“Here.” I used one hand to scrape into the ground, the mud sinking in beneath my fingernails.
“Let me help you.” His hands were larger and made the task easier. Soon, we had a good-sized hole in the damp earth.
“Here goes nothing.” I dropped the seed into the earth, and covered it up with soil. Then I sat back on my heels and held my breath, expecting a cataclysmic reaction.
Nothing happened. Nothing at all.
“How do we know it worked?” Jaren’s voice sounded like it was spoken from far away as he chafed my dirty, icy hands.
“I don’t know.” I looked down at the mounded earth for a sign but there was nothing to signal anything had occurred—not even a twitch from my crystal. I was tired again, that deep down exhaustion was sinking in. I should have brought some of Mom’s special cookies or a slice of that cake because sugar sounded like the perfect remedy to my staggering fatigue. “What should we do now?” My voice was slurring.
“We go home. You need rest.”
“I can rest here—just for a second.” I sank down next to the fountain, finding the cold stone oddly comforting.
“Ever?” Jaren’s face was so close to mine. He was so beautiful—a specimen of male perfection. I felt my lips curl into a smile even as my eyes fluttered closed. Then his arms went around me and he picked me right up off the ground. I had no strength to resist so I rested my cheek against his hard, warm chest.
He roused me when we got back to my house and helped me get back into my room.
“Don’t leave,” I murmured, falling into my bed.
He pulled the covers over me and pressed his lips to my forehead. I don’t remember dreaming that night, but I hoped I wasn’t waking into a nightmare. The morning brought with it the day I had been dreading for weeks. April seventh.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
It’s D-Day
Jaren and I were parked around the corner from Leana’s house. It was as grand as Kamryn’s but without the columns and long entryway. Leana’s car was parked in the driveway. There had been no activity for several hours. Not outside the car, anyway.
I wish I could say that my exploration of Jaren’s mouth was continuing, but instead, we were scouring The Archive, searching for any information about what we had done. Or what we were supposed to do next. I reviewed the section about totem animals for Jaren, and then I skimmed the part that described the mystical properties of plants and herbs—but there was no explanation of how we were supposed to know if what we did had worked.
“There’s literally nothing about planting seeds. Are you sure we did the right thing?”
“I’m sure.” I was starting to second-guess myself, but I didn’t want to let on.
“Uh oh.” Jaren sat up straighter in the driver’s seat.
“What?” I followed his gaze. Leana’s front door was swinging shut and she was headed to her car dressed in running gear and a black baseball cap.
“Crap.”
Leana started her car and backed it out slowly, but as she hit the street, she gunned the engine and whizzed past us at an alarming speed.
We took off in pursuit of Leana but I knew where she was headed. It was just after dusk and the place was deserted as we pulled into the small lot at the end of Point Park. Unlike my dream, she didn’t spend any time in her car. Instead, she emerged with her purse under her arm and looked around like she was afraid someone would see her. Then she took off toward the lighthouse.
“What do we do?” I looked at Jaren wildly.
“We have to go after her. What if she’s planning to jump?”
Leana was fast—she was on the track team for a reason. Jaren and I were both breathing hard when we caught up to her. She slipped under the caution tape and moved out of our view.
“We have to stop her. I can’t let her do this.”
I was on the move when I heard a voice call out. “Hey! Get away from there. Don’t you see the signs?”
“It’s the park security guard,” Jaren said, low. “I’ll stall him.”
“Okay. I—I’ll do something to stop her.” I had no idea what I was going to do or say to Leana Smith to get her to listen to me, but I wasn’t giving up on her the way she had given up on herself.
“Ever.” Jaren grabbed my arm. “Be careful!” He pressed his mouth to mine in a brief, hard kiss that made me feel invincible. I scrambled after Leana as Jaren turned back to deal with the guard.
I stepped carefully over the crumbling rock and, in the faded light, I could make out Leana’s silhouette framed by the ocean mist. She stood silent and still, like a statue, save for the tendrils of hair that rippled in the wind behind her. I took another step, and my crystal began to do its thing, humming a plea for me to stop. My eyes went out of focus and I realized Leana and I weren’t alone.
