Never (The Ever Series Book 2)

by C. J. Valles

  “Seriously?” I demand. “How about the girl doesn’t get demonically possessed in the end?”

  “Uh, Wren?” Lindsay laughs. “How many of these have you seen? This is the only way these movies ever end.”

  “You know what?” Taylor says. “You’re totally right! I can count like three other movies with the exact same ending. And every time, it’s like, ‘Yay! The good guys won—oh, no. Wait! One of them is possessed!’”

  “What ever happened to the good guy winning in the end?” I ask. “Happily ever after? What’s wrong with that?”

  “It’s out of style, but it will come back. It always does. In dark times, people want to believe in happy endings,” Audra says.

  She should know. I turn when Ashley holds up a nail polish. I wrinkle my nose.

  “It looks kind of like fungus.”

  She laughs.

  “Yeah, but it’s so in right now.”

  Getting up, I stretch. Then momentary panic sets in. Does this house even have a bathroom? Given its occupants, I realize it’s totally possible that it was designed without one. I cross my fingers as I turn to Audra.

  “Bathroom?”

  She points toward the back of the house, and I exhale. Walking barefoot, I notice that the shiny concrete floors are surprisingly warm. I can’t help slowing and looking around as I pass a large, stark kitchen with glossy black marble countertops. The appliances are all stainless steel, and they look utterly unused. Down another hallway lined with several closed doors, I eventually find the bathroom. It’s immaculate, but I’m just grateful that they’ve remembered small human things like towels, soap, and toilet paper. Then again, with lifetimes of practice, I guess it’s not that hard to get the little things right.

  Returning to the living room, I glance over at Taylor. Her eyes are closed, her body curled into a tiny ball on one of the sofas. Her long black hair is spilling around her chaotically, and she looks peaceful and childlike. I nudge Ashley and point.

  “Do you think she’s doing okay?” I whisper.

  Ashley shrugs.

  “Yeah. … I mean, I think so.”

  “She said something about things not being so great with her—”

  “Step-monster?”

  I nod.

  “I feel bad,” I mutter.

  “It sucks. Your parents are divorced, too. Right?”

  “Yeah. That’s why we moved.”

  “God. Sometimes it feels like my parents are the only ones still married.”

  “Do you think they’re happy?” I ask automatically.

  I immediately feel guilty for asking such a nosy question, but Ashley just laughs.

  “Yeah, I guess. I hadn’t thought about it.”

  “Then they’re happy. If they weren’t, you’d think about it all the time. Trust me.”

  Music suddenly blasts from hidden speakers, and the two of us look over at Lindsay, who’s dancing and singing along. Taylor sits up groggily and looks around.

  “Hello! Let’s get this party started, chicas!” Lindsay whoops.

  With Ashley’s help, I grab Taylor off the couch, and everyone starts dancing. With a shrug, I start hopping around completely off-beat. When Lindsay does a perfect cartwheel and launches into a complicated dance routine, it reminds me why I don’t dance. Lindsay stops abruptly, staring intently at Audra, who is moving so fluidly with the music that it’s impossible not to watch. She may have seemed human earlier, but now it’s hard to think of her as anything other than an immortal goddess.

  “Have you taken dance before?” Lindsay asks, attempting to imitate Audra’s graceful movements.

  Audra shakes her head. Another song comes on, and Lindsay, Taylor, and Ashley line up and start doing a group performance of some dance routine I was never able to pick up in elementary school. Sitting down on the couch, I whistle and clap, watching enviously as Lindsay does another effortless cartwheel. By the time a mellower song comes on, Taylor joins me on the couch. Finally, Lindsay senses that everyone’s enthusiasm for dancing is fading, and she turns to us breathlessly. It’s easy to tell she loves being the center of attention. The two of us couldn’t be more different in that way.

  “Are you guys ready for a piece of real cinematic art?”

