Crossing the Barrier
Page 31
Lily knew from this moment on, she would always have a home.
Chapter Eighty
LILY
The following morning, Lily was as nervous as Malakai, if not more. They had just arrived at an apartment complex on the north side of town and were walking toward Malakai’s mother’s apartment. Malakai was holding on to her hand so hard it was painful.
“Malakai,” she said, gently grabbing hold of his forearm. “Can you release my hand a little? It’s about to turn into goo.”
“Oh! Sorry,” he said, bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing her fingers gently. “I’m a little nervous, I think,” he added with a grin.
“You think?!” Lily said, grinning also. “You’re so nervous you’re making me want to run all the way to Austin to hide in the hills!”
Malakai laughed and it released some of the tension they were both feeling.
“Did I tell you how much I love you today?”
“Mmm! Let me think,” she said, bringing a finger to her mouth and looking up in the air. “Yeah!” she answered, laughing. “But I never get tired of hearing you say it.”
“I love you,” he said, stopping to take her in his arms. “I love you! I love you!”
Laughing, Lily kissed him.
“Are you guys going to stay out here all day?” a woman called from an open door a few feet away.
Smiling, Malakai looked at the woman Lily recognized from the picture and the vision she had seen.
“Come,” he said, looking at Lily and taking her hand in his.
They made their way to the door and stopped in front of Malakai’s mom. The moment she looked at Lily, Lily could have sworn she felt a flash of recognition as if the woman remembered her as someone who was long lost and had finally been found. In the next moment, the woman did something that took Lily completely by surprise: Her emotions disappeared. She went totally blank.
Lily, being the girl Beatrice had raised, kept the appearance that everything was fine, and she smiled.
“Mum, this is Lily. Lily, this is my mum, Rebecca,” he introduced.
“How do you do?” Rebecca asked, offering her hand for Lily to shake.
Lily took it in hers and perceived Rebecca’s curiosity. Direct contact still allowed Lily to feel something from her, but it was faint, like when Lily put up the strongest shields she had.
“Come on in,” she invited.
Later on, when Rebecca hugged Lily good-bye, Lily felt her emotions again. She was relieved to feel the approval behind the smile.
Epilogue
As Rebecca watched her son and his girlfriend drive away, she wondered about the circumstances that had brought Malakai and this girl together, this girl she had been searching for so long. All this time, she had been right there, under her nose, and Rebecca hadn’t realized it until she saw those gray eyes.
That’s how she knew.
The gray eyes were a telltale of her identity as an empath, one of the six…
Rebecca didn’t know whether she should be happy for her son or afraid for him. The girl was sweet and nice, and made him happy, but what she was…
She wondered if he knew.
Rebecca had just closed the door and was making her way to the living room to clean up the dirty cups when her phone rang. She picked it up and looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
It meant only one person.
“Hello.”
“It’s me.”
Rebecca recognized the voice.
Clarissa.
She was about to reveal her findings when the old woman spoke again.
“I found another one.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A lot of people made this book possible.
First there were my numerous beta readers, Sara, Annie, Kelly and Megan. Their comments were invaluable to improve the story.
Then there was my legal reviewer, Jennifer Wiers Severino who made sure my legal facts were right. I don’t know what I would have done without her direction.
I need to also thank my editor, Erin Liles, and my proofreader, Ron Lewis. They made my book so much better.
I want to also thank two very special people to me: Damen and Lexi. They are the two teens who posed for my very awesome cover. Thank you to my photographer, John E. Faught, and my makeup artist, Andrea Shutter Riebeling. Talking about my cover, I would like to thank Mayhem Covers Design for an excellent job.
Finally, I need to thank my friends and my family, especially my sister. She always believed I should publish my stories and she has always been my biggest supporter.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Martine Lewis is a forty something who was born and raised in the French speaking province of Quebec, Canada. She spent her childhood looking forward to her summer vacations at the farm, which were a nice escape from the suburbs where she lived.
Her first written endeavor was a 200-page handwritten Duran Duran bandfiction which she wrote when she was eleven years old. Of all her written work, this is the only one she no longer has.
All throughout high school, Martine wrote more bandfictions and some original work, then she went to write fanfictions in the Star Wars, Buffy and Harry Potter universes. Her fanficiton in the Potterverse are mostly centered on characters of her own creation and can be found on fanfiction.net.
Following her viewing of Roswell on Netflix in 2012, Martine wrote book two and three of the Gray Eyes Series, then went on to create the Gray Eyes Series universe in which she has been playing ever since. She writes contemporary coming-of-age romance fiction (young adult/new adult) with a twist.
Martine is an avid reader and rollerskater. She loves sushi, hot chocolate on a cold day, and the beach. But what she loves above all else is to curl on her chair with her computer and write more stories for her readers.
Martine currently lives in Houston TX with her two cats.
The Gray Eyes Series
Crossing the Barrier (Book One) – Available March 22, 2016
Untitled (Book Two) – Available September 20, 2016
Untitled (Book Three) – Available March 21, 2017
Untitled (Book Four) – Available Fall 2017
Untitled (Book Five) – Available Spring 2018
Untitled (Book Six) – Available Fall 2018
For news, short stories, deleted scenes, and other extra,
visit Martine Lewis website at:
www.martinelewisauthor.com
and join the newsletter.
The Gray Eyes Series
Book Two
Available September 20, 2016