Ascension (The Ascension Series) (7 page)

Under the influence of a similar drink, Chloe continued giggling before telling Donny, “I really didn’t know you were that into me.”

“Well, yeah, I am,” Donny admitted. “And I totally accept if you think I’m a loser for saying all of that.”

“Act
ually, Donny Karaway, I think that’s pretty damn cool.”

Chloe leaned in and the closer she got to Donny, the more he tinged with excitement until she kissed him squarely on the lips. And the moment their lips met, he experienced an intense elation
he had never felt before.

From afar, Clark watched as Donny showed extreme confidence by asking out the girl he had been in love with for years. Clark raised his cup in Donny’s direction
and figured his work was done.

Charles was on another side of the field, sitting on the hood of his car with each of
his arms around a different blonde cheerleader. He was piling the flirtatious talk on quite thickly. Drunk from the same drinks, the girls were enjoying his company as much as he was enjoying theirs.

“And what’s you girls names?” Charles asked them.

“I’m Jessica,” said the blonde haired girl. “I’m captain of the cheer squad.”

“Nice, very nice,” Charles smiled.

“And I’m Samantha,” said the other girl.

“Well there’s enough Charles to go around for both of you… and any other cheerleaders who may want to join us.”

“I’ve heard about your mansion,” Samantha said.

“Yeah, w
e’d love to visit,” Jessica laughed.

“Oh yeah,” Charles told them. “You girls are gonna love it. In fact, this may be the party but you two can come back to my place for the after-party.
Just remember to thank Clark for putting this little shindig together.”

“Clark O’Sullivan?” Jessica asked.

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Charles said.

“He’s going with Sara
h Ryan, she’s a cheerleader too,” Samantha told him.

“A
s much fun as a night with all three of you would be, there’s no way I’m going after my best bud’s girl.”

“Wow,” Jessica said
drunkenly, “You’ve got money, style,
and
class.”

“Oh yeah,” Charles told them. “An abundance full.”

“You’ve especially got style,” Samantha said.

“Baby, I’ve got styles for miles.
And partying is my god given right.”

They each took another swig from whatever was in their
cups before hopping off the hood of Charles’s car. With their hands raised in the air, they danced along with a group of kids as a new song began blaring from the stereo speakers.

♪
We rock left, we rock right, we rock till mornin’ light
♪

On another side of the field, Andrew Lockman
removed the hairband that held his ponytail in place. Then he took off his rosary and placed it in his pocket. He patted the pocket as he took a big step over two kids who were lying in the grass and making out. He looked down and noticed the two individuals were Chloe Li and Donny the Geek. Andrew chuckled and walked over to Big Dan.

“’Nother beer, Big Dan,” Andrew said.

“Coming right up,” Big Dan nodded as he poured beer into a plastic cup and passed it to Andrew.

“I just saw Donny Karaway and
Chloe Li making out and neither will likely remember it,” Andrew laughed. “What else is gonna happen tonight?”

“Donny the Geek?” Big Dan asked.

“Yep, that’s the one,” Andrew answered.

“Then who knows?” Big Dan laughed.
“Maybe the sky is gonna fall.”

They both chuckled. T
hen Big Dan looked with a conspicuous eye at Andrew.

“No rosary?” Big Dan asked.

“Oh, it’s right here in my pocket,” Andrew said while patting his pants pocket. “The big guy doesn’t need to know about tonight,” he laughed.

“Ever feel like there’s a higher calling for you out there?” Big Dan asked him.

“I don’t know,” Andrew said. “I’ve always taken one day at a time. But I don’t know.”

“I’ve always wondered it
,” Big Dan said.

“If I had to take a guess,” Andrew said, “I’d
say that our purpose must be made by our own selves. In other words, if you want a higher calling, you better dial the number yourself.”

Big Dan laughed, “I like that. You got it from somewhere?”

“No,” Andrew admitted, “Just made it up right on the spot.”

“Respect,” Big Dan told him. “Total respect.”

At another side of the field, John was wearing his black trench coat and sitting in the grass. He was drinking along with a couple of kids he didn’t previously know.

“Y’know, you’re actually pretty cool, John,” one of the kids said.