  Zombies, ghouls—what’s next? I cringe as she flips off the music and goes back to her bag to rummage around. Once everyone has grabbed some more junk food, we settle back on the couches, and I brace myself as the movie begins playing. After a few minutes, I realize it’s actually pretty boring. It’s mostly just a guy in a mask wielding a scythe and chasing campers around. Very slowly. I lay my head back on the couch and start to count the number of times the masked psycho-killer trips over his own feet.

  The sound of knocking wakes me out of a sound sleep, and I sit up and look around. My friends are sprawled out around me on the couches, their faces an unnatural shade of blue in the light of the TV screen. Even Audra is asleep, which seems strange. Shrugging, I get up and walk to the front of the house.

  The door is already wide open, and Alex is standing there, smiling this terrible grin. I open my mouth to scream, but nothing comes out. Behind him there are at least ten more people staggering toward the door like zombies. He grips my hand, his grin widening.

  “Me and you, together forever,” he says in a sing-song voice.

  I force a scream out of my throat as I fall backward onto the floor.

  “Wren!”

  My eyes fly open, and I sit up and stare at Ashley, Taylor, Lindsay, and Audra.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, shaking my head groggily.

  Lindsay laughs, but it’s more of a freaked out what just happened kind of laugh.

  “You screamed. Like horror movie screamed—in the middle of the most boring part,” she says.

  “We thought you were awake, but you were totally out,” Ashley adds. “I had to shake you to get you to snap out of it.”

  “Sorry, guys. I guess the demon possession movie got to me.”

  “Is everyone ready for pizza?” Lindsay asks, taking her phone out.

  I smile and nod. I try to pretend that everything is all right, but I can’t quite manage it as snippets of the dream come back to me. Bringing my knees up, I hug them to my chest. My breath is coming out in shallow little bursts. Pull it together, Wren, I command silently. Alex released me from our deal, and everything is okay. Lindsay asks what everybody wants, and I veto pineapple. When Audra comes over and sits next to me, I look over at her.

  “If I could sleep, I would have nightmares,” she says quietly without looking at me.

  I smile awkwardly, not sure if this is meant to be comforting or not.

  “Wren? Do you think you can handle the rest of the movie?” Lindsay teases as she hangs up from ordering the pizzas.

  “Sure. How scary can it be if I slept through most of it? Has he caught anyone yet?”

  “Almost,” Taylor cackles. “He wheezes and moans most of the time, and he’s kind of slow.”

  “Maybe he smokes,” I smile.

  “Ha!” Lindsay laughs.

  “Hey, maybe that’s why he grunts so much!” Ashley says before burying her face in a pillow.

  In the next five minutes, the masked stalker has been kneed, punched, and hit with a baseball bat. I wince.

  “I don’t think he can take much more abuse. These girls are destroying him. Do you think he’ll give up soon?” I ask.

  “Girl power!” Lindsay hoots.

  This just makes me think about my own stalkers. They’re not mask-wearing sociopaths; they’re not even human. But there has to be some way to win. Then suddenly it occurs to me that the villain from the movie doesn’t have any motive. He’s mindless. That’s the difference. Whatever is after me has a motive—to claim a stake in this world. I think of what Alex said.

  I aim to be on the winning side.

  It makes me wonder: Why would he give up and leave me alone so easily? The sound of knocking startles me, and I jump up and follo
w Audra to the front door for proof that my nightmare was just that—a nightmare. I hold my breath when she opens the door. A guy, probably a few years older than me, is holding the pizzas and staring down at the receipt. He looks up, and I breathe a sigh of relief when I see his eyes are unquestionably human.

  His gaze focuses on Audra, and I try not to laugh as his mouth falls open. He’s looking at her like she’s a golden statuette come to life. When she hands him the cash, he just continues staring, like someone just told him he won the lottery. She doesn’t even notice.

  “Thanks!” I say cheerfully, relieved he’s not some possessed zombie.

  He glances at me, and I catch a snippet of his thoughts before his eyes quickly return to Audra.

  … the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

  As soon as Audra shuts the door, I start laughing.

  “Does it ever get old? Guys falling at your feet, I mean?” I ask.

