Sever (The Ever Series Book 3)

by C. J. Valles

  Dropping down onto my bed, I remember that I had agreed to go downtown to get our nails done for prom. Not that I would tell them this, but I would much rather do my own nails than go to a nail salon and worry about getting some flesh-eating bacterial infection. Before I can stop myself, I start laughing uncontrollably as I imagine Victor’s face if the last “vessel” on Earth died from a manicure before he got the chance to turn me into Irisa’s puppet. Then I start crying.

  If it didn’t mean the end of this world and everyone I love, I would almost want Victor to just take me now.

  I flinch when Alex appears in front of me. He picks up the clothes from the bed and grabs me around the waist. Bending toward me, he brushes his lips against mine softly. The kiss takes me by surprise, and a second later I’m standing in a fancy condo overlooking the Willamette River.

  “What the hell did you just do?”

  “I kissed you. Then I brought you somewhere to take a hot shower. Unless, of course, you would prefer a tepid one at your house? Your choice.”

  “I would have preferred to have my little breakdown in private, actually.”

  “I’m sorry. I can’t oblige you there.”

  He smiles and sits down on an expansive sofa facing the floor-to-ceiling windows that look out on the river. Then he gestures toward the hallway.

  “Third door on your left.”

  Picking up my clothes from the back of the sofa, I start walking in the direction he pointed, glancing back once to see him looking out at the river. When I reach the bathroom, I see that the shower also looks out onto the river, with frosted glass up to chest-level.

  The water turns hot immediately, and I strip out of my nightgown. Looking into the mirror, I think of my name scrawled into the fogged up glass—first indication since the night of the party last year that Alex was out there somewhere. It feels like it was millions of years ago.

  But now he’s here. It’s almost unbelievable.

  Stepping under the spray of water, I try to find my way back to real life. I knew things were going to change regardless of whether I stepped through the mirror again to save Alex or not. I’m turning eighteen. Then I’ll graduate—if I’m lucky. But change also means that tonight may be one of the last times I get to hang out with my friends and pretend that my life is normal. One of the last times I’ll get to pretend that I’m not a mind-reading freak who just betrayed her immortal boyfriend with another immortal who’s been stuck in an inter-dimensional hell for the past year.

  Rinsing the conditioner out of my hair, I turn off the hot water and step out in front of the mirror. With a deep breath, I decide that I’m going to prom … alone. If I don’t, then I’m surrendering my life to someone else’s conflict—and I already did that when my parents got divorced, taking on all of their angst and emotional baggage rather than just living my life.

  Not again. This time I’m choosing me.

  Getting dressed quickly, I wind my wet hair into a bun. I can deal with my hair later. Studying myself, I realize that I won’t need any makeup, given that inter-dimensional travel seems to act as a facial. Nearly all of my—physical—imperfections have been scrubbed away.

  Stepping out into the hallway, I freeze. My mom. How exactly am I going to explain that I showered while she was in the only shower in our house? Just as I’m contemplating going back to blow dry my hair, Alex appears in front of me wearing an enigmatic smile.

  “Yes! I’m standing here having a freak out about my wet hair. My mom’s totally going to notice that I showered while she was in the shower!”

  “You worry too much.”

  “Easy for you to say. Less than a day ago you were suffering eternal torment. Now everything’s peachy as far as you’re concerned, while my life just got even more complicated than it already was.”

  “Don’t worry about your mother. It’s taken care of. She won’t have time to notice your hair.”

  “Why am I afraid to ask?”

  He slips his hand around the nape of my neck.

  “You’re quite right, though. Everything is peachy as far as I’m concerned,” he says in a tone far too cheerful for my liking.

  He leans toward me, and the instant his lips touch mine, we’re back in my bedroom. Releasing me, Alex presses his finger to his lips before disappearing again. At my nightstand, I reach for my phone and send a group text to Ashley, Taylor, and Lindsay saying I’ll meet them at the nail salon. Just as I drop my phone on the bed, there’s a knock at the front door. Hearing my mom walking from the kitchen toward the front door, I race for the stairs in full-on panic mode. Reaching the landing, I watch in slow motion as she swings open the door. Then I gasp and try not to fall down the stairs when I see Alex standing there.

  “Hello, Mrs. Sullivan.”

  My mom glances up the stairs at me.

  Where does Wren find these boys?

  I stare helplessly as she turns back to Alex.

  “Call me Caroline, please. And I’m going to go out on a limb and say you must be Alex,” she says.

  “I am,” he smiles, all charm. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

  As he extends his hand to my mom, I walk slowly down the stairs, trying to keep myself from losing it.

  “Would you like to come in?” my mom asks.

  Standing behind my mom, I glare at him as he walks inside.

  “I don’t know about anyone else, but I need coffee,” she says, gesturing for us to follow her into the kitchen.

  “Some kind of warning would’ve been nice,” I hiss under my breath.

  “The surprise on your face was worthwhile,” he smiles. “You’re very cute when you’re surprised.”

  “Wrong. Try homicidal.”

  Stepping into the kitchen, I hear the coffeemaker gurgling as my mom returns to the sink where she’s washing fruit.

