Ascension (Book 4, The Watcher Chronicles) (35 page)

“I was worried about Joshua when Caylin broke up with him,” Mason admits. “But it looks like Leah has mended his broken heart rather quickly.”

“Caylin was never meant for Joshua,” I reply.

“He’s here you know.”

I turn in Mason’s arms to look at him. “Aiden?”

Mason nods and looks out to the mountain past the lake Lilly’s home faces. I turn to follow his gaze and see a small black dot against the rock face. I know where he is. It’s the same spot Lilly took me to when I first met her, and we were trying to find some privacy away from Malcolm.

“What’s he doing?” I ask.

“Watching.”

“A Watcher watching,” I say amused, “that’s original.”

I see Caylin stand and walk over to us. Joshua scoots in a little closer to Leah on the bench they’re sitting on and gently takes her hand. Leah smiles shyly and scoots in even closer to her new boyfriend.

“When is the baby due, Jess?” Caylin asks me as she comes to stand at the foot of the stairs.

“December,” I tell her, rubbing my belly.

“It’s a boy, right?”

I nod, smiling proudly.

The pendant of the necklace around Caylin’s neck sparkles in the August sunlight. It’s one half of a crystal heart, about the size of a quarter, hanging from a gold chain.

“That’s a pretty necklace,” I say. “Where did you get it?”

Caylin touches the pendant lying against her chest.

“It was left for me,” Caylin tells us, a small knowing smile lifting the corners of her mouth. “I found it this morning sitting on the window sill outside my bedroom. It was wrapped in a small blue box with a white ribbon around it.”

I should have known Aiden would find a way to mark Caylin’s birthday. One down and three more to go before he can introduce himself to her, if he wants to have Brand and Lilly’s blessing that is.

“Is it engraved on the underside with something?” I ask, seeing a small patch of white on the middle side of the pendant where the heart was cut in half.

Caylin nods. “It looks like half of a flame to me,” she says. “I’m not sure what it’s supposed to mean.”

“Well, it’s beautiful. Your secret admirer has good taste,” I tell her.

“Yes. He does,” Caylin agrees with a shy smile.

Holding the pendant with the tips of her fingers, she turns to walk back to the table where Joshua and Leah are still sitting.

I feel sure she knows who left her the gift. You don’t forget about your soul mate just because you aren’t allowed to see him.

I turn back to Mason. “Take me to Aiden.”

“I don’t like phasing you too much in your condition,” Mason says, resting a hand on my belly where our son lies snuggled within my womb.

“I need to talk to him,” I say. “Would you rather have me fly over there?”

“Uh no,” Mason says. “I’ll take you.”

Before I know it, I’m standing beside Aiden on the side of the mountain.

His eyes seem locked on the scene below us by Lilly’s house.

“It’s too soon,” I warn him.

He nods, acknowledging that he heard me.

“I won’t do anything,” he tells me.

“It’s only three more years,” I say to him. “After that, you can be together.”

“I will try to wait.”

“Don’t just try,” I tell him. “If you love her, you’ll wait.”

“Like I said,” Aiden turns to me, a pained look in his eyes, “I will try.”

I sigh, knowing I can’t get a promise from him. I can’t really say I blame him. He waited his whole life to find Caylin and now we were asking him to wait years before he could even introduce himself to her.

Was it fair?  Probably not but for Caylin’s sake and her parents’ sanity it was a necessity.

“She knows it was from you by the way,” I tell him.

Aiden smiles. “Good. I don’t want her to forget about me.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. I seriously doubt she could forget about you even if she tried. Just be careful, Aiden. Malcolm’s already made one death threat against you. I would rather not have Caylin put in the middle of a family feud just because you couldn’t wait another three years.”

“I’ll try, Jess,” Aiden says adamantly. “I swear it.”

“Ok. I guess that’s the most any of us can ask of you.”

As I look down at the scene below us, I see Malcolm phase in with some of my friends.

“Take me back,” I tell Mason.

When we return to the porch, I’m instantly surrounded by my extended family.

“Oh mon Dieu!” JoJo exclaims when she sees me. “I had not realized you would be so big!”

“Gee, thanks, JoJo,” I say trying not to take offense.

“Non, you look beautiful,” JoJo says, giving me kisses on both cheeks. “I can not believe we will have a little Mason to love on soon.”

“Do you want me to tell you his future?” Gabe asks me jokingly.

“His future is his own,” I reply. “No fortune telling for him, thank you very much.”

“Well, Uncle Chandler’s working on a lullaby for him.   Hopefully, it’ll be done by the time he’s born,” Chandler tells me.

“Uh, Jess,” Gabe says, looking in the direction of the picnic table where Caylin, Joshua and Leah are still sitting and talking. “Who is that girl sitting with Leah and Joshua?”

“That’s the birthday girl,” I tell him. “Brand and Lilly’s daughter, Caylin.”

Gabe’s eyes squint at Caylin. “I’ve seen her before.”

“I have pictures of her at my house,” I say. “Maybe you recognize her from those.”

“No,” Gabe says with certainty. “I’ve seen her in a vision.”

What a way to grab my full attention.

“What vision?” I ask.

Everyone looks at Gabe as he says, “I saw her in one of the visions I had when I showed Baal his future.”

“Is she the one who kills Baal?”

Gabe shakes his head. “No. She was the one holding a baby. But, she was older in the vision.”

I look back at Caylin and realize something with absolute certainty.

She’s the one God warned me I would need to protect.  My next mission here on Earth would, of course, have to involve Michael’s granddaughter.  It made sense in a weird cosmic sort of way.  But, why would Caylin be involved in a vision concerning Baal’s future?  What exactly did fate have in store for her?

A Note from the Author

Thank you all so much for reading The Watcher Chronicles.  I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

So, as you might have gathered, Caylin and Aiden’s story will be next on the list of Watcher books.  The title of that book will be
Timeless
and it will be YA so my underage trilogy readers can read it too.

I haven’t started writing it yet because I am currently working on the final installment for my
Harvester of Light
trilogy entitled
Dawn
. 

As soon as I’m through with
Dawn
, I will begin writing
Timeless
.

I have not decided if Caylin’s story will be one book or two.  I need to start writing it first.  I’m not much for writing stories with a lot of subplots to stretch a series out.  So, I really just need to start it to see how much story there is to tell.  I have had a lot of requests to make sure I tie up all the loose ends as far as the future of the secondary characters.  Since this book will encompass both the characters of the trilogy and the chronicles, I should be able to do that.

I’m really excited about
Timeless
.  I ended up falling in love with the Aiden character more than I thought I would. He will try his best to abide by Brand and Lilly’s request, but sometimes even the best of intentions can be acted upon by an outside force to change them.  And that’s all I’m going to say about that….

Timeless
also sets up Malcolm’s books.  Originally, I thought I saw him 200 years in the future, but to make the world I see the future becoming, I’m afraid that will have to be stretch to 1000 years in the future.  And no, that does not mean it will be a space opera.  Everything will take place on Earth, but it will be an Earth divided by two completely different societies.

To stay up to date with my projects, please visit either my blog (
http://teefymllems.blogspot.com/
) or my website (
http://sjwest.weebly.com/
).  I try to post on my blog every week.

And I would like to thank those of you who leave reviews on the various outlets in advance.  I don’t get to speak with many of you personally, but I want you to know that I do appreciate you taking the time to leave reviews.  If you would like to contact me directly, please feel free to email me at
[email protected]
.

Thank you again for reading the Chronicles!

S.J. West