At my parents' house, I didn't want to get out of the car. Just seeing the house made unpleasant childhood memories spring to life. I grew up in the light blue house and enjoyed being away from it. I didn't have to worry about my overprotective mother embarrassing me at school, or hearing the whispers about how she was a little strange.
It took some extra energy, but I finally climbed out of the Suburban and made my way over to Nate's side of the car. The smile on his face wasn't very comforting.
"Okay, we can say we were here, can we leave now?" I asked, knowing my request wouldn't be granted.
"Come on. Let's see what she has, and then we can leave. If we stick to the plan, everything's going to be fine." He grabbed my hand and dragged me up to the door.
I wasn't sure that our definition of fine matched. I didn't suppose I'd die, so I figured that was what he based it on.
Just before he knocked, the door flew open and my mother enveloped me in a hug. The scent of lemon assaulted my nose.
"Oh good, you guys made it. Come in, come in," she said, dragging me inside. Evidently, "drag me around" was tattooed on my forehead. I needed to look into getting that removed.
"Hi Mom, can you let loose of me, please?" I asked. I'd never been touchy-feely and she should've known after her recent trip to New York that I hadn't changed.
"Oh of course," she said, releasing me. "Hello, Nate, it's nice to see you again."
"It is nice to see you too, Roxanna. I'm happy to see it's under the current circumstances. The last time we spoke, I didn't think we'd make this trip for a while."
"I can't tell you how great it feels to not have to hide things from Avery. It's been so long since we've been able to be open about things that it's going to take some getting used to. Well, you guys come right in the living room. Cyrus is waiting for us."
Like a good hostess, she settled us on the couch before she moved to sit on the arm of the chair my father occupied. Not surprising, Mom was in one of her usual sundresses and dad looked dapper in a button-up and slacks. Mom was even wearing heels, which I thought was ridiculous inside the house.
"Hello, darling," my dad said. "I hope you guys had a nice trip. I know Avery doesn't do too well confined to a car."
"You'll be happy to hear we had a great trip. We made a mini vacation out of it," I said to him. I wanted to discuss all sorts of things, like why they'd raised me the way they did, but we started the trip with a particular goal, and I wanted to get to that goal.
"Okay, Mom. Can you show us what you have? I don't mean to rush you, but we do have to make it back tonight." She didn't need to know that I no longer had to be there for the mission, so I continued with our original plan. The faster I could get away from the look that made me think my mother expected me to burst into flames, the better.
"Of course, I think we have a lot to talk about, though. Yesterday you sent a mental message to me and I'm guessing you weren't standing outside the window. You know me well enough to know I checked to make sure."
"We've found that Avery's abilities are coming back online, but they're supercharged, to say the least. Not only could she message you, but she tried it first with Rick, who's still in New York," Nate explained.
"Putting aside the fact that I'm sure Rick is a little peeved with us, are you serious? No one can talk that far away," my dad exclaimed.
"You want to show them your other trick?" Nate asked, with an evil twinkle in his eye.
"Sure. This should be fun."
I didn't think I could give either parent a heart attack, so I was more than game to have a little fun with them. Remembering the general layout of the house, and the family picture my mother kept in her room next to the bed, I imagined the photo walking its way through the house. The distance was farther than the phone, so I worked hard to keep my concentration.
After a few moments, I heard my mother gasp. I guided the picture to the coffee table and set it down gently. My mother would have killed me if I'd broken the frame. She'd claimed it was a family heirloom, and I wondered just how long it'd been in our family.
"So, where was the picture?" Nate asked as he picked it up to look at it.
"Upstairs in our bedroom," my mother answered softly.
"Hey, you said you were going to take things slow," Nate scolded me. "Stairs aren't slow."
"Sorry, I haven't been in the house for years. It was the only thing I knew for sure would be in the same spot."
"How long has this been going on?" my father asked, his voice not much louder than my mother's had been.
"After her memories started coming back, I told her why it was happening and the general history of phoenixes. During that discussion, I mentioned us using more of our brain than a normal human. I think that was the day I first spoke with her mentally.
"Then, over the weekend I taught her how to speak back. From there, she's just gone off the radar and has been learning things on her own. Evidently, when she gets bored or lazy, she likes to experiment."
"It's amazing," my mother said, looking at me in awe.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm awesome. Can we please get back to the reason we're here and these items you think will help the memory issue."
Every time people got in a room and started talking about my extra strong abilities, it sounded like I shouldn't be in the room, so I was going to stop that from happening. Rick hadn't even needed to be in the room to give me that feeling.
"Sure, let me go grab the box."
Mom left the room with only a few looks over her shoulder back at me. She was expecting us and knew we didn't have a lot of time; she should've had the box sitting there waiting. I swore sometimes she just did stuff to torture me.
When she came back, she was carrying a shoebox. She walked over to the couch and handed it to me. Not really sure what to expect, I opened the lid and looked inside.
I found a necklace, a pressed rose, a seashell, an old set of jacks, a doll and a wicked looking knife. As I moved the items around a little, I spotted some folded up paper. I took it out and saw my name on the outside, so I unfolded it. I didn't remember seeing any of the things in the box, so I wasn't sure why there was something with my name on it.
"There's a note here addressed to me," I told the others. I couldn't hear the sounds of the rest of the room breathing, so I thought I should probably clue them in.
"What does it say?" Nate asked, leaning in closer to me.
I imagined they'd understand it better than me, so I read the letter aloud.
