CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“And he just said, ‘marry me, Katelyn,’ and that was it,” she grinned at Kennedy. “I think we’re getting married.”
“Oh, there’s no doubt you’re getting married,” laughed the older woman. “Congratulations, sweetie. You’re going to be very happy. Stanton men seem to know how to keep their wives satisfied.”
There was a group of women around her, all smiling, all nodding their heads. She admired and appreciated their support but didn’t quite understand how they could be so certain.
“You all seem awfully sure of yourselves. We’ve known one another less than a week,” she squirmed, staring at the other women.
“Less than four hours,” smiled Sira, raising her hand. Katelyn looked at the exotic beauty, her almond eyes and coal-black hair seemingly so youthful. There wasn’t a wrinkle marring her perfect skin, and her smile lit up the circle.
“Four hours?”
“Yes,” she nodded with a smile. “I was going to be forced to marry my uncle so he could control my tribal lands in the Middle East. The only way to stop him was for me to marry another. Wesley, thankfully, stepped forward.”
“I happily stepped forward,” said her husband, kissing her cheek as he walked past.
“How long have you been married?” she asked.
“A very, very long time, Katelyn.”
“What does that mean?”
“Time moves differently here,” said Kate. “We don’t really know how to explain it, but it has something to do with Matthew and Irene desiring to see as many generations grow up as they can.”
“Wait. They control time?” she asked skeptically. “No one controls time.”
“Time is controlled by all of us,” said Martha, walking toward them. Katelyn looked at the other women, then back at the ghostly spirit. “Yes. I’m a ghost. Have been for more than two hundred years now, and I’ve been blessed with the ability to speak to these people, allow them to see me, and even to touch me. It is not something all spirits are afforded.”
“Are, are there more of you?” she whispered.
“Many more,” smiled Martha as the others stepped forward. “My love, Nathan Redhawk. Franklin, my long-time friend and companion on this property. Claudette and Tony. Grip, whom you know from the business named after him, and his dear friend and partner, Jonathon. Archie and Charity, Genevieve and Eagle Feather, and Yori.” Katelyn just stared at them, then shook her head.
“So many questions,” she murmured. “Am I to understand that you are couples?”
“We are,” smiled Martha. “We didn’t know it was possible either. But we’ve found love in this new world of ours. All except Franklin and Yori. Confirmed bachelors.”
“And can you, I mean, do you…”
“Yes,” giggled Charity. “Yes, we definitely do. We can do almost anything you do and possibly more. We’re able to disappear and reappear. We can leave the land if we choose. We can speak to other spirits and do many, many other things. We are even able to touch you and taste food.”
“That goes against anything I’ve ever read, anything I’ve ever heard of spirits or the spirit world,” frowned Katelyn.
“As you can see,” said Yori, “we are not really in the spirit world. We are in this world, in bodies that are not completely whole, nor are they completely un-whole.”
“Fascinating,” smiled Katelyn. “But how does this correlate to manipulating time?”
“In many ways, we control our own time,” said Yori. “Life does not start or stop when your heart starts or stops. It continues. If you are lucky, as we have been, your time on earth continues for as long as there is use for you.”
“You avoided my question,” smiled Katelyn, “but it’s alright. I’m going to assume your next statement would be something like, it will all be revealed in time.” Yori grinned at the young woman.
“Something like that.”
“I think all you need to know is that you and Maverick will be very happy together here, Katelyn,” said Kate. “You’ll have a family. You’ll be with family, and you’ll be able to continue to do what you love without restrictions.”
“Can I meet these other children? The ones that came from the same place I did,” she asked.
“Of course. I’m not sure you would know the boys, but they might be able to tell us something we didn’t know. I’ll go get them,” said Ajei.
“You know, I never asked where the boys’ school was. I don’t remember others asking or even being curious,” she frowned. “Doesn’t that seem odd? I mean, you’ve all had teenagers. Don’t teenagers usually want to know where the boys are or where the girls are?”
“That’s a good point,” said Kate. “It usually does happen like that. One more thing for Kennedy to try and figure out. I think she’s working with Riley and Suzette this morning to see if they can find anything unusual in the articles they discovered.”
“You mean beyond the obvious unusual,” smirked Katelyn.
Ajei walked back toward them with the other children. Monroe, Nigel, and Spencer were all teenagers now. Tall, lanky, and looking completely awkward, they were adorable. Marilisa was a beautiful young woman in her early twenties now, and the men were definitely noticing. She immediately walked up to Katelyn and nodded.
“They were looking for you,” she said quietly. Katelyn tilted her head, questioning the statement. “Sorry. I’m Marilisa. I walked into the office when I was just nine or ten and they were looking for you. They had pictures of you.”
“That must have been when I decided to switch my graduate school,” she said. “I didn’t tell anyone. I just made the decision and did it.”
“That means they were following you,” said Nigel.
“Were you in a special school?” she asked.
“I don’t remember. I’ve been gone from my family a long time. They didn’t understand me,” he said with a sad face.
“Do you remember?” she asked, staring at Spencer.
“No. I don’t remember my family at all. We didn’t get outside much at the school. I knew that all we had were boys, though. If it weren’t for Victoria and Chels, we would have been really lost.”
“Who is Chels?” asked Katelyn.
“I am,” said the soft voice behind her. “Hello, Katelyn.”
“Chelsea,” she said in a heavy breath. “Chelsea, I thought something happened to you. You called to have coffee, and then you disappeared.”
“I did,” she nodded. “I was in a bit of a pickle, running from the goons that took all of us. I was also pregnant at the time.”
“Oh, my gosh, Chelsea, if I’d known, I would have called sooner. By the time I called, your phone was disconnected.” She hugged her old friend as she squeezed her tightly.
“It’s so good to see you, Katelyn. Are you alright?”
“I am now,” she smiled. “Did they tell you anything about what’s happening?”
“Some,” she nodded. “I think we always suspected something was going on. The others and I were all taken from the school and sold to someone. I don’t know if that was the ultimate goal, but that’s what happened to us. I ran away. I shouldn’t have. I was pregnant and ready to deliver. Ethan, my husband now, he saved me.”
“You’re married,” smiled Katelyn. “That’s wonderful!”
“Do you remember what they did to the others, Katelyn? Do you think about it?” asked Chelsea.
“I-I don’t remember. I was in a different class than you were, but we lived in the same dorm. You never said anything. Did they hurt you?”
“They didn’t hurt me. But they did the others. They were implanting electrodes and using electricity to stimulate parts of the brain. We were one giant science experiment. I learned to push it out of my brain, but every now and then, I hear them screaming.”
“Screaming,” whispered Katelyn. “I-I was told that they were at the dentist having a tooth pulled.”
“That’s a lot of teeth, Katelyn,” frowned Chelsea. Katelyn opened her mouth, then closed it. She’d been so na?ve, believing whatever they told her. She looked around the room at all the amazing, beautiful women.
“We need to fix this. I need to fix this. And I’m going to do it with or without everyone’s help.”