Ever (15 page)

“Well, if that’s true, then what’s your something?”

He smiled, bending his head down to whisper in my ear, the feel of his breath sending a familiar shockwave through me. “I have no idea. But I’m pretty sure
my
something has something to do with
you.
”

* * *

At first, Mirror Lake didn’t seem like much—just a nice scenic place to have a snack after the long walk it took to get there. Once I looked into the water, however, I understood the lake’s magic. A perfect image of the mountains, sky and plants floated in the water. Every detail was so sharp and clear that when I stared into the shimmering depths for a while I could feel myself getting vertigo. Was I upside down or was the reflection?

I avoided looking at the water for too long because that tugging sensation was back, enticing me to let go completely. Our group was much smaller today. I guess the prospect of a long walk deterred many of the students, who chose to hang back and watch a movie that was being projected in the amphitheater.

Jaren and I wandered around together, taking in the scenery. We got some more funny looks from other kids from our school, but most of the people at the lake seemed to be into the experience for the nature, not for the gossiping. I felt it again, that electric buzz of sensation that offered to lift my soul right out of my body. Conscious of Jaren’s watchful eye, I managed to rein myself in, controlling my reactions better than I had before. He nodded at me and I felt a surge of pride at my new abilities.

We kept meandering, directed by an unseen but very tangible sensation of guidance. Before long, we were separated from the small group. Jaren directed me to a large boulder that had been warmed by the sun despite the chilly air. I let the pleasant heat sink into my bones and closed my eyes for a while as I tried to organize my thoughts. Finally, I started in with the questions that had been plaguing me.

“So, I did some of the attunements in the book.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that.” Jaren chuckled.

I wasn’t sure how much to tell him, so I left out the part where I had done most of them with my own grandmother when I was a kid.

“I think they just hone abilities we already have—like sharpening a knife.”

“Maybe.”

“My aunt introduced me to the attunements when I was younger. I was having a lot of trouble in school. I guess some of the things I was feeling were too much for me and I started acting out. I was really sensitive to emotions and stuff. My aunt picked up on that. She didn’t call them attunements, but I’m sure that’s what they were. There were five of them that I recall. They helped me block out some of the bad energy, and made me more aware of what was going on around me.”

“The book describes six attunements. I think one is just for girls, maybe.” I mean, it talked about cycles and moons. Yikes, I definitely didn’t want to talk about that stuff with a boy.

“Six? That’s interesting. We should take a look together. Since I can’t read it and all.”

“Um, yeah. Well, there’s actually some other stuff I’ve been meaning to ask you about. Did Sylvia, I mean, your aunt, ever teach you about totem animals?”

“Sure—she told me that animals show up in our lives for a reason. Sometimes it’s as a warning, you know, to take stock of ourselves and of our situations, so we can make changes. But sometimes, they bring us more specific messages.”

I nodded. That made total sense. “Well, what do you know about ravens?”

Jaren cleared his throat.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, ravens aren’t bad necessarily. Aunt Sylvia used to say they were associated with the afterworld.”

“You mean dead people?” I tried to keep the horror off my face.

How did this information relate to the sneaking suspicion that the Sylvia I met at The Third Eye was some kind of reincarnation of Jaren’s aunt? I wasn’t sure how to even bring that up. He knew about the book, but he didn’t know about the day that everything changed—the day Sylvia had given me my crystal. In fact, Jaren had never seen my crystal. I kept it tucked inconspicuously beneath my tank, partly due to my fear that if anyone else saw it, it would stop behaving the way it did.

“I do remember a fable my aunt used to tell me. In it, the raven was able to travel between the worlds of the living and dead.”

Oh, great.

“The seed, I’m not so sure about that. Maybe we could figure out what kind of seed it is?”

Without hesitation, I pulled the small, brown seed from my pocket and held it out to him. It was round, smooth and dark. I certainly had no idea what kind of plant the seed came from. Jaren didn’t seem to know either.

“Well, it’s big, and it looks like a normal seed, but there’s definitely something about it,” he commented, before handing it back to me.

“Maybe it grows a giant beanstalk,” I said, only half-joking. There was no telling what would happen next.

Jaren laughed. “I dig your sense of humor, Ever.”

I felt a little ripple inside of me—like my soul was grinning at his compliment. I liked that he used my nickname, too. It sounded so…intimate.

Much too soon, it was time to head back to camp. Jaren was more familiar with this stuff than I was and there was a lot I wanted to ask about. I wondered briefly about Jaren’s parents. If Jaren didn’t have the answers I needed, maybe they did. I was starting to wonder about the weird keening noise I kept hearing—and about the number forty-seven…it seemed to be highlighted everywhere I went. It meant something. But what?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The Catalyst

I
t was the last night of our field trip and I had the jitters. In an effort to be diplomatic, I had dinner with my bunkmates. It wasn’t the envy rolling in waves off Val that had my nerves working overtime, though. Nor was it Jaren eating his meal with some Jocks that had come along for the extra credit. Nope, it was the idea of what I was going to do after lights out. I felt a mixture of excitement and terror at the thought of sneaking out with Jaren and going on some insane midnight trek. None of it was my idea, of course, but when he suggested it, my desire to touch that tree overrode my tendency to follow the rules. Plus, I wasn’t about to turn down more alone time with Jaren Wilder.

I snuck a glance at the boy I had developed an unlikely friendship with. He sure didn’t look like a boy. Jaren was tall and developed, with muscles that put the wrestling team to shame. He had stubble on his chin that was as blond as the hair on his head. His blue eyes sparked with intelligence. Beyond that, he was genuinely nice. Who could blame me for having a crush on the guy? I certainly wasn’t the only girl at Covecrest who thought he was hot—right now, a couple of Populars and the small throng of Candy Girls were ogling him.

