“I can’t believe I’m back here,” she said.
“It’s not forever.” Holding the vessel out of the water I began to walk toward the sand, the waves pushing me making movement easier despite my wet clothing.
“I wasted so much time not knowing who I was. I forgot why I left in the first place.”
This was the first time I heard her admit that she left on purpose. I knew it. We all did, but without her confirmation there was always room for doubt. Part of me hoped that I would find out that she really was taken against her will, but the odds were low. After so many years would a hapless mortal just happen upon an island and steal one of us? Probably not. I’d spent a lot of time wondering why she left and guessing how she did it. I’d even come up with a theory that I was able to test out myself and it worked. I never knew for sure though. “How did you leave?” I asked.
“It wasn’t planned really. One day I was on the north beach when I saw a strange object sitting on the horizon. It was a ship. My first instinct was to run up to the settlement and tell the others that mortals were coming. I even started to do just that. I ran up the path to the settlement, but about a third of the way there I realized something. What if this was my only chance? I had begun thinking about leaving. I’d sometimes get little flashes of curiosity about the mortal world. I was no different than everyone else. I wanted to try to live a different kind of life. You can understand that, Amara. You used to talk about it.”
“Yes, but you never told me that you felt that way too.”
“I was just figuring out what I felt at the time. I wasn’t quite ready to discuss it yet. Anyway, I turned around and ran back down to the beach. I saw a man in a rowboat coming ashore. He was older with long white hair in a ponytail and a big gray beard. Before he could even get up to the sand I was running into the water at him. I decided that I wanted to leave the island. That meant I had to keep his presence a secret from everyone else. When he saw me his eyes widened with fear. He asked who I was and I told him that I was a god and I was ready to leave the island.”
“How did we not know he was here? No one saw him,” I said.
We continued to trudge forward in the water. “I wanted him to take only me. Because I didn’t want there to be any problems. But he wasn’t okay with that. He was an explorer who had come to see the island. So I agreed to take him on a tour as long as we stayed hidden from everyone else. So few souls ever ventured out to the north beach so I thought his ship would most likely go unnoticed. I just needed to make sure that he wasn’t seen while he looked around the island. That was hard. We trekked through the woods up to the settlement and watched everyone. Observation was the best way to learn about us. He took notes and drew sketches. I convinced him that the island was much too dangerous for him to be on at night. I made up a story about wild mystical beasts. He believed me and when the sun started to set he took me to his ship.”
In the distance I saw Variel running from the trees toward us. She was yelling something. Soon the others came pouring down the path behind her. It seemed like they already knew that we would be here. “Do you have the vessel?” Variel called as she approached.
“Yes, it’s here,” I said.
“Father will be pleased,” Variel said.
I looked to my left and saw Twee running up the beach. I was so glad to see her. “Twee!” I called. She looked older somehow. Her body was lean and strong. She had recovered from giving birth much more quickly than I thought possible. “How long have I been gone?” I asked Variel.
“A few months,” she said.
“That’s impossible.” It seemed like only a day had passed.
“It doesn’t matter whether or not you think it is possible. It is the truth,” Variel said.
The other souls from the island crowded around us, hugging Santali and welcoming her back. Father and Herthe arrived on the beach last. They cut a path through the crowd and when they reached me Father put out his hands to take the vessel. “Welcome back,” he said. His eyes sparkled and it seemed like he was genuinely happy to see me.
“Thank you. It’s good to be back.” That was a sentence I never thought I’d say, but seeing everyone again gave me a warm feeling inside.
“It’s time, Amara,” Father said. “Give him to me.”
I nodded and reluctantly handed the stone infant to him. I’d grown quite attached to him even in the short time that we were together. Holding him made me feel more powerful.
Twee embraced me. “I didn’t think you were coming back,” she said.
“I had to. The vessel’s place is here. Besides, I found what I was looking for.” I pointed to Santali who was still being mobbed by the others.
“Is that her?” Twee said.
I nodded.
“I’m glad you found her. Now you can help me find my brother and get off this island once and for all.”
I knew that was all Twee wanted and knowing that I was able to find Santali so easily made me confident that I’d be able to find Twee’s brother too. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”
“Everyone!” Father called out, trying to get the crowd’s attention.
The cascade of voices fell to silence and we all turned to look at him.
