[LAST CHAPTER, EPILOGUE TO FOLLOW]

A Rock and Family Vacation

[36]

Even though the weather was perfect and clear, it felt like a cyclone had torn a path straight through their lives. It was a relatively simple matter to draw the pieces together for Raymond since the two security people didn’t actually have a decent cover story. The assumption was made that they were a pair of disgruntled former employees of the Muller Corporation hassling the owner, who turned out to now be Krystal. This absolutely mortified Krystal, but she accepted it to get rid of them.

Slumped on the couch, Krystal’s iridescent shining luster had settled into more of a human coloration. She shook her head and muttered, “I don’t want to be the head of her freaking company. In one reality, honestly the best one, I was an artist who made sculptures. But I refuse to mess with what we have…to get there.”

The rest of the family looked around. Brooke fussed with her clothes and looked down at her feet. It was unusual to look down and see them this way, it was like her nose was missing from her face. Although, she liked her nose whereas the most prominent part of her was simply accepted as more of a détente agreement. But they were still a part of her. Elie looked like she wanted to slip away to their master bedroom either to jump under the covers and cry or desperately put together something nicer to wear. Anxious uncertainty wove its way through the kids as well.

Lacy had her knees together with her hands resting on them for stability. Blair delicately used the broom pole to lift up and balance grandpa‘s ring. Raymond‘s ring had fallen somewhere behind the couch, and he hadn’t been of the mind to care about it. Clare ran her hands along the material of the couch as she glanced over at the place where grandpa had been. His phone and glasses were still there.

Brooke voiced what they were all thinking, “Things are kind of a mess now though. I appreciate that you booped me and let me experience a youth that I never really had. But how can I be myself again? And Elie. Dad forced her to be this… how can we fix this?”

Krystal smiled gently. “I actually, mainly booped you because I thought it would distract mom. You originally grew up as a bit of a modest, late bloomer. Every…abundant… reminder in this family, even over here, is because of her.” She gave a faint blush as her hands circled in the vicinity of her chest.

Brooke immediately huffed and rested her hands on her hips. “What a total bitch!… Sorry, sweetie.” She put a finger to her mouth an instant after looking over at Clare.

“It’s okay mom, grandpa was a bitch,” Clare responded quietly with a sigh. Krystal reached over and put her arm on Clare’s shoulder comfortingly.

Continuing her thought, Krystal said, “I do have some ideas for how to fix a lot of things. She ran so many versions of us, wrote and rewrote us to her liking and our punishment. I don’t know if any of you genuinely remember me…”

“I do,” Elie announced. “I thought they were just dreams and Brooke thought I was humoring her fantasies. But the way the girls described you, I remember. You’re more vibrant now. You sometimes felt like a cloud in the shadows before. But I remember you.” She smiled at her. Krystal took a deep, halting breath and smiled back.

In turn, Krystal focused and drew out her strongest memories of everyone else. She recounted how feisty her little sister was and how she fought against her mother’s plans. She wanted to be an artist too, but Vincent set her on the path of business and children. That Brooke was fearless and tenacious while keeping her childlike wonder. This Brooke marveled at those possibilities.

For Blair, she deeply apologized for “nerfing” her curiosity and cleverness, explaining that she was genuinely worried that Vincent would do worse if she poked around the wrong places. As for the Blair of past iterations, she extolled the athletic virtues of that girl, a Mathlete who indeed enjoyed fashion but as a creative puzzle to untangle. Blair rested on the pole again and processed that, along with everything else.

Lacy braced herself when her aunt came around to her. She paused a moment and made it clear to everyone that these were just possibilities she remembered rather than certainties of self. But she celebrated the vibrant, playful smile that Lacy often wore. Excited to sing, enraptured by music, and treating her poor aunt like a mythic figure when she really wasn’t.

With her hands at her sides for support, Lacy looked Krystal in the eye and asked, “So, I really am a total girl, huh?”

Gently, Krystal touched the side of her niece’s face. “Sweetie, you are and can be whatever you choose to be, no matter what I say, or anyone says. You are beholden to no one… Although, still listen to your parents please…yeah. But I know they would encourage you in whatever feels right and true to you.”