  “We run a little later than the rest of the world in this household, Alex. Would you like coffee? Breakfast?”

  “I’m fine, but please feel free. I apologize for arriving unannounced.”

  “Not at all!” my mom says, turning to look at me. “I’m always excited to meet one of Wren’s friends.” Particularly boys my daughter has kissed, she thinks to herself. “How do you and Wren know each other?”

  “I transferred to Springville briefly last year before graduating.”

  She looks over at me again before gesturing Alex to take a seat at the kitchen table.

  Another college boy? she laments in her head.

  Right, like I’ve been hooking up with guys right and left. I roll my eyes at her accusatory inner monologue. She was way more sympathetic before Alex showed up.

  “Are you going to school in Portland?” my mom asks as she scoops ground coffee into a cloth filter.

  “I’ve been studying literature in Paris. I’ve only returned for the summer.”

  “Paris? Wow.”

  Walking over to the refrigerator, I glance back at him. Studying in Paris is definitely a better explanation than: “I was being tortured in another dimension until your daughter showed up to save me dressed in a crazy superhero costume.”

  “My grandmother lives an hour outside of Bordeaux,” Alex explains.

  My mom taps her cheek and smiles.

  “I thought I heard a slight accent.”

  Taking a cup of yogurt from the refrigerator, I stifle a sigh. This has been a strange morning.

  “Mom? You want toast? A bagel?”

  “Um, a bagel. Alex? Are you sure you don’t want anything?”

  “I’m fine, but thank you again.”

  “So how did you two meet? Let me guess … Wren’s art class? I didn’t think seniors and juniors had so many classes together.”

  I cringe at her vague allusion to Ever.

  “We had French together very briefly, and I’m ashamed to say I pulled your daughter’s pigtails.”

  My mom laughs.

  “Metaphorically speaking, of course,” he smiles.

  “I would hope so. Wr
en hasn’t worn pigtails since sixth grade.”

  “Now, that is something I would enjoy seeing.”

  “You’re in luck, Alex.”

  “Mom!” I say sharply, watching in despair as she starts walking toward the living room.

  She comes back a second later holding her purse. Sitting down at the kitchen table next to Alex, she takes out her overstuffed wallet containing an embarrassing assortment of pictures. The few photos with my father in them have been folded over to hide his existence, and for the first time I think I understand how my mom feels. When Alex reaches out for the wallet, I set the bagels and cream cheese on the table before trying to swipe the photos out of his hand. Of course, he’s too fast for me.

  “Mom, I’m confiscating those pictures,” I growl.

  I watch warily as Alex flips through the pictures. When he stops at the one of me from fourth grade, I blush. I’m missing my two front teeth, and I’m wearing pigtails.

  “You can have that one if you want,” my mom laughs. “I have a million copies.”

  Alex slides the picture from the plastic covering and places it in his own wallet before looking up at my mom.

  “Caroline, I would like to take your daughter to her school dance this evening.”

  22: Get Ready

  “Are you out of your damn mind?” Lindsay gasps shrilly. “I get back together with my boy toy just in time for prom—and then you manage to break up with the hottie of the century? What the hell?”

  The woman working on Lindsay’s nails frowns as water splashes from the bowl Lindsay’s fingers are dipped in.

  “Oh Wren, I’m so sorry!” Taylor says.

  “Worst timing ever!” Ashley groans.

  “I know,” I mumble. “I feel awful. I mean, I wasn’t going to go at all, but this is probably going to be the last time we’re all together.”

  “So what happened with you guys?” Taylor asks.

  “It’s a really long, complicated, messed up story.”

  “Yeah? So spit it out already!” Lindsay commands.

  I blow out a breath.

  “You guys remember that guy Alex? He was here last year for, like, a week.”

  Taylor’s eyes widen. She’s thinking of our conversation about Alex the day we got ice cream and almost got swallowed by an enormous crack in 23rd. I’m relieved when she doesn’t say anything.

  “You mean the random hottie with copper hair, wicked blue eyes, smokin’ body? The one who was totally into you?” Lindsay demands.

  I nod. No point now in trying to deny it.

  “I knew it!” Lindsay shrieks.

  “So, I ran into him last night …” I shake my head. “And things kind of got out of control.”

  “Out of control how?” Ashley asks, gesturing for me to hurry up.

  “I …” I look down, blushing. “Well, I kissed him.”

  “What the what? And you were giving moi grief about that Victor guy?” Lindsay asks, really on a roll now.

  “I know, I know. I didn’t mean for any of it to happen, but … it did.”

  “What are you going to do?” Taylor asks gently.

  I shake my head.

  “I don’t think there’s anything I can do. Ever won’t talk to me—and I don’t blame him.”

  In reality, he may want me dead, but how can I tell my friends something so crazy when I don’t even want to believe it? Ashley comes over and wraps her arm around me.

  “Don’t smudge your nails!” Lindsay yips.

  “Yes, Mother!” Ashley grins before turning to me. “Don’t worry—we’ll all dance with you.”

  I bite my lip. There’s really no good way to break this next piece of news.

