Ever (10 page)

Val plopped down next to me and immediately began grilling me. Did I stand next to Jaren the whole time or just for a few minutes? Did he brush against me? Was he wearing cologne? It appeared she wasn’t aware of our little exchange. This was good. I forced myself to generate a wide grin and respond to her questions. Yes, he was next to me the whole time. Yes, he brushed against me. Cologne? I thought I detected sandalwood.

Luckily, she didn’t ask if we had spoken. Or, if I had touched his hand. Or…if I had experienced an explosive reaction to touching him that was akin to a volcano erupting. The reaction was only just now starting to dissipate, leaving a soft, steady warmth in its wake. I savored the feeling—it was so much better than being cold. Man, perhaps Val was right to be obsessed with this guy. There was obviously something about him.

My mind whirled. Jaren had done that. He had warmed me up from the inside out. Did he also know about the bizarre things that had been happening to me? If so, how? He certainly seemed like he knew
something
. Or maybe…just maybe, he saw the energy smoke, too? Was that what he meant when he said he knew I could feel it? And what did he mean about my eyes giving me away?

God, and he wanted to talk to me again.
Alone.
Jeez, I could barely handle being near him! How was I supposed to have an actual conversation with Jaren Wilder? Arrgh. I was driving myself crazy. I was grateful when Dara pulled out a stack of
Mad Libs.
I halfheartedly supplied nouns, adjectives and adverbs until the bus stopped at our campsite a short time later.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Totem

A
fter we checked in, we had dinner at the nearby lodge’s buffet. I was so exhausted I could hardly speak. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one. I kept my head down and said just enough to avoid pissing anyone off. I was delighted to see cookies in the dessert section and I stuffed a bunch of them in my sweatshirt pocket when no one was looking.

It was getting dark. Hardwick and Hopkins took charge, splitting everyone by gender and assigning lodgings. Thankfully, we weren’t required to pitch tents. This was a Covecrest High field trip, after all. We stayed in these little tent cabins. They consisted of wood paneled floors and a metal frame with a canvas tarp stretched over it. There were four squeaky little cots inside. Well, it beat sleeping on the floor. I tossed my pack on the cot closest to the door. I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep but I surprised myself by knocking out hard. When I woke up, it was still dark outside. I could hear the other girls rustling in their sleeping bags, the occasional squeak of the rusty cot springs punctuating the silence every few moments.

As had become customary, I had awakened just before the alarm on my phone went off. It was 4:47 a.m.
Again with the number.
I had never been such an early riser, but now I couldn’t seem to make it to dawn. Couldn’t just one day go by without something weird happening? Well, it was early, but at least I would be able to shower without an audience. Our schedule had us in the dining hall at 7:15 a.m. for breakfast, and attending a morning meeting by 8:30 a.m. Then we could choose from several chaperoned activities until dinner.

I got up, gathered my things and ran to the showers, hoping I would be the only one in there. I hated changing in front of other people, even my friends. Thankfully, I was alone in the freezing cold bathroom. I got into the shower and found that the water was pleasantly warm. I scrubbed myself down as quickly as possible.

Once I turned off the shower, the icy chill returned. Why wasn’t the bathroom heated? Ugh. I was shaking with cold as I pulled on my tank top and underwear with numb fingers. Even my crystal felt chilly. I thought about what Jaren had said to me yesterday. What the heck, I was so cold, I would give anything a try. Hey, just thinking about the guy distracted me enough to take the edge off.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. In my mind’s eye I conjured the memory of the touching Jaren’s hand. Immediately, I felt a liquid-heat sensation tingling in the pit of my stomach and slowly spread up and out to my fingers and toes. I was no longer shivering. In fact, the frosty air suddenly felt invigorating. I burst out laughing. It worked! I mean—it really worked! This was a revelation. I
made
myself warm, just by picturing it happening. Shaking my head in amazement, I wondered how far these abilities could go. If this was possible, what else could I do just by willing it?

I heard other girls approaching so I grabbed my stuff and scurried into the handicapped stall to dress. As they hit the showers, I dried my hair, and walked briskly back to our tent cabin. The crisp scent of pine filled my nostrils. I felt alert, and somehow more alive inside.

Instead of going straight back to our tent cabin, my feet took a sharp right turn. I was so in the moment, basking in the glow of my newly discovered talent, that I didn’t realize I was detouring away from the campsite at first. There was a fence that prevented campers from going up the hill, or maybe it prevented animals from coming down into the camp. I slipped through broken section of wood and rope, and headed up a faded trail that led me to two huge slabs of granite.

My crystal pricked at me, but it wasn’t the warning tingle I had felt before. I was intrigued. I was learning not to ignore my pendant. As I got closer to the sound, I looked down to see my crystal begin to dance with that peculiar inner fire. I examined the enormous rocks in front of me. Two sections of granite had clearly once been part of the same slab. They looked like halves of a large boulder. When it had fallen, it had cracked so there was a little space in the middle. It was almost big enough for me to walk into. Of course, the sound originated from in there.
Great.
I felt a little jitter start in the pit of my stomach. What if it was a snake or something?

As I hesitated, a large black bird suddenly erupted from the small crevice. A startled, “Oof!” issued from my lips as I fell back and sat in the dust, my behind throbbing from the impact.

The bird was huge—a raven, maybe. It was far too large to be a crow. Rather than flying off, as I expected it to do, the sleek black creature set down in front of me and began to bob its head up and down, while emitting a deep, low sound.
Is this really happening?
The animal totem section in the book described how interactions with animals had meaning. Was this a sign? What was I supposed to do? The raven stopped bobbing and cocked his head at me. Then it spread its wings.

