Ever (11 page)

Does Jaren know he’s so gorgeous?

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, the boy in question broke out into a broad grin. In fact, he looked downright pleased, like I had complimented him out loud. He knew what I was thinking for sure! I felt my cheeks turn crimson. But I couldn’t look away. I was trapped like a mouse stuck in the hypnotic gaze of a serpent.

“Your eyes are three different colors,” he observed.

I gazed at him, trying to decide if he was insulting me or not. I knew my eyes were a weird hazel-green-gold color. Once, when I was in middle school, a Popular boy had told me I had cat eyes. As I smiled at him, he shot me down, telling me that my eyes were pee-yellow, just like an ugly old dumpster cat. After that, I prayed fervently every night that I would wake up and somehow be transformed into a blond Cheerleader with blue eyes. Of course, that never happened.

“I see brown, green, and little flecks of gold.” Jaren said, leaning in to take a closer look.

“Um, thanks?” I pulled back reflexively and looked away, stopping just short of banging my head on the window.

“Hey.” Jaren tapped me on the arm, causing all manner of delicious sparks to racing down me. Startled, I fought the urge to squint so that my cat eyes weren’t so visible.

“I really need to talk to you. Alone.” I squirmed under the intensity of his stare.

Jaren Wilder wants to get me alone.
My pulse began to race. He leaned in closer, so close that his mouth nearly brushed my cheek.

“I know you can see the energy…and you can feel it, too. You know what I’m talking about. And let me tell you from personal experience, when we hit the grove it will get stronger. Don’t let it scare you. I’ll stay close…just in case.” He sat back in his seat, closed his eyes and stuck in his earbuds.

I sat paralyzed, afraid I would brush against him again and send myself reeling into more uncontrollable sensations. He
knew
. It would be impossible to avoid interacting with him now. Jaren obviously knew more about what was happening to me than I did. We did need to talk. I wanted to find out what was going on with me and why.

What is it? Magic? Are we freakin’ witches or something?

Val was going to freaking kill me. I had hoped that we were making progress at repairing our friendship, but this was going to be a major setback. Val was going to be beyond pissed that Jaren chose to sit next to me. If their cell phones had any reception, Naomi had most certainly already texted Val about my new “friend.” Val would probably accuse me of trying to flirt with him, even though flirting was a foreign concept to me. And this “alone time” with Jaren Wilder? I didn’t want to think about Val’s reaction to that.

The bus started up a long, windy road. My hand found its way into my pocket, where I found the smooth hardness of the raven’s seed. It felt warm and heavy…and alive. The seed was special; there was no doubt about that. I rolled it in my fingers and slowly felt the tension seep out of my body. My lips turned up at idea of having a magic seed in my pocket. I was reminded of
Jack and the Beanstalk
and almost laughed out loud. I found myself wondering just how intuitive Jaren really was. Out of the corner of my eye, I peeked at his face, waiting for some indication that he knew what I was thinking. Sure enough, he opened his eyes and fixed his blue eyes on me. I looked away immediately. When I looked back, he had his eyes closed again, and he was wearing a small smile I had seen before.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The Tree

W
e arrived at a large parking lot lined with tall, graceful sugar pines. Jaren stood up and waited for me to slide out of the window seat, allowing me ahead of him. Once we got off the bus, he stood right next to me, like it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do. I could hear the low murmur of whispers as some of the others noticed us standing together. I shifted my feet. I could almost feel the envy radiating off a small group of Populars as they regarded us together.

“People are staring,” I whispered. Everyone was probably wondering what the heck Jaren Wilder was doing with an Outcast.

“Let them,” he shrugged. “I’m right where I want to be.”

Holy crap. My heart jumped so hard I thought it might break through my chest. I don’t know how I stifled my reaction to his unexpected comment. After a minute, I chanced another peek at our group. Naomi and Dara hung back, but I knew they were watching Jaren and me. Jaren seemed to be studying me carefully, too, like he was expecting me to do something or say something. I guess was pretty distracted by all of the attention on us so I didn’t feel it at first. When I did feel it, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it immediately.

