Evolution (Evolution Series Book 1)

by Kelly Carrero

For the second time in two days, I found myself unable to comprehend what I was seeing in the mirror.

  I had left Aiden downstairs and was in his walk-in closet, supposedly getting changed. I knew I had answers waiting for me downstairs, yet I couldn’t seem to tear myself away from the mirror. I had a badly singed hole the size of my fist in the middle of my dress but not a mark on my body.

  On closer inspection, the skin on my stomach looked the same as it did before the accident. But after getting burnt with fire, I would have thought there would be something different. Yet it was the exact same bronzed colour as the rest of my skin. Even the tiny little hairs that covered my body were still there.

  I lifted my hand up to my neck, trying to see what had caused the searing pain that had ripped across it before I blacked out in chemistry. But—of course—there was nothing there to show for it either. At least the hole in my dress confirmed I hadn’t lost my mind. What the hell was I? I mean, what I was seeing wasn’t normal, and yet… I couldn’t deny what I was seeing.

  I looked at my reflection in amazement, wondering how any of this was possible. I needed answers, and I knew the mirror wasn’t going to give them to me. Reluctantly, I pried my eyes away, grabbed the closest T-shirt off the hanger, stripped, and put on Aiden’s shirt.

  Without taking another glance in the mirror, I left his room and made my way back down the stairs.

  I didn’t see anyone in the living room. “Aiden?” His place was enormous. He lived with his sister Anna and her husband Dave, in a three-storey waterfront mansion in Paradise Waters.

  “I’m in the pantry. I’ll be there in a sec,” he called back.

  By pantry, he meant their butler’s pantry, which was really more like a second kitchen. It was about the same size as the only kitchen in my house. But they didn’t have a butler. His sister just liked to be able to keep all food prep where it couldn’t be seen and keep the kitchen looking like something out of a magazine. So they had two of everything—stoves, ovens, dishwashers, microwaves, fridges. One was for display, and the other for use.

  I sat down on the massive U-shaped, white leather sofa and waited impatiently for Aiden to finish whatever he was doing so he could finally explain what was happening to me.

  My mind raced with possibilities, going from the logical—I was insane—to the absurd—I was an alien, vampire, or some other Hollywood phenomenon.

  A muffled laugh came from the pantry, leading me to think that Aiden might really be able to hear my thoughts. “What’s taking you so long?” I called out, unable to contain my growing annoyance any longer.

  “Umm… I’m waiting for Anna.” It sounded like he was still in the pantry.

  “Come on!” I got up and started walking toward the kitchen. “You said that you would explain everything once I had changed. Well, I’m changed.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “Aiden,” I pleaded.

  “Okay, okay.” He came out from the pantry, trying to hide a smile.

  “You can hear my thoughts, can’t you?” Deep down, beyond my rational thoughts, something was telling me I was right.

  Aiden steered me back to the sofa and gently pushed me down onto it, then he sat down on the coffee table in front of me. He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity before he finally spoke. “I didn’t want to tell you like this. I was supposed to wait for Anna and Dave. They should have been here by now.” He looked around the room as if he expected them to appear out of thin air. “But… seeing as though they’re not here, I’ll give it a go.”

  “Why would you have to wait for them?” I didn’t understand why they had to be around for him to tell me what was wrong with me. I mean, whatever he had to say didn’t really have anything to do with them. “And besides, aren’t they supposed to be in England or France or something?”

  “Um, yeah, they’re in England.”

  “Don’t think that I’m waiting for them to come home before you tell me what’s going on. You said you would tell me after I changed,” I said, more than a little frustrated. I was so not good at the whole patience thing.

  “They won’t be long, they…” Aiden put his head in his hands, rubbing his temples with his fingertips.

  For the first time since I’d known him, he was lost for words. Where was the confident, almost cocky guy I needed?

  “Why can’t you just tell me what’s going on?” I pleaded. I wanted to know so badly, and I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t just tell me.

  Aiden looked at me. “I’ve never told anyone before. I really thought Anna or Dave would have been the one to tell you.” His facial expression was agonised. He looked like he was about to tell me a horrible secret, like he was really a vampire—or maybe he was going to show me. My mind started racing with images of all the vampire movies and TV shows I had ever seen.

