ENLIGHTENED
THE EVE SERIES
BOOK TWO
A. L. WADDINGTON
Booktrope Editions
Seattle, WA 2014
COPYRIGHT 2014 A. L. WADDINGTON
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
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should be directed to: [email protected]
Cover Design by Greg Simanson
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to similarly named places or to persons living or deceased is unintentional.
PRINT ISBN 978-1-62015-354-3
EPUB ISBN 978-1-62015-379-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014905542
Table of Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
DEDICATION
PREFACE
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
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
APPENDIX
AUTHOR BIO
PREVIEW OF PERCEPTION: THE EVE SERIES, BOOK THREE
MORE GREAT READS FROM BOOKTROPE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Greg Simanson for his beautiful work on designing the cover. You are so incredibly talented. I would also like to thank Jesse James Freeman and the staff at Booktrope Publishing for their belief in my series and for all their support making this happen. And a huge thank you to my spirited cheerleader and book manager Christina Boyd. I wish I had half your energy. Plus, Katrina Randall for her hard work in editing my sometime rambling paragraphs and making my words dance. Plus, a huge thank you to Heather Unrue for your support, feedback and words of encouragement. Also, lots of love for my beta reader, Abbie Unrue, whose critical eye and love of the series provided great insight and questions to be addressed. Of course, last but certainly not least, my family without whom I could never have followed my dreams.
For Dale, I am so blessed to have you as part of my life. Your love, your strength, and your faith in this world have always set an example of the kind of person I strive to be.
I love you!
Not all who wander are lost.
~J. R. R. Tolkien
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
~Henry David Thoreau
PREFACE
I HAVE HEARD PEOPLE SAY BEFORE that your life can change forever in a single day. I never thought it could really be true, but that was before Jackson Chandler moved into the house across the street from mine. His mere presence literally made me dizzy and nauseous. The few times we had actually touched caused me to blackout and experience episodes full of strange visions of another life. Memories like from a dream.
And yet, I felt this unexplainable draw to him. I had to be near him, always. I fell in love long before I even realized that it had happened. Oddly enough, he had fallen just as hard for me too. But our love could not be explored because of the episodes.
On Halloween 2009, Jackson and I were supposed to be getting dressed up in Victorian era costumes to attend our friend Cody’s party, but he ran into me on the stairs and caused me to blackout suddenly and take a horrible tumble.
Battered and bruised, I lay at the foot of his stairs seeing vivid images of myself in a beautiful white gazebo on a spring day with the man I loved. This man, whom I could not see, proposed to me with the sweetest words I had ever heard. But when I’d said yes and he looked up at me, I was amazed to see my new boyfriend, Jackson, staring lovingly back at me.
After Jackson and his parents spent hours explaining about EVE (Essence Voyager Era), a gift that I apparently inherited from my dad’s brother, Monte, I was more baffled and confused than ever before. This gift, or curse, I am not sure which, allowed me to fall asleep in one plane of existence and awaken in another, making it so I was living parallel lives. I spent half of my existence in the twenty-first century and the other half in the late nineteenth. Jackson and his family were also afflicted with the same ability.
None of it made any sense to me, nor seemed remotely possible. I could not wrap my brain around the idea that because of this EVE thing, every night when I fall asleep here in 2009 my soul awakens to an alternate life in 1878. Discovering that my soul traveled along parallel planes every night aroused a sense of uneasiness in me that I cannot describe.
Even stranger was when Jackson sat next to me on the couch, closer than we had ever been before, and for the first time I felt nothing. No dizziness, no cold chills, no nausea—nothing but an amazing love for him. I reached out my hand as if to touch him, but instantly decided to take full advantage of the lack of negative side effects that I normally experienced in close proximity to him and pressed my lips gently against his soft, full lips.
CHAPTER 1
Sunday, November 01, 2009
I WOKE UP AS THE SUN WAS BEGINNING to peek over the horizon. My head throbbed with visions of a large group of people sitting around a hearth, listening to a man read. Several of them I recognized. Others I didn’t. Yet, strangely, I knew who they were. Stranger still was the appearance of my Uncle Monte and his family. He appeared to be very happy as he spent the evening chatting with my father and brothers.
I lay there running the events over and over in my head, trying to make some sense of it all, but I couldn’t. Then suddenly, I got angry.
I jumped out of bed and quietly got myself dressed. I grabbed my winter jacket and boots and snuck out to the sun porch. My car turned over with little noise. I turned up the heat and backed out of the driveway heading to somewhere I had never wanted to go. I knew vaguely where my uncle’s grave was, in the cemetery on the other side of town, where my grandparents were buried.