Lacy shook her head. “I’m stuck like this so… What does it matter?” Krystal raised a finger and motioned with it but didn’t boop Lacy’s nose. “Allow me a moment with that. I’m far older than I look, and I need to finish this thought before I can go to that. Almost done, I promise.”

In sharing what she remembered of Elie, she validated a deep-sea plethora of stuff that Eliot either always ignored or subtly used as fodder for female characters. Elie was softly shy but strong when it came to her family. At one time, she wanted to be a dancer and compose music, but loved the beauty of words on the page as much as her male counterpart.

Finally crouching before Clare, Krystal didn’t have too much in the way of differences to pass along. Vincent focused on keeping her youngest grandchild much the same because of what she represented as a balance between light and dark. The other side of Clare also enjoyed games and books. And she desperately cried to her aunt about the dark man.

Biting her lip, Clare squeezed her hands close to her and announced, “But the dark man is gone now. It was grandpa all along.“ Ease passed through Clare like Brooke couldn’t remember seeing in so long.

Krystal breathed softly. “Yes. Although I wished and dreamed for a time that it was dad. Your true grandfather. But he would never hurt you. I wish he could’ve met you. So much… soo so much.” Krystal didn’t want to cry and worry the kid, but her eyes refused to cooperate. Fortunately, Clare understood and didn’t fret.

At this point, Sheriff Cadell returned and finished taking statements. He didn’t seem at all bothered by Elie in place of Eliot. He also didn’t seem to notice the ring in the back of the couch and bid them all a pleasant vacation when finished. Krystal noted to the others that Vincent probably forcibly recruited the Sheriff.

Without further preamble, Krystle explained, “I have a way to fix everything. When I was trapped inside the rock, I was able to override mom’s horrific plan with the spark of memory. It was still just a physical trigger. The most recent versions of each of you. Now, the rings that she created alter reality using the combined power of light and dark. Using the special quality that Clare has. They are a part of Clare, which is why they react so strongly to her. Most of them. I was sort of around at the country club. I’m not 100% sure, but Clare should be fine with a suppression ring, which is what those creeps wore. That means, wearing one of those rings, you can turn off the changes that have happened, unfortunately… mostly because of me.”

This part actually delighted Clare, because she immediately compared it to superhero powers. In fact, she made a case that it was the trifecta of superhero stuff. Blair supported her on this point. It was firstly something they were born with (mostly Clare though). Secondly, it was a power tied to an artifact. And, finally, she tried to make the case that it was some sort of technology. Krystal was vaguely aware of the superhero aspects, and she flashed her sister a look of concern at her niece’s exuberance but smiled all the same.

But there was a drawback, she urged. “I don’t have all the expert equipment and experience that mom did. I don’t even know if it exists anymore. But I’ve learned how to do this. Using the rings that we have, I can draw out and create suppression rings… by taking a little piece of your body and soul.” Krystal grimaced at that particular phrasing and didn’t hope for an encouraging reaction.

“Okay,” Clare responded simply. “It’s for my family. For everyone, so they can… so we can all choose the way we want to be, right?”

Krystal gave a nod. She lamented that this would be rather rudimentary and just allow them to switch on and switch off the way they were now with the way they were just immediately before. She started to get into explanations about Möbius curvatures of reality and how the twisting presence of the energy was a pocket to hold a separate reality state but soon realized that was too much information.

“When you wear the rings I’m going create, you will be as you were immediately before vacation. When you take them off, you’ll be as you are now. That’s the most reliable way to make it work. With mom‘s resources at the company, hopefully, I can find something better and simpler. But I want to help fix everything that’s broken right now. I want to give you all back some real control of your lives. So long as Clare is okay. I’m gonna do my best to be so very gentle, sweetie. I only know mom‘s experiments with me and she was not gentle. Hopefully, the worst it’ll feel is like getting stitches. Just a little poke. And I need you to do one very important thing. We need to both focus on how everyone was before. I have a connection with almost everyone but the tough one is going to be your dad….Elie. She might need to hold my hand. We can do that first, if that’s okay…?”

Elie pushed up from the couch and wobbled nervously. Of course, she urged everyone that if there was to be any harm to Clare then she would gladly bear the weight and presence that Vincent placed upon her. Krystal twisted a hand to her side and admitted, “Actually, this form is fairly modest for you. At least as far as I can recall.” Elie glanced down shyly and did what she could with her current clothes. Lacy walked over, having slipped out without anyone noticing earlier, and passed the robe that she clung to for so many hours to her dad with a hug.