  Aiden started laughing. “Would you stop thinking I’m a vampire?”

  I sat back in shock. He really could hear my thoughts.

  “Yes, I can hear your thoughts. Actually, I can hear everyone’s thoughts. Well, except for my paren...” Aiden quickly shut up.

  I looked at him suspiciously. I was sure he was about to say parents, but they had both died almost five years ago. Obviously he couldn’t hear the dead. None of this was making any sense.

  Aiden sighed. He reached forward, took my hands in his, looked directly into my eyes, and said, “Here it goes.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “My parents never died like I told you they had. Anna and Dave…” he paused, lowering his head, like he didn’t want to see my reaction. “Anna and Dave are my parents.”

  “What? How? They’re only, like, in their twenties. They can’t possibly be your parents, unless…” My mind trailed back to my vampire theory. Vampires were known for their immortality.

  “We’re not vampires.” A smile had spread across his face. “There’s no such thing as vampires.”

  Obviously, my thoughts were amusing him. I mean, what was I supposed to think? What human being could go through what I had and not even have a scratch? Okay, so technically, I did have a scratch, which only proved my theory. What human being could watch their wound heal right before their eyes within a matter of seconds? No one. Not a single soul in the history of mankind could do what I did. And the only things known to us able to do those things were vampires. Even though they were fictional and all, they were the only things that came to mind. But to be a vampire, I would have had to be bitten, and I definitely didn’t remember anything like that. But I guess it could have happened while I was sleeping...

  “As tasty as that sounds…” Aiden licked his lips. “I’m just kidding,” he said, seeing my reaction.

  I couldn’t sit still anymore. I got up from the couch and began pacing by the window. My frustration was reaching boiling point. Instead of answering any of my questions like he’d said he would, he was somehow creating more.

  Aiden followed me to the window and placed his hands on my shoulders, stopping me from pacing.

  His face slumped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset, it’s just that I have never told anyone this before, and I guess I’m making a mess of it.”

  “What is it?” I begged for what seemed like the fiftieth time in the last hour. “How could they possibly be your parents? And what the hell does all this have to do with what’s happening to me?”

  “Just come and sit down.” Aiden led me back to the couch, where he again sat on the coffee table in front of me. “We are immortal, but not in the vampire kinda way.”

  It was my turn to laugh. “You’re seriously telling me that you’re immortal?” Even though those words sounded absurd, the moment they left my lips, I knew they were true. It explained why I was able to heal so quickly, and how I had survived the car accident.

  “Hmm.” He thought about it for a second before answering. “At least, I think we are. Nobody I know has died, so I guess that makes us kinda immortal.”

  “So, there are others?�
�� I asked sceptically. “I mean, besides Anna, Dave, and yourself?”

  “Of course there are.” He laughed. “We’re not this way because of some freak science experiment gone wrong.”

  I leaned back against the sofa, crossing my arms in frustration. The situation seemed to be so amusing to him. The whole immortality thing may have been like second nature to him, but it was all new to me, and it scared the hell out of me. My whole life was being turned upside down, and all he could do was laugh.

  “For Christ’s sake, Aiden, I thought you would have handled this a little better.” A harsh voice came from behind me.

  “Holy crap!” I turned around to find Anna standing behind me, hands on her hips, shaking her head in disappointment.

  I stumbled to my feet and backed away towards the door. “You’re… you’re… you’re not supposed to be here. You’re supposed to be… I don’t know where, but you’re not supposed to be here.” There was no way she should be standing there. Even if she got back today, there was no way that she could have come into the room without walking past us. What I was seeing was impossible, but impossible seemed to be the new norm around here. This situation was still freaking the crap out of me, and all I wanted to do was run. Get away from all the craziness. Wind the clock back a few days to when I was ignorant to the truth.

  Within the blink of an eye, she was standing by my side.

  “Holy crap,” I repeated, pushing my back against the wall.

  “Calm down, honey,” Anna said and reached out to me.

