Jen turned to Hudson and walked into his open arms. This time there was no mistaking it. It was a girlfriend-boyfriend embrace.
“Uggh—enough already, let’s go and call your parents, Jen,” I muttered.
We left Hudson and Aunt Grace in the sunroom and grabbed the phone in the kitchen. Jen called her parents and they asked to speak with Aunt Grace.
“Grace, they need to talk with you,” Jen called out. Aunt Grace took the phone and went into the living room out of earshot.
A couple of minutes later, Aunt Grace returned and gave the phone back to Jen.
Hudson and I followed them into the kitchen after a few minutes. I realized how much I wanted Jen to stay with us. My heart hammered against my chest.
“They’re in the middle of packing. They’ve already packed all of Jen’s stuff up, knowing she wouldn’t have time to do it tomorrow. They fly out tomorrow at twelve and will make an early morning detour to see us, deliver her stuff, and see where she’ll be living,” Aunt Grace said triumphantly.
“Thank you, Aunt Grace!” I said, embracing her in yet another bear hug.
“I don’t know what to say,” Jen said, hugging Aunt Grace again. “I’m more grateful than you’ll ever know.”
“I already know, Jen. Just the look on all of your faces speaks volumes. Now, let’s all get ready to explore Nevaeh. I’m sure Jen will be just as curious about her new school as Jacey is.” Aunt Grace headed upstairs to get ready.
“This is exactly how it’s supposed to be, you know,” I said to Jen before she could get away.
“What do you mean?” Jen asked.
“You truly are family, Jen.”
She came over and hugged me.
“You’re the sister I’ve always wanted.”
“Ditto,” Jen said.
“Well, I’m glad you’re not my sister!” Hudson stated with a mischievous grin on his face.
“You’re so gross, Hudson, ewwww,” I uttered.
“Let’s get ready,” Jen said as she pulled Hudson out of the room. I went into the living room and stared at Mom and Dad’s urn for while as the light came in through the bay window, striking it and making the symbols appear as if they had come to life.
“I’ll know what you all mean soon,” I said out loud confidently. I went upstairs.
When I got to Aunt Grace’s room, her door was slightly open and Hudson was talking to her.
“Aunt Grace, I seriously don’t know how to thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Hudson. Be happy, that’s enough for me. Plus, knowing Jen’s parents are part of the Sentry, this was the least I could do,” Aunt Grace finished.
So many secrets, I thought as I went into my room. Mom was swirling around the ceiling when I walked in. There was no excitement in her movements. Her colors were calming. The doors joining my room to Jen’s were closed. I went over to them, knocked once, and walked in. Jen was sitting on her bed.
“Ready to go?” I asked. Jen looked up at me and I was caught off guard by the expression on her face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. I sat beside her.
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, right. I think I know you a little better than that,” I said.
“There are some things I know in time I’ll be able to talk to you about, but right now, I can’t,” Jen said.
“Are you sad about having to stay here with us?” I asked, afraid.
“Grace inviting me to stay here is more than I ever expected. You and Hudson are as much my family as my parents,” Jen said, taking my hands into hers.
“I know everything will come in time, Jen, so instead of worrying, let’s get out of here and explore Nevaeh. What do you think?” I asked.
“That sounds exactly like what I need to do,” Jen said jumping up.
We met Aunt Grace and Hudson in the living room. “You girls ready to see where you’ll be hanging out for the next couple of years?” Aunt Grace asked.
“Let’s get going.” I answered. “Absolutely,” we both replied as we all left the house.
Once outside and walking down the driveway, I could see Jen and Hudson were having a hard time not acting like they were in a relationship. It was pretty apparent they wanted to hold hands and be close to one another. I knew neither one of them wanted to go against what they’d promised me. I had to admit, I was feeling guilty about making them agree to it.
“Hey, guys, I’m more uncomfortable watching the two of you trying to not be all girlfriend-boyfriend. So go ahead and do the hand holding thing—” I winked at Aunt Grace. I was starting to feel comfortable around Jen and Hudson, but only when it suited me. I was going to play the uncomfortable thing for as long as I could.
