by S. J. West
Timeless
Caylin’s Story
Book One
By
S.J. West
List of Watcher Books in the Watcher Series
The Watchers Trilogy
Cursed
Blessed
Forgiven
The Watcher Chronicles
Broken
Kindred
Oblivion
Ascension
Caylin’s Story
Timeless
Devoted
The Redemption Series
Malcolm
Anna
Lucifer
Redemption
Other Books by S.J. West
The Harvest of Light Trilogy
Harvester
Hope
Dawn
The Vankara Saga
Vankara
Dragon Alliance
War of Atonement (2015)
©2013 S.J. West. All Rights Reserved.
Prologue
The first time I ever saw my mother cry was on my fifteenth birthday.
Mason Collier, leader of the Watchers, and his wife, Jess, were speaking with my parents on the front porch of our Colorado home. I watched my mother as she listened intently to what they had to say. During the talk, her ever present smile vanished to be replaced by a troubled frown. She sat down hard on the porch swing as if their words held a physical weight she wasn't strong enough to bear. She lifted a shaky hand to her lips, and her shoulders began to visibly shake. Even from a distance, I knew she was crying. As I remained seated at the picnic table watching her unexpected reaction, I felt a need to go to her but knew I shouldn't. Something bad had just happened. Something very bad.
After Mason and Jess walked away from my parents to give them some privacy, they came to sit back down at the picnic table with the rest of us. My father tried to place a comforting arm around my mom's shoulders, but she pushed him away. She said something I couldn't hear, but I could see her anger clearly enough on her face. My dad sat there beside her letting my mother use him as a target for her rage even though I felt sure he had done nothing to deserve it. After she unleashed all of her fury, she broke down into heart wrenching sobs. My father wrapped his arms around her then and held my mom tenderly to him until she stopped crying.
God appeared on the porch shortly afterward.
I watched as he said something to my parents and held one of his hands out to my mom as if asking her to come with him somewhere. My mother looked at him warily like she didn't even want him there much less go somewhere with him. She looked mad at God, something I had never seen before. Usually when God came, she willingly went with Him, but that day I could tell she didn’t want to be anywhere near Him. She wanted Him to leave her alone.
Reluctantly, she stood and placed her hand into His. He then phased her to points unknown.
After she left, my father looked over at me and tried to smile reassuringly. His eyes, usually filled with joy, held a sadness now I couldn’t understand. I was about to go to him and ask what was going on, but Uncle Malcolm beat me there. My father started to walk Uncle Malcolm into our home, presumably to keep their conversation private. He looked back at me and tilted his head towards our guests indicating I should take care of them and not worry about what had just transpired between him and my mother.
I looked around the picnic table at the people gathered to help me celebrate my birthday and stood in complete awe of my life and those around me.
Mason and Jess were speaking in soft whispers to one another at the opposite end of the table from me. I could only assume they were discussing whatever it was they had just told my parents. Jess was pregnant with their first child at the time. I was actually still a little confused on whether or not I was related to Jess. The whole archangel / vessel connection was all a bit confusing.
My parents told me that Jess was a vessel for my grandfather’s soul. It was odd to think an ordinary human could share their body and soul with an archangel, and I knew my grandfather, Michael, was one of the most powerful angels ever created. To have access to that much power seemed a little crazy to me. I had enough trouble dealing with the angelic powers I inherited from my own parents.
Jess wasn’t the only vessel of an archangel present that day though.
There were six more. One of which I’d had a crush on since I was eleven years old.
The one and only Chandler Cain was actually sitting beside me as a guest at my own birthday party. I mean, who has the most famous rock star on the planet at their fifteenth birthday party?
Apparently, me...
I knew Chandler was the vessel for the archangel Chamuel. He had the power to manipulate other people’s emotions through his music, if he wanted to. But, even before he awakened the archangel within him, Chandler had been able to do that naturally with his songs.
Chandler wasn’t the only famous person at my party though. JoJo Armand, world renowned French fashion designer, was also there. She was the vessel for the archangel Jophiel. JoJo had the ability to imbue clothing and other special items she made with certain protective powers.
For my birthday gift, she gave me a silver-chained anklet with a piece of black leather entwined within the links and a silver angel wing dangling from the middle. I was told to always wear it and never take it off. I wasn’t sure what it was supposed to protect me from, but I trusted the people around me enough to know that I should listen to what they told me to do.
The only other vessel of international notoriety was Gabe Kinlan. He was a British newscaster and carried the archangel Gabriel within him. The main reason he was famous was because he vanished into thin air during a live telecast from a war zone in Afghanistan just before a bomb went off which would have surely killed him. The video footage went viral in a matter of minutes afterwards.
