Children of Eternity Omnibus Read online

  Children of Eternity #1: Forever Young

  By P.T. Dilloway

  Copyright 2012 P.T. Dilloway

  Table of Contents

  Children of Eternity #1: Forever Young

  Chapter 1: Awakening

  Chapter 2: Prudence

  Chapter 3: The Way

  Chapter 4: The Good Book

  Chapter 5: The Woodshed

  Chapter 6: Children At Play

  Chapter 7: The Seamstresses

  Chapter 8: The House on the Hill

  Chapter 9: Exile

  Chapter 10: Nightmares

  Chapter 11: By the Sea

  Chapter 12: The Woodsmen

  Chapter 13: The Trapdoor

  Chapter 14: The Cellar

  Chapter 15: Secrets

  Chapter 16: Bedtime Stories

  Chapter 17: Acceptance

  Chapter 18: Romantic Entanglement

  Chapter 19: Prudence Iscariot

  Chapter 20: The Sacrifice

  Chapter 21: The Siege

  Chapter 22: Chaos

  Chapter 23: The Morning After

  Chapter 24: Escape Plan

  Chapter 25: The Chase

  Chapter 26: In God’s House

  Chapter 27: Prison Break

  Chapter 28: The Chamber

  Chapter 29: Dogs of War

  Chapter 30: The Water

  Chapter 31: The Fountain

  Chapter 32: Final Reward

  Chapter 33: An Uncertain Future

  Children of Eternity #2: Young Family

  Chapter 1: Sleepwalking

  Chapter 2: Lessons

  Chapter 3: Skirmishes

  Chapter 4: Betrayal

  Chapter 5: Runaway

  Chapter 6: On the Road

  Chapter 7: The Storm

  Chapter 8: Secret Kiss

  Chapter 9: Mementoes

  Chapter 10: Stuck

  Chapter 11: Safecracker

  Chapter 12: Shipwreck

  Chapter 13: The Stranger

  Chapter 14: Campfire Tales

  Chapter 15: Homeward Bound

  Chapter 16: Search Party

  Chapter 17: Everyday Miracle

  Chapter 18: Dropping In

  Chapter 19: Rescue

  Chapter 20: Homecoming

  Chapter 21: First Impressions

  Chapter 22: Damage Control

  Chapter 23: Betrayal

  Chapter 24: Molly is Born

  Chapter 25: Turning Back the Clock

  Chapter 26: Clues

  Chapter 27: Another Rescue

  Chapter 28: Going Home

  Epilogue: Moving Forward

  Children of Eternity #3: Young Hearts

  Chapter 1: Damage Report

  Chapter 2: Council of War

  Chapter 3: Early Withdrawal

  Chapter 4: Bon Voyage

  Chapter 5: Good Intentions Gone Bad

  Chapter 6: The Ghost

  Chapter 7: The Discovery

  Chapter 8: Homecoming

  Chapter 9: Open Doors

  Chapter 10: Kiss and Tell

  Chapter 11: Seabrooke

  Chapter 12: New Beginnings

  Chapter 13: Transformation

  Chapter 14: Mama Veronica

  Chapter 15: The Awful Truth

  Chapter 16: Tea and Sympathy

  Chapter 17: Second Impressions

  Chapter 18: Blame Game

  Chapter 19: Family Matters

  Chapter 20: The Cure

  Chapter 21: Alterations

  Chapter 22: Hide and Seek

  Chapter 23: On the Town

  Chapter 24: Second First Kiss

  Chapter 25: The Showdown

  Chapter 26: Payback

  Chapter 27: Emergency!

  Chapter 28: The Fugitive

  Chapter 29: Crimes and Misdemeanors

  Chapter 30: Kidnapped

  Chapter 31: Booby Traps

  Chapter 32: Poison

  Chapter 33: The Incredible Expanding Cheerleader!

  Chapter 34: The Amazing Shrinking Professor!

