by S. J. West
The Queen didn’t scream as she faced death. She was probably in too much shock or denial to react in such a human way. Only the whistling of the wind filled my ears as we plummeted toward the ground during our free fall. I closed my eyes against the quickly approaching ground. If I was going to die, I wanted my last thoughts to be of Jace and the kids. I concentrated on a memory of us sitting around the living room floor of the Roanoke house on our family day. I tried to find comfort in the knowledge that everything would be over soon. The world would finally have its second chance at life as I lost mine.
I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my torso.
“I’ve got you, Skye,” Ash said in my ear.
I opened my eyes and watched the world around me fall away. When it reformed, I was blinded by the glare of sunlight against the smooth surface of a large body of blue-green water. When we hit the water, the force of the fall caused me to involuntarily expel the air in my lungs. I felt Ash grab the back of my shirt and yank me as he swam us up. As soon as my head broke the surface of the water, I inhaled a large breath to stop the burning in my lungs before I spun around to face a smiling Ash.
He was slightly older than the Ash of my time line, possibly close to thirty years old.
I started to laugh as relief at simply being alive flooded my body, but the laughter soon turned to tears as the realization of what I had just done spread to my soul.
I had just killed Lucena Day.
Ash came to me and wrapped an arm around my chest, holding me underneath my arms while he swam us both to shore.
I knew I shouldn’t grieve over the death of someone so vile, but the cold hard fact of the matter was that she had been my biological mother. During the past few days, I was able to glimpse a Lucena that not many people ever got to see, except for maybe my real mom. Even though she attempted to drug me and tried to make me into a Harvester again, I still felt like there had been a part of her who truly did love me. It was the love of a sick, demented woman, but maybe the love she showed me was all she was able to give.
I suddenly realized Ian had been right all along—a fact I would never admit to him, though. For me, killing was always done as a last resort. I inevitably felt a sense of guilt afterward, even though I knew there had been no other choice. But killing my own flesh and blood brought on an almost unbearable sense of self-loathing and remorse.
When we made it to the white, sandy shoreline, Ash picked me up in his arms and carried me as I laid my head against his shoulder, continuing to cry. Ash sat down on something, holding me in his lap. He began rocking me back and forth in an attempt to bring me comfort.
I felt someone drape a warm blanket over us. I looked up to see who it was.
With the bright sun behind her, the long, curly blond locks adorning her head formed a glowing frame around her face, bestowing her with the appearance of an angel of mercy.
“Zoe?” I cried, not sure if I was hallucinating.
Zoe smiled. “Hi, Skye.”
I scrambled off of Ash’s lap, letting the blanket fall to the ground and wrapped my arms around Zoe before she had a chance to disappear.
“Am I dead?” I asked, not seeing how such a miracle could happen otherwise.
Zoe giggled, making my heart feel a little bit lighter.
“No,” she said, wrapping her own arms around me and holding me tightly to her. “I am very real and alive. And so are you.”
We held onto one another for a while longer before I heard a man clear his throat behind me as if trying to gain my attention.
Reluctantly, I let Zoe go and looked over my shoulder.
Standing there were the grown-up versions of my children.
I started to cry all over again as Zoe let me go and my children wrapped me in their arms.
“You did it, Mom,” Rose said, full of pride as she kissed me on the cheek. “You gave the world a second chance.”
I shook my head. “No, we did it. I only played my part.”
I pulled away from them slightly, my heart filled with an almost overwhelming love for both of them.
It was only then I took notice of my surroundings. Directly in front of me was a grove of palm trees and beyond that stood a city of chrome and glass.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Florida,” Simon told me.
“When are we?” I asked, looking at Ash.
“About three hundred years into your future.”
I stared at Ash because I was pretty sure I had misunderstood him.
“Did you say three hundred?” I asked.
Ash nodded. “It takes that long for the ozone to repair itself enough for Zoe and the kids to be released.”
“Then you’re not needed here anymore,” I said, coming up with a plan. “If they don’t need you, come back with me.”
Zoe shook her head. “We can’t come back to your time line just yet. There are things that need to happen then that we can’t be a part of. In time, we can come back but not just yet.”
“I should be getting you back to your time,” Ash said. “The longer you stay here, the more chance there is of someone seeing you.”
“Seeing me?” I asked. “Why would that be a bad thing? Who would recognize me here?”
“If you saw George Washington walking down the street,” Ash said, “what would you think?”
“That I’d lost my mind. But he was like a legend.”
Ash looked at me waiting for me to come to my own conclusion.
“I’m a legend?” I asked.
“You brought the sun back, Skye. Of course you’re a legend.”
I understood the logic behind what he was saying, but it was hard for me to think of myself as anyone special, in any time line.
I turned to Zoe, Rose, and Simon.
“Will this be the last time I see you?” I asked, feeling my earlier joy start to slip away.
Zoe shook her head. “No, we’ll come back when the time is right. But that time isn’t now for you. I’m sorry, Skye.”