A small hand grasped mine once more, but this time I wasn’t in a dream or some kind of alternate reality. I was right here, at the park, watching a girl I had grown up with stand on the edge of a precipice, deciding whether or not she should fall. I looked down at the little girl and she smiled at me, her eyes full of the kind of wisdom I wouldn’t expect from a child her age.
“Thank you, Ever.”
She let my hand go and walked to Leana’s motionless form. I watched, afraid to interrupt whatever was happening. The little girl paused for a moment and looked back at me, waving a hand as if to say goodbye.
“Wait!” I cried, suddenly afraid that the worst was about to happen. Then the little girl stepped into Leana. It was like watching two holograms merge into one. Leana’s silhouette flashed a brilliant green for a moment or two. From somewhere behind me, I heard the distant call of a raven. I held my breath.
Leana moved at last, her slender arm reaching into her purse. She withdrew a small, brown bottle from her purse and stared at it. Then she shook her head, like she was clearing the fog from it. With the practiced ease of a varsity pitcher, Leana wound up and let the bottle fly. It arced into the air and then plummeted straight down to the sea below.
I fell to my knees in the bushes, tears streaming down my face. A few seconds later, I heard the crunch of Leana’s tennis shoes meeting the gravel as she made her way back to her car.
* * *
“Everleigh, there you are!” Jaren’s relief sounded only partly contrived as I made my way back to the parking lot on legs that felt like they were made of rubber.
“Miss, the park is closed. You and your boyfriend need to head home now,” the guard admonished, shining his flashlight into my face.
“I’m sorry. I—I got lost looking for a bathroom.” I ducked my head to avoid the man’s assessing gaze.
“The public restrooms are locked now.” He waved the light and it was making my head pound.
“Sorry for the trouble.” Jaren put his arm around my waist and his touch infused me with enough energy to make it back to the car—barely.
“I need sugar,” I complained, images of Mom’s chocolate chip and Nutella cookies flickering in my brain.
“On it.” He pulled a couple of packages of candy from the dash and handed them to me. I was on bag number two before I was able to tell him what had happened.
“So it’s over now?” He turned back onto my street.
“I think so.”
“Get some rest, sweetheart.” He brushed his lips against my forehead.
When I woke up the next morning, I was overjoyed in a way that made no sense when you happened to wake up before the sun rose. But it was 5:13. No fours. No sevens. It was 5:13 a.m. and the sun was coming up to signal a new day.
At last.
Epilogue
April became May and then June, and things were starting to fade. I mean, Jaren and I were still hanging out, but the memories of what I had seen in those dreams, or whatever they were, were becoming a little blurry. Maybe it was all the sleep I was getting, and all the worrying I wasn’t doing. Sometimes, I could almost pretend that nothing strange had ever happened. Jaren and I
met on the school field trip and now we were “together…” or whatever.
There were some things, however, that I couldn’t ignore. I still saw that energy smoke all the time. Like, right now. We were suffering through the last day of school, and I happened to be at my locker right before lunch. Val and Dara walked by and directed twin sneers at me before heading to the top of the stairs to eat their lunches with two other girls they had recruited. My eyes slid out of focus and I could see Val’s energy growing stronger while the auras of the other girls grew dim and weak. It seemed like Val was getting stronger, and not in a good way. Something had to be done about her—but what?
“Hey, Ever!” Naomi gave me a playful nudge.
“Hi!” I smiled. Naomi and I were closer now and it wasn’t awkward at all that she ate lunch with Jaren and me almost every day. Today, he was at graduation practice, though.
“Missing your hottie?” She winked at me, eliciting a round of giggles as I tried to eat my food.
“Oh, come on. Is he really that hot?”
“Everleigh Jordan!” Naomi poked me. “Tell me what it’s like to kiss that boy.”
“Um…” I felt my cheeks grow scarlet. “I—I can’t really describe it.”
“Is he a good kisser? He is, right?”
It suddenly occurred to me that I was having a typical teenaged girl discussion with another teenaged girl. I nodded, still giggling. This was fun. This was normal. Maybe I wasn’t so different anymore.
The bell rang and I made my way to bio class. As I walked in the door, my crystal hummed, startling me because I hadn’t felt it do much of anything for almost two months. A second later, someone bumped into me—not hard, but enough for the jolt to register.
“I’m sorry,” the person said.