The truth of what happened wasn’t known by many people, but I had an inside source who told me everything. Jess and the other vessels had actually teleported Gabe to them right before the bomb exploded. People still asked Gabe how he managed to escape, but all Gabe has ever said in answer to that question is, “It was divine intervention.” Being the vessel of Gabriel gives Gabe the power to see into the future.
There was also Rafe Anany. He was a doctor with Doctors without Borders and stationed in Sierra Leone. He was the vessel for the archangel Raphael and had the power to heal and control water with his talisman, Moses's staff.
Zack Hall was the vessel for Zadkiel, and he had the power to give comfort to people in emotional distress. It seemed a natural fit for him since he was a child psychologist by profession. Zack had these intricately designed tattoos on his forearms, and I was told he could conjure real daggers from them that completely negated the angelic powers of his targets.
And last, but certainly not least was Leah Mills.
She was a year younger than me, but as soon as we met we became best friends. She was the vessel for Uriel, which was really kind of weird actually. I knew Uriel had tried to kill my mother at one time. Apparently, he thought killing her was the only way to save the universe. Maybe God put them together because he knew Leah's sweetness would temper Uriel's more aggressive nature. Unlike the other vessels, Leah's power didn't seem to match her personality at all. She had the power to conjure fire in the palm of her hands. But, maybe such a sweet person was the right one to wield such a destructive gift. If placed in the wrong hands, it might cause problems.
All seven of the vessels, with the help of their archangels, stoppe
d Lucifer from unleashing Hell on Earth and sealed the Tear. The Tear had been an ever present fixture in the sky all my life. It was formed the day my family stopped Lucifer from destroying the universe the first time. They were able to prevent that catastrophe from happening but not before he tore a hole in the folds of the cosmos which he opened once a year, randomly transporting people off of our world and onto other planets and even alternate realities.
Leah laughed at something Joshua told her, drawing my attention back to the present. Joshua worked with Mason at the Watcher Agency. He was like a genius or something with computers. During the short time we thought we liked each other, he would try to explain things he did with computers to me, but, honestly, he could have been speaking Greek and it would have made about as much sense to my mind. Computers and I just didn't get along. I leaned more towards the artistic side of life, like my dad.
As I watched my two best friends enjoying their newfound attraction to one another, I couldn't help but feel a little lonely. I lifted my hand to the half-heart crystal pendant at my neck and tried to remind myself I wasn't alone, not really.
No matter how long I lived, I knew I would never forget the first time I saw Aiden. The moment was like a permanent brand on my mind, never to be erased.
It happened last Valentine’s Day when Joshua and I were on our first 'official' date. Mason and Jess were acting as our chaperones to one of Chandler's concerts in Denver. As we stood just off stage watching Chandler perform for his thousands of adoring fans, I felt this overwhelming urge to look behind me. When I did, my eyes met Aiden’s for the first time. He was standing right beside Jess staring at me with an adorably confused look on his face. The music and scream of fans at the concert faded to the background of my mind as Aiden and I stared at one another until all I could hear was my own rapidly beating heart.
I smiled at him and he smiled back.
It was a smile that completely stole my breath and my heart at the same time. Before I knew it or could even attempt to stop it, Mason phased Aiden away from me. I instantly felt like someone had just snatched half of my heart out of my chest and knew from that moment on that I would never feel completely whole until I saw Aiden again.
To this day, the rest of the night is still a bit of a blur to me. I tried to act like I was having fun for Joshua’s sake, but all I really wanted to do was figure out where Mason took Aiden.
For months, Leah acted as my internal spy since she lived so close to Jess and Mason. Her mission? To figure out why Mason whisked Aiden away so suddenly that night at the concert; why I felt the way I did about a man I had never seen before that night, and why Aiden hadn’t tried to contact me since then except to anonymously leave a birthday gift on my window sill.
It wasn't until two weeks after my fifteenth birthday party that Leah finally came through for me and learned why I felt what I did for Aiden and the ultimatum my parents gave him if he ever wanted their blessing for us to be together.
“He's my soul mate?” I asked Leah after she dropped her bombshell on me. “So that's like a real thing? I thought it was just something romance writers made up.”
Leah shrugged. “Guess not. Jess says she and Mason are soul mates and your mom and dad are too. Gosh, I wonder if Joshua and I are…”
“Leah, please, can we stay focused on me for right now?” I asked in exasperation, not wanting to get trapped into another conversation about her relationship with Joshua. Ordinarily, I wouldn't mind talking about the budding romance between my two best friends, but right then I just wanted information about Aiden and the ultimatum my parents gave him. “What did my parents say about us being together?”
“Well, from what I overheard Jess say to Mason, your mom and dad told her to tell Aiden he couldn't see you again until you were eighteen.”
“Eighteen?” I asked, feeling my heart drop into my stomach with overwhelming disappointment. “But that's like three years from now!”
Leah shrugged. “That's how long he has to wait if he wants them to welcome him into your life with open arms.”
