Ever

by Shade, Darrin

  “Jesus, you’re shaking. You feel so cold.”

  “Dead,” I managed.

  “You’re not dead, sweetheart.” Jaren gripped me harder. “I’ve got you.”

  “Not. Me. Her.” My teeth were chattering so hard my jaw ached.

  “Breathe.”

  My body refused to respond when I tried to move, so when Jaren chucked his shirt into the corner and then tugged mine over my head, I couldn’t do anything to stop him. Not that I wanted to. But…now I was in my yoga pants and my light blue sports bra…the one I slept in—and I was pressed against Jaren’s hard body.

  “Clothes block the heat,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around me.

  My cheek met his impressive chest and warmth poured into me, heating me from the inside out. After a few minutes, my teeth ceased chattering.

  “Can you tell me?” he murmured into my hair.

  “Tired.” I was so exhausted I could hardly move.

  “Sleep, sweetheart.”

  * * *

  I woke up with a start. I still felt tired—and Jaren was gone. Bear pressed against me in his stead, and I was grateful for the warmth her furry body lent me. I squinted at the slice of sunlight that lanced through the window and pierced my eyes.

  “Ever?” Mom was knocking on my door.

  “Yeah?” I struggled to sound normal but I was still exhausted. I had a dull headache and my mouth was dry.

  “I brought you a snack and something to drink. Can I come in?”

  Normally, Mom didn’t ask permission to enter my room—she just knocked and then opened the door. “Sure, Mom.”

  When I saw the cookies and milk, I was sure there was a God. How could Mom have known that was exactly what I needed? Sugar was like a magic pill these days.

  “I have some saved for Jaren, too,” she commented. “Are you okay?”

  The concern in her voice made me stop short, poised to take a bite. “Um, yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I don’t know. I just…I want you to know that you can always talk to me, Ever. Okay?”

  Maybe this was another attempt at a sex talk? “Sure, Mom.”

  “Okay.” She gave me a half-smile. “Any plans for break? Anything special you want to do?”

  Save Leana Smith. “Not really. I’m looking forward to chilling and hanging out with friends.” Except Val.

  “Let me know if you need anything, Ever.” Her voice was strained.

  “Sure, Mom. No worries.”

  The minute she left, I stuffed three cookies into my mouth and drained the milk. It was amazing what some sugar and calcium could do for me. I felt almost normal as soon as the third cookie was nothing but crumbs on my fingertips. I reached for my phone and my heart skipped a beat when I saw that Jaren had already texted me.

  Jaren: Let me know when you’re conscious.

  Me: I’m here.

  He responded right away.

  Jaren: When can I see you?

  Me: Meet at the library at 4:30pm?

  April seventh was only three days away. We didn’t have time to waste.

  * * *

  Jaren was waiting for me on the stone steps of the library. The place was practically deserted—which wasn’t surprising because no one was studying on break. We headed to one of the private study rooms and closed the door.

  “She’s going to drive off the point?” he asked, incredulous.

  “I saw her do it. I felt her do it.” I shuddered at the memory.

  “What are we supposed to do?”

  “I think…I think we need to plant the seed. I’m just not sure where.”

  “Well, it’s a lotus…they grow near water,” Jaren said.

  “Water…” I mused. “And trees…trees are important, too.”

  “So, we need a place near water with lots of trees.”

  “I have a feeling that the planting place is just as important as the seed.”

  “Me, too.” My crystal, which had been mostly dormant for several days, began to prickle. I stuck my hand underneath my tank to rub it.

  “It’s a beauty.” Jaren’s eyes followed my hand.

  My hand froze. “What?”

  “Your crystal. Aunt Sylvia used to make necklaces like that one.”

  “Um, really?” Oops. He had seen my pendant? I was about to tell him that the lady who had given me the crystal was named Sylvia too, and that it was possible she was some kind of reincarnation of his dead aunt. But, the stone buzzed a harsh warning against my chest, so I kept my mouth shut. Yeah, that sounded too crazy—even for Jaren.