Graciously, Elie smiled warmly, accepted the offer, and felt much more comfortable. Together, the three of them focused on and infused the memory of Eliot. Wielding both rings carefully, it was like Krystal aimed an invisible barb through her niece, a soul sewing needle. Clare trembled that first, in anticipation but, as the procedure went on, she eased into it. Soon, a shimmering fragment curled off her side as though she contained an unseen plane of material delicately scraped into a band that curled into a circle. Unlike the other rings, this one had a softer luster closer to silver. It hovered, as though still attached to Clare before Krystal plucked it out of the air.

The only sign of any change in Clare was a quick yawn, which she did her best to smother and reassure everyone that she was fine. Brooke and Elie both expressed concern and Krystal made it clear that this would very much tire the little girl out. Cautiously, Elie took a breath and accepted the ring from Krystal. It looked like the perfect fit and Krystal assured her that it would always be that way.

She paused for several seconds before taking a sharp breath and firmly placing the ring on her finger. Instantly, Eliot was just there again. He wobbled, panted in relief, but frowned. “…Why do I still feel weird?” Everything about him has been restored and yet something felt missing.

“You are Eleanor. Mom may have wielded that truth to hurt and degrade you but that’s who you really are. I can’t tell you who you should be more comfortable as, but you deserve to choose.” Carefully, Eliot removed the ring from his finger and, like reality blinked, Eleanor was back. She looked briefly sick and had to support herself with the couch as Krystal warned her not to overuse the reality-bending since she could get quite nauseous.

Sitting down, Elie gave herself some time before replacing the ring. Despite that, she still looked like she was experiencing a blistering headache which took several minutes to pass. Meanwhile, Krystal included an additional apology, noting that she changed multiple clothes on Blair‘s careful request but could only act upon it once she refueled with the energy and emotion of others, like the radiant spirit she used to be. She wasn’t entirely clear on how to fix it now, but assured everyone, as the new owner of the Muller Corporation, she would cover any and all clothing expenses.

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The remaining rings were much simpler and barely bothered Clare other than the increasing regularity of her yawns. Blair accepted hers calmly and took several moments to finally place it on her digit. Once he had it there, boyish Blair couldn’t resist playing “explosion” with the effect of pulling it off and on. He thought it was rather like instantly inflating balloons in a tight band. And it wasn’t long before he had to make a wobbly dash to the nearest bathroom. Fortunately, he managed to keep brunch down and settled his stomach with the cheese and fruit that had been otherwise neglected.

Clare went next, at Lacy’s urging, and marveled at the beautiful ring that actually came from her body. It didn’t surge with light and sparks but rested calmly upon her finger as boy Clare returned. His clothes were snug but not painful.

Mom was next even though she reassured everyone the same as Elie that it would be fine to wait. The ring came quickly and easily, and Clare delighted and snuggled his restored mom. The cracks, aches, and weight all laid upon her again. Her body as her real mother made it. She also felt that melancholic familiarity but also foreign quality. This wasn’t exactly home, maybe home didn’t exist, but it would suffice for now.

Fighting to keep alert and awake with little slaps of his cheek, Clare gazed with determination at his older sibling. When the final ring emerged, Clare sighed with relief and snuggled up next to his aunt. She held him, snoozing, against her side and watched as Lacy marveled at her own ring.

“Funny,” Lacy said to herself. “If you said yesterday this ring would fix all the girl junk, then I would be scrambling for it. But right now… I don’t know. Also, what happens if I lose this?”

Krystal reassured her that it was as simple as this to make a replacement. Lacy focused on her exhausted younger sister and wavered back and forth before finally slipping it on her finger. And boy Lacy was back, although he still had the same presence as a moment before. Except for a spasm of discomfort when he felt the way his bra was sitting. Fortunately, the rest of the clothes were just a little bit snug.

Once they were all comfortably situated, restored but still somehow broken in some unseen ways, Krystal eagerly offered to explain whatever hadn’t been yet resolved.