I fell back on my bed, covered my face with my hands and wept.
“Don't cry,” Leah begged as she lay down beside me. “I didn't tell you this to upset you. At least you know why he hasn’t come to see you. It’s not because he doesn’t want to. He just …can’t.”
I uncovered my face and stared up at the ceiling feeling bereft of hope and completely alone.
“But, why do we have to wait so long to even speak to one another?” I asked, wiping away the trail of tears from my face.
“Uh, because you just turned fifteen and he's like ancient. I mean can you really blame them? Plus, considering it's Aiden...”
I looked over at Leah. “What do you mean by considering it's Aiden? Is there something wrong with him?”
“I wouldn't say wrong exactly,” she hedged, “but...let's just say Aiden's not exactly the poster boy for abstinence, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh.”
I suppose it shouldn't have surprised me to hear Aiden was sexually experienced. He was a Watcher after all. And if he was anything like my Uncle Malcolm, he had probably had his fair share of lovers during his time on Earth.
“Do you know if he's seeing someone now?” I asked, not sure if I was ready to hear the answer but needing to know it.
“Are you kidding?” Leah asked, as if I had lost my mind. “You're pretty much all he thinks about, I think. He was never much of a talker, but now he just walks around like he's in a permanent daze.”
I giggled. Yes, I admit there was a selfish part of me that was happy to hear I'd affected Aiden as much as he'd affected me. I didn’t want him overly happy when I felt completely miserable.
“But eighteen, Leah? Are you sure you heard that right?”
Leah sighed. “Afraid so. I'm sorry.”
My mind raced. There had to be a way around my parents' rule. I refused to think I had to wait three years before I could even speak to Aiden.
“What if I called him?” I asked her. “Do you think he would talk to me?”
“I don't think that’ll work,” Leah said hesitantly. “I'm pretty sure they would consider that part of the no contact clause.”
“But they didn't say anything about this,” I said, holding out my necklace. “You know as well as I do that Aiden left this for me.”
Leah rolled her eyes. “Well of course he did. Who else would leave you a gift on your window sill?”
“Then why not a phone call? We won't actually see each other. Do you have his number?”
Leah fished out her cell phone and gave me Aiden's cell phone number. Before I lost my nerve, I called him.
His phone rang once.
It rang twice.
Before it could ring a third time, I heard, “Hello?”
I immediately choked. Why didn't I think about what I wanted to say before I called?
“Hello?” Aiden said, his voice sounding completely confused and completely adorable.
“Hi.” I finally answered, but fell silent again, not knowing what to say next.
“Hi,” Aiden said, his voice rising because he still had no idea who was calling him.
I felt like a complete idiot.
“This is Caylin,” I said, just trying to remember to breathe between each word.
Aiden was silent on the other end. I wasn't sure he was ever going to say anything back but finally he did.
“You shouldn't be calling me, Caylin,” he said, words I definitely didn't want to hear coming from him. “How did you get my number?”
“A...friend gave it to me,” I replied, not wanting to rat Leah out.
“I see,” he said knowingly. I felt sure he knew which friend I was referring to. He wasn’t that naive. “I do appreciate you making the effort to contact me. I really do. And please don't take this the wrong way, but I can't talk to you. I made a promise I would wait until you were older, Caylin. I don't intend to break my word to your family. So, if
you care about me at all, please, don't try to contact me again. Not until...not until it's the right time. Do you understand?”
I closed my eyes and couldn't stop myself from crying. The person on the other end of the phone stole half my heart with his one and only smile at me and now he was politely asking me to leave him alone.
“Yes,” I said, not able to keep the tears out of my voice. “I understand.”
“Please, Caylin, don't cry,” Aiden said, like my tears were physically hurting him. “It's only a few more years. They'll pass by before you realize it. And in that time I want you to know that you will always be in my thoughts. But, you have a little growing up to do first. Your parents are right. You're not ready for me.”
“I don't think they're right,” I said, fully believing it at the time.
“I know you don't,” he replied, and I could hear a smile in his voice. “But trust me, you're not ready for me yet. And… I have some issues of my own I would like to work out before we meet again.”
“Like what?”
Aiden fell silent for a few seconds before finally answering.
“I would rather wait to have that discussion when we can talk face to face. I plan to share everything you want to know about me with you when the time comes. But, right now, I want you to focus on enjoying the next three years of your life and not worrying about when you'll see me again. Just remember that I will be thinking about you until that time comes, ok?”
This time I was the one who fell silent. I knew once I gave him my answer the phone call would end, and I wasn't ready for it to end, not just yet.
“Thank you for the necklace,” I said instead, thinking this a reasonable way to keep him on the line.
“I'm glad you liked it.”
Neither of us said anything. I knew he was giving me time to come to terms with having to say goodbye, at least for now.
“I won't try to call you again,” I promised him.
