Whispers: The Reincarnation Series (Book 2)

by R. E. Rowe

  WHISPERS

  THE REINCARNATION SERIES, BOOK 2

  by R.E. Rowe

  Copyright 2015 by R.E. Rowe

  Cover Illustration by LLPix Designs

  Book illustrations copyright 2015 R.E. Rowe

  Beach illustration by Alyona Vodophina

  All rights reserved. This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All inquiries should be addressed to: admin@treeloverpress.com

  Whispers is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, places, theories, and dialogue in this novel are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, organizations, or locales, is coincidental.

  WHISPERS

  THE REINCARNATION SERIES, BOOK 2

  When the reincarnation system’s rules are hacked, two passionate teens collide. One determined to find lost love. The other determined to change the rules. Who will survive?

  The Reincarnation Series Book 2: a paranormal thriller sequel to Voices. When a rogue soul named Carmina hacks the reincarnation system to change its rules, Reizo is recruited to stop her. But Reizo could care less about rules or any ridiculous system until a mysterious soul named General motivates him.

  Reizo will need the help of his two inner voices, a cousin he meets for the first time, and a soul named Bree to discover his true abilities. But General is determined to use a clandestine group of souls to play Carmina and Reizo against each other to destroy them both. General will do whatever it takes to bring the reincarnation system back online.

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  Whispers/R.E. Rowe—1st ed.

  ISBN 978-0-9909992-2-5

  Dedicated to dreamers who dream up dreamers

  “A single vibration emerged when the weight of nothing pressed in upon itself and became something.”

  ~Hack, Carmina's Notebook

  Dear Reader,

  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this series. If you can take just a moment and write a quick review, I would greatly appreciate it. Even one sentence will help. Sign up for the mailing list above or watch for my tweets about the upcoming sequel to Whispers.

  Thank you! ~R.E. Rowe

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Beach Tag

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  About the Author

  Connect with R.E. Rowe

  Other books by R.E. Rowe

  Acknowledgements

  Rules

  1. Souls will not

  reincarnate without permission

  2. Incarnated souls will not

  remember past lives

  3. Free will must be

  bound by cause and effect

  chapter one

  My supersonic jet squeals to a stop on an old abandoned runway south of the capital city, twenty-five feet away from six idling white SUVs with black UN markings.

  I step onto the weathered tarmac, following behind five other sixteen-year-old girls dressed identically to me in United Nations peacekeeping uniforms, boots, and blue berets. We walk single file to the SUVs where each of us takes our seat behind a designated driver.

  When the last door shuts, the entire row of SUVs moves forward like train boxcars until we reach the first of countless destroyed homes with walls and roofs blown off just outside of the airport. In a sudden burst of acceleration, the five vehicles ahead of me peel away onto side roads, each one traveling to a different location.

  No one will suspect UN vehicles. I tap out an encrypted message on my cell phone:

  CARMINA: The day is here.

  CARMINA: Tell the others.

  CARMINA: Team is in route.

  “The city center is a few miles ahead,” says Chien, my driver, ageless friend, and bodyguard. He scans the road as if his face is a radar dish.

  Chien’s sixteen-year-old frame is larger and more muscular than an average boy his age. This lifetime, he was born to a North Korean father and a Russian mother in the harsh region of Russia known as Krasnoyarsk. In all his past lives, he has never had a tolerance for small talk or small minds.

  Chien maneuvers our SUV with precision around burned out war tanks and supply trucks, piles of rubble, and crowds of hungry men, women and children. We encounter only one other car on the main road due to the embargo that cut off the city’s fuel supply six months ago. A once-thriving international destination is now a destroyed mess after a century of civil war and unrest.

  As we reach the city center, I peer out the passenger window at collapsed buildings, cement piles, and twisted rebar. Disheartened families wait in a line behind one large flatbed truck to collect small rations of water and food. So many innocents starving on these torn up streets, pain trapped in their eyes, hearts cold as winter. Passionate egos fight for perceived just causes. Innocent lives destroyed in the wake. Suffering has taken its toll on these people.

  My vision blurs beneath a flood of tears. How can this be living? I want to hold each person. Better days are coming. Each life is equally precious and important. Yet the current reincarnation system allows the free will of the strong to cast aside those standing in the way of their petty beliefs. How can the death of innocents ever be justified?

  It will never be okay for egos to trounce the world as if playing like a bully on a preschool playground. No one is better than another. I want to scream when I think of exploding bombs, piercing bullets, and the senseless murder of innocents.

  I don’t wipe away my tears. I want to feel the sadness of these people. I want to remove the pain from their eyes. Free will enables tragedy in General’s current reincarnation system.

