* * *
Cole held Arlana close, they watched the sun rise over the ocean. Its rays reached out kissing the waves making the ocean look like a sea of light.
“It's beautiful,” Arlana whispered softly, leaning her head against Cole's shoulder.
Cole lifted her chin with his hand meeting her eyes, “You're beautiful Arlana, the most beautiful person I have ever laid eyes on and ever will.”
“Forever, you and me for all eternity,” Arlana whispered back to him.
“How did I get so lucky,” Cole smiled. Arlana had never seen him smile so enthusiastically, she wondered if this was a smile that he had when he was young, before he had seen so much and experienced so many hurts. Cole caught Arlana up in a kiss with all the passion and desire he had held in for so long. He did not hold back one part of himself, he let go of his worries, fears, and loneliness and became totally absorbed with her to where he couldn't tell where she ended and he began.
She pulled back from him slightly and he noticed Luke running up to them from the distance shouting.
“What is he doing?” Cole asked.
Suddenly they were engulfed in a huge wave and were pulled out to sea. He held on tight to Arlana as they were pulled under the water. Luke had gotten to them just as the wave had crashed and Arlana had grabbed Luke's hand.
Cole wondered what was happening. The ocean had seemed totally calm, someone is coming after them was his next thought. He was cursing himself for not paying closer attention. He looked at Arlana and saw fear in her eyes as they were pulled deeper and deeper into the water. He knew that she would be ok but that her body was more prone to injury until she had a good century or so for her bones to harden and to fully develop her strength and powers. He knew that Luke wouldn't be ok and that Arlana would be hurt by this. Arlana being hurt caused him more pain than the fact that this boy’s life would be over. He didn't like the way the boy seemed like he had some sort of claim on her. He struggled to fight against the waves and pull Arlana and the boy with him. He felt like he could see Marika's violet eyes glowing through the waves. Suddenly everything went dark and he recognized the pull of a time shift.
They came to lying on a beach. Cole looked over and saw Arlana next to him coughing up water. He breathed a sigh of relief and gently patted her back pulling her closer to him.
“Where's Luke?” Arlana croaked her throat dry and aching from the water.
Cole scanned the beach thinking there was no way that the boy could've crossed through time with them. It was a miracle that they were able to do it themselves. But then he saw him only a few feet away from them covered in seaweed and coughing like crazy. Arlana ran to him. She put her hands on his chest. A slight glow radiated from them and Luke's coughing stopped. Cole saw what she did and looked at her in awe, “You are beautiful and amazing.”
“What, what did you do to me Aria, where are we?” Luke asked, looking at Arlana.
“Her name is Arlana,” Cole interrupted.
“Shhh, Cole its ok, Luke has been through a lot.” Arlana patted Cole's hand at the same time brushing Luke's hair out of his eyes. “I'm not sure what happened, I am so sorry you got involved. I just, I was panicking, I didn’t know where the wave came from. I started to think about my mother and then my sister, wondering where she was and if she was alright.”
“Arlana! Arlana is that you?” they heard shouting from the distance, then feet pounding on the sand coming closer to them. And as she got closer they realized it was Avalynn.
Arlana screamed then jumped up. She ran towards her sister, Cole close behind. The two sisters caught each other up in a hug, crying and holding each other close. Cole stayed a couple feet away and Luke approached Cole.
“Is that her twin sister that she told us about?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, this is amazing, like how did we even get here?”
“I think it was Arlana, I think she can shift time.” Cole replied almost as if it were more of a question. He couldn't believe how powerful Arlana was. If she could bend time herself, without the aid of her father what would the possibilities be for them? They would have a much greater chance at safety.
A little while later when the girls had calmed down, they all sat together on the beach.
“Where are we Ava?”
“We're on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific. Father has taken me here to train and get a better hold on my powers.”
“Your powers? You have powers? Are you immortal now also?”
