Monday, December 25th
It was after 1:30 AM before the Quests and Bannons returned from midnight mass to pour themselves into bed; each of them fell immediately to sleep. The snow had begun to fall just after 11:00 PM, slowly at first, but soon picking up density and speed. The family had decided to risk the trip to church anyway, determining that the snow would not likely collect too much in the first couple of hours. Overnight, however, they were due for quite a blizzard, so Christmas morning mass was out of the question.
Not one of them awoke before 10:00 AM, and although on almost every other day of the year the family members would be fully dressed by the time that they arrived at the breakfast table, it had become sort of a tradition on Christmas morning for them to remain in their pajamas late into the day.
"That is perfectly fine with me," Estella commented when she joined Benton, Race, and Jessie in the living room. "If I had my way, I would spend all of my time in pj's." She, herself, was looking pretty festive in red and white flannel pajamas and white, fluffy slippers. Jessie looked her twin only in green and white. Benton and Race wore bathrobes over their clothes.
By the time that Hadji and Jonny had joined the four in the living room, Benton had brought a tray from the kitchen piled high with cranberry bread, hot chocolate for the kids, and coffee for the adults. Mrs. Evans had made the bread before she had left for the week—Benton had pulled it out of the freezer to defrost it in the oven twenty minutes earlier.
"That storm certainly is something," Benton said, as Race whistled at the sight of the swirling snow outside. "I can't see three feet out the window. Somehow it doesn't seem like a white Christmas, if I can't see the snow on the ground."
"Is it supposed to last all day?" Jonny asked.
"Well, the Weather Channel said to expect it, but maybe there'll be an update on the radio." He chose a local station, known to start playing 24-hour Christmas music at noon on Christmas Eve. "Those stations that start with Christmas music at Thanksgiving are too much," Race had said once. "By Christmas, I'm sick of hearing the same songs over and over." The weather report came on shortly after Dr. Quest had turned on the radio.
"You are listening to WBAL, and here is your 30 second weather update," the deejay announced. "Rockport and the surrounding areas of Wesley and Lewiston should expect blizzard conditions with heavy snow accumulation for the rest of today. Eventual snowfall may reach ten to fourteen inches by tonight, tapering off around 8:00. Enjoy the weather and have yourself a very, merry Christmas."
"Well," Benton sighed contentedly, "it's a good thing that we don't have to go anywhere today." The others nodded their agreement, all watching the snow. "So, who's ready to open presents?" A few moments later, he was lost in the fury of wrapping paper flying through the air to eventually cover the floor, mimicking the action of the storm outside. The Pretenders' rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" floated throughout the room, creating the mood.
Only a few hours later, the snow decided to be unpredictable and began to taper off around 2:00. The family decided to finally get dressed in sweatshirts and jeans and venture outside into the winter wonderland. Snow covered every branch of every tree, glistening in the sun. Jessie could not remember the last time that it had snowed on Christmas Day. In previous years it had snowed a day or two before or after, but not on the 25th. It seemed magical to tread on newly fallen snow on Christmas, although she did agree with Jonny that it seemed strange. She had begun to disassociated snow with Christmas—now she would have to allow her idea of a normal Christmas to evolve.
As darkness began to fall on the snow-covered Quest Compound, the exhausted but joyous family tumbled back into the front hall of the mansion, their hair dripping and their faces flushed, but laughing nonetheless.
"I'll start dinner right after I change into some dry clothes," Benton announced, turning the corner around the living room to head for the stairs.
"I'll help you with dinner, Benton," Race called to him, before hanging his coat in the laundry room on the other side of the kitchen, allowing a small puddle to form on the tile floor beneath the coat. Bandit had remained inside during all of the snow fun, being too small to run around in ten inches of snow. He now ran to greet his sodden family, barking ferociously at the large snowflakes that had once again begun to flutter to the ground before Jonny slammed the door behind him, shivering at the final gust of wind that had managed to enter the warm, welcoming bower that was the Quest mansion.
After changing into comfortable fleece or sweats, Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji flopped down on the cream-colored leather couch in the living room and stared absently out of the window at the falling snow.
"I am worn out," Jonny said, following his statement with a heavy sigh.
"I'm starved," Jessie added.
"Well," Hadji said, "we are having what we have every Christmas: honey-roasted ham, garlic-roasted potatoes, and homemade bread, courtesy of Mrs. Evans."
"Mrs. E. is a great cook," Jonny acknowledged, "but no one can match Dad's ham." The other two teenagers nodded their agreement and allowed the silence to envelope them. Estella joined them shortly after, just as the wonderful smells of dinner began to waft under the kitchen door and met their noses and appetites in the living room.
"Oh, that smells amazing," Jonny commented, practically drooling on his shirt.
"Well," Benton replied, joining them from the kitchen and drying his hands on a red checkered dish towel, "it's almost ready. The ham has been baking for the past four hours, so it's pretty much finished. Race is taking the bread out of the oven, so get ready for a feast, everyone."
They followed him, almost stampede-like, and gathered the plates and utensils needed for the meal to carry them into the dining room, which already donned a fancy Christmas tablecloth across the massive ten-person table and welcomed them with instrumental Christmas music.