  She looks at me blankly.

  “You honestly don’t even notice it, do you?”

  Then again, why would she if it happens all the time? Maybe—after an eternity—you can get used to almost anything. In the living room, I set the pizzas on the table, and Audra brings over plates—real plates. It makes me wonder if she bought them specifically for this human occasion. I pick up a slice of pizza and take a bite. The cheese is still hot and the pepperoni is salty.

  “Awesome, right?” Lindsay says.

  I pick up the soda I poured earlier.

  “To girls’ night!” I toast.

  Ever’s existence might be infinite, but there’s a chance that all I have is right here, right now, and I intend to enjoy every second I can.

  “To girls’ night!” everybody else screams back.

  By the time the second movie has limped to its end, we’ve all eaten way too much pizza. I scowl at the TV screen. The last scene of the movie is scarier than the rest put together, and Lindsay pauses the screen right after a glove-covered hand has risen out of the lake. This can only mean one thing.

  “You guys want to watch the sequel?” she asks.

  “No!” the rest of us laugh.

  “All right. How about some old-school fun?” Ashley asks.

  Lindsay and Taylor groan, and I turn and look at them, waiting for the punch line as Ashley goes over to her bag.

  “Come on, Ash. Seriously? Aren’t we getting a little old for this?” Taylor asks.

  “Enough suspense! Are you guys going to fill us in?” I demand on behalf of Audra and myself.

  Ashley pulls what looks like a board game from her bag. I start feeling queasy. Board games are not my thing, mostly because I suck at them. She puts the board on the table, and I lean in for a closer look. It doesn’t look like any board game I’ve seen before.

  “I thought you were going to make us play Monopoly or something,” I exhale. “What is it?”

  “It’s a Ouija board,” Lindsay says, staring at me like I just crawled out of cave. “You’ve seen one before, right?”

  I shake my head.

  “A spirit board,” Ashley explains. “To communicate with the dead.”

  “Like a séance?” I ask skeptically. “Do you guys believe in that stuff?”

  “Ash does,” Lindsay snickers with an eye roll.

  “I totally talked to my grandpa after he died!” Ashley shoots back defensively.

  She slaps a wooden piece with a small see-through hole at its center onto the board.

  “Who wants to go first?” she asks.

  Lindsay and Taylor look at me, and I shake my head.

  “No way! You guys have done this before. Someone else do it.”

  Taylor shrugs and then settles on the floor opposite from Ashley. I look over at Audra, who appears indifferent to the proceedings, before returning my attention to Ashley and Taylor as they place their fingers at the edges of the moveable piece. They close their eyes.

  “Oh, Ouija board, what kind of take-out is my witch of a stepmother going to order for dinner tomorrow?” Taylor asks somberly.

  Lindsay and I burst into laughter, and Ashley opens her eyes.

  “Taylor! Would you be serious?!” she scolds.

  “Okay, okay,” Taylor laughs, closing her eyes again. “Am I going to get into USC?”

  “That’s better,” Ashley mutters. “And no moving the piece!”

  “We cheat all the time,” Lindsay whispers loudly. “If we didn’t, we’d end up sitting here all night waiting for that thing to move a millimeter.”

  Ashley shushes her, and then we sit and wait. When the piece begins moving slowly, Lindsay nudges me meaningfully. I’m fully expecting the piece to land on “yes” in the upper left corner, but it doesn’t. Instead, it hovers over “hello” before quickly moving toward the “W.” When it crosses the “R,” I stop smiling. At “E,” I’m shaking. When it finally stops on the “N,” my palms begin to sweat.

  The piece abruptly stops moving, and Taylor opens her eyes and looks right at me. Her eyes are coal black with a tiny white pinprick of light at the center. When she smiles widely, I have to bite my lip to keep from screaming. The next second her eyes are completely normal, and I look around. Nobody else is screaming or panicking, which means I’m the only one who saw her. Then I notice Audra, sitting inhumanly still, and staring right at Taylor. She saw it, too. It wasn’t my imagination. Ashley opens her eyes and looks at us.