“Thanks,” John nodded.

“You always just seem a little strange in school. I think it’s because you wear a black trench coat every day.”

“Hey,” John laughed, “That’s actually a really expensive coat. My buddy Charles got it for me. But I think it’s time for it to come off.”

John removed his trench coat.

“Yeah,” the kid he was talking to said, “I think the trench coat and the long hair covering your face scares some people off at times. You come across as the unabomber.”

John laughed, “Well that’s not the intent
. It’s just my thing.”

A girl from the group jumped up and pulled John up with her. She grabbed him by the hand and together they danced without saying a word to one another. John was looking into the eyes of t
he young freshman girl he was dancing with. At first, her expression was that of calmness. She looked up and smiled at him before abruptly stopping and grabbing hold of her stomach.

“Ugh,” she said, “I think I drank too much.”

“Be careful,” John told her, caringly. “Drink too much and you’ll throw up, especially if you’re moving. Let’s sit down.” The girl took his advice and John sat with her. He looked up and spotted several students throwing items into the bonfire to make it grow brighter and hotter. Then he noticed Clark and waved.

Clark had his arms around Sarah. They were making out in front of the fire, his hands constantly caressing her until they stopped kissing in order to talk.

“Look up,” Clark told her. She nudged her head up and gazed at the beautiful star-lit sky above them.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful night sky,” Sarah said.

“And I’m glad I get to share it with you,” Clark told her.

They longingly looked into each other’s eyes
for several seconds. Then Clark looked over her shoulder.

“What are you looking at?” Sarah asked.

“The barn.”

“What about it?” she asked.

“Look, I may have had a few drinks,” Clark said, “but I’m certain I saw some sort of flashing light from that barn.” 

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Sarah told him.

“No,” Clark insisted. “I want to check it out.”

Clark let go of Sarah and sprinted toward the barn. Sarah ran right after him and they both stopped when they got to the barn door. The door was shut but Clark realized it was unlocked when he reached for the knob. He looked around to make certain that none of the other kids were watching them when he slowly opened the door
. He walked inside with Sarah in tow.

In the center of the old barn was a massive glowing crystal.
The crystal was much taller than Clark and as wide as a small desk. Its aura gave off multiple colors as if it were a rainbow prism. It was shifting from color to color.

“What is this?” Sarah asked
in awe.

“I
… don’t know,” Clark answered.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Sarah said. “Those colors.”

“Look,” Clark pointed out. “It corresponds to the color spectrum. Roy G. Biv.”

Sure enough, it was glowing
just as Clark pointed out. The crystal shifted from red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, in that order followed by solid white. Suddenly, the barn door opened. Clark and Sarah turned around and saw Charles walk in.

“What’s goin’… what the hell?” Charles said as he looked up at the crystal.

“We just found it here,” Clark told him.

“That’s kinda cool and kinda freaky. What the hell is it?” Charles asked.

“It looks, to me, like a crystal,” Sarah said.

“A seven foot tall crystal?” Charles said.

Suddenly, the barn door opened again. This time it was John who spoke as soon as he opened the door.

“Charles, what are you doing in here?” John asked. Then he looked at the crystal and his jaw virtually dropped.

“We don’t know,” Clark said before John could even ask the question.

“Holy hell,” John said. “Is this real?”

“Heck if I know,” Charles said.

“Maybe it’s like a spacecraft or something,” John suggested.

“Touch it!” Charles laughed.

“Hell no,” John said. “Not unless you touch it too.”

“I dunno,” Charles scoffed.

“Hold on,” Clark said. “Stay right here guys.”

Clark rushed out of the barn and weaved his way through the field of kids. He first approached Chloe and Donny who were adjusting their clothes after a heavy make out session.

“Guys,” Clark said urgently, “Follow me.
Quick! Don’t tell anyone else.”

Chloe and Donny looked to one another before following behind Clark. Clark then went over to the pickup truck where he saw Big Dan and Andrew chatting.

“Hey!” Clark called to them. “Big Dan, Andrew! Come with me! I can’t explain, just follow me now!”