"This is beautiful," Estella said, gazing in wonder at the chandeliers above the table and gilded sconces on the walls. The three tall windows in the dining room provided them a perfect view of the glistening snowflakes against a darkening sky, with the red and gold curtains framing the scene.
It had seemed a perfect day as everyone, full from their Christmas dinner, began to wander aimlessly around the house, taking time to themselves. Estella, however impressed by the lovely holiday played out at the Quest mansion, could not help feeling uneasy about Jessie's accident two days before. She had tried to convince herself that it was after all just an accident, but then she remembered all of the near-death experiences that Jessie had had in the past, as a result of being included on Benton Quest's excursions. The more she thought about it, the more upset she became at the thought of her teenaged daughter being exposed to such unnecessary violence. Jessie had been in an airplane that had almost crashed into a mountain. She had been saved at the last minute by Jonny's quick thinking and aptitude at a flight simulator. Estella still did not understand the entire story, but it had not seemed like a situation in which Jessie should have been. She had found out long afterwards that Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji had stolen a government agent's credit card to buy plane tickets to fly to Salt Lake City just for the opportunity to be on that plane that had almost crashed into a mountain. And the plane, for Pete's sake, had been Air Force One! And that was just one of the several dangerous (and illegal) situations in which Jessie had been.
She had also almost died a few times in Quest World, had been kidnapped by a crazy man pretending to be the ghost of a long dead pirate, and had almost fallen off of a mountain somewhere in Nepal, from what Estella had heard. And Race had taken Jessie into that last situation! Estella was beginning to wonder if Jessie would not be safer living with her in Colombia...
She found Benton and Race sitting in front of the fire in the living room later that evening. Once again the radio was on and was currently playing one of her all time favorite Christmas songs, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." She had not intended on mentioning to Race her concerns about Jessie, and now that she was feeling in better spirits, she definitely did not want to ruin the mood of Christmas Day. Deciding to think about it more over the rest of her visit, Estella joined the two men in the glow of the leaping flames.
"This song is so funny," Estella said, sitting down in an armchair. "Jessie used to laugh hysterically every time this song came on the radio. I haven't heard it in a few years, though."
"They just started playing it again last year," Benton responded. "I hadn't heard it for awhile either."
"Benton and I were talking about the past few Christmases with the kids," Race said, adding some newspaper to the fire. "We haven't spend too many in this house, which is a shame. It seems like this house was made for the holidays with its stone fireplaces, snowy winters, and location near the mountains. It would be any person's dream for a holiday getaway."
"I agree," Estella remarked, looking around the room at the shadows playing on the walls and thinking that it reminded her of "A Christmas Carol." She could imagine the Ghost of Christmas Past appearing suddenly to bring her back to childhood Christmases. "I'm so glad that I was able to take these two weeks off from my projects. So tell me about Christmases past at the Quest Compound," she added with a smile.
"Well, the first year that Jessie lived here," Benton began, "the kids were all in a holiday play at school. The boys just had small parts in the chorus, but Jessie had a solo. She didn't tell us about it, and Jonny and Hadji kept it a secret, amazingly, so we were pretty surprised when we saw her approaching center stage, during the play."
"I didn't even know that she could sing," Race added, shaking his head. Estella realized that Race must have regretted not having spent more time with Jessie during her childhood. When Jessie had come to live with her father, Race had had to re-meet his daughter in a way. He had not known her favorite food or what types of music she listened to. But Race proved to be a very devoted father, and he learned all of those things and more. Now it was Estella who felt like she did not know her own daughter. Thank goodness for email, she thought.
"Jessie sang beautifully," Benton was saying. "She earned a standing ovation. But she never really sang in public after that. Maybe it's because we were always traveling, so she didn't have enough time to practice for plays or concerts. We always made sure that the kids kept up with their studies, though, even on the road."
"Plus, the kids have more world experience than anyone else in their high school," said Race. Then he laughed and continued, "Benton, I remember you telling me about when you and the boys went to New Jersey and happened across the 'Jersey Devil.'" Benton laughed too, and turned to Estella.
"We met these people who lived in a cabin in the woods, who eventually told us that their ancestor had stolen the original Declaration of Independence! The one in Washington is a copy, but of course the government will never admit to it being a forgery. Can you imagine how bad it would look if the nation found out that the founding fathers had lost the original proclamation to secede from England and form a separate nation?"
"It's amazing all of the things that we've learned during our travels," Race mused.
After a moment of reflection he continued, "We even made alliances with criminals, because we didn't have any other choice. Like when we called on Captain Havel, Benton, even though he had once tried to kill Jonny."
"Well, Jessie was stuck in an undersea cavern, and we knew she was alive, because she sent us a signal, but we couldn't get to her, because Surd had all of the whales under mind control. So we called Captain Havel, because we knew he would do anything for the whales and would do anything to destroy anyone who was trying to harm a whale."
"Was Jessie in real danger?" Estella asked, horrified at the thought of her daughter trapped in an underwater cavern with a diminishing air supply.