Blair mulled about how had she known that pulling off the sticky thing would allow her to escape and stop Vincent. She sheepishly referred back to her prior admission that several things were an unknown gamble on her part utilizing her connection to Blair and Lacy and hoping for the best.

Eliot inquired about radiant spirits and their dark counterpart. Krystal clarified that the name was an invention of the Quantum Helix Corporation. She had shown what memories she retained of her life a reincarnation ago, full of kindly memories of the mother she once had and the joys of her loving father.

“The light and the dark rarely go together. But not every being of the light is pure, as mom clearly showed. And not every creature of the dark is cruel.“

She also detailed that, while a rock, she did her best to observe and remember but her mind eventually settled into a sedentary state. Her memory of Clare managed to save her from Vincent‘s plans and gradually, by encouraging greater emotional auras, she was able to move beyond the rock.

Blair had to ask, “Where is… grandpa now?”

Krystal gave a quick shrug. “Like Clare chose… far away, to never hurt us again…”

All that remained on the other side of the room were his black glasses and phone, lying in the same place. Brooke eventually picked them up. Krystal vehemently wanted nothing to do with them, so Brooke eventually took them back to the master bedroom and shoved them in a pocket of their luggage.

When she returned, Aunt Krystal celebrated the action-packed way they overcame Vincent. Merely removing the sticky thing and throwing it at him wasn’t what allowed her to escape, although it was close to a catalyst. She explained that the emotion of the moment along with the love they all shared for one another, which she could feel inside her stony prison, was what provided the spark for her release. Blair carefully swung around the pole a few times, being conscious of where the expensive television sat, while Clare gave a quiet yawn and gazed at his family.

Blair‘s wardrobe sufficed with providing Krystal with options other than her radiant robe of uncertain origin (“Oh my gosh, what am I even wearing?” Krystal eventually realized). She blushed nervously as she became the focal point of impromptu dress-up. Yet another clothing run seemed due to cover the expanding physical options.

Between the kids showing their rediscovered aunt a variety of delightful online media and booting up several games, Brooke decided it was time for that rather expensive celebratory dinner she’d bribed Lacy with to get him into girl clothes. To her surprise, she actually had her ring off when she found her in the skylight bedroom trying on some strikingly normal girl clothes.

“I’m glad I’m not stuck one way or another, but I still feel stuck,” Lacy nervously explained, her hands looking a little red from rubbing. “Did grandpa or whatever make me despise and degrade girls? I don’t know what to feel.”

Brooke sat next to her anxious daughter and offered her some moisturizing cream. She didn’t have answers for her, she barely had answers for herself and this entire crazy situation. But she was mom and she had to offer some certainty.

Carefully, with Blair-like logic, she walked her daughter through a thought. What were the real differences between being a boy and a girl? Lacy glanced down at her chest and then over at her mom’s. Brooke pointed out that she was no less herself in her other state. The chat got a little bit more existential than Brooke was aiming for, but Lacy soon settled on the thought that she was herself by the choices she made in defining who she was. Boy or a girl, it didn’t matter so long as she found peace with all the confusing sides. Brooke didn’t feel like she helped in resolving the pubescent confusion, but Lacy smiled and gave her a hug, so that was enough for her.

The motherly emergency spot fires didn’t stop there as the truth behind Blair’s cell phone skittishness was revealed as she blurted out, “When I went out earlier, I ran into some older boys who are like mostly in college. And the Aunt Krystal booped version of me texted them and they are actually really really close, and they want to talk to me and I don’t know what to say because I suggested sorta kinda… I was in college too …..”

Brooke wanted to say so much and, at the same time, she acknowledged that there wasn’t a whole lot she could say, considering she had, what she hoped were genuine, memories of crushing on a variety of college boys at Blair‘s age before finding true love in Elie. So, she threw this family dilemma at her sister to deal with and retreated.

She found Elie alone in the master bedroom with her ring off while wearing an outfit that barely managed to fit her. Brooke held the love of her life‘s hands. While doubt and fretful uncertainty resided in Elie‘s adorable eyes, love and ease traveled with Brooke’s confident kiss. Flesh didn’t matter, hers was the soul she wanted to spend all of her life and lives with, for better or for worse, for richer or for poor, for mind-molded gentle man or busty-as-all-get-out cutie. Making sure the door was locked, they took some time to truly enjoy their vacation in private.