  Why does General insist the existing system is perfect? Doesn’t the rule maker see the suffering his rules have created?

  My pulse quickens as feelings of pain transform into a tsunami of anger. No. I will not allow my present incarnation to dominate my soul.

  I focus on my core and control my breathing like I’ve learned to do over the centuries, balancing my mind, body, and soul.

  Soon the living nightmare of these innocents will be over. Forever.

  My cell phone vibrates. I answer it. “Speak.”

  “We are ready to broadcast your announcement,” says a teenage voice.


  The images outside the window become more painful. Burning anger churns inside my body like molten metal. But I breathe and remain in control. “Excellent.”

  “Printers are in place and imprints have been downloaded. Install kits are being distributed. In one hour, all QCC Corp quantum cores installed within devices will be entangled with all of our command centers. You will have a connection to every electronic device in the world as planned.”

  “Are the liberators ready?” I ask.

  “Yes. All are ready,” the voice says.

  A smile stretches across my face, but quickly dissolves into a scowl when we pass by a young mother holding a crying baby in one arm and begging us to help her. A shirtless boy with a distended belly stands near an old leather-skinned man with lifeless gray eyes. A group of young boys running in a pack throws rocks and shards of glass at blown up vehicles in the street.

  I will simplify General’s ridiculous rules. No more wasted years trying to remember past lives. No more struggling trying to survive.

  “Carmina?” the voice from the phone asks.

  I clear my throat and twist strands of my long black hair around one finger, focusing my thoughts on my dream of a new era with a peaceful future for all. “Begin attacking firewalls around the globe. Release the malware worm and activate the builder-bots.”

  “Consider it done. 3-D printers have engaged.”

  “Call together a meeting at the mobile command center in three hours.” I sit up straight, gazing at my cell phone and touch “end.”

  Oh, how I love technology. It has evolved nicely over the millennia. When the new era begins, every soul will live peacefully with every other soul.

  “Do you wish to recall your five silica clones to return with us?” Chien asks.

  I put my cell phone back in my pocket, and lean forward. “No. Instruct them to proceed to meet with their designated contacts. They’ll use the planned egress point three days hence. But you and I must return immediately.”

  Chien nods.

  Soon joy will replace suffering and death will be a choice. The reincarnation system hack worked. Change has arrived.

  chapter two

  Months ago, I’d danced with Aimee De Lucca inside this century-old storm shelter. Her blue eyes sparkled at me like sunlight across tropical waters. Our lips melted together when we first kissed. For a brief moment, my life was perfect until a blast from JT’s mysterious gold bracelet stopped her heart and killed her.

  Tears run down my face as I frantically pace inside the cluttered shelter.

  Could Aimee really be talking to me?

  “Yes, Reiz. It’s really me,” whispers Aimee's voice inside my head.

  How is it possible?

  “You’re dead,” I say. “How can you be talking to me?”

  “I've been allowed to talk to you,” says her voice. “But I don’t have much time.”

  “Allowed to talk? By who?”

  “Please, Reizo, just listen,” Aimee tells me.

  “I’ve missed you—” I hit myself on the forehead. “No. No. It’s the damned meds. It has to be.” I want to believe. I really do. But it’s too ridiculous. Aimee? “So what? You’re talking to me from—”

  “Uh huh, like we talked about, remember?”

  I remember my Near-death experience. I remember how Ames told me we were talking with Grams in a place that wasn’t here. We were talking in a place that was there.

  “But I don’t understand.”

  “Something has happened,” Aimee’s voice says. “Something big.”

  I stand up and kick the old chair near the desk. “What could have happened that’s worse than you dying?”

  “The reincarnation system has been hacked. They need your help.”

  I don’t get it.” A chill runs across my shoulders. “You’re alive?”

  “Alive, well, yes, but not human,” Aimee's voice says. “Look, I don’t have time to explain.”

  I stop and look up at the ceiling and raise my voice. “Ames. Please let me see you. I need to see you.”

  “I know. I want to see you too, but that can’t happen right now. Just listen to me, please?”

  I let out a huff. “Okay, fine then. Go on.”

  “General needs your help.”

  “Who’s General?”

  “The future is at risk,” Aimee says. “And you’re in danger.”

  I rub my face, grinding my teeth. Danger?

  “Reiz, did you hear me?”

  “I’ve lost it.” I pace the room and fling my arms around. “I’ve gone insane. I’m delusional. It’s the only logical explanation.”

  “Please trust me,” she says.

  “Right. Sure. I get it. It’s all in my hands to save the universe? You want me to protect the world from an evil empire, fight invaders. Right?” I rub my hands together and groan. “Now I know I’m crazy.”

  “Reiz. General really does need your help.”

