The Survivors

Chapt Sixteen: Evolution, pt. 2 + a special note from Amanda

Hi guys! The second half of the chapter in a second, but first a quick note. First, I want to thank all of you for all the support you've given me thus far. As we're nearing the end of the first installment of The Survivors Series, I just wanted to encourage you to check out all that the project has going on off of Wattpad, like our original music on my YouTube channel that you've seen as the videos in the chapters, or the covers of "soundtrack" songs done by local artists. You can find all that at http://youtube.com/amandahavard.

But more importantly, I urge you to check out the new Immersedition of THE SURVIVORS, which is a fully interactive version of the book in app form. It's the full text of the novel, just like you'd get in the regular book or eBook, but it has over 300 touchpoints inside the text to give you more information, from the fashion the characters are wearing or cars they're driving throughout, photos and interactive Google maps of book locations, historical notes and even real historical documents from 1692, the full stories on the real myths and legends in the book incuding illustrations of some that Sadie researches, character profiles with new information, music laid out like a soundtrack throughout the book from artists like Coldplay, Sara Bareilles, and Mumford & Sons, and so so so much more! It's been my dream to share my story with as many people as possible but also to share it in a form like this so that you might expierence the story the way I did when I created it: in a fully immersive form.

So please, please check out the Immersedition. And if you're thinking at all about buying the book to get the full story, then I encourage you to buy this because it's really the best way to get the story. Please check out my website at http://amandahavard.com for fuller information, including screen caps and more info, or go to my publisher's site at http://chafiecreative.com (link to the side as well!) to see the "trailer" for the Immersedition and a demo of the app and a quick link to find the app in the app store.

Thanks and love, kids.
Amanda

Chapter 16: Evolution
Part 2

I was quiet. Anthony and Ginny were patiently waiting for me to respond. I tried desperately to keep the images of the broken bodies of my family members out of my mind, but it was no use. Ginny hovered close to me, her presence protective.

  "I think you should show her the vision of Everett and her," Ginny said after a while. She had been able to follow my thoughts as they swirled darkly into self-loathing. She wanted to distract me.
  Anthony nodded once more. "Focus," he said to us both as he flipped through the images of his visions.

  And then I saw it.

    We were on a beach. My hair was in soft waves from the salty air, a long, white gauzy dress flitting around my calves, my shoulders and arms bare. Everett was beside me, his arm locked tight around my waist, a loose-fitting button-down opened halfway down his chest, rugged khakis rolled up so we could wade in the water. His eyes were rich golden green again, his smile sparkled in the moonlight, and his hair was messy from the ocean breeze. He pulled me close to him and kissed me, and then he whispered something that made me laugh. Laughing, too, he darted down the beach, and I ran after him, slinging my arms around his neck as he pulled me off the ground and spun me around. Laughing, he stumbled into the water, and we fell to the ground. Warm water lapped up around us as we lay kissing in the surf. Then I rested my head on his chest. He kissed my head and whispered that he loved me. I kissed his chest and said I loved him, too. My left hand was fiddling with his open shirt, a beautiful diamond on my ring finger.

    It was a more detailed version of the vision I had had in Twin Falls the moment I touched Everett on the hillside, only the locale was different; this water was warm. At the time, it had felt like a fishhook in my stomach for how impossible it seemed. But now it was here, in Anthony's vision, a promise that it would occur.

  Anthony's vision continued where mine had stopped. I watched as Everett lithely sprung to his feet, never letting me out of his grasp. He kissed me once more, set me down, and then we ran slowly back up the beach. There was no one there; there were no houses or shops along it as far as the eye could see, except for one—a stunning mansion. I knew then that the beach, the house—it was all ours. We crossed the sand toward the majestic home, the kind I had only ever seen in movies. It was three stories high, and the back of the house was covered in broad windows and balconies overlooking the water. Everett and I ran up to the porch and into a living room. I couldn't tell how I knew, but I knew it was many, many years in the future.

  We were so happy. Our love was so real-I could feel it. It was so warm and light that for one solitary second it sucked from me all my morbid desires for death, along with my fears about the Winters and even the war, all my trepidation about love and touch. For one second, I loved Everett in a way that made me feel like an entirely different being.

Then the vision faded out.

  I opened my eyes and was disappointed to see the cold, barren landscape around me.