“My dear sister,” Avalynn said holding Arlana's hand tightly, “I am so sorry for ever doubting you, I'm sorry for the way I hurt you and left you alone. Please forgive me for my jealousy and pettiness. I think I was immortal from the moment I tasted the elixir. I think somehow because we are twins and you are the eighth child your powers were activated when I took the elixir. Father told me that when you are the eighth child you don't need to take the elixir but because I activated it when I drank it you will never age past the age you are now. Father and grandmother look a bit older because theirs came about naturally. I think you just out shined me that night but my immortality was there all along.”
Arlana pulled Avalynn closer to her, “Of course I forgive you, I would never let anything separate us by choice. But what about your powers?”
Avalynn looked over to where Luke and Cole were sitting, “May we have a moment alone, I don't even know who this boy is that you have with you.”
Luke looked slightly taken aback but said, “Of course, take all the time you need,” and started to get up to give them some space. Cole on the other hand dug his heels in, “I am not leaving her side ever again, I'm sorry Avalynn but at this point I don't trust anyone with her.” He gave Avalynn a pointed look.
“It's ok Cole,” Arlana rubbed Cole's fingers in her hand, “We'll be ok for a few minutes.”
“I will find Luke a safe place to hang out but then I am coming straight back here,” Cole begrudgingly got up and led Luke away from where they were sitting. “I'll be back in two minutes and you better be here,” Cole winked at Arlana and pulled her in for a kiss.
As he walked away Avalynn giggled, “My, you two certainly have gotten friendly. I'm sorry we don't have much time though.”
“Why not Avalynn? The curse is broken, can't we stay together?”
“Father said it's not safe for me to see you. And also, I hate to say it but I think Marika has it in for you. Dad forbid her from searching for you but she has done nothing but mope around since we found out you broke the curse. Her and Kellam are supposed to join us sometime today, I'm not sure when. You have to get out of here, for your own safety.”
“I'm not even sure how I got here.”
“What happened?”
“There was a huge wave that swept us under and I, I thought of you, and here I am.”
“That must be what you need to do. You need to think of where you want to be and then go there.”
Just as she was speaking Cole came around the corner rushing towards Arlana. He sat down close and pulled her to him.
“Avalynn was just telling me we can't stay here, it's not safe for us.”
“Where do you want to go darling?”
“Darling, I could get used to all these sweet names you have for me. I guess we should bring Luke back home and then decide where to go from there.”
“Good idea, let's ditch the boy and then it will be just you and me.” Cole sat closer to Arlana rubbing his hand down her arm.
“Ohh, this is so weird seeing you two like this, but I guess it seems right.” Avalynn grinned.
“So sis, you never told me about your powers.”
“Oh, that, well I guess I could show you...” Avalynn's hand started to glow and she pointed towards a palm tree not far from where they were sitting. Suddenly Avalynn's phone started ringing. Using her other hand she looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Kellam, “Shoot, it's Kellam, I need to take this and see if they are on thei
r way,” she held her finger up to her mouth to let them know to be quiet. The glow had faded from her hand. “Hi honey, how's it going?” She listened quietly for a moment. “Oh yeah, I'm on the north part of the island, on the beach, training. When will you be here? You're already here! Oh, ok I'll see you in a couple of minutes, bye!” She quickly hung up, “Oh no they're here, you guys have got to go!”
“Like right now? Where's Luke?”
“There's no time, you have to go now! Think of something quick!”
“I can't leave Luke here!”
Cole turned Arlana's face to him, “It was Marika, Marika caused the wave. She's after you. Luke will be ok; you'll look after him wont you?” Cole asked Avalynn without taking his eyes from Arlana's.
“I will, I promise, you need to go!”
They heard laughter in the distance. Cole wrapped his arms around Arlana; she closed her eyes and leaned into him. He felt the familiar hum and darkness wrap around the two of them and then they were gone.
Kellam strode around the corner rushing up to Avalynn; he wrapped his arms around her and spun her in the air, “I missed you so much!” He looked down at her face and noticed she had been crying. He caressed her cheek, “What's wrong?” he asked softly.