I shook my head. “No, don’t be sorry. As long as I know I’ll be with you again one day, I won’t let myself be sad.”
I looked at Rose and Simon.
“Do you have a happy childhood?” I asked.
They both smiled, and I had my answer before they even said it.
“We were loved,” Rose said.
“And a little spoiled,” Simon added, “but blame that on Uncle Kirk and Aunt Teegan. They were horrible!”
Rose hit Simon in the ribs with a sideways elbow.
“Don’t change a thing that they did,” Rose told me with a laugh. “We loved it all. You gave us the best childhood anyone could ask for.”
I felt a sense of relief knowing I didn’t fail them miserably as a parent.
“We should go, Skye,” Ash gently reminded me.
I gave Zoe, Rose, and Simon one last hug and kiss before leaving their sides to stand by Ash.
“I’m cooking your favorite,” Zoe told Ash with a smile. “So don’t be long.”
Ash winked at her before laying his hand on my shoulder and making the future fall away.
The next thing I knew, we were standing inside a tent.
I heard someone take in a sharp, surprised breath and yell, “Skye!”
I felt Ash let go of me as Jace quickly wrapped his arms around me, practically crushing my body against his. I slid my arms around him and hugged him so tight I distantly wondered if he could breathe. I held onto him because my mind was having a hard time reconciling the fact that we were really holding one another again.
Only the cries of Rose and Simon made me loosen my hold on Jace. I lifted my head from his chest to look up at him only to have my mouth completely devoured by his. It was a kiss filled with love and an almost desperate need to prove that I was indeed real and not just a figment of his imagination.
“I thought I lost you,” he finally said against my lips, continuing to plant sweet, tender kisses on them.
“I thought I lost you too,” I told him, even though I knew he wouldn’t fully understand what I meant until after I was able to explain the loss of some of my memories because of what Lucena had tried to do to me.
Rose’s and Simon’s cries became more insistent for my attention.
I pulled away from Jace and saw them both sitting up on a cot in the tent staring at us. Ash stood a few feet away from them. I could tell he wanted to go to his son and daughter but simply wasn’t able to, not yet at least.
I let go of Jace and turned to my crying children. Their wails for our attention were as sweet to my ears as music.
I knelt down by the cot and pulled them both into my arms.
“I will never leave you again,” I told them, hoping for all I was worth I would be able to keep my promise.
“I would like to say I’m sorry,” I heard Ash say behind me.
I rose slightly and sat down on the cot, grabbing a nearby blanket to cover my wet lap before sitting Rose and Simon on each of my thighs.
Ash held his hand out to Jace.
Jace accepted the handshake.
“Sorry for what exactly?” Jace asked Ash, slightly confused.
“Sorry for being such an ass to you.” Ash looked over at me. “And to you too, Skye. I let my jealousy get the better of me. But now I know you and I were never meant to be. We were both meant for other people.” Ash looked at Jace. “When Skye was younger, I was her first crush. But you were always meant to be the love of her life, not me.”
“And who are you meant to be with?” I asked.
Ash smiled shyly, looking somewhat embarrassed.
“I think you might already know the answer to that.”
“Zoe?” I asked, remembering the way Zoe looked at Ash when she told him she was making his favorite meal.
“That’s what the older version of me showed me when I left with him the other day,” Ash said. “When Zoe is finally released from keeping the shield up, she and I will be brought together again and fall in love.”
“But what about her accelerated aging?” I asked. “How do we stop that so the two of you can have a full life together?”
Ash looked at Jace. “You just found someone who will be able to develop the serum to stop Zoe’s aging.”
Jace looked confused for a second.
“Piper?” Jace asked, like he wasn’t sure that was the right answer.
Ash nodded. “Her gift will help you fix this world a lot faster than you would normally be able to. And eventually she’ll be able to develop the cure for Zoe.”
“Her gift?” I asked. “What is her gift?”
Ash looked at me and smiled. “Brilliance. Imagination. Whichever you want to call it. She’ll be able to learn more in a day than most people can learn in a lifetime. She’ll help you rebuild what we lost and become a leader people will rally behind.”
My father ran into the tent just then. His eyes immediately found me.
“Thank God,” he said, coming to sit beside me on the cot, wrapping a protective arm around my shoulders and kissing my cheek.
“I knew Lucena was dead,” he told me. “But I was so worried about you.”
“Ash saved me,” I said, looking over at my best friend. “He’s always been there to protect me when I needed it.”
My dad looked at Ash. “Thank you. I knew I chose well all those years ago when I asked you to protect my daughter.”
“Dad, how did you know Lucena was dead?” I asked.
My dad picked Rose up from my lap.
“Come outside,” he said, his eyes alight with excitement. “You should all come outside to see this.”
I lifted Simon in my arms, and Jace took Rose from my dad before we stepped out of the tent.
The other people in the camp of tents were standing outside looking straight up at the sky. When I lifted my gaze, I felt my breath catch in my throat at a sight I hadn’t seen since I was a little girl.