  Chapter 35: The Fall

  Chapter 36: Fat Woman and Little Girl

  Chapter 37: Explosions

  Chapter 38: The Final Nightmare

  Chapter 39: Plans

  Chapter 40: Undercover

  Chapter 41: Life in an Island Town

  Chapter 42: New Plans

  Chapter 43: Breaking and Entering

  Chapter 44: The Snare

  Chapter 45: Reawakening

  Chapter 46: Emerging Friendships

  Chapter 47: Letting Go

  Chapter 48: A Choice

  Chapter 49: New Horizons

  Children of Eternity #4: When You Were Young

  Chapter 1: Westbound

  Chapter 2: Night Moves

  Chapter 3: Blackout

  Chapter 4: Night Cries

  Chapter 5: Baby Steps

  Chapter 6: The Makeover

  Chapter 7: Many Happy Returns

  Chapter 8: High and Low

  Chapter 9: On the Run

  Chapter 10: Red Water

  Chapter 11: Savannah

  Chapter 12: Love & Marriage

  Chapter 13: The Rage

  Chapter 14: Junction

  Chapter 15: Discoveries

  Chapter 16: Reconciliation

  Chapter 17: Chicago

  Chapter 18: The Fountain

  Chapter 19: Extermination

  Chapter 20: St. John’s

  Chapter 21: Divine Intervention

  Chapter 22: New Plans

  Chapter 23: Seabrooke

  Chapter 24: Love Lost

  Chapter 25: Memories

  Chapter 26: The Final Piece

  Chapter 27: Last Chance

  Chapter 28: Guiding Star

  Chapter 29: Lady in Gray

  Chapter 30: The Killing Field

  Chapter 31: Partners in Crime

  Chapter 32: Eternity

  Chapter 33: Legacy

  Chapter 34: Escape

  Chapter 35: Decisions

  Chapter 36: Ghost Towns

  Chapter 37: Revival

  Chapter 38: Innocents Lost

  Chapter 39: Alternate History

  Chapter 40: Molly Strikes Back

  Chapter 41: Reunion

  Chapter 42: The Plea

  Chapter 43: Friendly Ties

  Chapter 44: Endgame

  Chapter 45: The Miracle

  Chapter 46: Ghosts

  Chapter 47: Farewells

  Chapter 48: The New Eternity

  Chapter 49: Sunset

  Epilogue: The Return

  Also by P.T. Dilloway:

  About the Author

  Chapter 1: Awakening

  A wave deposited the girl’s body onto the wet sand. She lifted her head enough to spew salty water into the sand. Long after the last drop came out, she continued coughing, the ache in her chest reminding her, “I’m alive.”

  With this thought she rolled onto her back to stare at the moonless sky. The stars overhead whirled in her vision, smearing together into solid white lines of pain. She cried out, but then choked the whimper. She couldn’t let them find her. She had to escape.

  But she could not move her numb limbs. In the distance, she heard a dog howl. She tried again to get up. Her body did not respond. The white lines crisscrossing her vision dimmed to gray and then black.

  The howling became louder, closing in on her. They were going to catch her…

  “No!” she shouted, bolting upright. A hand reached out to touch her shoulder, but she batted it away. She had to get out of here. She had to escape.

  She tried to get to her feet, but something heavy fell onto her
chest, pressing her down into the straw pallet. She clawed at the air around her, trying to free herself. “Get away from me!” she said.

  A pair of hands cupped her jaw. She tried to swat the hands away, but they kept hold of her. “Easy now, dear. You’re safe,” a woman said. “No one is going to hurt you. Prudence, dear, get off her.”

  The weight lifted from her chest. The woman lit a candle to reveal a pale face with emerald eyes that seemed familiar somehow. The room around her was made of rough wooden planks. She sat on a straw pallet with a white sheet thrown over it. A stool rested next to the bed with a clay mug half-filled with clear liquid. She reached out for the mug; the water tasted warm and sour. The woman sat on another stool, the candlelight bringing out the red of her hair. She squinted, trying to remember where she had seen this woman before.

  “Where am I?” she asked.

  “You’re in Eternity, dear.”

  “Eternity? Am I dead?”

  “No, dear, I guarantee you are quite alive. Mr. Pryde found you on the beach three nights ago. Do you remember how you got here?”

  “No.” She put a hand to her head, trying to remember. When she closed her eyes, she saw nothing but darkness. “I don’t remember anything,” she said.

  “Nothing at all? Not even your name?”

  “No.”

  “Oh dear. We shall have to give you a name then until you can think of your own.” The woman thought for a moment. “We’ll call you Samantha. Samantha Young.”

  “Samantha Young?”

