P’raps now they’ll bloody well leave me alone.
She paused on the back porch to take a nice long breath of crisp morning air, and went inside. Not bothering to put anything on, she retrieved a peach the size of her head from the pantry and took a seat at the rickety table in the center of the cabin’s primary room, enjoying the lingering scent of wood smoke. Feet up, ankles crossed, she leaned back in her chair and took a bite.
Juice dribbled from her lip, falling over her chest. She ignored the droplets running down her body and took another bite, dribbling more juice. Soon, the quiet calm of the forest gave way to the whirr of an ion drive outside as a hovercar circled once and set down out front.
“Come in, Anna,” she said, two seconds before a soft knock sounded at the door.
Anna entered, her usual navy colored wool replaced by a black raincoat that had ‘government agent’ written all over it. Aaron tucked in behind her, in street clothes.
“Good grief woman, are you always naked?” Anna averted her eyes.
“Not always. Only when it would make someone uncomfortable or I’m trying to relax. I’ll leave you to guess which it is now.”
Anna’s face turned pink. “I had a feeling I’d find you here. You disappeared. We never got the chance to say thanks.”
“Oh.” Aurora waved dismissively. “I caused as much of the mess as I fixed. Sorry about that, though I dare say it was rather satisfying to watch everything fall into place.”
“People died, Lauren,” said Aaron. “That’s not much of a game.”
“So serious.” Aurora stuck out her tongue. “It would’ve been a lot worse if I ran off and hid in a cave. At least sticking around, I could nudge things a bit. So what if I had a little fun along the way?” She took another bite. Juice ran down her arm in rivulets.
“I think my father’s still at the house.” Anna slid into the facing chair, still not looking at her. “Got the feelin’ ‘e’s fond of Alastair. The boy’s sure he’s not alone sometimes.”
“Oh, you moved in!” Aurora let her feet drop and sat up. “That’s wonderful. I’m sure you’ll be happy there.” She winked at Aaron. “All of you.”
“What are your plans?” Anna looked up, blushing. “I hope you’ll stop by here and there to say hello. If you do, please dress. There’s a boy about. Before, when you had that vision of children playing on the lawn… that was Alaistar you saw, wasn’t it?”
Aurora winked. “Good of you to take him in. My plans? I think I’ll live here for a while… maybe for good. I’m going to enjoy the lack of things blowing up, cities burning, and people dying everywhere I look.” Aurora’s next bite sprinkled her lap with peach juice. “He’ll be fine. I believe he’ll even wind up saving his sister’s life at some point.”
“What?” Small sparks connected Anna’s legs to the floor. “I’m going to have a daughter? She’s going to get shot?”
“Six actually. Identical sextuplets, you’ll be the size of the Gherkin for months.”
Anna almost fainted.
“Hah! Got you!” Aurora laughed. “I only saw the one, and she’s not going to get shot. Looked like she wound up choking at dinner and he did the squeezy thing. Pleasantly mundane.”
“Oh, goodness,” said Aaron. “Now she’s going to keep the child on pudding until she’s forty.”
Anna glared at him.
“You can still choke on pudding.” Aurora winked. “Stop trying to read ahead, Anna. Enjoy yourself.” The mirth faded from her voice. “If you try to muck about, you might make it worse.”
For a moment, Anna stared in silence at the trail of wet footprints leading in from the back door. “You’re going to need another bath. You’re getting sticky all over you.”
The bedroom door at the deep end of the hall opened. Anna looked away from the room she’d once shared with James.
Agent Gordon walked out in sweat pants and a ‘kiss the chef’ apron. “Oh, we’ve got visitors.”
“Shit!” Anna jumped out of her chair, flying backward into Aaron. “What the bloody fuck, Aurora? You brought his ghost here?”
“Oh, he’s no ghost, and I do have a feeling he’ll be more than happy to help get rid of all this juice.” She winked at him as he walked to the stove. “Stay for lunch? He’s a fabulous cook, and he’s great in the sack.”
“He… he…” Anna pointed.
“I think she’s still upset about the whole Tube/motorbike thing.” Agent Gordon set a frying pan on the stove.
Aaron held Anna back. “Easy, luv.”
“More the stabbing me with a fucking knife thing… and what you did to Faye.”
Aurora gestured with the peach at Gordon. “You know it wasn’t his fault. James had him hounding you on purpose for weeks, trying to drive you out of London. Gordon wasn’t supposed to kill you, but he got a bit cheesed off. His nickin’ Faye was James’s idea… ‘oped you’d consider her a lost cause and give up.”
“Sorry about that.” Gordon dropped frozen sausages into the pot and smiled. “I wasn’t myself.”
Anna trembled, pointing. “James killed him.”