“The new age is finally upon us. Now that the vessel has returned it is time to usher it in. We must all be connected to him for him to do his work.” Father held the vessel high above his head.
Herthe put one arm around Father’s back and with the other she grabbed hold of my hand. “We must all be connected,” she said. “Join hands.”
We did so, forming a disorganized chain.
When I took Twee’s hand she shook her head. “But I am not a god.”
“Every soul on the island must be included,” Father said. “Everyone focus on the vessel.”
We looked up at the vessel in Father’s hands. He was still lifeless and motionless on the outside, but I knew from holding him that there was life beneath his stone exterior. We all focused, waiting for something to happen. I had no idea what to expect. I only knew that it would be extraordinary, but nothing happened.
After a few minutes of focusing with all our might some began to complain.
“There is no new age. This was all a joke.”
“He thinks we are fools.”
“This is useless. The vessel means nothing.”
They unlinked arms and let go of hands and everyone began complaining loudly.
“Silence,” Father yelled, but no one listened. They continued to talk. Father grimaced and looked down at Herthe.
“Why isn’t it working?” she asked, her voice forceful.
“I don’t know.” Father lowered the vessel from above his head and passed him to me. “Take him,” he said. “You are the one with the visions.”
He heaved the heavy infant into my arms. I held him to my chest and felt warmth through the rough stone. He was vibrating quickly in my hands. I looked at Herthe who had already turned away from me and had begun making her way through the crowd in the direction of the woods. “Herthe,” I said over the noise of the others, but she ignored me and continued to walk away.
I looked to Father whose posture had changed. His shoulders slumped and head bowed, he stood helplessly in the midst of the group who had begun pushing forward. I didn’t know what all had transpired while I was gone, but before I’d left this would have never happened. It was as if no one on the island had any respect for him anymore. He was no longer the Father that led us with his visions. He was just another soul on the island and that unsettled me. Early on I was vying for change on the island, but in my mind this was not the change I imagined. The other souls were angry, more angry than I’d ever seen them. Soon everyone was turning on everyone else. I wanted to escape the commotion just as Herthe was trying to do. I looked for her and saw her back, silver hair and green dress. She’d not gotten far. The crowd continued pushing her back.
I tried to move to the edge of the group with little success. Then
looking up the beach I saw Damek running in our direction with a wild look in his eyes. That’s why it didn’t work. Every soul on the island was not yet here. As he ran up the beach he caught sight of me and I saw a sparkle of recognition in his eyes. “Hurry up,” I said. “I came back for you.”
He started running even faster.
I turned to Father and said, “Take the vessel. It will work now.”
“How do you know?” he asked.
I pointed to Damek. “Not every soul was here.”
Father took the vessel from me quickly and held it above his head again. “We are welcoming a new age,” he said without bothering to get everyone’s attention. As he spoke Damek tripped and stumbled into the crowd. The sudden jarring from behind was enough to stop some of them from complaining. Before I knew it they had all stopped and they were looking up at the vessel with awe. I looked up too realizing that I was missing something amazing by only looking around at the familiar faces in the crowd.
The vessel began to crack. Hatching like an egg, just as I thought it would. The cracks in the stone surface grew larger and larger letting out a bright golden light. It was almost too bright to look at. There was a buzzing sound and then a single black iridescent beetle crawled out from one of the cracks. It sat on the vessel’s forehead for a few moments and turning its plated head to look at each of us. Then it took off in flight. As soon as it did other beetles followed until a great black swarm of them hung in the sky overhead. There were so many that they were like a living cloud blocking out the sun. I was afraid. We all were. I didn’t think Father expected this either because he stood looking up at the beetles with his mouth agape.
There were millions of them. Their wings clicked as they flapped. I dropped to my knees and put my hands over my ears to block out the sound. They didn’t hover above us for long before flying off across the island. We watched the band of black moving across the sky until it disappeared.
“What happens next?” I asked, looking up expecting to see Father standing over me, but he was gone. Pieces of the vessel lay shattered on the sand where Father had once been. I stood up and looked at the now-silent, still group. “Father,” I said. I pushed past the others and made my way to Herthe who knelt in the sand with her hands over her eyes. I put my hand on her shoulder and found she was quivering slightly. “Where is Father?” I asked.
She looked up at me with a tear-streaked face. “He’s gone,” she said.
Everyone started to talk at once, but I blocked out their words. I was only interested in what Herthe had to say. “Gone?” I asked.
