalie replied. “What do I have to do?”

“In a moment,” Spiro told her. Then turning to Rose, she asked the same question.

“It was foretold that the gods would send someone to help us. And we are thankful you have sent Michael to do that,” Rose explained. “So, of course, I’ll do anything you ask to help him.”

When she was asked, Eve looked at me, so I winked as I smiled at her. “Oh, yes!” she replied.

Then to Dawn, she repeated the question. However, Dawn looked not at me, nor the old ones, but at her daughters, afraid that if they found out that she loved me also, it might damage their recently improved relationship.

“We know you love him, Mom. Please say you’ll help him,” Eve told her.

Dawn’s eyes went wide in surprise as she said, “You know?”

“C’mon, Mom. We’re not stupid. Rose and I both noticed that silly little grin you get whenever we mentioned his name. Heck, Rose even made-up reasons to say it just to see the expression on your face,” Eve explained.

Spiro cocked her head towards Dawn, as if waiting on her to answer.

“I’ll be glad to share my love for him, if it won’t harm my daughters,” she finally told Spiro.

“Excellent!” Spiro said with satisfaction. Then she turned to her sister. After a quick look that conveyed some unknown message, they both turned towards the Radapel.

The old one nodded solemnly.

“As we have explained previously, each of you, except for the one known as Ayida, was selected for your capacity to love, and to share your love. On your world, that is done physically, mentally, and emotionally. Have each of you shared your love with Michael in each of these ways?”