“But you don’t want to live with the faeries forever!”
She laughed. “I dunno, an eternity of pissing them off and being a thorn in their sides? I can live with that. Plus I can keep your vampire friend company, right?”
I shook my head. “You don’t have to. I can still do this.”
“No, you can’t. But will you walk me there?” She held out her hand and I took it in mine.
Lend struggled to stand upright but I waved him away. “I’ll be back,” I said, my voice breaking because, thanks to Vivian, it was true. He nodded in understanding as Vivian and I braced ourselves and stepped out of the shelter of the trees, tripping forward with the wind shoving us toward the gate.
We barely managed to stop directly in front of it. “Are you sure?” I shouted.
Vivian nodded. We hugged, clinging to each other, and she put her lips to my ear to shout, “I’ll see you in your dreams, okay, stupid?”
I nodded, even my tears being whipped away and through the gate. Vivian stepped back and let herself be pulled through to the other side.
The light was so bright it hurt my eyes, but I didn’t look away, wouldn’t look away. She jolted like an electric current had run through her body, then opened her pale gray eyes. But they weren’t the empty pale gray they’d always been. They were shining and bright and bold. It was like she’d been when she was full of souls, but this time there wasn’t the emptiness she couldn’t get rid of no matter how hard she tried. This time it was all her, as she should be, happy and full and complete. She smiled at me, and I mouthed the only words I could say, as pathetic and inadequate as they were.
“Thank you. I love you.”
She smiled, then held up her hand, her face going still with concentration. But it wasn’t working, nothing was happening, and Lend’s sacrifice would be for nothing. I put my hands to my mouth in horror. Then the edges of the gate went fuzzy, the remains of Virginia night curling in around them, eating at the light until it started collapsing in on itself.
Vivian met my eyes for the last time, and she winked. And then, with an ear-rupturing silent pop like all the air pressure in the world had changed, the gate connecting us closed forever.
I didn’t realize I was sitting on the frozen ground until Lend collapsed next to me and put his arm around my shoulders.
“She did it,” I whispered, the silence nearly as deafening as the wind had been but so empty it made me ache. If I didn’t have Lend here, I didn’t know what I’d do. It was almost like I had sent my soul through the gate. So much of who I had been—the people who had defined me, even the work that I’d lived for—was gone now. I felt small, and cold, and a little bit lost.
“We did it.” Lend smoothed my wind-tossed hair away from my face.
“It’s really over, isn’t it?”
He laughed and pulled me into his lap. “That’s the beauty of it all. Nothing’s over. It’s just a new start.”
“Re-forming after the chaos,” I said, remembering Raquel’s words. “Choosing what we’ll do with how things are now, who we’ll be in this new world where the only magic left is what we make ourselves.”
“Exactly. So who do you want to be?”
I smiled, resting my head against his chest. “I’m not sure yet, but I’m looking forward to finding out.”
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Parting is such sweet sorrow. Or, you know, sometimes it just plain sucks.
To Noah, for being my own piece of eternity in a broken world. To Elena and Jonah, for bringing endless light and joy into my life. To my parents, for always believing in me. To my siblings, for being my friends down to their DNA. To my in-laws, all eleventy-billion of them, for loving and supporting me (especially when that support is babysitting). To my friends, who are many, for putting up with me both in real life and online.
To Natalie Whipple, who started this journey with me and without whom I never would have made it past the starting line. To Stephanie Perkins, who keeps me company in humorous insanity and understands everything, always, just the way I need her to. To everyone else who has read any of these books in any of their forms—especially Shannon Messenger and Scott Tracey, for racing me through an impossible draft—thank you. So, so very much.
To Michelle Wolfson, my fabulous, tiny, spitfire of an agent, for being my partner in all this and the engineer of my dreams. To Erica Sussman, my brilliant and insightful and ever adored editor, for choosing Evie. Heigh ho!
To my team of mild-mannered Superhero Alter Egos at HarperTeen: Christina Colangelo, Casey McIntyre, Tyler Infinger, Lauren Flower, Megan Sugrue, Alison Donalty, Michelle Taormina, Jessica Berg, and everyone else whose tireless efforts give Evie the prettiest covers and the best copyediting and marketing and publicity, and get her from my head to your bookshelf (or e-reader, I’m not picky).
To Evie for being a bright voice in my head, even through dark times. To all the music that helped me slip into that voice, as always Snow Patrol but especially Florence + the Machine, whose haunting weaving of fantasy into music fed this entire book. To dreams and stories and wonder, and all the writers and musicians and artists who have fed my inner dreamer through the years.