“Um nothing, hard day training.”
“Hard day training? I think it's more than that, tell me what's going on.”
Marika and Diokles walked around the corner, Marika seemed happier than when Avalynn had last seen her. She was smiling, leaning into her father and laughing with him.
“I'll tell you later, I promise, I just can't right now, help me please?” She looked pointedly towards Marika.
“Of course I will,” Kellam whispered into her ear, kissing her cheek. He drew the attention away from Avalynn with his charm. His gift was a way with words and he could have almost anyone eating out of his hand believing anything he told them.
Avalynn pulled herself together and found solace in the fact that she would be able to talk to her sister another time, in her dreams.
EPILOGUE
Arlana sat in class trying to pay attention to the lecture. The teacher's speech became a distant hum as her thoughts drifted. She looked out the window and saw the country side going on and on, flat dry lands. She thought about how nice Hawaii would be this time of year, but she didn't think about it too hard, she didn't want to end up there right now, not without Cole anyway. Although that tropical weather sure did sound good when she thought of all the sweaters, coats, and scarves she would have to bundle up in when she left class. Stop it, she told herself again, think of something else. She pictured when they had first arrived. She had been thinking about one of her teachers from when she was young, Amethyst. She didn't know why she thought of her but she was so glad to see her when her vision returned and she was standing in Amethyst living room. Amethyst was shocked to say the least but then burst into tears and surrounded Arlana in her arms. Cole was pleased that this was where they ended up, and he thought the timing of the 1950s was pretty good too. Amethyst didn't go by the same name in this time period, she went by Amelia. She told Arlana just to call her aunt Amelia and that she would say that Arlana was a niece come to stay with her from far away. She was shocked to see Arlana and Cole and even more shocked when she found out the story behind what brought them to her. Arlana was also amazed as she found out more of Amelia's background, the background that tied them together in a special way.
They'd been in Nebraska for about two months now and the snow was just starting to fall. She had become a student at one of the local universities and Cole had taken a job there in security so he could be near Arlana. Amelia was still teaching, she worked at the same university Arlana was attending although she wasn’t teaching in any of her classes.
The bell rang waking Arlana out of her thoughts. She scooped up her books and headed towards the door. As she crossed the threshold she saw Cole standing across the hall smiling at her. She returned his smile and started to walk towards him when someone behind her tapped her shoulder.
“Um, Arlana, my name is Ryan, I don't know if you remember me, we have a couple of classes together.”
“Oh, hi Ryan, nice to meet you.”
Ryan's face lit up, “It's great to meet you also. I just wanted to invite you to a party me and some of my buddies are having this weekend up by the old wheat mill, there will be a dance and everything, I sure hope you can come.”
“Wow, thanks for thinking of me, I think I probably,”
Cole stepped up interrupting, “Hi Honey, it's great to see you, who's this?” Cole wrapped his arm around Arlana's waist.
“Hi, this is Ryan he was just inviting me to a party this weekend. Ryan this is Cole, my boyfriend.”
“Oh, hi Cole,” Ryan reached out to shake Cole's hand. Cole shook Ryan's hand a little too firmly and nodded. “Are you a student here?” Ryan asked.
“No, I work here.”
“Oh, what do you teach?”
“I'm not a teacher, I work in security, keeping the campus safe, from any danger or threats.” Cole gave Ryan a stern look.
Ryan looked towards Arlana, “I didn't know you were dating anyone, like I was just telling my best pal, the good ones are all taken,” he winked at Arlana good naturedly. “If Cole would like to come along that would be fine too.”
Arlana looked up at Cole, “What do you think?”
“Maybe, we'll get back to you later.”
“Ok, see you later. I'm glad we got to officially meet,” Ryan looked towards Arlana then turned towards his next class.
“I guess I didn't get to you fast enough, the guys are already starting to swarm. We're definitely going to need to be doing some major hand holding around campus so everyone knows that you are mine.”
