Soulquest: Book Two of the Soulshine Series - Softcover

Rocque, J. W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1461185548 ISBN 13: 9781461185543

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011

Synopsis

"Soulquest" is the second book in the Soulshine Series, following "Soulshine". Michelle Fleming believes that Evan Troy is dead, killed by her father. She has traveled from her home in Riverside, USA to Paris, France... forever young due to the ancient elixir that Evan had given her so that she may be eternal like him. But others know of the elixir, and one of them has evil plans for the elixir, Michelle and her four new friends. Can Evan save them in time? Or will the newly assembled team of heroines be adequately able to take care of themselves? And who is the mysterious Tristan Heat? Combine an ancient elixir, time travel, mystery, adventure, and love without boundaries in the midst of peril... and you have "Soulquest".

About this title

About the Author

J. W. Rocque lives in Cumberland, Rhode Island, about 20 miles from the Riverside carousel in the Soulshine Series. He lives with his wife, two children and their kanga-dog. He enjoys good humor, fond memories and subtle fiction.

From the Inside Flap

Evan's Journal
May 1, 2004
It is a Saturday afternoon. I am sitting in the coffee shop at the Sheraton-Biltmore hotel in Providence. There are many other ways I would prefer to be spending my time after having been confined inside a cloister for over twenty years, but nevertheless I am constantly reminded that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. Well, not the Biltmore, but back in Rhode Island to take care of Mary Fleming.
Michelle believes me to be dead... which is probably as it should be. For that matter, I should be dead. Nobody was ever meant to cheat death as I have. So many centuries should never have crossed. Thankfully, she is smart enough to ensure that the interest earned on the funds I had left for her will keep her living comfortably for centuries.
From the window near my table, I can see the Providence River. On the other side is Riverside. It is strange to me, after having lived for centuries, to feel the need to return to a place of my recent past... if one would refer to a gap of thirty-two years as "recent". I was so much younger back then. That sounds strange also. How could a man who had managed to stay healthy for centuries suddenly age in a relatively short time? I am told that I look to be about forty years old... mid-thirties at best. For most of my life, I have been eighteen or nineteen... I really don't remember which. I had never thought that it mattered.
I try to avoid mirrors. They are much too truthful. From what I have seen when recently gazing into a mirror, the people who have guessed how old I look are pretty much correct. It's funny... and I do not mean in a humorous way... but I still think very much like a teen on the threshold of manhood. After countless years of life, I know no other perspective.
I have a wife... well, not in any legal sense. I had searched the world over for her and had found her... out of all places... in the latter part of twentieth century America. She has been carrying our child for the past thirty-two years. At least, I believe that she is still carrying our child. I have made her life a living hell, but at least I had fully intended to accompany her through the hell I have put her through. Mary has received postcards from her... from Paris. Of the many times I have been in Paris over the centuries, there had been no better reason for me to be there than there is now. However, when I look into Mary's eyes, I feel her heartache. Michelle has a new life. Mary had lost hers when I had taken Michelle away from her. Resolved... yes, I am exactly where I am supposed to be... taking care of Mary.
The ironic role reversal has been a cruel trick of fate. My beloved Michelle Fleming, not I, is now the world traveler, while I must be the dutiful offspring at the Fleming home. I find that to be fitting and pray to God that He is merciful to me, taking into account that I am at least making some feeble attempt at correcting my wrongs.
One positive thing about my looking so much older is that Mary does not seem to recognize me. That is about the only positive thing I can think of regarding the subject. I doubt that she would readily welcome me into her home, even if it is only to help her with strenuous chores. I can't say that I would blame her. After all, I had tricked her only daughter into drinking my elixir. I may not be a preying vampire, but I am not terribly unlike such a creature. I can only be grateful that, unlike a vampire, I do not need my nightly fix of blood. I had only required one opportunity to share my immortality and had made the worst of it.
I weep not for Michelle, for she is young while I am old, and the gulf between our two shores, I fear, would be too vast for even my precious soulshine to overcome. She had loved me as a young man. Our civilized society would scarcely be able to condition her to love me as I am. I have surrendered, though my heart remains the same. I am sorry that the baton I have passed on has now required someone as pure and innocent as you to become the hunter... or rather the huntress. Please choose your prey carefully, my love.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1461185548
• ISBN 13: 9781461185543
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 252