Wave after wave of a new sensation was washing over me and sort of through me, too. Like a rising crescendo, each new wave was more intense than the last one. Butterflies churned in my stomach. It grew to be almost too much, like being on a rollercoaster ride that wouldn’t stop. My crystal was vibrating like crazy.
I
was vibrating like crazy. Then I was filling up with a buoyant exuberance and soaring up and up like a balloon that had broken free of its string.

I felt the connection of it all, of the trees, the animals—everything living thing on earth. At our cores, we were all the same energy. We were all connected! I heard myself gasp aloud. I must have swayed on my feet because Jaren caught my hand.

“Slow down,” he murmured. “You’re not ready to go that high yet.”

At his touch, I felt a yanking sensation rip through me and then I was blinking in amazement. I realized I was gripping Jaren’s hand hard. Actually, I was leaning against him. He felt warm.
So warm.
Yikes.
I straightened up and let his hand go, still feeling an exhilarating undercurrent running through me.

“Wow,” was all I could manage to say.

“Yeah,” he replied. “That about describes what I felt the first time, too. Are you okay?”

“I think so. What is it? How do you know about all of this?” I demanded in a harsh whisper.

“I guess you could say it runs in my family,” he shrugged. “Like I said, we really need to talk. I knew you were like me when I first saw you, Everleigh. You’re so bright. I could see you from a mile away. We should stick together, you know?”

Bright?
In the dead of winter, I still looked like I had a tan. I looked around and saw that we lagged behind everyone by about ten yards. In the distance, I could see Naomi and a few other girls glancing back at us every so often. They were cloaked in a brackish energy smoke.

“Look at the trees, not at them, Everleigh,” Jaren instructed. As I gazed around at the lush setting, I was struck almost senseless by the beauty I now perceived. The plants, the trees…everything seemed to be shining with a glittery, whitish glow.

“Oh wow,” I breathed. “Everything is so…so…”

I couldn’t find the words to describe the intensity of the experience I was having. To my embarrassment, I felt tears prick my eyes. I was in a state of pure appreciation and gratitude for the plants and trees. Tiny little blue flowers poked up from a log here. Soft green grasses rustled near the stream there. As I breathed, I felt that I was breathing in light…and love.

“You’re doing great, Everleigh. Man, your energy is super intense right now.” He looked at me, and I could see that his eyes were unfocused. “We should catch up with the others. Try to maintain your energy level.”

Walking with Jaren Wilder seemed so natural all of a sudden. We fell into a silent stride, each of us breathing in the clean scent of pine and forest mingled with dirt. We passed an uprooted tree, its network of short roots spreading up like a canopy. Some kids stopped to take pictures. At first, I felt an intense sadness for the majestic tree that lay there like a fallen soldier. Then I saw that it was part of an intricate energy system. It was home to plants, mosses and tons of bugs. The tree was decomposing and its energy was returning to be part of the earth. I could actually see it—tendrils of faded light soaking into the ground. Eventually, the energy would be recycled again in a dance that had been going on since the beginning of time.

Jaren nudged me. “Are you okay?”

Wow. I had forgotten he was even there. I couldn’t speak so I just nodded, staring around me like I was in a different world. I wondered if things would ever go back to the way they were before. We continued up a steeper path and I felt the energy in my body intensify to the point where I felt like little sparks were shooting out from my toes and fingertips. I stopped for a moment, feeling breathless, like you feel when you are looking down from the top of a very tall building.

“Take a deep breath and center yourself,” Jaren said softly.

I realized he had stopped, too, and was inhaling and exhaling deeply. I did the same, but I only felt more buoyant. I was floating away. Part of me, deep inside, was pulling away, detaching. I was going higher and higher…the tugging sensation increased. Something inside me was growing taut—and it was going to snap.