As we left Aunt Grace’s driveway heading to town, I saw for the first time how secluded her house was. It was a five minute walk down the driveway to get to the road. It was lined with oversized trees, which made it look more like a picture from a magazine than a walk down someone’s driveway. I was expecting to see a gravel road when we got to the main road, but it was paved.
“So, I figured I’d bring you down Main Street first and show you where I spend most of my time. I’m not sure if you guys know this, but I don’t only work at the coffee shop attached to the book store in town with Eve, she and I own it. We own the coffee shop and the book store,” Aunt Grace said softly.
“Wow, Aunt Grace, I never knew. I say we go see both,” I replied.
Mom’s spirit had come along for the tour, doing her regular swirl as we went down the street. As I was concentrating on her vibe, she was reminiscing about her younger years here.
Suddenly, an unknown energy came into the picture. Everything stood still. It swirled around me and settled in front of me. The energy was dark, with non-threatening vibes coming from it. The colors radiating from it mirrored every color you’d relate to Earth—greens, browns, yellows, and blues. The ambiance of the energy was familial; I knew there was nothing to fear. While I was trying to understand what the energy was, Mom came over and blended with it.
Once combined, the two entities swirled around me. I reached out to the earth-toned colors while Mom’s colors were still intertwining with them and swept my fingers through them. My cheeks flushed bright red. I felt slightly embarrassed, as though I’d intruded on a private moment. The emotions Mom emitted could only be explained by one thing… “Dad.”
“Jacey,” he replied as he swirled around me.
Neither one of my parents could physically hug me. Their embraces were whispering remnants feathering against my skin.
Without a word, Mom and Dad’s colors intertwined. From their display, it was apparent, nothing—even death—could keep them apart. As I stood there watching my parents, it was the first time I felt at peace since their death. We moved on and they floated around our group as we walked closer to town.
Deep in thought, I realized I might have more powerful abilities than I initially thought. If I was able to make out Mom and now Dad, who else might I be able to see and interact with? Was I ready for all of this and did I truly want to connect with anyone else?
Aunt Grace pointed out a house. It was set back almost as far as hers. The only difference between the two was that you could see this house from the road. It was a modest two level dark brick home. There were beautiful flower gardens on either side of the main entrance, and of course, there were huge trees on either side of the house.
“This is Eve’s house. She, her husband Bronson, and their son Vincent, live here,” Aunt Grace explained.
Without warning, my body had a physical reaction at the mention of Eve’s home. My stomach somersaulted and my heart rate accelerated to the point I had to try and regulate my breathing. I was dumbfounded why I reacted this way.
The last time my body physically responded like this, I believed it was my mind catching up to my body and coming to the realization Nevaeh was now my new home—and it forced me to recognize I’d be doing it without Mom and Dad. Tha
t reaction I could understand. However, this one baffled me. This time it was happening while I was passing a house I’d never seen or been in before. The only thing I knew was it was owned by Eve and Bronson, friends of Aunt Grace, and their son’s name was Vincent.
“How old is their son?” I asked.
“Vincent? He’s seventeen, around your age,” Aunt Grace answered.
At the mention of his name, my stomach did a repeat of its earlier reaction. I grabbed my waist instinctively, not knowing exactly what this was. I looked around to make sure no one else noticed how queasy I was feeling. If any of them had been paying attention, I knew I’d be able to shrug off the stomach hugging thing as indigestion or something, but… the color rushing into my cheeks and ears wasn’t so easy to explain.
Jen and Hudson were too into one another to notice and Aunt Grace was in tour mode.
“I’ve asked Vincent if he could show you around St. Nemele when you get there tomorrow. He said he’d be waiting for you at the entrance tomorrow morning,” Aunt Grace said.
“Sounds good,” I said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
“I’m sure you guys will all get along. I think he’ll be in most of Hudson’s classes,” Aunt Grace said.