Hello Avery,
If you are reading this, it means you are starting to get your memory back and that we will be meeting shortly. I am sorry this note is going to be so long, but I do have a lot to say. Let me start off by saying you picked a very good name for this reincarnation. It means elf ruler and even though you will not literally be an elf ruler you will be a ruler, more so than your queen status already indicates. It was a very different choice from your usual names that either mean butterfly or pure. I think you may have been setting yourself up for greatness.
The items that you find in the box will eventually lead you back to your full memories. I will warn you that it won't happen overnight, so don't get your hopes up. Over the next few months you will start remembering more and more. You have to remember not to push yourself. It is a slow process remembering millennia of data. Just think of it as you would one of your computers.
During the time that you are getting your memory back, you will also learn the reason why your resurrection was different this time. You will start to receive your previous powers, along with a few extra ones. They will all be needed for the days ahead. There is a bit of a war coming, and if you are not mentally prepared, your side will lose and those who you love will die trying to protect you.
Remember that you have always been special from your very first incarnation. You were marked that way and given a protector for a reason. The time of understanding is nearly upon you and all the rest of the phoenixes. This will be a time to either
strengthen or destroy the phoenix race. I know you do not understand this yet, but you will soon.
Please give Nate all of my love and tell him I will see him again very soon.
Yours truly,
Katryna
I finished reading the letter and look over at Nate, only to notice tears in his eyes. "Is she an old girlfriend or something?" I asked. It didn't make sense after everything I'd learned, but she mentioned him by name, by his current name even.
"More like a wife," he responded. "That was your most recent name during your last incarnation. You just read a letter you wrote to yourself. Obviously, you had some knowledge of the future to know our current names and about computers."
"What do you think it means by war?" my father asked.
"I don't know. We've never had any conflicts over all the years we've lived. A war makes no sense to me," Nate responded. I didn't like his confusion. The reason I read it to everyone was so they could tell me what it meant.
"What does it mean by I choose a good name? I didn't choose my name at all." It was the only part of the note I could relate to, and was the most confusing because of that.
"Actually you did," my mother answered. "When you were born, you were able to communicate telepathically, at least enough to tell me you should be named Avery. It was such an odd request that I went along with it. After that, I kept trying to communicate with you, but it was like you were blocked off. I never understood why."
"Did you really not know who I was when I was born?" I asked. I knew eventually they had to piece it together, but they might not have remembered what I looked like as a baby.
"We had no clue. Every other reincarnation you came back as a full adult. You didn't feel like yourself, so we just thought you were a new phoenix. And then when you didn't act like a phoenix baby should, we didn't know what to do," my father answered.
The response didn't explain why they hadn't told either of the two other phoenixes I'd met about me. I understood that maybe Nate wasn't always available, but according to Rick, he was.
"This is all still really weird to me. It mentions extra powers, so I guess I'm interested to find out what those are."
"I don't think I could handle you with any more powers," Nate said, shaking his head. "Before now, they were never really considered powers, we could just use more of our brain, like I've said. It wasn't anything special. You, on the other hand, are getting actual powers. Not only that, according to yourself, you're going to be some big ruler. I'm a little upset you didn't mention what my role will be once you're this ultimate ruler."
"Well, I know Rick will be happy. My past self thinks I need a protector, so he still has a job," I said it as a joke, trying to lighten the mood a little. All the talk of wars and rulers had left the room a little heavy.
"I'll let you relay that news to him," Nate said. "He won't be able to stop laughing that you actually need him."
"Mom, how long have you had this box?" I asked, not wanting to acknowledge I might really need Rick for anything. His head was going to swell.
"You brought it to me about seventy years ago and told me I'd know when to give it back."
"Thank you for taking care of it all these years. I wished I understood exactly what it meant, but I guess that will come with time. For once I wish I could stay and chat about all this, but we really do need to get going so we can get some sleep before work tomorrow." I made sure Nate knew not to mention we could spend a little extra time. I hoped no one else picked up the message.
"That's fine. We'll be close enough to chat more often soon. A two hour drive is nothing." Dang it. I was trying to forget they were moving to Philadelphia.
"Yeah, Nate mentioned you were thinking about moving closer. When are you planning this move?"
"With all the new developments, we're thinking two weeks," my dad replied, probably assuming the news would be better coming from him.
That didn't give Nate and me a lot of time for us to find a new place. Hopefully, he could work some magic and find something maybe a little ways away from the city, to add an hour or so to that drive time.
"Before we go, something else about the note is bothering me. It mentions that if the war isn't won, people I love will die. If the people I love are phoenixes, how can that be possible?" I asked. "Nate told me we can't be killed." There was Frannie to think about, but I didn't see her being involved in a war.
"Every phoenix ever created or born is still alive today," Nate answered. "We don't currently even have anyone in resurrection stage. Over the years, we've tried every way we could think of to verify that we can't be killed. Nothing has worked before. The only reason I believe something might now is because the note mentions it. We'll have to find whatever is harmful to us and destroy it as soon as possible."
"That'll be a little bit difficult, since we don't know who the enemy is," I pointed out.
"I'm guessing we'll know soon and before it's too late," Nate responded. "I don't think we'd get a warning if that wasn't the case. Now, let's get on the road. We have a long drive ahead of us."
With that, we took our leave, promising to see my parents again soon. Well, as soon as they could figure out where we moved to, but I was thinking about keeping that location a secret for a while.