I sighed, wishing for the umpteenth time that I was tall, blond and stacked. Glancing down at my rail-thin body, I knew that there was no hope for me and Jaren romantically. I was grateful that there was a reason for Jaren to talk to me at all. Just then, he looked up and met my eyes, sending me a wicked wink and a grin, and causing me to nearly choke on my meal. I felt myself turn bright red.

“Are you okay?” Naomi asked, handing me a napkin.

I nodded a little too vigorously. The last thing I wanted was to attract attention to myself.

“Val, what’s up with your hottie? Are you going to stay in touch?” Dara asked.

Val took the bait, and we spent the rest of dinner discussing Val’s love for “Mike, the guy from the pizza place,” and how heartbroken she was going to be to leave him. It was easy to look interested, but my mind was on my clandestine after-dark activities.

Jaren and I had decided that we should keep to ourselves and turn in early. Although they were probably feeling like crap, Val and Dara decided to go to the last campfire to hook up one more time with the guys they had met. Naomi hung back, claiming she had a headache. My phone was set to vibrate at eleven o’ clock sharp. I had a few hours to kill, and I wanted to spend them reading
The Archive
, but that was not meant to be. The second we got back to the bunk, Naomi burst into tears.

“What happened?”

I had always been uncomfortable with these intense shows of emotion and now I knew why. A massive cloud of brackish smoke seemed to pour from Naomi’s chest as she flung herself face down on her cot. My barriers went up. The dark energy churned menacingly, threatening to smother me. I fought the urge to cough, reminding myself that while it looked like actual smoke, it couldn’t take my breath away.

“She—she’s just such a—such a BITCH!” Naomi choked out.

Well, there was no one else she could be talking about.

“She just started in on me. You know, teasing me, in that way that seems funny at first, but it’s really just mean! Those older guys were laughing and I just kept drinking and drinking, pretending that I was laughing at myself, too. Dara didn’t stick up for me at all.”

I felt Naomi’s despair and her sense of betrayal at being treated that way like heaviness on my own heart. I now understood what was going on. I wasn’t sure if Val was doing it on purpose. Probably not. Val didn’t seem aware that she was trying to raise her own energy by stealing Naomi’s, and Dara had probably been feeling relieved that she wasn’t at the business end of all the teasing. I was grateful I had chosen to avoid their little party.

“Listen, Naomi. Before you guys starting eating lunch on the stairs, I didn’t really hang with anyone, you know.”

She nodded, wiping away tears. “Yeah, you were kind of a Loner,” she said with a half-smile.

“Well, I thought it would be better to have friends, any friends really, than be alone. But now, I’m not so sure. Sometimes Val doesn’t seem like a nice person, you know?”

“I guess I feel a little stupid for not realizing how mean she can be.”

“I don’t think friends are supposed to treat each other that way,” I said.

As I spoke to Naomi, my intention of comforting her on the forefront of my mind, I became aware of a barely perceptible tendril of white light extending from my chest toward hers. It ventured out beyond my golden circle. I watched it from the corner of my eye as my crystal hummed a comforting staccato against my chest. I glanced at Naomi, but she didn’t seem to notice anything. My white light flickered toward her, reaching into the brackish dark swirl that seemed to weigh Naomi down.

“What should I do? Should I confront her?”

The dark energy swirled around my white trickle like it was attracted to it. For a moment, I was worried that the negative smoke would swallow up my good energy. But then, as it made contact, the dark smoke evaporated with great speed. Naomi’s tears dried, and the forlorn look on her face slowly changed into a more serious, and less weak expression.

I shrugged. “That’s up to you, I guess. I think it’s just a wake-up call, you know. To be aware of what’s going on.”

“Thanks, Ever,” Naomi said in a stronger voice. “I feel a lot better.”

I felt more buoyant, too. I was conscious of my own energy swelling, This was interesting. Maybe you could raise energy without stealing it? Maybe you could willingly share it? I wasn’t sure how I did it, but the contrast between Naomi’s mood now and before was striking. She seemed calm, more aware and more connected to herself somehow—and I felt good too.

“Are you going to stay in tonight, Ever?”

“Yep. I have some reading to do.” I pulled my ear buds and my iPod out of my backpack.

“Cool. I’m just going to listen to some music, too. Probably get some sleep.”

“Great. Hey, Naomi?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad we talked.” It was one of the most honest interactions Naomi and I had ever had.

“Me, too, Everleigh. And…thanks.” She smiled at me and then flopped back down on her bunk. A few minutes later, she was asleep.

It was a while before the other girls stumbled in. From the giggling and slurred whispers, I figured that they hadn’t learned their lessons about drinking. Following some minor commotion, Dara and Val lapsed into snores. My phone buzzed and I silently gathered my things. Then I stole into the night, my heart beating with nervous anticipation.

Jaren was waiting for me just where he said he would be. Even though it was pitch black outside, save for the stars and the moonlight, a warm thread of attraction seemed to pull me right to him. I could feel him—just like he said he could feel me. What did that mean?

“So, how are we going to do this?” I asked. The Tree was pretty far away from camp, up a steep hill.

“We’re going to borrow this.” He patted something behind him.

I sparked up my flashlight and my mouth fell open. Jaren grinned broadly as he dangled the keys to a maintenance vehicle.

“We’re going to steal a golf cart?!”

“Nah, like I said, borrow it. We’ll put it right back where we found it. Trust me.”

For some reason, I did. Feeling a dart of excitement, I hopped into the cab next to him. There was a seatbelt and I buckled myself in. I had never done anything even remotely as naughty as this.

“You’re so small.” Jaren commented as I hugged my legs to my chest on the narrow seat.