“He has moved on to other worlds and more complex plans.” She reached out for my hand and I helped her stand.
“What about you?” I asked.
She wiped a tear from her eye. “I’m not yet ready, but I will be soon.” She started walking up the beach toward the trees.
“Where are you going?”
“I need some rest,” she said. “There will be a meeting tomorrow for all of you who have chosen to remain.”
I watched her enter the shadows of the forest.
I intended to keep my promise to Twee. I looked around the group and could not find her. “Twee! Twee!” She did not answer. Someone took hold of my arm. It was Santali.
“I have to go,” she said.
“But we haven’t had any time together.” I was still searching the faces for Twee.
“We don’t have to stay here anymore. Herthe said as much. If you want to visit me in the future you can find me. You did before, right?”
I took hold of her wrist as she let go of me. I didn’t want to see her go again so soon. The effort I’d put into seeing her was tremendous and now after only a few short hours she would be leaving. “How will you go? There’s no one here to take you.”
She smiled. “Can’t you feel it?”
I paused. I had been so distracted by Father and Twee that I hadn’t noticed the tingling in my arms and the new feeling of power that seemed to be burning in my torso.
“Our powers are no longer limited to the mortal world,” Santali said. She closed her eyes and her forehead creased as she began to focus. Her body went slowly translucent before fading away completely.
“I can’t find Twee,” Variel said with panic in her voice.
“I think she’s gone back to the mortal world where she belongs.” I didn’t know for sure, but that answer just felt right to me.
“I can’t believe she left me again.” She began to cry.
“Don’t cry. You just need to find her.” I rubbed her narrow back.
“How?”
“We’re different now. You can find anyone you want in this world and go anywhere you please. Look.” I pointed toward the water.
Variel gasped. “Where did the barrier rocks go?”
“The storms are gone too,” I said. “We are no longer separated from the mortal world. You can see Twee again. Close your eyes and focus on her and you’ll end up where she is.”
“It can’t be that easy,” Variel said.
“Trust me.”
She closed her eyes. “I trust you,” she said. It took almost no time at all for her to vanish.
Of all of the souls who lived here I was the last who should’ve remained, but I was the only one who had visions. They needed me, and I needed them, so I stayed.
We slipped back into our routines quickly even though only sixty souls remained. The spaces left by the missing would be filled by mortals seeking knowledge and enlightenment, but when they realized that we did not have those things to offer they would leave too. Herthe liked to say that none of this mattered because in the new age we were supposed to move between the mortal and immortal worlds freely.
“Then why do you stay?” I asked her one day.
She shrugged. “The island is more a part of me than I thought.” She raked her toes back and forth in the soft sand. “And if I want to follow Eilim to the next world I must stay here. This is the only place where the spirits commune.”
As the others, immortal and mortal, came and went Herthe and I remained the only constant presence on the island. I no longer needed to experience life in the mortal world. The pull of the seerstone and the window it gave me into others’ lives was enough to busy my mind. Eventually I moved into Father’s hut, and Herthe and I would paint my visions on the walls. We had learned to be happy with life as it was because there was so much more here than we had ever realized.
Father once told me that life would surprise me. At the time my life on the island had sunk into the boredom of predictability. I didn’t believe him when he said it would ever be any other way. None of us believed that change would ever really come. Each of us was wrong. For that I am forever grateful.
From the Author
Thank you for reading Isle of Gods II. When I first started writing this series, I knew there were some themes that I wanted to address. In book one, I looked at the idea of destiny and taking control of your life. In book two, I continue forward with that theme.
Amara refuses to let the restrictions of the Isle of Gods limit her. She’s a rebel at heart. That’s why I love the character. I won’t say anything more about what I think about the story because I like people have their own interpretations.
The next book in the series will come out next month. It will take place in the mortal world. You’ll meet a new character, and there will be a love story and some action. I’m quite excited to get the next book out.
Being an author and sharing these stories with readers like you has been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl. So thank you for reading the book and helping make my dreams come true. If you go to my website, you can sign up for my newsletter where I’ll let you know about new releases and special promo offers. Click here to sign up.
Previous Books in the Series
Isle of Gods I: Damek
More Books by H. Lovelyn Bettison
Perfect Family
Flying Lessons
The Box
Isle of Gods II: Amara Page 12