  “I saw your necklace last night, Ever. It spent a few hours between us.”

  Until now, no one had seen my crystal—and I had been concerned that if anyone did, it would somehow be altered. Jaren had seen it, and even touched it. Because we slept half naked together. Holy crap.

  “Why did you touch it, just now?”

  “It, um, well…it pricked me. It does that sometimes.”

  “Hm.”

  “What?”

  “Well…sometimes stones and crystals can be channels—they allow energy through. Maybe it’s trying to tell you something.”

  “Well, yeah. I get that feeling all the time.”

  “Okay. So what were we talking about when it reacted?” he asked.

  I replayed out conversation in my head. “We were talking about planting the seed.”

  My crystal began to heat up.

  “And?” He leaned forward. “Wow, it looks like it’s glowing.”

  “It does that, too. I thought I was the only one who could see it.”

  “I see it.”

  “Um, we were talking about a place with trees and water.” My crystal hummed.

  “A place far away? Like Yosemite?” Jaren asked.

  My crystal went cold. “No…it’s cold now.”

  “So, a place nearby, then.” My crystal heated up in response to Jaren’s words.

  “Where?”

  “There’s only a few places with water around here,” Jaren observed.

  “Maybe we should list them out?” I pulled a pad of paper and my pen from my bag.

  “Okay. There’s the ocean off Point Park,” Jaren said.

  That seemed like a logical place, given my horrible premonition, but the crystal remained cold and quiet. “Nope.”

  “What about the creek at the bottom of Covecrest Canyon?”

  “Nothing.” I was glad…that was a hike. My crystal had gone dark and cloudy now. I shrugged. We were up on a hill…there were few places that water and trees came together. Unless the place had artificial water?

  Oh, crap.

  “Um, I just thought of a place.”

  “Where?”

  I was afraid to say it out loud because it was the last place I wanted to go. “The cemetery.”

  My crystal emitted a brilliant flash.

  “The cemetery,” Jaren agreed.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  The Cemetery

  Covecrest Cemetery was big and lush, with lots of rolling green hills. It had trees and flowers and butterflies…and I had always hated the place.

  “Ground yourself.” Jaren nudged me.

  I did, rooting myself firmly. The place still gave me the jitters. “How will we know the right place?”

  “I think we’ll just know.” Jaren took my hand and we walked down the path.

  Our town had been around for quite a while. The cemetery had started as a private one for one of the original families who’d settled here. Like the library, there was an older area in the far corner of the place, while the newer grass and headstones decorated the entrance. We meandered around until I heard the faint sound of water trickling.

  “That’s odd—the duck pond is on the other side.” Jaren looked around.

  “I don’t even want to know how you know that,” I muttered, shoving my hands into my pockets. There was a buzz all around me and it was making me uncomfortable.

  We walked toward the noise, t
hrough an wrought-iron gate. I looked at some of the headstones and noticed that most of them were fifteen to twenty years old.

  “I think I see where the water is coming from,” Jaren observed.

  I saw it, too. At the rear corner of the cemetery, beneath a copse of birch trees, was a large stone fountain. Water trickled from a crumbling angel into the round basin. The ground around the fountain was damp. Jaren took my hand and led me closer. The air became noticeably cooler under the trees and I shivered, even though I could feel my quartz heating up beneath my sweatshirt.

  “My crystal,” I whispered.

  Jaren nodded. “I think I can feel it, too.”

  “Where exactly do we plant the seed? Next to the fountain?”

  My pendant gave me a cold jolt and I squeaked in surprise. “I guess that’s a no.”

  “Let’s look around a little,” Jaren suggested.

  “Some of these headstones are older than me,” I whispered. It didn’t seem right to speak loudly here.

  “There are some super old ones in the original part of the cemetery.”

  “I’m sure.” I shuddered. It was colder and spookier the farther back we went.

