Final Life: Book One in the Transhuman Chronicles

by Rose Garcia

  ***

  When I got home, I found the house almost completely dark. The only light came from a small lamp on the kitchen counter. Abigail had told me the journal was hidden, urged me to have faith and be strong, and then called Trent her friend. My hand went to my cross. I rubbed it between my thumb and forefinger while it continued to pulse lightly in my hand. How did Abigail know Trent?

  "Dominique."

  With a gasp, I spun around to find Farrell standing by the kitchen fireplace, partly concealed in the shadows. My heart raced. "Farrell, you scared the crap out of me."

  He walked closer to me, so close that our bodies almost touched. I held my breath.

  "What happened?" he asked.

  "I saw Abigail."

  His brow furrowed. His peaceful eyes grew stormy.

  Before he could say anything, I lifted my cross. "Look at this. Trent’s grandmother gave it to me. She said it’s been in her family for generations."

  He eyed it curiously. "That’s bloodstone."

  I thought back to when Jan had emptied her bag of crystals and stones and told me to pick the one calling to me. "Jan showed me a rock like this. She said it’s the stone of courage."

  Farrell cradled the stone in his fingers. He closed his eyes. His white aura trickled out of his fingers, wrapped around the cross, and pulsated against my chest. My heart beat so hard I wondered if he could hear it. He opened his eyes and released the cross. "It’s very ancient," he said. "As old as man."

  "This cross is that old?" My heart continued to race as the fear inside me grew.

  "Yes," he said. "Did she say why she wanted you to have it?"

  I recalled Trent’s grandmother and her milky eyes and wrinkly hands. "She said it would remind me to have faith and be strong. It’s the same thing that Abigail had said."

  Farrell stood so close I could see my reflection in the fiery spark in his green eyes. I wanted him to get closer, wanted his body to press up against mine.

  "You saw Abigail?" he asked.

  Her delicate face and pure green eyes filled my head. "Yes, at church."

  "Tell me everything. I need to know exactly what she did and what she said."

  "Okay. Well, she touched my cross. Then her energy flowed into it and me and—"

  Should I tell him what she had said about recognizing Trent and calling him her friend? Farrell was my Walker, assigned to protect me, but who would protect Trent? I couldn’t have another death on my conscience, especially Trent’s, and I knew if he got involved in my messed up life something would happen to him.

  "What?" Farrell asked.

  "And then…she told me my mom and dad had hidden Huxley’s journal in the ocean by the tree."

  He stepped away from me and ran his fingers through his hair. "In the ocean? By the tree? Does that mean anything to you?"

  My mind raced, my nerves on edge. I twisted my hair fast. How could a tree and a book be in an ocean? It didn’t make any sense. "No, it doesn’t mean anything to me. But Farrell, we have to find it. We just have to. Time is running out. I only have two days before I’m dead, and probably my parents, too. I mean, aren’t you the one who said this whole world will go to shit if I die?"

  He rubbed his temples. I wondered if I was as difficult to protect in my other lifetimes as I was in this one.

  "Let’s get some rest," Farrell said. "Maybe something will come to us by morning."

  Anger and frustration mounted inside me. "What? Are you kidding? I could die in two days, and you want to sleep on it?"

  "No, I don’t want to sleep on it, but it’s almost three in the morning. You cannot help if you’re exhausted, okay? I promise I’ll do whatever I can to find the book, but you need to store up your energy." He held my chin and studied my face. "Dominique, I know you haven’t slept in days. Please, you have to listen to me."

  My tired eyes welled up with tears. "For so many weeks I just wanted all this to end, wanted to die even. But now that everything is happening so fast and my parents have been captured, I want to live." Tears slipped out onto my face. "I'd give anything to have my parents back and go back to being normal. I just don’t know if it’s possible. It’s like my fate has been sealed."

  Farrell wiped the tears from my face. He brought me in and held me tight. Even though it was our first hug, it didn’t feel like it. I fit in his arms perfectly, my body relaxed and at ease against his. Without even thinking, I moved my hands up the back of his shirt and began rubbing them across his smooth and soft skin. He pulled me closer and whispered my name.

  And then—I freaked. I yanked my hands out of his shirt and stepped away from him, horrified and embarrassed. "Farrell, I'm so sorry, I don't know why I just did that."

  His shoulders fell. He stepped away from me. "Hey, don't worry about it. It's been a tough day. I'll see ya in the morning." He couldn't get away from me fast enough.

  ***

  Back in my room, I eagerly grabbed the snow globe Trent had given me. I ran my fingers across the cool glass while I studied the village. In the middle stood a perfect pine tree. Behind it, a small white church with a tall steeple. To the right, a cottage. On the other side, a market. A winding cobblestone path joined the structures. I shook the globe and watched the snow fall on the tiny town. "Wake up," I whispered. "It’s snowing."

  I kept my eyes fixed on the falling snow, thinking to myself that I was the one waking up.