The Violet Awakening (The Elementum Trinity Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

and piercings, and flowers in their hair. There were people wearing flowing skirts, and skinny jeans, and pant-suits. High-heels, flip-flops, and no shoes at all. Everyone was different, and everyone was themselves. There was no judgment. It was beautiful, and fascinating, and I would have been perfectly content spending the rest of my life with them.
    “Everyone,” Lily’s voice boomed louder than I would have ever thought possible, “gather ‘round!”
    Lakin and I huddled in closely to each other, eyeing unacquainted faces nervously. What if we weren’t what they were expecting? What if they didn’t like us? Would they kick us out of the Eden?
    ‘They haven’t thrown Gabe out, yet,’ Al’s voice laughed in my head. ‘You’ll be fine.’
    “As I’m sure you all have heard, this is Angela Dawson and Lakin Adams, born of our lost generation,” Lily called.
    An older man with two long, silver braids and a face full of white stubble stepped out from the crowd.
    “On behalf of all the Oracles, and every soul in the Eden,” the man said, spreading his arms to gesture to those around him, “welcome to our home.”
    A long, extremely awkward silence lingered in the air as all eyes stared at us expectantly.
    “Uh,” I whispered, trying to find my voice. “T-thank you.”
    Before my lips even closed around my words, the static-sound of applause broke out and filled the entirety of the Eden. It was so surprising that I jumped a few inches back, sheltering myself behind Lakin, who obviously found my reaction amusing, and laughed as he wrapped a soothing arm around me.
    After the clapping had faded off, the festivities quickly picked back up. The sounds of music and happiness floated all around us, as generation after generation took their turns meeting us in groups.
    The old man, Roland, we were told, was the oldest person in the Eden, from a recycled generation. He’d been the Oracle of his group, and had been fortunate enough—or, perhaps, unfortunate enough—to be the only one to retain his memories. All others from his generation had passed years ago, for as strong as the healing powers of the Elementums were, the effects of time were wounds we could never touch.
    The generation below that of our parents’ seemed the most emotional when meeting us.
    “I never thought this day would come,” a woman named Michelle said with tears in her eyes as she smothered me in a hug.
    Al then explained that the parents of Michelle’s generation had recycled into us when we were born, and that they’d always felt a sort of emptiness in having never seen us. Of course, there was no way to tell whose parent had recycled into whom, but, apparently, after all the sadness of some lost memories had passed, the Elementums made a sort of game out of guessing. It all sounded a bit weird and morbid to me.
    “Has Patrick’s generation not returned, yet?” Lily asked, after Michelle had finally released me.
    “They’re on their way back, now. I’ve been keeping in touch with Cain. He said they did very well,” Michelle said, face beaming with pride.
    “That’s wonderful,” Lily said, patting the woman’s hand, “but we all had the utmost faith in them. They’ve always been a very promising generation.”
    As Lily ushered us around the field, she clarified that Patrick’s was the generation younger than ours, and that they had set out on their first mission a few days earlier. They’d gone with Michelle’s bond, Patrick’s father, to heal a forest that had been nearly burnt to the ground by a stray fire.
    “Won’t anyone notice that an entire forest sprouted back up overnight?” I questioned incredulously in the rare moment of downtime between introductions.
    “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Al said with a half-smile.
    “Most humans are all too willing to overlook things that can’t be explained by their laws of nature,” Lily said. “Some take notice, but they are few enough that the majority