Without asking why, Big Dan and Andrew followed after Clark, Donny, and Chloe. Clark returned to the barn with the four other students who were all awestruck by the glowing crystal. They each wanted to know what it was when Clark locked the barn door.

“What a weird object,” Andrew said.

“Why’s it in the barn?” Big Dan asked.

“It’s definitely some sort of crystal,” Chloe said.

“I still thin
k it’s an alien ship,” John told them.

“Judging by the outset,” Donny said, “given the manner in which the various colors of light are emitting like a prism, I’m going to guess that it’s pure solid.”

“What’s that mean?” John asked.

“That mean
s it’s not likely an alien ship,” Donny answered.

“What I wonna know,” Charles said, “Is who’s gonna be the first to touch this thing.”

“What will happen?” Andrew asked as he pulled his rosary out of his pocket and placed it around his neck.

“No clue,” Clark said.

“This is a freakin’ barn. I think we should draw straws from a pile of hay,” Charles laughed.

“Let’s all touch it,” Sarah suggested.

“Yeah,” Chloe agreed. “That way no one’s taking more of a risk.”

They all agreed on this idea and
moments later each of them laid their hands upon the crystal but “only for a second,” Clark insisted.

Clark and Sarah touched it.

Donny and Chloe touched it.

John and Charles touched it.

Big Dan and Andrew touched it. 

As each of them t
ouched it, random colors emitted from the crystal. A different color entered each of their palms but physically they felt nothing. None of them could imagine what would happen next.

CHAPTER 4

Clark awoke the next morning with no recollection of how he got home. While in bed his head was spinning when he wiped his eyes to clear his vision. Clad in pajama bottoms, he was lying in bed and nothing seemed out of place. But he thought and thought and couldn’t remember anything after touching the giant crystal on Saturday night. He sat up in bed and coughed. Then he reached for a box of tissues on his nightstand. The moment he stretched his arms out the box of tissues lifted off the nightstand and shot directly into his hand.

“What the
fuck
!?” Clark said aloud as he stared at the tissue box that lied in his hand. He quickly dropped the box and jumped out of his bed. He looked out the window and half shut his eyes as the sun beamed at him. Immediately, the curtains shut themselves. His jaw dropped.

“Good morning, Mrs. O’Sullivan,” Sarah’s voice said from downstairs.

“Come on in, Sarah,” Clark’s mother said. “Clark is right up stairs. Nice to see you this fine Sunday morning.”

Clark heard Sarah dash upstairs. His door open
ed. She ran in and shut it behind her.

“Sarah!” Clark said with urgency. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Sarah said. “I can’t remember how I got home. I just woke up this morning with a headache. I went to the bathroom and the medicine cabinets flew open. I tried to act calm so I went to the kitchen to have breakfast with my parents.”

“Yeah?” Clark said.

“And then my bowl of cereal just started spinning. My dad asked if you taught me some sort of magic trick.”

“Did you talk to anyone?” Clark asked.

“Yeah,” Sarah said. “I called Chloe. She said her and Donny were experiencing similar things. Then I rushed here to you.”

“You think it was that thing in the barn?” Clark asked
. “We all touched it.”

Clark took his pajama
s off. He quickly got dressed and he grabbed his cell phone.

“Who are you calling?” Sarah asked.

“Andrew,” Clark answered. The phone rang several times and went to voicemail. “He’s not answering.”

“Try someone else!” Sarah said.

Clark dialed another number. “Calling Big Dan,” he told Sarah. His phone also went to voicemail. “He’s not answering either.”

“Try
Charles or John,” Sarah said. “I remember they were with us last night too.”

Just as Clark was about to call another number, he heard the doorbell ring. Clark opened his bedroom door and could hear his mother answer the front door.

“Why hello, Charles,” Clark’s mother said.

“Hey
, Mrs. O’Sullivan,” Charles said. “I’m looking for Clark.”

“Oh, he’s upstairs with his girlfriend,”
Clark’s mother told him.

“Great!” Charles said.
“I’m looking for her too.”

Clark and Sarah both ran down the stairs and into the living room.

“Oh, there they are now,” Clark’s mother told Charles.

“Hey Charles,” Clark waved.