"Well, at first we didn't know where she was," Benton explained, soberly. "She and Jonny had been out on the water, when a whale came and was willing to give the two a ride. But then it tuned violent, because of Surd's mind control, and it tried to run them down, so to speak. Jonny made it to the surface, but Jessie had been separated from him, and she swam into the cavern to escape the whale. After that, she realized that she didn't have enough air to make it to the surface, so she sent us a signal that she was alive, using a piece of her wetsuit, which she stuffed into a plastic container that had been floating in a cavern. A few hours later, after Havel thwarted Surd's plan and destroyed the ship that he had been using as his base, Jonny swam down to meet Jessie."
"Wow," Estella remarked, stunned. "I remember you mentioning Surd to me. Wasn't he the one who kept trying to steal Quest World or change the programs?"
"The very same," Benton answered, grimly. "He attempted to make Quest World into a sort of horror theme park every time any one of us entered. But he won't be a problem anymore."
"Was he arrested?"
"You could say that," Race answered, a smile threatening the corners of his mouth.
"He's in a catatonic state, but he is in prison now," Benton elaborated for Race. "Jessie's responsible for that."
"She is? How?"
"Well, it's sort of a long story," Benton said, "but Surd managed to brainwash Jessie, and..."
"He what?" Estella's face became red with anger. "How'd he do that? Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"It's okay, Stel," Race said, gently. "Normal brainwashing takes weeks, even months, but Surd managed to do it within only a few hours. Jessie had gone out to the movies, and when she returned, she was a crazed maniac. She tried to kill us, but then she passed out, and we realized that Surd had implanted an entirely different personality into Jessie's subconscious, which is why he was able to brainwash her in such a short amount of time. Benton and Jonny went into Quest World with Jessie, and they almost defeated Surd, but it was Jessie who finally turned the tables on Surd, overtaking the foreign personality and somehow sending him into the catatonic state that Surd was in, when the authorities found him. No one knows how she did it, and Jessie hasn't enlightened us."
"I...I don't know how to respond to that. To all of this." Estella said, lost for words.
"I'm going to get us some coffee," Benton said after a moment, hoping to ease the tension forming in that previously warm and soothing place. As he disappeared into the kitchen, Estella just shook her head. Finally she stood up and started pacing, before turning to her ex-husband and saying,
"Race, I've been doing some thinking lately." She sighed, gathering her strength of will, before continuing, "I think that Jessie should come and live with me. Clearly yours and Benton's lives are too dangerous, and I don't want you risking her life anymore." There. Everything that she had been considering over the past few hours had come pouring out of her like Niagara Falls, and although she had meant it at the time, she now felt a little guilty.
"What? Risking her life?" Race sputtered, his anger rising, as he, too, rose to his feet. "I haven't been risking her life. She knows the dangers of Benton's life, and I have taught her and the boys how to defend themselves. We cannot help it if maniacs decided to target this family, but we have the best security system in the world, and she is not safer in any other house than she is here." He had said all of that in almost one breath, and when he took a breath to continue, Estella grabbed a hold of that opportunity.
"You just said yourself that maniacs target this family. No matter how safe she is in this house, she is not safe outside, and you cannot watch her all the time! And have you forgotten that the last time I was in this 'safe house' large mechanical spiders burst through the walls and took Jessie, Jonny, and me halfway around the world? She would be much safer with me in Colombia, where criminals are not out to get her."
"Estella," Race closed his eyes, conjuring the strength to be rational. "We have been in some perilous situations, I agree. But no one is 'out to get' Jessie. Surd is no longer a threat, and neither are Zin or Rage..."
"But that doesn't mean that there aren't more people out there, who have a vendetta against you or Benton," Estella interrupted.
"I realize that, but Stel," Race said, his voice breaking. "Please don't do this. I can't convince you that Jessie will be one hundred percent safe every moment of every day. I can't even promise you that. But I love her. She means everything to me, and I would do anything to keep her safe. Don't you believe that?" She could see the hurt in his face and knew that he was telling the truth. She knew he was a good father. But she could not return to Colombia without Jessie and have peace of mind that she would be safe in Maine—or wherever the Quests traveled to next.
"I can't," Estella said, simply, tearing her eyes away from that handsome, but grief-stricken face. "She's been through too much. Let her have a normal life."
"Her school is here, Estella! All of her friends are here, as well as Jonny and
Hadji. You want her to change schools in the middle of her junior year, when she's been here since 7th grade?"
"She's been taken out of school every few months for the past four years!" Estella countered. "You never seemed that interested in her stability when you were taking her to Malaysia or Cambodia, or wherever else you've been! At least in Colombia, she'll be in school year round."
"Yeah, for the next year and a half, and then she'll leave for college. What are you trying to protect her from? The danger? Or me?" He let that question resound in the quiet room. Finally she answered,
"I can't help my feelings, Race. I want Jessie to come live with me. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow." And with that she turned and left the room, leaving Race standing in front of the fire, feeling numb. Benton walked in after a few moments and hesitantly said,
"I heard you two arguing, which is why I didn't come in sooner. If you don't want to talk, I'll understand, but if you do, I'll be in my study." As he was walking away, he heard Race say, almost soundlessly,
"Estella wants to take Jessie away from me."