“Sounds great,” Hudson said.. He glanced at me and a look I interpreted as annoyance crossed his face. As I was about to ask what the look was for, Aunt Grace announced we’d reached Main Street.
“Here we are, guys—not at all what you’re used to. You’ll find that Nevaeh has a way of growing on you, though.”
I took in the town center. In the middle of Main Street was one of the prettiest parks I’d ever seen. There were scatterings of oversized maple and oak trees, large lush green shrubs, bright flower gardens with every type of flower you could possibly imagine, and white wooden park benches. For September, the colors of everything were almost too much to take in at once. The flowers and benches all appeared to encircle a maze of sorts. Its entrance faced out onto Main Street. On all sides of the park were a number of different stores and shops.
From a glance, the shops consisted of a second-hand store, a flower shop, a clothing boutique, a hardware store, a photo place, Will’s Market, and of course, The Six and Samples. All of the buildings were small town picturesque. They all looked to be a hundred years old in a nostalgic, time-forgotten way, as if time had passed everywhere in the world except for here. Old world charm in a new world time.
As we took in the heart of Nevaeh, Aunt Grace suggested we go to the Six and Samples for a quick break.
“Who’s up for hot chocolate and fresh cinnamon buns?”
My stomach rumbled, answering for me.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Aunt Grace said as she put her arm around my shoulder and directed us all through the front entrance of the coffee shop.
It was nine in the morning. I didn’t expect to see a lot of people there, considering the population of Nevaeh was about five hundred people. There might be five people browsing on a Sunday morning, but I was wrong.
Every table in the place had been taken and there was standing room only. There were fifty people or more occupying ninety-nine percent of the booths there having breakfast. As we entered, a hush fell over the patrons of the restaurant. They all seemed to stop what they were doing, deciding we were more interesting than what they had on their plates. I thought for a second I was having another Star Trek moment, but when I looked at Aunt Grace, Hudson, and Jen, I could see that they were experiencing the same uncomfortable, spotlight presence I was. A voice from behind the coffee counter broke the silence. “Grace, I hoped you’d be by today. Come. Come and sit and let me wait on you for a change.”
The voice came from a woman who stood out like a ray of light from behind the counter. With the overhanging silence broken, the hum of conversation came back to life.
“Everyone, this is my friend and partner, Eve. Eve, this is…”Aunt Grace started to introduce us as we each picked four empty stools at the counter. However, before she could get through us all, Eve cut her off.
“Grace, there’s no need to introduce any of them to me. You’ve spoken about them for so long, I already feel as though I know them,” Eve said, coming from behind the counter.
“Hello, Hudson. My, you do look like your father,” Eve announced, hugging Hudson close. Hudson, not being one for public displays of affection, tried his best to not look uncomfortable. He was failing miserably. I chuckled silently. It was Jen’s turn.
“You must be Jen. No mistaking how Hudson looks at you.” Eve held out her hand and took Jen’s hand into hers.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Eve said.
For a brief second there was a glint in her eyes which summoned up a recent event for me. Another person had looked at me this way before and it took only a second for me to recall who and when it happened. It was the way Aunt Grace had looked at me after the incident in the gas station washroom, a look of awe. As quickly as it appeared it was gone, but it had definitely been there. Eve composed herself so fast I believed no one else saw her reaction.
“And you’re Jacey,” she said, taking both my hands in hers. “You definitely look like your parents.”
She hugged me. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought it would be, but I still turned ten different shades of red and my ears felt like they were on fire. She eased up, letting me go.
“I apologize if my enthusiasm for seeing the two of you again has made you uncomfortable. I’m Eve.” She put her hand onto Aunt Grace’s shoulder.
“Grace and I have been friends forever. Since she’s been visiting your family away from Nevaeh, she’s kept me updated on your family exploits. From her stories I feel like I’ve been there with her watching you grow up. I hope we’ll be friends. I know how much you mean to your Aunt, and your Aunt means a lot to me.”