To you, my readers, without whom none of this would matter. Thank you for embracing Evie in all her pink-loving exuberance. Thank you for reading. I bleeping love all of you.
The end.
About the Author
KIERSTEN WHITE is the New York Times bestselling author of PARANORMALCY and SUPERNATURALLY. She has one tall husband and two small children. She lives near the ocean in San Diego, where her days are perfectly normal. This abundance of normal led her to a fascination with all things paranormal, including but not limited to faeries, vampires, and pop culture. Visit her online and read her blog at www.kierstenwhite.com, and follow her on Twitter @kierstenwhite.
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PRAISE FOR THE PARANORMALCY TRILOGY
“The most imaginative vampire/werewolf/supernatural series going.”
—Newsday
“Strong characters, a clever premise, and a hilarious voice all team up to make Paranormalcy the most refreshing paranormal debut of the year.”
LISA MCMANN
New York Times bestselling author of the Wake trilogy
“A fast, flirty roller coaster of a ride. This story was everything I hoped for—sassy, light-hearted and downright scary. Oh, bleep! I’m in love!”
BECCA FITZPATRICK
New York Times bestselling author of Hush, Hush
“Paranormalcy seduced me. The two sexy paranormals who vie for Evie’s affections each had their own victory; one won Evie’s heart and the other won mine.”
APRILYNNE PIKE
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Wings
“The perfect blend of light and dark. Even as the stakes rose higher, Paranormalcy’s narrator, Evie, kept a smile on my face with her cunning wit. I can’t wait for more!”
CARRIE RYAN
New York Times bestselling author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth
“With its ghoul-fighting heroine rocking peep-toe heels, Supernaturally is the perfect mix of kick butt and kawaii (super cute). A delicious, dangerous treat!”
KIRSTEN MILLER
New York Times bestselling author of The Eternal Ones
“White shows the technique and polish of a pro in this absorbing romance, which comes closer than most to hitting the Buffy mark.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“This witty novel hilariously challenges notions of dreamy vampires, along with many other common assumptions about paranormals. The romance is keenly realistic, and Evie herself is a memorable character.”
—BCCB
“A tasty bonbon for those who like their romance mixed with supernatural adventures.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Other Books by Kiersten White
PARANORMALCY
SUPERNATURALLY
Credits
Cover art © 2012 by Karen Pearson / MergeLeft Reps, Inc.
Cover design by Michelle Taormina
Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
ENDLESSLY. Copyright © 2012 by Kiersten Brazier. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
White, Kiersten.
Endlessly / Kiersten White.
p. cm.
Summary: “Sixteen-year-old Evie is forced to face the truth about her supernatural past when a deadly faerie battle threatens the future of the entire paranormal world”
ISBN 978-0-06-198588-1 (trade bdg.)
[1. Supernatural—Fiction. 2. Fairies—Fiction. 3. Prophecies—Fiction. 4. Identity—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.W583764End 2012
2011042117
[Fic]—dc23
CIP
AC
* * *
12 13 14 15 16 LP/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
EPub Edition © MAY 2012 ISBN: 978-0-06-218838-0
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Contents
Pink Goes with Everything
Barking Mad
The Shortest Day of the Year
Glamourous Parties
Winter Soulstice
Old Flames
Found and Lost
Shocking Encounters
New Jewelry
Sparks Fly
Havoc
Rainbows and Butterflies
Holding Hands with Boys
Dance, Dance Revolutions
Bundles of Joy
Happy Pills
What’s in a Name?
Power Nap
Eau De Faerie
I Need a Little Space
Deck the Sterile White Halls
In the Absence of Ruby Slippers
Plan T
Picture Imperfect
Eavesdropping and Reading Notes
Ice, Ice, Baby
Double Dating Disappointments
More Monsters in the Dark
Dream Date
You Can’t Change Me
You’d Think They’d Never Seen an Invisible Boy Before
Sweaty Mess
Kind of a Big Deal
Dude, for Serious
Jack is Clever, Jack is Good
Bread Basket Cases
Possibly Impossible
A Lot Strange
You Can’t Borrow My Clothes, Either
Light and Dark
Daddy Issues
We’re Not Dawn Yet
Miss You Faerie Much
Never Forever
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Acknowledgments
About the Author
Praise
Other Books by Kiersten White
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
Endlessly (Paranormalcy) Page 26