It Wasn't Always Like This

In 1916, Emma O'Neill is frozen in time. After sampling an experimental polio vaccine brewed on a remote island off St. Augustine, Florida, she and her family stop aging, as do the Ryans, her family's business partners. In a way this suits Emma fine, because she's in love with Charlie Ryan. Being 17 forever with him is a dream.

But soon a group of religious fanatics, the Church of Light, takes note. Drinking the elixir has made the O'Neills and Ryans impervious to aging, but not to murder. When their families are massacred, Emma and Charlie are the only ones who escape with their lives.

On the run, Emma is tragically separated from Charlie. For the next hundred years, she plays a cat-and-mouse game with the Church of Light and their descendants. She becomes a private investigator when a series of murders whose victims all bear more than a passing resemblance to her indicate that her enemies are closing in. Yet as the danger grows, so does Emma s hope for finding the boy she's certain is still out there....