I parked on the north side and climbed out of my car, taking my umbrella with me just in case. The air was musty, thick, and cold. Even though the sun had finally come up, it never penetrated the heavy cover of clouds. There was a faint drizzle coming down, and I hoped the rain would hold off for a while.
After wandering around aimlessly for a short time, I finally stumbled across our family plots. My Uncle Monte was resting next to my grandfather, with my grandmother on the other side of her husband.
I felt so out of place. I wasn’t sure exactly what I thought coming here would accomplish. I had never been here alone.
I dusted the colorful dead leaves off his headstone and stared down at the dates. I knelt down in front of the headstone as large tears fell silently down my cheeks.
“Why? Why did you do this to me?” I whispered. “If
you knew this thing, this EVE thing, was inherited, why did you leave me here to deal with it? Why aren’t you here to help me?”
I sat down on the wet leaves. My shoulders slumped and I let go of everything that had been pent up for the last several weeks.
“Why? Why aren’t you here to answer my questions? There are so many things I want to ask you,” I sobbed uncontrollably.
“How could you be so selfish? How could you just leave me here to figure this out on my own? I hate you! I hate you for being happy.”
I climbed to my feet and paced back and forth in front of his grave. The drizzle turned into a light rain, but I couldn’t feel it. The adrenaline was pumping rapidly through my body, causing me to block the cold. I could only feel the hurt and anger. I leaned against a big oak tree and bent over with my hands on my knees. My mind was racing in a thousand different directions, but still the tears wouldn’t stop.
I looked back up at my uncle’s headstone through my blurry vision and shook my head. “You knew there was a chance! You knew it! But you left me anyways. Why?” My screams echoed about the hollow cemetery. I slid down the tree and buried my head in my knees and wept.
***
It was almost noon before I arrived back home. I was soaked to the bone and suffering the worst headache I’d had since I woke up in the hospital after hitting my head on the coffee table. I jumped into the shower and let the hot water drown out my fears and sorrows.
I decided not to call Jackson. I refused to come across as pathetic or even worse, needy. I paced relentlessly around my bedroom, glancing out my bay window every two seconds to see if there was any movement inside his house across the street. There was none.
This is ridiculous!
The whole story of soul switching, drifting, or whatever it is, seemed too farfetched to even be considered possible. But I trusted them. I believed them. I believed in him. This was everything I was trying to avoid weeks ago when Jackson first entered my world —the drama that seems to go along with having a boyfriend. But I never could have ever in my wildest dreams expected this screwed up scenario.
I sat down in my window seat and leaned my head against the cold glass. His house looked as empty as I felt. Tears welled back up in my eyes. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. My heart was ripping in half.
“Jocelyn? Are you okay?” I looked in the direction of the voice to find my brother, Ethan, standing in the doorway with a strange look on his face.
I quickly wiped the tears off my cheeks.
“Fine. Just feeling stupid and sorry for myself. That’s all.”
He crossed over and sat down on the other end of the window seat.
“Jackson is downstairs. Do you want me to tell him you’ll call him later?”
“He’s here? Are you serious?”
“Yeah. So, what do you want me to do?”
I couldn’t get my mind back to the same place it was yesterday. The morning had done a number on my nerves, after fighting all night not to sleep. I was terrified of what would happen once I did.
“Just tell him I will be down in a minute.”
I needed to fix myself up before Jackson saw me.
Ethan headed to the door, rolling his eyes along the way. “Whatever… girls,” I heard him mutter under his breath as he closed my door.
The two of them were both down in the rec-room basement watching an NFL game. Jackson was lounging on the couch wearing jeans and a long-sleeved, dark green tee-shirt. His dark, wavy hair was tousled perfectly. His emerald green eyes lit up as he laughed at something my brother had said. He looked totally at ease in my home.
“Hello, stranger.” I tried to keep my voice steady as I entered the room.
“Good afternoon. I tried to call you.” He smiled and kissed me on the cheek when I sat down beside him.
“I’m sorry. Somehow I must have put my phone on silent.”
“I was beginning to think you were avoiding me,” he teasingly complained.
“Sorry.”
Jackson placed his hand on my knee. “No big deal. I live across the street.” He cocked his head slightly and curled his brow. “So it really was a lot of trouble coming all the way over here to speak with you.” He flashed me my favorite lopsided grin.