“You don't need to worry about that Cole, I know that you're the one for me and that's what's important.”
“True, but I just don't like it when I see guys ogling you, I know exactly what they're thinking and it's hard to deal with, especially when I just got you back.”
“So maybe we should skip the parties for a while and just spend time with you and me.” Arlana pulled Cole closer to her.
“I like the sound of that.” Cole returned her embrace laying his cheek across her hair. The hardest part since getting back for Cole was the nights. He wasn't sleeping in the same house as Arlana. He was living above the garage in a studio type apartment. Amelia was married to someone and her husband didn't think it would be proper to have Cole in the same house since him and Arlana were dating. Amelia's husband's name was Bill. Bill hadn’t liked the idea of Cole staying; he didn’t understand how Arlana's family would let her travel alone with her boyfriend. If they loved each other then why didn't they just get married? Amelia made up a story of how Cole wanted to make sure he could provide for them both first and then they would get married. This softened Bill to the situation; knowing Cole had honorable intentions. Cole had reluctantly agreed to sleep in the studio, he figured it was the best they could do for the time being. But he always stayed with Arlana as late as possible and even throughout the night he would often wake up and stand outside her window keeping watch. He was still recovering from being apart for so long, he feared for Arlana's safety and he that they would be torn apart again. Ideally he thought they should continue to shift time every couple of months to keep harm at bay but she was enjoying this time with Amelia so much that he didn't have the heart to bring it up until after the holidays.
Arlana went into the library to study while she waited for Cole to finish his shift. She was glad to be continuing with her education but she also felt ready for a break and some fun. She was ready to take off with Cole for a while, go somewhere different, but she knew she would want to come back.
Arlana smiled at the thought that she could go wherever and whenever with Cole. Life really turned out nicely she thought. She looked at the history book in front of her and chuckled. The irony of her major of study was not lost on her. Amelia r
ecommended she focus on history. It would better prepare her for her time shifts but that in itself made her feel like it was such a difficult subject to stay focused on. Her professor was requiring a paper from her on the root cause of the Italian Unification of the late 1800s. She thought of Lilliana and the Giordano estate. It felt like a dream. Had she really been there? What would have happened if she hadn’t time shifted?
Last night she had dreamt about when she went to visit Lilliana’s family. It was an odd dream but she still felt slightly unsettled by the reaction Lilliana’s aunt had had with her. It was as though she could see that Arlana was different. As she remembered more of that day she realized that Lilliana’s brother had also acted differently. It was as though he knew her but how could that be she wondered.
The sound of someone dropping a book made her jump and brought her back to the library. She laughed at how focused she had gotten and shook her head. The light outside was fading. She realized that Cole would be there any moment and she started packing up her things. On top of one of the history books she had checked out was an envelope. She knew it wasn’t there earlier. She picked it up and turned it over. There was writing on the front. As she read it she gasped, dropped the envelope and watched it flutter to the floor. Her heart was pounding. She knew she should pick it up but she hesitated. As she finally began to reach down to grab it off the floor she saw a pair of black oxford shoes come in to focus. A hand picked up the envelope and brought it towards her. As she looked up her eyes widened in recognition. “Lorenzo?” She asked incredulously.
The man handing her the envelope bore a strong resemblance to Lilliana’s brother. Arlana jumped up so fast that her chair fell back loudly. She looked around her. She feared she had time shifted accidently since she had been so focused on Lilliana. As she looked around she saw she was still in the campus library.
“Miss? Your envelope. Sorry if I startled you.” The handsome Lorenzo look alike said apologetically.
“Um, sorry, um you look like an old friend of mine. Um it startled me but obviously you couldn’t be him.” Arlana said with a laugh.
“No, and why could I not be him?” The man said with a small smirk.
“Hmmm? Oh um, well, um he passed away.” Arlana said awkwardly. “Um thank you for picking this up. Sorry to have inconvenienced you.”