  “If you don’t like it, we can change it to something else.”

  “No, it’s fine, I guess.”

  “Good. A child should have a name she likes.” The woman smiled at the newly-christened Samantha Young. “My name is Miss Brigham. I look after the children here. I’m going to take care of you.”

  Miss Brigham ran a hand up the side of Samantha’s head to rest on her forehead. “You feel much cooler. When Mr. Pryde found you, I thought you would burn up. You’re very lucky he got you here in time for the reverend to cure you.”

  “Cure me? But I’m not cured,” Samantha said. “Why can’t I remember? What’s wrong with me?”

  “I’m not sure, dear. In time it will all come back to you. Until then you’re welcome to stay with us.” Miss Brigham sniffed the air and then put a hand on Samantha’s bed. “Oh my, you wet the bed. We’ll have to clean you up before the morning service. We can’t have you meeting the reverend smelling like that. And you’ll need clothes. When Mr. Pryde brought you in, you were naked as a plucked chicken. Prudence, be a dear and get Samantha some clothes. She looks about Helena’s size.”

  Miss Brigham glanced over at the doorway, where a fat girl cowered, her hands kneading her white apron. She wore the same gray dress as Miss Brigham and had her auburn hair pulled back into a similar bun. “Go on, dear, don’t stand there gaping.”

  Prudence left the room, leaving Samantha alone with Miss Brigham, who dried Samantha’s tears with the hem of her apron. “Thank you,” Samantha said. She sniffled and then wiped her nose with the back of an unfamiliar bronze-skinned hand. She flexed the long fingers of the hand, trying to remember where she might have seen them before. Nothing came to her. “I’m sorry to make a mess.”

  “Don’t worry a hair on your pretty head about it. We’ll get everything cleaned up good as new. Prudence will take you down to the stream for a bath.” Prudence stood frozen in the doorway, clutching a stack of clothes in trembling fingers. “Prudence is a little shy. Come here, dear, she won’t bite.”

  Prudence took one cautious step forward after another until she came to stand beside the bed. She helped Samantha stand up, supporting her when her legs buckled. “Put one foot in front of the other. Nice and easy now. There you go,” Miss Brigham encouraged Samantha as she took a step on her own.

  Prudence kept an arm on Samantha as they went through a door into a room with fifteen pallets identical to her own. The girls sitting on the pallets all wore a nightgown identical to hers. Miss Brigham clapped her hands twice, every head turning to face her. “Children, I want you to meet someone. This is Samantha Young. She is staying with us for a while.”

  “She smells like pee,” said a blonde girl sitting on a nearby bed. The other girls laughed; Samantha bit down on her lip to keep from crying.

  “Helena, that’s a terrible thing to say. Samantha is our guest and you will all treat her with respect or else you’ll have to explain your sinful behavior to the reverend. Is that understood?”

  “Yes Miss Brigham,” the girls said in unison.

  “Very good. Now, I want you all to make your beds and get ready for morning service.”

  The girls grumbled as they got off their beds and began tidying up. Meanwhile, Samantha followed Prudence down the line of beds, keeping her eyes on the floor out of embarrassment. She hoped she got her memory back soon; she didn’t want to stay in Eternity a moment longer than necessary.

  Chapter 2: Prudence

  Eternity wasn’t much of a town. The village consisted of ten low cottages with rough, wood-shingled roofs, each with the same whitewashed finish. Samantha peeked through the windows of a couple, but saw no one inside. “Doesn’t anyone else live here?” she asked.

  “Just Reverend Crane, Mr. Pryde, and the boys,” Prudence said, her voice as low as a whisper.

  “The boys?”

  “You’ll see them later. They live in the other dormitory.”

  “There are only three adults?”

  “Yes.”

  In the center of the cottages stood a square building made from blocks of granite. From the steeple with a cross on top, Samantha knew this must be a church. “Is that where the reverend lives?”

  “No, Reverend Crane’s house is near the caves.” Prudence took Samantha’s arm to steer her away from the church. Samantha followed Prudence obediently down a dirt path leading into a forest of ancient pine trees so tall they blocked out the sun. The shadowy forest reminded Samantha of the dark beach and the dogs howling. When a breeze rattled the tree branches, Samantha dug her fingers into Prudence’s arm hard enough to make her yelp with pain.