  The moment her hand touched my arm, a surreal calmness washed over my body. I no longer felt the impulse to run or the fear that gripped me only seconds ago. I looked up at Anna in shock.

  “Come on, honey. I think you and I need to have a talk.” Anna glared at Aiden, who was slumped back on the couch. The two of them stared at one another, their facial expressions changing as if they were arguing, except neither spoke a single word.

  They continued that way for almost a minute before Aiden broke his gaze with Anna, looked at me briefly, and turned his head towards the window. There was no humour in his eyes anymore. They only showed sorrow.

  I turned from Aiden to Anna. “What was that all about?” What had I just witnessed?

  “Nothing for you to worry about,” she said, blowing it off, as if the last minute had never happened. “Now, let me get a cuppa, and then we can sit down and talk about what’s going on.” Anna put her arm around my shoulder and ushered me over to the sofa. “Go on, sit down, and I’ll be back in a minute.” She turned around and headed for the pantry.

  Aiden looked up at me from the couch, his face worried, but his eyes full of hope. It was as if he feared I would be afraid of whatever Anna would tell me. “Are we okay?” he asked, his voice etched with concern.

  I sat down beside him, placing my hand over his. “I thought you could read my mind,” I teased.

  His face relaxed. “Very funny.” He put his arm around me, drawing me closer so that I was leaning into his side. “You’re so muddled up, I didn’t know what to think.”

  “We’re okay,” I said. I pulled my legs up onto the couch, once again enjoying the safety I always felt when I was in his arms. I wondered if that feeling was similar to what Anna had just done to me.

  Aiden squeezed my arm. I turned my face up so I was looking at him. His eyes once again looked worried. “I just want you to know that no matter what you find out about what I can do, you have to believe I never once used any of my abilities against you for my own advantage.”

  “What are you talking about?” I pulled my eyebrows together in confusion.

  “You’ll understand soon enough. But just think about what I said before you jump to any conclusions.”

  I was about to press him further about his cryptic confession when Anna walked back into the room, carrying a tray with tea and biscuits. She placed them on the coffee table and took a seat on the other side of the sofa.

  Looking at Anna, it was hard to imagine she was old enough to be Aiden’s mum. There looked to be barely five years between them. The similarities were definitely there, as they would be if she were only his sister. But she wasn’t.

  “Now, Aiden’s right. Before I start, I want you to know that we have never used any of our abilities to sway your thoughts or decisions at any time,” Anna said.

  “Okay,” I said sceptically.

  “Have you ever wondered what you could do if you weren’t limited to using only one eighth of your brain?” Anna asked.

  I thought back to a discussion we’d had in school a few years ago. The teacher was talking about how primitive human minds still were. Yeah, our brains had grown since our ape days, but we were still nowhere near our potential—but maybe that would come in time. Maybe in a thousand years, our descendants will look back and think what primitive creatures we were, like how we think of the Neanderthals.

  “Of course I’ve thought about it. Who hasn’t?” I finally replied, wondering what the conversation was leading to.

  “Jade… what if I told you some people are more advanced? What if there were some people that could use the other seven eighths? What if being able to use the other parts of your brain was just the next step in the chain of evolution?”

  I was gobsmacked. I didn’t know what to say to that. Was she being serious? Her face looked serious, but I sure as hell didn’t see that one coming. Yet the vampire idea came so easy… God, I really needed to get a grip on my imagination.

  Both Anna and Aiden muffled a laugh, making my face turn bright red. They looked at each other for a moment. I was sure they were saying something about me, not that they had even admitted they could converse telepathically. I couldn’t help but wonder what they were saying to each other.

  Before I could come up with any theories, Anna spoke. “Why is it that some people are able to see things that others can’t? Or predict things like psychics do? Most people think they are just nuts, or that they have done their research before speaking with their clients, or that the things they say are so generic anyone could adapt it to themselves. Don’t get me wrong; most psychics are phonys. But there are also some that really do know things they shouldn’t. You see, they’re able to use a little more of their brain than the average person, but they don’t know that is the reason for their abilities. They think they are connected to some spiritual world. And then there are others who are able to do much, much more and are aware of their own possibilities. Like how you saw the cut above your ear heal right before your eyes. And how—”

  “Hang on, hang on,” I said, cutting her off as I got up off the couch. Whatever Anna had done to me earlier was starting to wear off, and I couldn’t seem to sit still, so I began pacing again. “Let me get this straight. You’re saying that you’re, like, part of some superhuman race that can read minds, move way too quickly, and can do some freaky calming shit?” The enormity of the situation was only just starting to sink in.