A gust entered the coffee shop. Again, I found myself in my own time, watching Mom and Dad travel around the shop in their intertwined state. They completed touring the shop, encircled me, and a peace filled me.
“Where have you two been?” I silently asked.
“We’ve been exploring. We haven’t been back in so long it seems everywhere we turn, an old memory floods us,” Dad whispered in my mind.
“Since I’m the only one who seems to be able to talk to you guys, and by the way, I’m extremely grateful that I can—but I really don’t want to walk in on something which will scar me for life. I know you two know exactly what I’m talking about.” I finished with a smile and a wink.
“Nice to see nothing’s changed,” Mom said, placing a piece of hair behind my ear that had fallen out of my ponytail. It was something she did that used to drive me crazy, but now I found it comforting.
“It’s nice to see nothing has changed. I love you both, you know,” I said, getting a little emotional.
Suddenly, an electric tingle startled us. My senses were hyper-sensitive. Mom and Dad didn’t seem to be as alarmed by the sudden atmospheric charge.
I was feeling extremely anxious.
“What’s wrong, Jacey?” Mom asked. She flowed the red and blue colors from my previous dream. Dad, the ever stoic parent, was more animated than I’d ever seen him. He was crouched in front of me as if to protect me.
A new, calming, yellow essence floated towards us. At first it was confusing because I felt nothing from this entity. It was like walking into a room blind and hearing something, knowing it’s there but not knowing where or what it was. I was totally shocked when I figured out who had joined us.
It was Eve. She materialized a few feet in front of me and attempted to touch my shoulder. The wall of protection my parents put in front of me stopped Eve midstride, leaving her motionless and confused. After a few seconds, she lowered her arm. She accepted this and smiled carefully.
I realized she couldn’t see my parents, either. I found this somewhat strange, considering she was face to face with my Dad right now.
She reached out again. This
time a flash of light blew forth, making her recoil and grab her hand.
“You’re more gifted than we thought, Jacey. I’m sure you can sense I mean you no harm.” She looked directly into my eyes.
My parents became visible to her. Once their protective dome ceased, the truth became clear.
“Ria. Hearte. I’ve missed you so much,” Eve cried as she put both her hands to her mouth, trying to stifle her cry.
“You can see my parents?”
“Only because you let me, Jacey,” Eve said. She was able to engulf the two swirling spirits as she opened her arms, inviting my parents in for an embrace. They didn’t hesitate. Eve enfolded them in an over joyous hug. Their spirits intertwined, it was now my turn to be awed.
“Thank you, Jacey, for letting me see them again,” Eve said, tears pooling in her grateful eyes.
“Why can’t you see them without me? It’s obvious you can go into the same realms I can, so why can’t you see them?”
“I’ve never seen any of our kind in this realm before today. Until this point, I’ve been the only one known to be able to venture in this realm—the Charta zone—and see what those faithful to the Yietimpi had in mind,” Eve said solemnly.
“What do you mean of our kind?” I asked.
“Our own society, the Nemelites. It’s who your parents were and still are. It’s who you are. The who and where of the Nemelites will be shown to you soon. Some has already been revealed to you during the recent events which you’ve experienced.”
“I believe in my parents and my family. I don’t know you. I know I feel comfortable around you and don’t feel threatened, But I have no idea who you’re referring to when you talk about Nemelites,” I stated.
“You have witnessed many inexplicable events. Not merely in the last few weeks but throughout your young life. You may not remember most of them. While you’re here, they may come back to you. To give you some idea of who and what we are in terms you’re used to, we’re the magic, the spirits, that care for many worlds.” Eve stopped. I could hardly take this in.
“Your parents gave up more than any parent should ever have to when they left here, Jacey. They were of one thought. Save one to save all. It’s something they believed in and something which has given all of us hope. Our optimism in believing we could defeat the contingent of Yietimpi and maybe convert some still lives in some of our kind. You know nothing about it now, however in time your memories will resurface and your birthright will take over. The Awakening all have waited for is long gone,” Eve said.
Awakenings (Elemental Series - Book 1) Page 13