  I had my eyes on the ground, so I should have been more careful, but I took my next step and tripped over a root. Well, I hadn’t done anything klutzy lately so I guess it was about time. I let out a startled shriek. Jaren tried to grab me but he missed my arm by about an inch. I went sprawling into the dirt, face first.

  “Are you alright?” Jaren’s concerned voice sounded behind me as I tried to catch my breath.

  I scrambled to my knees and realized that I was kneeling on someone’s—ugh—grave. Oh, God. There was a dead body directly beneath me. I had only one thought in my head and that was to book it out of the cemetery. My crystal had other plans. It jolted me so hard when I tried to stand up that I fell to my knees again. “Ow!”

  “What is it?” Jaren sank down beside me as I forced my legs to straighten.

  “I don’t know—ouch! Stop it!” I hissed at my pendant, aware that I was basically begging an inanimate object to stop screwing with me.

  “Ever…look.” Jaren cleared some of the moss from the headstone and my breath caught in my throat.

  Robert Smith

  Beloved Husband and Father

  Forever in our Hearts

  April 7, 2004

  “April seventh.” I murmured, tracing the date with my fingertip.

  “His last name was Smith.” Jaren said.

  “Like Leana.” The pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “Leana’s dad.”

  My crystal hummed happily—I suppose it was happy I had finally put some things together. “He died when she was just a little girl.”

  “She would have been…around five.” Jaren agreed.

  “I think this is the place,” I said.

  “Yeah.”

  My phone buzzed. “Crap. It’s my mom. She’s been acting a little strange. I’m supposed to be home for dinner in thirty minutes.”

  Jaren nodded. “Looks like another late night mission, then.”

  “Really? The cemetery? At night?” Ugh.

  “Unless you have the seed in your pocket?”

  “I stowed it in my closet.”

  “I thought so. I’ll be outside your room tonight. Eleven o’clock.”

  I nodded. Even though it seemed totally gruesome to enter a cemetery in the middle of the night, it was better than the alternative. We had very little time to figure this out. For all I knew, planting the seed wouldn’t work, and I would have to stake out Point Park all night on April seventh.

  “See you tonight.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Planting the Seed

  “What is this?” I was completely confused when I walked through the door.

  “It’s dinner.”

  “It’s…” I had the urge to rub my eyes because what I was seeing had to be some kind of mirage. “Mom, this is a chocolate cake.”

  “I just had a feeling you were going to need more sugar.”

  “Okay, Mom. Spill.” I dropped into my chair.

  “Spill?” She looked at the floor, as though she expected to see a puddle that needed to be mopped up.

  “Spill. You know—tell me what’s going on. First the massive increase in sugar, and then the dreaming stone?”

  Mom sighed. “I was hoping it would skip you, like it did me.”

  “What? What would skip me?” My heart was starting to pound.

  “Gram’s gift,” she whispered. “You have it. Don’t you?”

  “Gift?” I whispered. Was that what it was? It seemed more like a curse to me. It ran in my family?

  “You…you see things. Right? It’s okay, Everleigh. I just need to know the truth.”

  I wasn’t willing to admit to everything that had been happening. Plus, my mom seemed totally freaked out as it was, so I shrugged and reached for a piece of cake.

  “It can be dangerous, Everleigh. There are people who know about the gift—some are good. Some aren’t. It’s important to know who you can talk about this with. Promise me if anything really…strange happens, you’ll come to me first.”

  “Okay, Mom. Don’t worry about me. Everything’s fine.”

  “It’s not fine, Everleigh. If you have it—the gift—it’s going to be….” She turned away and her voice hitched.

  “What gift did she have exactly?”

  “My mother knew things before they were going to happen. She had…dreams. She told me things when I was a little girl, but after I turned eighteen, and it was obvious it had skipped me, things changed between Gram and me. There were a lot of secrets…right up until she passed.”

  I scowled. I hated thinking about that day. Gram was perfectly fine until that day. “Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I had the low blood sugar that one day and that’s the only weird thing that’s happened lately.”