  “I’ve never put it like that, but yeah, I guess,” Anna answered.

  “And you think I’m….” I couldn’t bring myself to finish the sentence. But I guess I didn’t have to; they already knew what I was thinking.

  Seeing Aiden and Anna nod in agreement confirmed my thoughts. I was like them. I was part of some superhuman race. God, I was frigging immortal! I didn’t understand how that was possible. I wasn’t like Aiden; my parents weren’t immortal.

  Sure, my mum still looked young, but that was because she was young. And my father, well, all I knew about him was that he was some idiot who knocked up my mother when she was fifteen. He split as soon as he found out she was pregnant, and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

  This was all getting too much. I felt like I was suffocating. “I need some air,” I managed to get out in between ragged breaths. My voice didn’t seem to be working properly, and neither did my body. After fumbling with the lock, I finally managed to open the bi-fold doors and step out into the midday sun. I ran down the
back steps and past the pool until I reached the end of their yard. I leaned against the glass fence, hanging my head and watching the water hit the rocks below. I tried desperately to understand what Anna had just told me. And yet I couldn’t accept that I was like them. How was it that I could be so different, and not know? I was oblivious to the truth of my own existence.

  I could hear Aiden’s footsteps coming up behind me, but I didn’t turn around. I didn’t want him to see me like this. If I was supposed to be part of some advanced human race, then why was I falling to pieces?

  Aiden wrapped his arms around my waist and leant down so his head was resting on my shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay,” he whispered in my ear before kissing my neck. “You just need a bit of time to get used to the idea.”

  Used to it! How the hell was someone supposed to get used to something like that? Things like that shouldn’t be possible. When I really thought about it, it made sense that Aiden and his family were special. They were all insanely good looking and smart. They weren’t obnoxious like one would expect people with such power would be. Instead, they possessed a compassionate, understanding wisdom. How could I even compare myself to them? No matter what Anna was telling me, I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that I could be so special, too.

  Aiden reacted to my unspoken self-belittling. “Are you kidding me?” He turned me around so that I was facing him.

  I kept my head down, trying desperately to fight the tears that were threatening to spill from my eyes.

  “I can’t believe you never saw it sooner,” he said.

  Looking up at him, I pulled my eyebrows together in confusion. I didn’t understand how I could possibly have worked it out any sooner. It wasn’t as if I had ever been set on fire before or survived a car accident that should have killed me without even a scratch.

  “I don’t mean that. What I mean is… well, look at you.” Holding my hands, he stepped back to get a good look at me. “You’re like the poster girl of perfection. You’re a straight-A student without even trying. You can stuff your face full of junk food every day and not put on a single pound. You have looks that every girl would die for.” I gave him an incredulous look, but he continued speaking. “You have perfect eyes, skin, and don’t get me started on those legs.”

  I was sure my face had turned bright red. “Okay, okay,” I said with a laugh, a few tears slipping from my eyes. I grabbed onto his shirt, pulling him into me, trying to stop him from going on any more.

  It didn’t work. He nuzzled my ear. “Perfect ears.” He kissed my nose. “Perfect nose.” He moved slowly down so that his lips brushed against mine. “Perf—”

  Before he could say anymore, I pressed my lips against his. He cupped my head in his hands, kissing me softly, then quickly increasing the intensity. With all the drama over the past two days, it was only in that moment the world stopped spinning me around. I forgot about my freakish healing abilities, and the fact that I was supposed to be special. All that occupied my mind was Aiden. No matter what life threw my way, he was my constant. He made me feel safe. I was wrapped in his arms, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted more; I wanted all of him. I wanted him to take me in his arms and carry me up those stairs.

  That thought was quickly squashed when I realised that not only Aiden could hear my desire, but his mother could, too.