  “Who is General?”

  “He’s in charge of the system.”

  The system? I let out a nervous chuckle. “If you were real, I’d listen. But hell, you’re just my subconscious messing with my wacked-out brain.” More tears run down my face. “I miss her.” I cover my face with both palms. “Oh God, I miss her so much.”

  “I miss you too.”

  I wipe my face and clear my throat, pacing the shelter in circles. “Wa-wa-wacko. I’ve gone wacko.”

  “I promise I’ll tell you more later. But this is bigger than you and me. General needs you to travel to the Old Hall of Records in Richmond, Virginia. Please, Reiz.”

  “Travel a thousand miles?” I pick up the old leather ball and throw it as hard as I can against the shelter’s wall, pick it up and throw it again. “I don’t believe this. I’m hearing what I want to hear because I miss Aimee so much. You're not real.”

  “You need physical proof? Is that it?” she asks.

  I freeze. “What?” My eyes widen. “You can give me physical proof?”

  “Would you believe me if I did?”

  I abruptly stop pacing. “It’d be a start.”

  chapter three

  My submarine-yacht rests on the sea floor in the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea as I collect my thoughts. The top half of the two-hundred-and-fifty-foot craft resembles a luxury yacht with a heliport while the bottom half resembles the smooth, rounded skin of a traditional submarine.

  I flip on the switch of my view portal spotlight and gaze into the salty current. My heart beats like the tick of an old schoolhouse clock from my last lifetime. Each breath awakens scores of past life emotions.

  “Carmina?” A booming voice echoes in the small metal room. “Carmina?”

  I sneer at the metallic speaker clinging to the wall. “What is it now, Captain?”

  “My apologies for the interruption, Carmina. Shall we continue on to your command center?” he asks. “The press awaits your announcement.”

  I feel energized in this sixteen-year-old body, full of life. I push up my sleeve and rub the golden bracelet grafted to the forearm bone above my wrist, peering at the glistening quantum core mounted in its center that connects my current incarnation to cloud memory beyond the ether. Sparkles dance from the bracelet’s embedded jewels like the blissful sea creatures in the light outside the view portal.

  “I suppose we must,” I whisper.

  The ether-entangled core allows my mind to reflect backwards in time. Countless lifetimes. Countless memories. The reincarnation system hack finally worked.

  I look out my portal window at the sea creatures attracted to its light like moths on a warm summer night, swimming in the beam, drifting in the glow. The peaceful sea is a stark contrast to where my soul began this lifetime. This body had been a child hidden by a protective birth mother in the midst of a bloody civil war until my soul took possession of my present human body.

  Crashing the gate, taking it offline, crossing the dark void, and then journeying through the di
mension-shift abyss. Surviving a painful, but glorious awakening six years ago when my past-life memories were restored. The process would have driven most ten-year-olds insane, but not me.

  This lifetime I became heir to the richest power-couple in the world before their tragic plane crash. My doctored DNA test and illegitimate child claim sealed the deal. When the DNA result was confirmed, and proof surfaced placing Malcolm Cee on an international trip around the time of my conception, Malcolm and his wife, Sharon, took me in and raised me as their own.

  Inheriting the family fortune when I was fourteen was a nice benefit, but my real goal was to take over Malcolm Cee’s billion-dollar business with its worldwide footprint and international distribution.

  My thoughts shift to a different thread of memories. Waves of intense heat radiate from my face and a vibration inside my skull grows until I hear nothing else. General. His three rules have stood as sentinels between happiness and misery for all of human history.

  Increasing numbers of sea creatures swim to the bright light beaming from the portal. I imagine each creature to be one of General’s enforcers trying to stop me. Determined to impose General’s ridiculous rules and kill my current body, returning my soul back beyond the ether.

  My muscles tighten. I press the palm of my hand onto the glass portal and feel sweat above my dark eyebrows.

  No one will perceive me as a threat in this beautiful teenage girl’s body with its long black hair and innocent smile. I focus beyond my reflection at the creatures swimming outside the habitat.

  General is no longer the gate’s rule maker. His reign is over. Enforcers will not stop me this lifetime.

  I push on the window harder, directing all my energy outside the thick glass, allowing my ego to dominate my soul. I have returned!

  A bright flash outside the portal transforms the calm sea into an intense burst of shimmering white bubbles with the suddenness and power of a depth charge explosion.

  I slow my breathing and calm my teenage body. It takes a few seconds to regain my composure.

  “Carmina?”

  Where sea creatures had once swayed, now only lifeless biomaterial floats. As my face cools, a single bead of sweat trickles down my cheek until the long fingernail of my index finger flicks it away. “General,” I say.