Chapter 1.6

Raydenne had mastered the art of painting and of upgrading and fixing objects around the home so she went to work on cooking. It wasn't too hard when she wasn't scorching the dishes in the oven so she enjoyed it immensely. It gave her time to contemplate the drastic changes she had gone through since Melainn and Caolan had come into her life. In one last moment of insecurity, she had gone home from the bar to lay with Mr. Lawry, a married man, and had felt so guilty that she never told a soul. She often wondered if Anthony had told his wife of his infidelity, but if their current standing as husband and wife had anything to say, he hadn't. Breathing a sigh of relief, she got back to work making burgers. That was one regret she didn't wish to think about.

In the next room, Ellymae had also rekindled a love of cooking since having a successful prom night. Remembering her childhood days of baking muffins and cookies, the local cooking network sparked a new curiosity of cooking as a lifelong career.

Outside, Arycella was working on growing a quaint garden, though her reasons were not for better meals or the aesthetic qualities it would possess. The local science facility had noticed her expertise at inventing and decided to commission her to help with their top secret project. Since they had already patented the idea, the only way for Ary to capitalize on the invention would be to play along. For now, she was in the dark; her only delegated task was to get a better grip on gardening.

Every once in a while, Ray would go back to her first love and create beautiful masterpieces. Many local representatives asked for her work to be displayed around the city, and the extra cash wasn't too shabby. After a while, she was notably more famous throughout the city, being proclaimed as the best painter to set foot on Hammond Island.

Time flew by and Ary was getting better and better at tending her garden. She had already procured noticeably better fruit that even the supermarket would be jealous of. It was only a matter of time until the scientists contacted her again.

When that time did come, they presented her with a seed, claiming it was a genetically modified fruit that had the power to sustain life. Not asking any questions, Ary set out to grow this plant with new vigor. It was sure to be finicky and she had one shot to procure as much of the fruit as she could.

In the midst of cooking, painting, and gardening, the children were left to almost fend for themselves. On the day of their combined birthdays, Oriana and Caolan were playing chess when the tingly, yet familiar feeling took hold of them.

As the sensation subsided, the two took sometime to reclaim their senses and check their new selves out.

At the last moment, they ran to find their sister to watch as she too went through the transformation. The three teens had all aged up beautifully.

It was Ellymae's birthday as well, and she had taken advantage of the lack of authority in the Amarel household. She spent her whole birthday with Keale and the two aged up together into young adults. Immediately, they expressed their continued desire to be with one another and purchased a home nearby.

The fact that the remaining children were teens didn't change a thing among Ray and Ary. If anything they were more capable of being alone. Oriana and Caolan still spent most of their time playing chess, and Melainn actually started to hang out with her siblings more and more often. At school, others had noticed her looks and the popular crowd had claimed her as their own, consequently opening her up a bit.

One evening, everything went back to normal as Ary finally harvested the life fruit. Turning it into the science facility, they told her she could go back to the daily grind until next notified.

She took their request seriously and tried to spend as much time with the kids as possible, giving Caolan tips on which squadmate to acquire first or filling in the blanks when Melainn didn't understand something in her book.

When Caolan wasn't delegating powers and shooting Blue Suns, he liked to spend his time in the bathroom. (Get your mind out of the gutter!) So far, none of the girls were looking his way, and he hoped to change that by practicing his pickup lines to perfection.

Oriana loved it when he wasn't using the TV. That meant she could work out! She didn't think she was fat, but she liked feeling in shape and was determined to stay that way, even if it meant getting smelly before class.

Right before she went to take a quick shower, her phone rang and a pleasant voice echoed on the other end. Ending the call a minute later, she ran upstairs to get ready as fast as she could.

As she sat on the bus and waited impatiently for her siblings, she found herself staring at the bus driver. An unfamiliar feeling, not unlike butterflies, settled in her stomach. Recognizing it, she blushed sheepishly away before he could see her as her brother and sister started boarding the bus.

"Really Oriana?" her brother teased as he took the seat next to her, "Out of all the guys at school, you get the hots for the bus driver?"

"NO! Ugh Cay, you're sick," she said with forced disgust. So what if she thought he was cute?

When school was finally out, Oriana was way too excited to concentrate on her homework. Instead, she decided to distract Caolan and Melainn from theirs by shouting profanities at her game when she died.

When they finally kicked her out of the living area, she decided to up Caolan by surpassing his knowledge at chess.

"You're thinking way too hard about your first move darling," she heard as her father slipped into the opposing chair.

"Daddy! I almost didn't believe you when you rang earlier... are you really home for good?"

"I would never lie about something that serious," he said with a grin that almost split his face.

"I know what you're thinking, Mom's out back and I'm sure she'd love to know too," Oriana replied with a smile.

"Now why is my beautiful fiance tending her garden in the dark?" he asked as Ary squealed and ran into his arms, "I'm home. For real this time."

Without replying, Ary succumbed to Drake's kiss and she was finally, completely happy.