“No problem…” I trailed off as I looked into Leana Smith’s face.
I had seen her around, but it was always a fleeting glimpse as she walked out of class or passed me in the hall. She looked…brighter somehow. Her face was relaxed and her eyes sparkled in a way they hadn’t since grade school.
“Everleigh,” she said, breaking all kinds of unspoken social rules. “It’s been a long time. I didn’t realize you were in my bio class.”
“Um, yeah.” I tried not to stutter.
“It’s nice to see you.”
“Yeah, you—you, too, Leana.” This time, I didn’t quite avoid stumbling on my words.
“Well, have a great summer. Maybe I’ll run into you at the beach or something. It would be nice to catch up.”
All I could do was nod as she turned back to her friends, who had been listening to our exchange with obvious interest. They sat down in their seats as Hopkins began his spiel about Advanced Biology, which he would be teaching next year.
I knocked my pen onto the floor on purpose so I could bend down and take another peek at Leana. I stuck my fist into my mouth to stifle my gasp. The little blond girl sat in Leana’s seat, kicking her feet happily. She waved at me and her little cupid’s bow mouth opened.
“Thank you,” she mouthed.
Stunned, I blinked and when my eyes refocused, the little girl was gone. Leana sat in her usual place, kicking her legs under her desk.
The final bell rang. Populars, Jocks, Athletes, Candy Girls, Loners, Outcasts… students formed a mad horde in their haste to get off campus. I stood still as a wave of bodies and energy rushed by me in a dizzying mass of color and heightened emotion.
“Enjoying the view?” A husky voice warmed my ear.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to sneak up on people?” I grinned.
The swirling crowd faded away and for a minute, it was just me and Jaren Wilder. I had a flash of something—like a memory but I couldn’t quite grasp it. I had the crazy feeling this had all happened before. Weird.
“Penny for your thoughts.” he teased.
Jaren didn’t have time to read my energy this time. I stole that kiss, fair and square.
The End.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This work is dedicated to Lynn, a girl who never really knew me, but who had a profound influence on me. I sat behind Lynn during our tenth grade English class. At first, I was jealous of her. With her blond hair, blue eyes, and star track team status, she seemed to fit right into to our upper middle class high school, whereas I was teased daily about my dark skin and frizzy hair. I was the epitome of Awkward while Lynn was a Popular Athlete. At some point, I became aware that Lynn was unhappy. I could feel the melancholy rolling off her in waves in class. I should have done something. I should have talked to her.
Perhaps, I could have saved her.
Lynn went missing just before the holiday break that year. Our small, affluent town was in an uproar. Classmates reported seeing Lynn at a hotel. Rumors circulated that she had run off with a boyfriend. None of that, it turned out, was true. A few months later, Lynn’s car was found in a ravine by two young hikers. We were told that she had taken a bunch of pills before intentionally crashing her car. The tattered newspaper article describing the incident still sits in a box under my bed. Memories of the empty desk in front of mine at school continue to haunt me. This story is a tribute to Lynn, and represents my own atonement for being too scared to talk to her.
I deeply regret not approaching Lynn. If I knew then what I know now, I would have told her that it gets better. High school can be cruel, but then you have the rest of your life to grow into yourself, to realize and achieve your dreams.
To love and be loved.
If someone you know, even if you don’t know them very well, is suffering from depression and/or anxiety, please talk to them. Sometimes, a person needs to know that someone cares—that someone is hearing and listening. Just knowing that someone heard her, and that they were willing to listen, may have prevented the tragedy that occurred during my sophomore year. Many of us have forgotten her.
But I never will.
For Lynn, who loved to run. For Mark and for Serina, although I did not know you personally, you influenced me as I wrote this book. May you all rest in eternal peace.
If you or someone you know suffers from depression or has expressed that they are thinking of harming themselves, please contact your local suicide prevention agency. Please hear and please listen. You could save a life.
—Darrin Shade
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Darrin Shade writes bestselling romantic suspense and young adult paranormal romance. In addition to reading and writing fiction, Darrin is addicted to Zumba, homemade guacamole and premium tequila. Darrin lives in Los Angeles with her husband, young son, an ancient Chihuahua and a gecko named Spot.
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/darrinshade
Twitter: @darrinshade
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