  “Are you serious?” Lindsay screeches before I can even get a word out. “You’re going to prom with the guy you hooked up with? Even I think that’s cold-blooded, Wren.”

  Taylor and Ashley stare at me, judgment hidden behind their eyes.

  “I know!” I nearly scream.

  “Does that mean you’re giving up on you and Ever?” Taylor asks quietly.

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying not to cry.

  “I don’t think I have a choice. I think I’ve lost him.”

  “Damn,” Lindsay says, blowing at her nails. “I hope this new guy is worth it, girlfriend.”

  I look down at my blood-red fingernails. She’s missing the point. It’s me I don’t think is worth it.

  ***

  I’m sitting in my desk chair in front of the mirror on the closet door, and my mom has just started her magic, winding my hair into a complicated braided chignon I could never do on my own. Taking a clip from between her lips, she looks up and smiles at our reflections.

  “Is it just me, or does it feel like time is moving really fast?”

  “Too fast,” I agree.

  “Wren? Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “No.”

  When I force a smile, her brow crinkles.

  “Are you sure you want to go tonight?”

  I nod. I’m not getting a do-over if I skip prom. Besides, I need something from the real world to hold onto. When I first found out that Ever wasn’t from this world, I remember thinking that things couldn’t get any weirder. But since that moment, my life has been flipped upside down more times than I can count. I can’t even tell anymore which way is up, or if there is such a thing. It feels like I came back from Ever and Alex’s world a different person. A person I don’t even understand.

  Looking into the mirror, I wonder if this is what it would be like to lose myself and become Irisa’s puppet—to feel like everything is spinning out of control. The only problem is that I did this. No one else did. I chose Alex.

  Thinking of Ever—and the terrible look on his face when he realized it was me and not Irisa kissing Alex—I feel a tear slip down my cheek.

  I love Ever. I will always love him. And I still wish I could turn off or forget my feelings for Alex, but I can’t. He haunted me this past year, and now that he’s back I can’t deny what I feel for him.

  “You know, when I was a little older than you are now, I was in love with two different boys,” my mom says softly.

  My head jerks up, my eyes locking onto my mom’s until she pushes my head forward again and continues working on my hair.

  “You never told me that!”

  “Well, I’m telling you now.”

  “And?” I gasp, forced to stare at my lap as her fingers deftly divide my hair into sections.

  “I was in college, my first time away from home …”

  I listen, my eyes down, as my mom describes her life long before I was born. Two men. One reserved and quiet, the other arrogant and quick-witted. One of them with blond hair and deep blue eyes, the other dark-haired and green-eyed. She loved the first, but the second consumed her, she whispers, clearly lost in thought. Suddenly I feel myself going pale.

  Dark hair, green eyes, handsome, arrogant.

  “My father,” I swallow. “You’re talking about my father.”

  I look up into the mirror as she pins my hair, and she nods. Oh … wow.

  “You were in love with both of them?” I whisper with a desperation that scares me.

  “I was.”

  “Who was the other guy?”

  She looks down.

  “His name was James.”

  She touches my hair. Then I watch as her hand darts to the corner of her eye. My heart speeds up.

  “How did you know you made the right choice?”

  She smiles.

  “I got you.”

  This is the second time she’s said that, and it makes me wonder which of us she’s trying to convince.

  “Okay. But have you thought about looking him up now?”

  “Oh, honey. It’s ancient history. He probably wouldn’t even remember my name after all these years. Besides, I’m sure he’s married, and I’m seeing—”

  I grab her hand before she can say Richard.

  “Mom, t
ime is nothing. Believe me. If you really, really loved this guy, then look him up. Please. For me.”

  When she laughs, I squeeze her hand. I need to believe that my mom has a chance at a happy ending, no matter what happens to me.

  “Okay, okay.” She steps back. “There. You’re all done.”

  Standing up, I study the result of my mom’s skill. My hair is perfect; the dress Audra picked out is beautiful; the black diamond studs my mom gave me last year are perfect. I frown. Everything is perfect, but something’s missing.

  My infinity pendant and the matching engagement ring. I’ve given up any sign of Ever’s love for me.

  Closing my eyes, I can see him standing at the foot of the stairs looking up at me. He organized an entire party after I missed junior prom—and now I’m going to senior prom with someone else. Not just someone else. Alex. There’s only one thing I could have done that’s worse—and that’s go to prom with Victor.

  “You look so beautiful, sweetie!”

  I smile crookedly. She always says that.

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  “Hold on one second. I’ll be back.”

  Watching as she rushes out of my room, I realize it’s up to me to save my mom and everyone else—including people I’ve never met and never will meet—from Victor. I don’t think I’m a savior or a hero, but if I can make a difference, then I have to make the choice that will spare everyone else.

  My mom comes back into my room holding a thick envelope with a red bow around it. When she hands it to me, I look down and raise an eyebrow. It has the logo for the University of Oregon. I shake my head.

  “I don’t get it.”

  “Open it.”

  My heart starts to pound. All my friends already know where they’re going in the fall, but when I decided last year—at the last minute—to apply to Oregon schools, I made a decision: if I didn’t hear back in time, I would work and take classes at the community college near our house until I could transfer.