“I am sorry to hear about your friend. And no thank you is needed. It gave me the courage to talk to you. My name is….”
“Arlana are you ok?” Cole came up putting his arm around Arlana’s shoulder. He was giving the man a pointed look that made Arlana cringe. Twice in one day Cole was giving his “mine” look. She loved that he was protective of her but his possessiveness made it hard to make friends.
The man looked at him apologetically. “Um, well, I better go. Good luck with your paper.” He stuttered awkwardly and then walked away.
Arlana watched him leave and then turned towards Cole, “that was rude. He had just kindly picked something up off the floor for me and…wait, how did he know I was writing a paper?” Arlana wrinkled her brow in confusion.
“What did he pick up off the floor for you? Were you enticing his attention my love?” Cole asked quietly. Arlana looked at him in surprise and then looked at the envelope in her hand. She grew quiet as she again read the names on the front.
“Arlana? What’s wrong?” Cole asked sounding concerned. He began to wonder if she had wanted to talk to that man.
“Hmmm? Oh, um, well, it, um. This is a little disconcerting Cole. You see I was um sitting here and sort of daydreaming, well not really daydreaming but remembering, well um.” Arlana stopped and took a breath. She needed to un-jumble her thoughts. “Ok, so, I had a dream about my time in Italy last night. It was when I visited Lilliana’s family. You know how I told you her aunt got all weird and then her brother said some strange stuff. Anyway since I am doing a paper on Italy I started thinking about it and time got away from me. The next thing I know it is time to pack up my stuff and I find this envelope on my books. I have no idea who left it there but, well, the names it is addressed to…I mean it is addressed to me but…well…look at it.” Arlana said and handed the envelope to Cole.
Cole took the envelope and looked at the names written on it.
‘Arlana (Amber/Ruth)’
Cole’s eyes widened in surprise. “Weren’t those your names in Italy?”
“Yes, Cole.” Arlana said quietly.
Neither said a thing until they reached Amelia’s house. Thankfully Amelia was in the kitchen cooking dinner. “Oh good I am glad you are here. Bill is at bowling league which he is determined to get you into Cole. Just a warning, so it is just the three of us tonight. What would you two like to do?” Amelia said and then turned to face them. Instantly she knew something was wrong by the serious looks on their face.
“Oh dear. Sit down. I just boiled some water so I will make tea and you can tell me what has happened.”
They sat around the table and Arlana showed Amelia the envelope. “Ok so this is strange but what did the letter inside say?” She asked calmly.
Arlana’s eyes widened slightly as she looked at the envelope. Her face was slowly reddening. “Um, ha-ha, um, I didn’t look inside” she said with a little embarrassed laugh. Amelia rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Well don’t give me the doom and gloom routine until you read it you silly girl.”
Arlana took the envelope and looked at Cole. He gave her hand a squeeze and nodded his head encouragingly.
Arlana opened the envelope and removed a piece of paper. She unfolded it and read.
“Your existence is forbidden. You are in grave danger. I have found you twice both times without effort. Your father’s enemies are numerous. The talisman will take you to a safe place to meet. I can help you.
A friend”
“Talisman?” Cole asked concerned.
Arlana looked at the envelope again. She opened it wider and saw a thin metal object inside. She couldn’t remember seeing or feeling it before but she reached in the envelope to pull it out. Just as she touched it Cole grabbed her hand and then there was a bright light. When it faded it was pitch dark around her and all she knew was that Cole still had her hand and that the talisman was in it.
To be continued…
Thank you for taking the time to read our book, we hope you enjoyed it. We began our writing partnership with a shared love for reading, especially Young Adult fantasy fiction. We belonged to the same book group and had both always wanted to explore writing but never had the courage to begin. Then one uneventful day Brooke asked Tiffany if she wanted to write a book together and Arlana’s world came to be! We really enjoyed creating this story and seeing how the characters seemed to take on a life of their own even beyond our imagination. We plan to release the second book of our trilogy sometime in the fall of 2015.
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