~ Epilogue ~
It took three days for the rescue to arrive after Stan and Lionel had safely made it to New York. Lionel had taken Rose to the hospital and Stanley had disappeared to Headquarters with Ben sealed and delivered. He gave his oral report and immediately rescue planes were dispatched to the island to pick up what remained of the prisoners.
It was Julia who spotted the distant speck first, and quickly the news spread through the camp the prisoners had made. Julia had discovered everything about Tom from Adrianna and had been shocked at the revelation that Smith was Tom’s father. Adrianna was one of the few that knew about Tom, as Rose had told her in confidence. Back then Rose had needed help to organise a home for the boy because Smith was getting crazier by the day and she didn’t want her son to grow up in such an environment. Julia was now even more concerned for Tom as he was kidnapped by his father. It was during this conversation that Julia decided to tell Adrianna about what she really was. She realised that Adrianna had watched Tom and Rose transform so must be curious about it and the best way to keep her silent was to tell her the truth. She demonstrated her powers to the woman, who looked astonished and asked hundreds of questions about it. Glad of the attention she willingly told her everything, from her uncle to her blood lineage. At the end of her story, they’d sat in silence for a while before Adrianna decided to speak her mind.
‘Seeing as you want to get Tom back as badly as we do, and you’re unhappy with your family life...’ here she hesitated, she hoped the girl would take it the right way. She’d grown really fond of her and felt sorry for the way her life had been. ‘How would you like to come and live with us? We’ll spend our time searching for Tom. With Stan I’m sure we’d be able to find him quickly enough. Somehow I think there is a lot more to all this, especially with what you told me. I wonder if shapeshifters are the only creatures that exist... ’ She rushed the last bit and stared anxiously at Julia’s face, hunting for an expression.
Julia flung her arms around Adrianna’s neck and hugged her tightly.
‘I would love to,’ was her response, her face shining with happiness.
So it was arm in arm that Adrianna and Julia waited for Stan to step out of the plane and take them all home. It didn’t take long for everyone to get settled in the plane. Martin had disappeared and Julia remembered his pilot course that he spoke to her of and made the connection as she saw a third plane taking off. It upset her but she knew better than to talk to him. She had, however, let him know about Tom’s dad and what he was planning. She didn’t bother saying more; it would only make matters worse.
The plane thundered down the runway, its heavy mass just scraping off the ground metres before the end and soared into a glorious tropical sunset. As it banked sharply its wing glinted brightly, refracting the light and Julia had a view of the island bathed in the sun’s red and orange setting glow, it straightened out and flew towards the horizon leaving nothing but ruins and bad memories behind. Some good ones, she thought, when she reflected on Tom with a sad smile.
~ Acknowledgements ~
The writing of this book could never have been something which I would have seen to the end, were it not for the unconditional support of my family. Their encouragement and interest in my story has been paramount to the direction and core ideas of Echoes of The Past.
I would also like to thank all of the early readers who took the time to read the book, comment on it and highlight the flaws, inconsistencies or areas which needed a review, especially to Thomas, for his precise and dedicated attention to detail to every inch of text in the story, to my little sister, Oli, for her youthful honesty, and to Emily for her genuine enthusiasm and encouraging feedback.
Special thanks also go to the Writer’s Workshop, whose editorial consultations proved to be not only extremely useful, but also motivating and challenging in the way that really helps to build confidence in a constructive yet critical manner.
Finally, although this is most probably not the original idea of an acknowledgement, I would like to thank in particular two quotes which have always inspired me and kept me going;
“The first draft of anything is shit” ~ Ernest Hemingway, and “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt,”~ Sylvia Plath.
So a big thank-you to these quotes and the hugely successful authors and poets that gave life to these up-lifting words.
~ About the Author ~
Alexander Just
From the moment Alex could read and write, he knew that he wanted to be a part of the world that creates and writes. Constantly, and much to others frustration, one can always catch Alex out in the middle of a day dream, whilst he should be doing anything but. Having moved to New Zealand after living in Switzerland and Spain before, it was only once Alex moved back to Europe for studies and work experience that he realized it was his dream to write his own story. Over the past four years he has been working on the Mayan Prophecies and its first book; Echoes of The Past, whilst studying hotel and hospitality management in Switzerland. Alex Continues to write and looks forward to finishing the second book in the Mayan Prophecies as well as his studies. You can follow him on twitter at https://twitter.com/AlexJust1 and be sure to check out the Mayan Prophecies blog, for updates, news and more info: https://mayanpropheciestrilogy.wordpress.com/ .
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