“I believe that’s my cue to leave. I’m going to go call Corbin and see how he’s feeling today after the party last night.” Ethan laughed as he climbed up the stairs.
We sat in silence, waiting until we were sure we were alone. We held each other’s gazes, stating a thousand words without ever muttering a sound. I could feel the unexplainable bond to him. My love for him was so incredibly real and strong.
“I was so worried about you. I could not sleep at all last night. I was up waiting for your call.” Jackson pulled me into his arms.
“I was afraid to call you.” A weak laugh escaped halfheartedly. “I wanted to, but I couldn’t bring myself.”
“Why?”
“I was too terrified to sleep, and I didn’t want to tell you.”
Jackson tightened his hold and lightly kissed me on the cheek.
“I am always here for you. You never have to be scared of anything.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I just don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about all this. It’s beyond strange.”
I struggled against the tears again. I was determined not to break down in from of him.
“Trust me. I have been in your shoes.” He cupped my face in his hands. “I know exactly the wide array of emotions that you are experiencing, and it does get easier with help and time.”
“I feel so lost.”
“You are not lost. No matter where you are, I am with you.”
“Can I ask you something silly?”
“Anything.”
“What happened last night?”
It had been driving me crazy. All morning, I kept wondering if what I remembered was real or not.
“What do you mean?”
“There. What happened there last night?”
“It was just a typical Sunday.” Jackson shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “Church services. Family dinner. We have very large families. Then we listened to your brother Jonathon read by the hearth for a while. It was fairly uneventful.”
I leaned back against the sofa, trying to comprehend it all. It still didn’t seem possible to me.
“You wore a dark green dress today, and your hair was curled like you had it for the party. You looked so lovely.” Jackson smiled lovingly at me.
I could feel myself blushing.
“You know what is funny? You are you in both eras. You blush the same. Smile the same. Laugh the same. It is truly incredible.” He slightly shook his head in awe.
“Is my personality the same?” I was so curious about this other me.
“Almost. I mean, you are still you. Granted, a slightly different version of you because the time periods are so different. Your grammar is much better there. You are more proper and lady-like. You definitely are more restrained in your words and actions. Here you express yourself freely; there you really cannot. You also hate the fact that all your brothers got to go or are attending college and you are not allowed to. Here you seem to thrive in your thirst for knowledge.”
“I can’t go to college?” I was confused. “Why?”
“Your father, Patrick would never allow it. He is very old fashioned and believes that a woman’s place is in running the home and tending to her husband and children.”
“How provincial! Why don’t I just go anyway? It’s my life.”
Jackson chuckled. “As much as you hate it, you would never openly disagree with him or defy his wishes. But you do sneak around and read books and newspapers behind his back.”
“Really? That’s funny. I hardly pay attention to the news here.”
“Well, the world is changing quite rapidly, I am afraid. And there, I believe, the fact that your father tries to restrict your awareness only heighte
ns your curiosity.”
“It must.”
“As strange as I know it seems to you, you still maintain your core personality traits.”
“How can I still be me? I mean, how do you keep everything straight?”
I snuggled up onto his shoulder. He held me tightly for a few minutes before he answered. “I think maybe it would be best if you spoke with my parents, rather than me. I can tell you some things, but my family was essential in getting me through this. I was honestly terrified. The world no longer made any sense to me. I did not know what was real and what was not.”
“Are your parents home?”
My mind needed some answers, despite the terror I was feeling.
“Actually, they are expecting us.” Jackson gave me a puzzled look. “Can I ask you something?”
I nodded.
“Why does your father, Shane, not like me?”
“He does. He’s only afraid of me getting hurt. He found your birthday gift the night I got injured. He read the inscription.”
“I understand.” Jackson kissed me softly.
I snuggled up against him and allowed all the tension to flow away from me.
***
We joined his parents later that evening for dinner. His mother, Emily, had made a roast and all the trimmings. We gathered around their dining room table that was set with an elegance that only Emily herself could pull off. His father, Robert, stood at the head of the table, carved the roast and served everyone their plates before settling down himself. Their proper statures still amazed me in comparison to how my family behaved.
“How was your day today, you two?” Emily asked, passing around the dinner rolls.
“Fine,” Jackson replied.
I smiled and shook my head. “So tell me. Does this EVE thing get easier?”
“Yes, with time. I do not want you to believe that now, because you are aware of it, things will all magically merge and become incredibly simple. It does not. We all still have to consciously work at it every day. But having those around you who understand helps a great deal,” Emily explained.
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