“Mrs. O’Sullivan,” Charles said to Clark’s mom, “I’m gonna need to take these two lovebirds off your hands for a moment.”

“Sure,” she replied.

Clark waved to his mom as he exited the house along with Sarah and Charles. Outside of Clark’s house was Charles’s car. John was sitting in the passenger seat, sans trench coat, so Clark and Sarah jumped in the backseat. The car took off down the street when Charles spoke again.

“Do you know why I came here for you? Have you two experienced anything?
” Charles said to Clark and Sarah. They nodded.

Clark placed his hand out and pointed his finger at Charles’s radio. With no one touching it, the radio began to tune to various stations.

“Amazing,” John said.

“Unbelievable!” Charles said as he sped down the road.

John took a coin out of his pocket. He placed it in the palm of his hand and stared at it. A moment later, the coin leaped into the air and landed back into the palm of his hand.

“Jesus
!” John laughed.

“Check this,” Charles said. “
I don’t remember how I got home. But I’m pretty sure I drove because my car was out front. But this morning I woke up and I was floating above my bed!”

“We can float?” Sarah asked.

“Well I can!” Charles answered.

“This is so insane,” John said.

“I’m like Magneto,” Charles laughed, “I’m the freakin’ Dark Phoenix.”

“This came from
that thing,” Clark told them.

“
In the barn? I guess so,” John said. “I told you guys it was an alien spaceship.”

“It wasn’t an alien spaceship,” Charles said. “Just some crazy magic rock.”

“I want to know what it is,” Sarah suggested.

“Me too,” Clark agreed.

“I don’t want to go back there, guys,” John said. “Once was enough. You really want to press our luck?”

“I’m with John,” Charles said. “Maybe later. For now we’
re going to hit up my crib.”

“What for?” Clark asked.

“Who knows when these powers are going to disappear. They could only last for the next few hours. We can test it out at my place,” Charles told him.

Sarah called Chloe. She asked Chloe to come to Charles’s place along with Donny so they could experi
ment with their new abilities. Chloe told Sarah that she and Donny would be there in thirty minutes.

Charles was speeding down the street and going much faster than the speed limit. He even ran a red ligh
t to no one’s surprise. No sooner did a police car turn on its blue lights and sped after Charles. 

“Damn!” Charles said.

“Dude, you’re going too fast,” John told him.

“I can’t help it,” Charles said, “This is the newest model!”

“Everybody─ just act normal,” Clark said.

“Don’t worr
y. I got a plan,” Charles told them.

Charles
pulled over to the side of the road and the cop car steered behind him. The police officer exited his vehicle and approached the driver side of Charles’s car. Charles pressed a button and the window shot down.

“Mornin’ officer,” Charles said.

“You were going 20 over the speed limit, young man.”

“Oh,
was I? My sincerest apologizes.”

“License and registration.”

Charles took out his license and grabbed the proper registration from a compartment between the front seats. He handed it to the officer who took one look at the license and glanced at Charles.

“Charles
Walsh─ son of Paul Walsh?” the officer asked.

“You know it, sir,” Charles grinned with his hands on the wheel.

While still standing by Charles’s car, the officer perused over the car’s registration papers. Charles looked at John and winked. Charles then looked directly into his rear-view mirror. He stared at the cop’s car and squinted. Suddenly, the patrol car switched gears and rammed right into the back of Charles’s car.

“Ouch!” Sarah said after feeling the hit. Clark grabbed his neck.

“What the hell was that!?” Charles asked the officer.

The police officer ran into his car and switched the gear back into park.

“You just hit me!” Charles yelled out.

The police of
ficer frantically got out of his car and returned to Charles’s window.

“I’m so sorry, sir,” the officer said, his hands trembling as he handed Charles back his license and registration. “I don’t know what happened. I didn’t mean to.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Charles said. “Perhaps I may need
your
license and registration.”

“My deepest apologies, Mr. Walsh,” the officer said while trembling. “Forget about the speeding. You can leave if you want.”

“Yeah,” Charles said with false anger
. “I think I’m gonna do that. And I guess you can forget about the dent you just put in my beamer.”

Charles pulled off and the others laughed.