Downstairs, Krystal clutched her head and remembered why she didn’t have kids in any version of reality. Clare recovered from sleepiness and was bouncing around the room like a pinball wanting to show her aunt all the other rocks and explain the multitude of books she loved. Lacy was getting dangerously close to questions about body feelings and monthly cycles. And the Blair boy crisis was definitely her fault.

Fortunately, doing basically nothing and hoping for the best sustained her. Blair opted to text the skater/surfer group the address to the house so she could be honest with them and herself. Lacy mercifully saved the worst questions for some other time. And Krystal enjoyed challenging Clare to a competitive platformer once she figured out all the tubes and cords to hook up the Switch.

The next knock on the front door made Blair tense up but stride carefully to the front. She left her ring in Krystal’s care and opened the door.

Dylan was everything she remembered from yesterday and he was also a desperate pit of swirling fire without direction that refused to leave her gurgling stomach. She waved to him and his friends as they noted there was going to be a fireworks display on the water at sunset, and would she like to join them for it? Blair desperately wanted to just say 'yes' and forget all the quandaries, questions, confusions, thoughtful speculations, and worries. But she had a responsibility.

“I’m sorry, guys. I need to clear something up. I’m not in college. I’m actually not even close to it. I have… a really nice choice of colleges. I’ll be a junior this fall… in high school. I am sixteen right now. But I’ll be seventeen in late November.”

She didn’t want to look at Dylan’s face, at any of their faces. She just wanted to cry and run away. Cautiously, she looked up, expecting anger, betrayal, disgust, and so many other terrible emotions to show. Dylan snapped his fingers (she tried not to wince) and flashed a quick smile, remarking, “I could tell something was bothering you. Also, it’s so weird that you sent that text with all those mistakes, like you were trying to say something without actually saying something, I guess. I just dig the smart, cool, curious person we met on the boardwalk, and you know, we can be friends. There are so many nifty things around this town that no one checks out. If that’s cool, I mean. Just friends?”

It hurt somewhere in her young heart, but she smiled and nodded to the group. “Friends! Yeah, that’s…that’s totally cool!”

It wasn’t long before Lacy popped out, in girl mode, and wiggled her eyebrows at the group at the door. Blair immediately pointed out that her “little sister“ was twelve. Sisterly pokes, jabs, and glares were traded. Exuberant Clare soon joined the fireworks viewing group followed by designated adult oversight, Krystal. Young Brooke and confused Elie, with notably askew hair, also joined the group, and Blair‘s mortification was complete.

“Everyone all right over here?” A young man in a tan-grayish uniform with a big hat stood at the end of the drive walking over to them. He introduced himself as Officer Ross Colson and explained he was just checking in. Blair questioned if he was any relation to Rebecca Colson, but the officer shook his head and said that the only family he had was a goofy old pup named Smarcy. Clare gestured around to her family and Ross by way of explanation. Krystal had a thought but held her tongue. Lacy felt her heart thundering to race out of her body as her eyes flicked over to the officer’s broad shoulders and words left her.

It turned out Officer Colson was quite the cook, so the biggest guys hauled the grill out of the beach house garage and set it up. A run to the nearest market delivered some great steaks, hotdogs, hamburgers, and other delectable meats to grill up as the sun settled over the horizon. The beachfront wasn’t a good place for kites or planes, but they got plenty of mileage out of the bubbles.

The entire family sat together with Blair on the edge, sitting as close as she dared to Dylan. In a quiet moment, she leaned over and gave him a hesitant peck on the cheek before nervously reiterating, “Friends…”

He gave a smile and a light chuckle before leaning over as well and practically stopping her heart with a return peck on the forehead.

“Friends,” he replied. Blair held her hands in her lap as her face looked like she received a grievous, bright red sunburn. Clusters of colorful crabs crept along on the shore as though they were awkwardly searching for the best seats in an open-air theater.

Krystal looked out at her family, once lost, now found again. She lamented that her mother couldn’t be satisfied with precious, quiet little moments like this. Wherever she was now, she hoped she would find peace one day.

Holding her younger sister, Krystal looked out at the expanse of night spreading before them with the precious sparkling twinkle of revealed stars as the first brilliant explosion of color spread over the water and danced in the darkness.