  “Well?” she asks.

  “Were you moving it?” Lindsay demands.

  “No! I swear. What’d it spell?”

  Lindsay, her face pale in contrast to her shockingly pinkish-red hair, looks back at me.

  “Hello, Wren,” she says with a shiver.

  I force a rusty laugh out of my throat.

  “No way, Lindsay. It went to the O, not the N. Right, Audra?”

  “I don’t even think it was the W. I think it was more the V,” she says calmly, her azure eyes still icy and emotionless. “Does anyone want ice cream?”

  I nod, pretending for all I’m worth that some shapeless being didn’t just possess my friend and call me out by name.

  “Definitely,” I smile.

  12: Better Off Alone

  People make choices without knowing where they will lead. Some barely make a ripple; others will change lives forever. I made a choice. And now, even if I took it back—even if I wished my hardest that Ever had never entered my life—it wouldn’t change my reality.

  I have to accept the indisputable fact that something is coming for me, and the longer I stay here, the more I’m putting those closest to me in danger.

  On Sunday morning during the drive back from Ever’s house, the only thing I can think over and over is: I’m putting everyone in danger. When Ashley pulls into my driveway, I see Ever’s car is parked at the curb in front of my house, and I’m sure Audra told him about last night. Or maybe he picked it up from my thoughts. Either way, he knows.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow!” I call.

  I wave to Ashley, like everything is okay. Last night, after another movie and three pints of ice cream, everyone else, with the exception of Audra, quickly forgot about the Ouija board episode. Finally, after everyone else fell asleep, Audra told me the same thing that Ever did—that my presence is attracting all kinds of darkness seeking release into this world. She also said that as these entities get stronger, they’ll be able to possess more people and for longer. I waited for her to follow up that statement with something badass and fearless. Instead, she just looked tired, which scared me even more. For beings incapable of sleep, I imagine it’s only really bad news that can make them look worn-out.

  The second I get to the front door, it opens. When I look up at Ever, I try not to lose the shaky grip I have on my sanity, mostly because my mom’s sitting on the couch right behind him.

  “Did you guys have fun?” she asks cheerfully.

  “Yeah, it was great,” I mumble. “I need a shower.”

  I’m anxious to escape both of them and solidi
fy the plan I spent the rest of the night thinking about. The plan to exit my life. My mom frowns at me, but at least she can’t read my mind—unlike Ever, who is watching me with a guarded expression. I manage a small smile before taking the stairs two at a time. In my room, I grab some clean clothes and head straight into the bathroom where I turn on the water, strip off my clothes, and step into the shower. I stand under the hot water and let my tears flow. But instead of feeling a relief from the pressure building up inside me, I feel like I could keep crying forever.

  I’m not crying from fear. It’s guilt that’s eating away at me. To my mom and my friends, I’m as dangerous as a drunk driver or a serial killer. Because of me they could die, or worse. I’m not a brave person—not by far—and I don’t want to die, but I can’t let other people get hurt as a result of my choices.

  Turning off the water, I feel numbness settle over me as I begin to let go of moments I had started to look forward to. A future with Ever, lunches with my friends, silly moments with my mom, even sparring with Audra and Chasen.

  I am better off alone, far away from the people I care about, and I have to accept that fact.

  Back in my room, I look around. I loved my life in Portland. Brief as it was, my time here was all I could have wished for—and more that I never could have expected in a million years. Suddenly afraid that I’ll lose my nerve, I pick up my cell phone. Scrolling through the short list of numbers to my dad’s, I press send and hope fervently that he’ll pick up.

  “Wren?” he asks in surprise.

  I bite my lip and try to bury my dread.

  “Hi, Dad.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  “Everything’s fine. It’s just that …” I take a deep breath. “I want to come down.”

  “For spring break,” he says.

  Just then I remember that the break is right after the dance.

  “Yeah, but I want to stay. I mean, come down there to live. Permanently.”