  Abruptly pulling away, I mouthed, “Oh my God.” I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks at the realisation of what exactly it meant that they could hear my thoughts. My mind reeled with all the indecent thoughts, fantasies, and things that we had got up to in our relationship that not only Aiden knew about me, but his mother and father did, too.

  Aiden laughed.

  “This is nothing to laugh about,” I said, pushing him away from me. “God, they know everything!” I felt like I was going to puke. I didn’t know how I was going to face them ever again. “Oh my God,” I repeated over and over.

  “Jade.” When I didn’t answer, he grabbed hold of me by my shoulders.

  I wriggled in his arms, still cringing from my realization.

  He laughed again. “I think there are some things that not even a mother wants to hear.”

  “She may not have wanted to hear it, but she sure as hell heard it from me.”

  “Jade. Listen to me.” He still had a smile plastered across his face. I stopped muttering so he could talk. “We can choose to tune out someone’s thoughts.”

  “Even if that were true, they would have caught the first part of it before tuning out, so they still heard things!” I had never been so embarrassed in my entire life.

  “Trust me, they tune out before they hear anything.”

  “How? How could they possibly know to tune out before I even had a single thought?”

  Aiden had a smile that stretched from ear to ear. “Well, you sort of give off a vibe before you start thinking about me. Your heart starts beating faster, and that’s when they know to tune out.”

  “Oh, God, that’s still bad enough.” I buried my head in my hands. I didn’t know how I was going to face them ever again. It was even worse knowing that they weren’t his sister and brother-in-law, but his parents. God, nobody wants their boyfriend’s parents to know about their love life. And thinking about just how often they had to ‘tune out…’ That alone was enough for me to die of embarrassment—if that were possible.

  “Lucky that’s not a possibility, then, isn’t it?” Aiden said, referring to my unspoken thoughts. “Come on, come here.” He pulled me into his arms, hugging me tightly. “You’ll just have to find a way to deal with it like I had to.”

  “What? You’ve found a way to deal with my thoughts?”

  “No, that’s not what I meant,” he said, shaking his head. “I meant that they are my parents, and they have also had to tune out my thoughts before I learnt how to block them.”

  I pulled back enough so that I could see his face. “You can block them?”

  Aiden cupped my head in his hands. “Yes, so there’s hope for you,” he teased, before kissing me softly. “Now.” He took my hands in his. “Let’s go back inside.”

  Inside was the last place I wanted to go. I still didn’t know how I was going to face Anna, knowing what I did.

  “You’re going to have to face her sometime, so you may as well get it over with.” Aiden pulled at my hand, trying to get me to go inside with him, but I didn’t budge. I knew I had to face her at some point, but I didn’t see why that time needed to be now.

  “Anna still has more to tell you. And I know you have more questions that need answers.”

  Yeah, I still had, like, a zillion questions, but at that moment, the need for answers didn’t seem to outweigh my fear of facing her again.

  “Come on,” he pleaded. I stood my ground for a few more seconds before giving in. He was right. I had to get this over and done with, and the more I delayed it, the worse it would be. “Okay, I’ll go back inside. But I’m not staying.”

  Aiden sighed. “You know, you are going to have to get over this whole ‘she can hear my thoughts’ thing sooner or later.”

  “I say later,” I protested. “I’ve waited seventeen years to find out who I am, so what’s another day… or five.” Truthfully, I wished it could be forever, but I didn’t think I would be able to avoid them for that long.

  “Fine. We’ll go back to yours just as soon as you face Anna,” Aiden said, pulling me back towards the house.

  With my heart pounding against my chest, we walked back through the bi-fold doors and into the living room. My eyes darted to Anna, sitting there and looking just as uncomfortable as I felt.

  “I don’t want to talk about this just as much as you don’t, Jade. Trust me when I say there are some things a parent does not want to know about their child, and their love life is at the top of the list. I have never, and will never, pry into that part of your life,” Anna promised. “Now, let’s forget we ever had this discussion.”

  A wave of relief washed
over me. I had actually gotten through one of the most awkward moments I would probably ever have in my entire life. “Agreed.”

  Chapter 4