“That was great,” John said.

“Smart thinking,” Clark told him.

“That’s what I do,” Charles nodded.

Minutes later they arrived at Charles’s gated estate. When they all got out of the car, Charles complained that he’d now have to get his car fixed, although he said the dent was worth the laughs they got from the officer.

“Wait,” John said before they made it into the mansion. “I’ve got an idea.”

They followed John who walked around to the back of Charles’s car. John looked at the large dent near the bumper of the car and
extended his arms. He focused on the dented area and the bumper began to pop back into place. Seconds later the dent disappeared and the car looked as if it were unscathed.

“Wow!” Charles said as he patted John on the back. “Dude, that was awesome.”

“I wonder what else we can do,” Clark said.

A butler opened the double doors of the mansion and they all ran into the house
. They followed Charles who just as quickly jogged to the backdoor and led them outside. The backyard of Charles’s place was several acres wide. There was a massive swimming pool, a tennis court, a huge koi pond surrounded by cobblestone, and a sitting area with several round tables. They were looking around at the beautiful sights when a tuxedoed butler approached Charles.

“Young Master Walsh, there are two guests at the front door for you,” the butler said. “
A Chloe Li and a Donny Karaway.”

“Yeah,” Charles told him. “Let ‘em in. Bring ‘em out here and then leave us.”

“Very well, sir.”

“Charles, where are your parents?” Clark asked him.

“Mom’s highfalutin on a yacht and my dad’s on what he calls a business vacation. They’ll be back tomorrow but we got the place to ourselves for now.”

Donny the Geek and Chloe walked into the backyard through a door of the house. They were guided by a butler who pointed them the way and quickly disappeared from sight.

“Nice to see you two!” Charles said. “Especially you, Chloe.”

“I woke up and objects were hurdling through
out my room,” Donny said, his arms outstretched as he walked toward them.

“I know,” Clark told him. “It happened to all of us.”

“This is unreal,” Chloe said. “What happened to us?”

“The crystal,” Clark and Sarah both said together.

“I knew we shouldn’t have touched that thing!” said Donny.

“Are you joking?” Charles la
ughed, “This is amazing. It’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened me.”

“What if we get sick?” Donny asked. “What if something else happens to us!
?”

“Yeah, well, it’s also possible we could get swallowed up in a sinkhole right now,” Charles said. “So stop complaining and look at the bright side. Think of all the stuff we could do.”

They were chatting inconspicuously when Charles went over to the pool.

“Guys… I’m gonna try something,” Charles said.

They followed him over to the pool and Charles rolled the sleeves of his shirt up. He placed his feet in a position that looked as if he were getting ready for a race. Then he stuck his hands out toward the pool and began to concentrate. His eyes squinted as the water in the pool began to ripple. Suddenly a huge ball of water lifted out of the pool. The water was swirling in an orb as the others began shouting with buoyancy.

“Oh my God! How do you do that!?” Chloe asked.

Charles smiled but refused a reply as he focused on the orb of water he made rise up from the pool. Then he dropped his arms. The orb of water fell back into the pool with a loud splash. Clark looked at Charles who looked exhausted.

“Are you okay?” Clark asked him.

“Yeah, felt like lifting a few hundred pounds though,” Charles said.

“I’m next,” said Sarah. She turned to the set of tables and cleared every thought from her mind. Sarah placed the index and middle finger of her right hand up to her temple and
concentrated. The tables began moving abruptly. They shook for a moment until Sarah concentrated a little harder. Then the tables began to stack on top of one another. Sarah stopped focusing after stacking four tables.

“You’re great,” Clark smiled to her.

Chloe then took a turn by focusing just as hard. She looked at the same tables and mentally moved them back into their original places.

“Yes!” Donny said as he hugged her.

Donny and John then looked to the tennis court and spotted a cart of a hundred tennis balls. Donny rubbed his palms together and John swept his hair back. They looked at one another and then back at the cart of tennis balls. They concentrated and the cart began to move. They concentrated a little harder and the cart tipped overs. The tennis balls from the cart jumped into the air and swooped at them. As the balls shot at the six of them, John and Donny stretched their arms out.