I looked into its orange eye as it took to the air. A weird “click” sounded somewhere in my mind, followed by a roaring in my ears and another sensation that I could only describe as the way I felt when I was going up in an elevator. Then to my disbelief and delight, I took flight. I could see from the bird’s point of view as it circled the clearing. I could see the tops of trees, the narrow path… I could even see myself as I sat there in the dust. I didn’t want the sensation to end… I was floating up and up…higher and higher… I was weightless…and then just as suddenly as the experience had started, the raven returned to the granite slab and my wings were gone.

I looked down at my hands, opening and closing my fingers as if to make sure they were still there. I heaved, out of breath with glee. I got to my shaky feet and tried to compose myself. My phone alarm beeped, signaling that it was time to board the shuttle to the big tree grove.
Well, that was better than breakfast, anyway!

As I turned to head back down the narrow trail, the raven let out a deep warble. I looked back at it and saw that it held something in its beak. It spread its sleek, black wings and let the object drop from its beak—a seed. It rolled off the granite slab and landed just behind me. The raven warbled again, bobbing its head. I picked up the small, brown seed. It was smooth and heavy. I put it in my pocket and sensed that the bird was satisfied. I looked back once more and the creature was gone. Were it not for the seed in my pocket, I could easily attribute the entire experience as a crazy daydream—much like the last month of my life!

Trying to make sense of the experience, I made my way to the shuttle stop and saw Naomi first. She was wearing a ton of makeup, new boots, and super tight jeans with a pink sweater. Her hair was perfectly straight, as though she had ironed it, and she held a pink-and-black
Volcom
backpack. Dara was by her side in a similar getup. Wow. It had probably taken them hours to get ready for a hike that would surely ruin their careful ensembles.

“Everleigh! Where have you been? Oh my God, are you sick or something?” Naomi looked worried as she took in my faded jeans, hiking boots and non-designer sweatshirt. I probably looked homeless compared to them.

“No, I just er, woke up early so I went to take a few photos this morning. Where’s Val?” As I mumbled my little white lie, I noticed that she was missing.

“I don’t think she’s coming.” Naomi looked like she was about to burst with some sort of information.

“Why? Isn’t the whole point of this trip seeing the big trees?” I wasn’t necessarily surprised that Val would beg off the hike, but what the heck else was there to do?

“She met this guy last night after hours…one of the guys who works here. He’s older. She didn’t get back to the cabin until after three in the morning…and he’s sooo hot, Everleigh!”

Naomi went on about how after I had fallen asleep, the three of them had sneaked out to scope out the scene. Well, thanks for including me, I thought to myself. Actually, I was surprised that they had made it out of the cabin without waking me. I was usually a really light sleeper.

Naomi filled me in. Apparently, Val had asked some guy for a cigarette and they had ended up hanging out all night. She was still passed out and was planning to meet the guy while the rest of us were on our chaperoned hike. Dara had checked off her name at the morning meeting, so no one would miss her. I struggled to act interested, but in my mind, I was still was soaring above the granite slab.

“Wow…lucky girl.” I slipped my hand into my pocket and curled my fingers around the raven’s seed.

There was one person I might be able to tell about the raven and the seed, one person that seemed to understand a little more than I did about what was going on. I wondered where he was. Maybe Jaren had decided to hike the falls today, with the other half of our group. I followed Dara and Naomi to the very back of the green shuttle. They of course, sat down together, so I took the seat behind them.

The bus was almost full when I caught sight of Jaren. I stole a glance at him since Val wasn’t around to catch me ogling “her man.” Maybe she had a new man now, and wouldn’t care, but I doubted it. Jaren looked good…really good. Wearing dark jeans, a green flannel shirt with the hint of a white tee underneath, and hiking boots, with his blond hair tucked into a hat, Jaren looked like he had walked out of a commercial for Abercrombie. Even our chaperone, Ms. Hardwick, took a long look as he passed the front seat. I was sure he knew it, too, because he kept his head down and didn’t make eye contact with anyone.

I redirected my gaze out the window and tried to distract myself from thinking about Jaren. Soon I would be in the company of those old trees. I just knew that something was going to happen there. I could feel it.

The book had said, “When you are in a place of power, like a grove of old growth forest, the energy intensifies. You can harness this energy and increase your personal intuition.”

I wasn’t sure how the harnessing part worked, but I couldn’t wait to experience the energy of the sequoias. A hint of sandalwood tickled my nose and I looked up to find Jaren standing in the aisle.

“Hey, Everleigh,” he said. I felt a familiar wash of liquid heat run through me as he uttered my name. From somewhere in front of me, I heard Dara start whispering furiously to Naomi. Oh God, I was in for it now.

“Mind if I sit here?”

Without waiting for my reply, he dropped into the empty seat next to me, his thigh brushing mine. More liquid heat, more tingles… Oh man, how was I going to handle the bumpy ride to the grove while sandwiched in next to him with no way to escape? There was a slight roaring in my ears. Was this what they meant in health class when they talked about adolescent hormones? Mine were clearly raging out of control. I took a shaky breath and concentrated hard on the view from the window.

“How did you sleep?” He bent his head close to me, his breath warming my ear.

“Fine,” I said tightly, trying to keep my reactions to myself. An image of Jaren lying on his cot sleeping ran through my mind, causing a blush to heat my cheeks.

“I slept great, too. It’s this fresh mountain air. It really raises your energy, if you know what I mean. Do you? Know what I mean?”

He kept trying to meet my eyes. What had he said before? That my eyes always gave me away? I conjured enough irritation into my face to scare away Mother Teresa, then I met his gaze. I was mesmerized in an instant. His eyes were so blue. A wave of liquid heat washed through me all the way down into my toes.