The moon and stars hung against the backdrop of the night sky like a pearl surrounded by a multitude of twinkling diamonds. I heard a few people around us cry and a few whoop and holler with joy. I simply stared in awe, feeling happy and sad at the same time for the exact same reason.
Lucena Day was dead.
As insane as she was, I knew she had loved me in her way. I cried for that small piece of humanity which lingered within her, even after all her efforts to kill it. But I remembered my mother’s words to me about finally setting the little girl she once loved free. I didn’t get to see Lucena’s death. I didn’t get to see if she still had a soul to set free or not. But I hoped, by some miracle, the girl my mother once loved finally found peace.
“You know what this means, don’t you?” I heard Jace say beside me.
I looked over at him. The light cast by the moon illuminated his features as he smiled down at me.
“What?” I asked, not quite understanding what he was getting at.
“I get to marry you in the morning,” he said. “Our first dawn together.”
I smiled because only Jace would get more excited about us getting married than seeing the moon and stars for the first time in years.
No one slept that night. We were all too excited to see the dawning of the sun the next morning.
My father sent a group out to search for Lucena’s body. I told him I didn’t want to see it. She might not have deserved it, but I wanted to keep what few good memories I had of her from the past few days intact. If I saw her mutilated body, I felt sure the image would haunt me for the rest of my life.
Ash returned to Zoe, and I felt joy in the knowledge that he finally had someone who would love him the way he deserved to be loved.
Jace and I found a secluded spot on a small hill to wait for the dawning of the sun. Rose and Simon were asleep in our arms when the first rays of the sun painted the sky with streaks of purple and pink. We sat in complete silence in each other’s arms, our gazes transfixed by the rising of the sun. The earth felt alive with excitement, patiently awaiting the warmth of the sun to awaken it out of its dormancy, ending a winter that had lasted far too long.
My first glimpse of the sun as it peeked up over the horizon brought tears to my eyes. I had to remind myself to breathe because its beauty made me forget to.
I heard Jace sigh in relief, almost like he feared the laws of the universe had been altered during the sun’s absence.
I looked over at him and smiled. The warm glow of the sun shone brightly against his handsome face as he smiled at the sight of its brilliance.
“Let’s go find that preacher and get married,” I said. “I want to make this day the happiest day of my life.”
Jace looked down at me. His face held a look of pride and complete bliss.
“This won’t be the happiest day of your life,” he said with a small shake of his head. “Because I plan to make every day of your life from here on out happier than the last.”
Jace leaned his head down and kissed me to seal his promise, making it unbreakable.
That first dawn wasn’t only the start of a new day. It was the beginning of a new life for me and Jace. It was the first light of hope for a brand new world.
A Note from the Author
I hope you enjoyed The Harvester of Light Trilogy. Thank you so much for reading it!
I have attached a sample of the first book in the Watcher Chronicles called Broken. The Watcher Chronicles is a New Adult series and is meant for ages 17+. I hope you enjoy it!
Thank you again for reading The Harvester of Light Trilogy!
S. J. West
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At the tender age of seven, Jess Riley’s parents were ripped out of her life by the Tea
r, a ripple of white light in the sky which randomly transports people from Earth to alternate realities and distant planets once a year. On the night the Tear first appeared, the Watchers, a mysterious group of men possessing supernatural powers, made their presence known to the leaders of the world, earning their complete trust to deal with the turmoil the Tear caused.
Now twenty-two years old, Jess is an agent working for the Watcher Agency searching for a way to bring her parents back home. When the leader of the Watchers, Mason Collier, recruits her to join his team, Jess quickly discovers she is meant to play a major role in sealing the Tear forever. Mason and Jess instantly find themselves drawn to one another but they both resist their mutual attraction for different reasons. Broken by past events in their lives, they each struggle to overcome their fears and find the strength to take a chance on one another.
BROKEN: CHAPTER ONE
The world my parents knew doesn’t exist anymore. On the night they were taken from me, the people of Earth learned definitively that we are not alone in the universe. A permanent ripple of white light now laces the sky, like a silky ribbon of fate, reminding any remaining disbelievers that their lives could be irrevocably changed in an instant. Day or night, you can see the Tear, which has literally transported people off our world, like my parents, and substituted people and creatures from alternate realities and distant planets in their place.
All our scientists have been able to tell us is that what we perceive as a Tear in the sky is actually one end of a wormhole, but none of them can explain where the Tear came from or how it chooses its victims. Even with our advanced, modern science, no one can find a way to stop the wormhole from opening and ripping our loved ones from our lives, casting them out into the unknown.
“Don’t get your hopes up, Jess. You know the chances of them ever coming back are slim.”
I look at my best friend, Faison, in the dim light cast by the moon and the Tear in the sky. Her perfectly-braided auburn hair hangs over her right shoulder against the emerald green of the scrubs she is wearing. Faison is the classic version of a true southern belle, a status in our circle of friends I could never quite seem to achieve no matter how hard Mama Lynn, the woman who raised us, tried to make me into one.