“Everleigh!” Jaren yanked my hand but I ignored him, wanting the amazing feeling to continue.

I wanted to go higher, higher…there was something there and I could almost reach it…

“Imagine that your feet are growing roots into the ground!” He jerked my arm again, hard, and a picture formed in my mind.

I couldn’t stop the mental image of my feet sprouting little tendrils and hooking into the dirt. I could even feel fresh earth between my sneakers-encased toes. I looked down, half expecting to see roots coming out of my shoes. I shook my head, dazed.

“How are you going that high already? You need to keep control of yourself!” He looked worried, his grip on my hand tightening.

“Wha-what’s happening?” I felt floaty and disoriented.

“You’re in a place of very high energy, Everleigh. You are open to it in a way I’ve never seen before. When you connect to it, your energy rises, too. Yours is going too high. You were floating off, letting your spirit leave your body. Whenever you feel that pulling sensation, you need to ground yourself, the way I just taught you, okay?”

My spirit? Is he serious?

That comment challenged a lot of things I hadn’t realized I believed. Was the core of me a spirit that used this body as a sort of shell? Jaren still looked a little concerned as he glanced toward the rest of the group. I could hear their chatter now, as my focus returned.

“Listen to me.” He took my hand again. “You need to keep centered when we get close to The Tree. It’s super old. I almost passed out the first time I got close to it. Your energy is really high right now, and you don’t have any control yet. Stay close to me, and don’t let go of my hand okay?”

Hold his hand. No problem.

Jaren gripped my hand tightly as we resumed walking. I had no idea what he was talking about, but instinctively I knew I could trust him. Besides, holding hands with him felt nice. His hand felt warm and tingly and oh, so right in mine. I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling. It was an affinity, a longing deep within me that begged for his touch, even though I tried desperately to deny it.

Touching Jaren Wilder made me feel better than I ever had in my entire life.

It felt like hours had gone by since we had left the bus, but in reality it had probably only been about fifteen minutes. These weird time lapses again, I mused, remembering the weird thing that had happened the day I took Mr. MacFarlane’s dreaded test. That was the day I had first run into Jaren. Man, how things had changed since the day I had literally bumped into him. I looked at him, my unfocused eyes catching the glow that seemed to surround him. He looked down and smiled, dazzling me with his white teeth, and I clung to his hand, as though letting go would interrupt the wonderful dream I was having.

As we headed to the top of the incline, Jaren kept a tight grip on me. If I had even thought to look around me at this point, I would have noticed quite a few of his female admirers directing a lot of nasty-looking energy smoke toward me. Luckily, I was surrounded in such gratitude and appreciation for my surroundings that nothing negative could get in. I felt like I was wearing a cloak of pure light and nothing dark could taint me.

“Look up,” he murmured.

A large branch came into view. It curved like an arm raised up in a perpetual greeting. It was the tree from my visions. Without thinking, I stopped in the middle of the path and raised an arm back. I giggled suddenly, thinking about how silly I must look, greeting a tree. As we got closer, the tugging started again and my giggling turned into a weird cackle that bordered on hysteria. A few heads turned our way, but since we lagged behind the group, most of the others didn’t notice my crazy laughing attack.

“Roots!” Jaren hissed sharply, and abruptly, the tugging sensation ceased. Once again, I felt the sensation of earth between my sneaker-clad toes.

The guide was saying something about the roots of the tree, and how they were fragile. You weren’t allowed to walk inside the tree’s enclosure, because doing so might damage the roots. Each time I heard the word
roots
I felt myself become more and more grounded. But even though I was starting to learn how to control the weird sensations I was having, I also became aware of an intense urge to jump the fence and race to the blackened trunk. I needed to put my hands on this tree—even though it wasn’t allowed. Something would happen if I touched it, I just knew it. Unconsciously, I started toward the majestic giant sequoia before a gentle squeeze pulled me back.