  Poker face, Ever. Mom had a lot on her plate with all the extra shifts she was picking up. I could sense that she was super worried and I didn’t want to make things worse, even though I was bursting with questions. Maybe it was time to take down Gram’s trunk from the garage shelf.

  Mom moved my plate aside and searched my face, which I kept carefully neutral. Finally, she made a relieved noise and got up to pour some milk. “I probably sound crazy to you, huh? Maybe I’m just overreacting. Enjoy your dinner, Ever. It’s raw veggies for breakfast.”

  I forced a chuckle. “Sounds like a plan.”

  * * *

  I felt a little guilty as I hopped out of my window and jogged across the street to where Jaren’s car sat idling under the street lamp. If only my mom knew how right she was. Things were getting crazier by the hour in my life, and even my “gift” didn’t seem as far-fetched as my relationship with Jaren Wilder.

  “Hey, sweetheart.” He leaned over as I buckled myself in and I caught my breath as his lips brushed over mine.

  I think I stepped into someone else’s life.

  “Do you have it?”

  I nodded. I had everything—the seed, The Archive, my pendant, and even the dreaming stone in my canvas backpack. He started the car and all too soon, we were back at the cemetery. Even though I was wearing my thickest sweatshirt, I shivered as we walked through the gate. My reaction had nothing to do with being cold.

  Jaren reached into his backpack and pulled out the same headlamp he’d worn during our golf cart excursion to the big tree grove. He clicked it on and settled it on his head before handing another one to me. We walked in silence until we stood in front of the fountain—and Leana’s father’s final resting place.

  “Where should we do it?” My hands trembled as I felt for the pouch containing the seed in my pack.

  There was a rustling noise above me. I looked up to see a large, black bird perched on top of the cracked statue that sat in the fountain. “No way,” I breathed. The bird let out a low warble and then turned its head to angle its orange eye
at me. Transfixed, I stared into the glowing orb.

  Everything around me faded away.

  * * *

  “What happened?” I whispered.

  “Hold my hand and I’ll show you.” The little girl looked up at me. Her small fingers curled around mine and her memories became my own, like I had lived them myself…like I was living them right now.

  After the carousel ride, Daddy handed her to her mother and left. They didn’t hear from him until morning. Her mother was furious—until the police arrived the next morning. Daddy was gone, they said. He had gone to the bar, and then he had gotten in his car and he crashed. Now, he was dead. Mommy changed after that. Mommy said it was their fault for making Daddy so angry that night.

  There was pain—so much pain. The little girl wanted to go away. She wished so hard for relief that there was a tugging and then something snapped and she floated away from her Mind and her Body. The rest of her grew up a little more, but part of her remaining detached and hurting. Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore. She had to stop the hurting. She couldn’t—she wouldn’t—live like this any longer. The teenaged version of herself made the plan and bought the pills. Wrote the letter. Waited until the right day—the day Daddy died. April seventh. She would join him then, and she would apologize—for not being good enough for him to stay.

  The little girl tugged on my hand again.

  “I can’t go now. Bring me back. Please, Everleigh. You’re the only one who can save us. Hurry, please. Time is running out.”

  “How?”

  “You have me—there in your hand.”

  I looked down, to where her hand joined mine.

  But she was gone.

  * * *

  I was on my knees at the base of the fountain, holding my hands cupped in front of me. A deep warble sounded and the raven took flight as Jaren knelt beside me.

  “What happened? I turned around and I couldn’t see you. Why is your lamp off?” Jaren clicked the button but nothing happened.

  I looked at my hands, still feeling the little girl’s fingers burning into my palm. But instead of her hand, the seed pulsed there instead. In the dim light from Jaren’s headlamp, I could see a thin trickle of water leaking from a small fissure in the fountain. Without knowing why I did so, I pressed my face to the ground, feeling the wetness seeping into the earth. I followed the trail of water. It led me right to Robert Smith’s grave. This was no coincidence. I could feel it, and my crystal agreed, sending a warm pulse into my skin.