“No,” said Aurora. “James flung him off the side of a parking deck. I caught him. The man never did learn to look over edges, just assumed ‘the most powerful telepath in the world’ couldn’t half-ass anything. Calm down, Anna. Gordon’s a teddy bear. He took the patriotic thing a smidge too far. Hughes set him to rights.”
“I really am sorry about trying to kill you.” Gordon held up a cluster of mugs. “Care for some Earl?”
Anna looked at Aaron, who shrugged. She sank into a chair with a far off look in her eyes and an expression of shock, muttering something about James under her breath.
“Oh, you’re adorable,” said Aurora. “Aaron, please sit.”
“And…” Agent Gordon winked while setting the mugs on the table. “We’ve even got Tim Tams.”
Aaron failed to stifle an eager whine.
Aurora laughed. “Welcome home, you two.” She sighed and gave Anna a worried look. “Alas… I do have some rather tragic news for you.”
“You saw something?” Aaron fidgeted and sank into a chair.
Anna stared, a faint tremble in her hand. “How bad?”
Gordon pulled a box of Earl Grey from the cabinet, speaking without looking back. “Tragic I believe is the word she used.”
Anna bit her lip.
“Your daughter’s going to be an Arsenal fan.” Aurora winked.
fin
Acknowledgments
Thank you so much for reading the Awakened series. The Awakened series represents a labor of love, something I have been working on for a long time and am thrilled to be able to share with the world. These characters have been with me for almost twenty years, originally as part of a campaign I ran for a tabletop roleplaying game… however the events of that campaign bear little resemblance to this series in novel form.
Additional thanks to:
Mark Woodring for his insightful editing.
Jackson Tjota for the cover illustration. Ricky Gunawan for illustrating the interior art. Alexandria Thompson for cover formatting.
Fernando Melo and Dioris Betances, for their help ensuring the Spanish dialogue made sense.
Carol Jayez and Koko Yamamoto for help with the Japanese dialogue.
Special thanks to Jen Wadsworth for her help proofreading.
About the Author
Originally from South Amboy NJ, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Since 1996, he has developed the “Divergent Fates” world, in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, The Awakened Series, The Harmony Paradox, and the Daughter of Mars series take place. Along with being an editor at Curiosity Quills press, he has worked in IT and technical support.
Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom RPG systems, and a fan of anime, British humour, and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, a
nd what happens after it.
He is also fond of cats.
Visit me online at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MatthewSCoxAuthor
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/mscox
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/matthewcox10420/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7712730.Matthew_S_Cox
Email: mcox2112@gmail.com
Other books by Matthew S. Cox
Divergent Fates Universe Novels
Division Zero series
Division Zero
Lex De Mortuis
Thrall
Guardian
The Awakened series
Prophet of the Badlands
Archon’s Queen
Grey Ronin
Daughter of Ash
Zero Rogue
Angel Descended
Daughter of Mars series
The Hand of Raziel
Araphel
Ghost Black
Virtual Immortality series
Virtual Immortality
The Harmony Paradox
Divergent Fates Anthology
(Fiction Novels - Adult)
The Roadhouse Chronicles Series
One More Run
The Redeemed
Dead Man’s Number
Faded Skies series
Heir Ascendant
Ascendant Unrest
Ascendant Revolution
Temporal Armistice Series
Nascent Shadow
The Shadow Collector
Vampire Innocent series
A Nighttime of Forever
A Beginner’s Guide to Fangs
The Artist of Ruin
The Last Family Road Trip
Standalones
Wayfarer: AV494
Axillon99
Chiaroscuro: The Mouse and the Candle
The Far Side of Promise anthology
Operation: Chimera (with Tony Healey)
The Dysfunctional Conspiracy (with Christopher Veltmann)
Winter Solstice series (with J.R. Rain)
Containment
Alexis Silver series (with J.R. Rain)
Silver Light
Deep Silver
Samantha Moon Origins series (with J.R. Rain)
New Moon Rising
Moon Mourning
Maddy Wimsey series (with J.R. Rain)
The Devil’s Eye
The Drifting Gloom
Samantha Moon Case Files series (with J.R. Rain)
Blood Moon
Dead Moon
Young Adult Novels
Caller 107
The Summer the World Ended
Nine Candles of Deepest Black
The Eldritch Heart
The Forest Beyond the Earth
Out of Sight
Middle Grade Novels
Tales of Widowswood series
Emma and the Banderwigh
Emma and the Silk Thieves
Emma and the Silverbell Faeries
Emma and the Elixir of Madness
Emma and the Weeping Spirit
Standalones
Citadel: The Concordant Sequence
The Cursed Codex
The Menagerie of Jenkins Bailey
Sophie’s Light