The Awakening Trilogy Books 1-3

It’s one thing to read about witches, it’s another thing to discover you are one.

This box set contains all three novels in The Awakening Trilogy:

  1. The Witches of Scotland Book 1
  2. The Witches of Scotland Book 2
  3. The Witches of Scotland Book 3

Glasgow law student, David Hunter is drifting through life and feels something is missing. When on a night out someone tries to kill him he discovers he is from a long line of witches known as Dream Dancers, his life is turned upside down.

Now David has unwittingly exposed himself to a world of powerful witches, clandestine government agencies, and a fight to protect the Akashic records.

Is a life filled with Magick really his true calling in life?

If you love witches, magick, and conspiracy theories, you’ll love the first book in this fast-paced supernatural thriller series.

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Excerpt from The Witches of Scotland © Copyright 2023 Steven P Aitchison

Prologue

Budapest, six months ago

The medical lab was small when compared to the other ViraTech labs around the world, and only three scientists had worked there for the last eighteen months.

For good reason.

The virus had taken fourteen months to perfect, and now it was time to test it on the world.

The ten-armed guards walked the perimeter of the facility in turns. It took sixteen minutes to complete a full circuit. When not walking the perimeter, each guard trekked slowly from building to fence, sweeping their eyes from left to right. The security system was so sensitive, if a rabbit happened to hop past the area, it triggered the lights as well as ten MP5k machine guns.

Jessica Campbell floated inside the facility, watching the lab workers gingerly move about the room. Their arm-length rubber gloves and gas masks hinted at the volatility of what they held. She observed them from the corner of the ceiling since the view was far more advantageous.

This is it. Be calm. You’ve got five minutes to get this right.

She had to keep her heart rate slow and steady or risk being catapulted back to Edinburgh in milliseconds.

The lab workers, two men and one woman, didn’t speak to each other tonight. Normally, they were a chatty bunch as they worked, having grown close over the last year and a half. They often talked about the money they would receive after successfully completing this assignment. Everyone had agreed to quit their jobs as epidemiologists and travel abroad.

Tonight, they were close to the payoff, close to ending the sleepless nights, the worry, the guilt. They all knew, of course, that the payoff wouldn’t really have that effect. The results of all their hard work would only add to their anxiety. The deaths of millions of older people around the world would forever be on their consciences, and Jessie knew they had all asked themselves if it would be worth it. Would never worrying about money be enough to assuage their guilt?

That’s when rationalization and justification entered the equation. How did you press forward, otherwise? She had often heard their weak justifications as they worked. They told themselves the elderly were a drain on the economy, a drain on pensions, on healthcare services, on the welfare state and employment figures.

Not to mention a drain on families.

They had a job to do tonight, and they did it in silence.

Jessica knew the time had finally come to materialize and stop the virus from being unleashed. She also knew the consequences if she failed and fought hard to control her racing pulse. Her vision faded in and out as her energy levels spiked.

Come on! You’ve got this…calm…deep breaths…in through your nose, out through your mouth.

She breathed out a final sigh of relief as her vision remained fixed, her heart rate slow and steady. She lowered herself down to ground-level, preparing to materialize.

One of the lab workers turned around suddenly and looked straight at her. He couldn’t see her, but she knew he must have sensed something or felt her energy. He continued to look at her and around her. Jessica stayed still, willing him to get back to work. He glanced at the others and then back at Jessica. After seeing no reaction from his co-workers, he shook it off and continued. The scientists packed a sturdy casing with ten, large glass vials.

Jessica considered all the months of planning involved to prepare for this moment. She was instrumental in this mission’s success or failure. Her training had been intense and stressful, made even more so due to their timeline and what was at stake, not to mention the negative impact heavy practise had on her body. There were only so many times a person could travel before it took its toll on both body and mind.

She crouched low, waiting for her moment, thinking about the day her father had first revealed the threat of the virus not four months ago. Dream dancers were diligent in their quest to elevate humanity, and any threats to that were promptly reported and addressed. One particular dream dancer had been “astral sniffing” when he stumbled upon the threat, immediately reporting it to her father. The head of this organization was an unknown, but the labs were easily located.

Outraged, her father had recruited her and another dream dancer to spy on the facility, but they had not been prepared for the virus to be ready so soon. No other dream dancers had been trained to “port,” over vast distances such as Edinburgh to Boston. So, her training had been intense. She just hoped she could pull it off now.

Jessica took a deep breath and slowly crept up behind the three scientists as they put the rest of the vials into the foam-moulded casing. Once the last vial was secured, they closed it.

This is it.

Jessica’s pulse rose again in anticipation, her vision becoming a little blurry as she looked from worker to worker. She had to act now before they padlocked it.

She closed her eyes and visualized the light and energy rising from the soles of her feet up to the crown of her head and beyond. Sensation soon followed. She’d practised this hundreds of times before, so it was relatively easy, but there was still a part of her that wondered if it would work in this type of setting.

When it really mattered.

When it would save millions of lives.

Only thirty seconds to do it.

Her body began to materialise in front of the lab workers. At first, they couldn’t quite comprehend what was going on, which bought Jessica a little more time.

Shit, I’m losing it.

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