Just Breathe (32 page)

She quickly turns toward whoever she is talking to and speaks, “Like I was telling you, I don’t have any idea why he chose this. When you came to tell me today, it was the first time I knew about it.”

I see movement in front of Amber and a male voice says, “Amber Tanner, we will be watching you closely given the recent developments with your brother.”

He adds, “There will be dire consequences if we find, you are keeping the same company.”

I watch her nod and she glances at me with scared eyes. I get her hint and duck back into the blue room to wait. I start to worry. He implied something about Jack. So obviously he isn’t here, like I had hoped.

Suddenly the door swings open and I push up from the bed startled. Amber is treading there with the most miserable green eyes. She looks down at the floor then meets my eyes.

I ask her, “What is it Amber? Where is Jack?”

She grabs my hand and swims pulling me towards the front room.

She sits looking downward and says, “Jack…Jack…he did something…very bad.”

I rush to her and take her hands in mine, “Is he alright? What did he do?”

She looks up and meets my eyes, all I see is cloudy green. I just want out shake it out of her. I feel like my heart will beat right out of my chest.

She shakes her head saying as if more to herself, “How could this have happened? How could he do this to me, to our parents?" Then she looks up," to you?”

I plead, “What Amber? Tell me.”

“Ever, he has sided with Jaspen.”

I swim back from her and just stare.

Finally I ask, “Did he do this for me? Because… he thought I would side with Jaspen?”

I’m beginning to feel a tremendous weight descend upon me.

She shakes her head and says softly, unbelieving, “No.”

I wait and she doesn’t say anything else.

I question her, “No, then why?’ My voice is strangled.

She looks up again and tells me with disbelief, “He’s been sided with Jaspen, all along.”

I shake my head, “But you told me the story about your parents and he…he left when he found out I had spoken to Jaspen. He seemed so hurt when I defended the Erebus.”

I’m replaying all of my time with Jack now. Was it all a lie? Was he really just trying to get me here to do Jaspen’s bidding? I am so confused and suddenly I have no energy. I plop down in the other chair across from Amber. I think I’m going to lose it.

Amber looks over and tells me softly, “We have to go to Seamus.”

Then she says it louder with more authority, “We have to go to Seamus.”

She gets up with a rush and tries to grab my hand. I pull it back and look at her with horror.

I tell her, “I can’t go to Seamus right now.”

She argues, “We have to, he has to know you are here.”

She continues looking off as if in a trance, “If I bring you to Seamus, then they will know I am not…siding with…Jack.”

She chokes out his name. This can’t be happening.

I look at her horrified, “You can’t just turn me in…they will think I am here for the Lior.”

Then I realize, “Amber, I haven’t chosen yet. I was coming to talk to Jack.”

I continue, “James is with Jaspen right now.”

She shakes her head, “This is bad Ever, don’t you see? If you go to Jaspen, our city will be annihilated.”

I look at her disbelieving.

She continues, “All life as we know it, will be no more.”

I ask, “Did you know about this? Did you know everything with Jack was a lie?"

She shakes her head vigorously and I can hear her voice catch as if she is crying, “No, Ever, I promise you, I had no idea.”

We sit in silence for what seems like an hour. I replay everything Jack ever said to me about the Lior and Erebus. I realize he never really committed to one side in our conversations. I just assumed. What a fool I am.
Ever, you’ve really done it this time
.

Then I realize something and tell Amber, “So do you think Jack being taken from the lake was planned?”

She looks at me clueless and shrugs her shoulders

Then I ask with more energy, “What about when they took you, did they say anything to you about me or James or Jack?”

She thinks for a minute and shakes her head.

Then she tells me, “Maybe that was just for you to meet Jaspen.”

I reason, “But he came to my house to meet James. Why didn’t he just show up in
my
bedroom?”

She shrugs and adds, “Well maybe he wanted to see what you could do with your ‘wills’ and such, find out about your abilities.”

I tell her, “Maybe that is also the reason they took Jack, to see if I would come and find him.”

She nods.

I get up and she glances at me curious.

I tell her, “I need to be alone, I need some time.”

I look toward the hall and finish, “We’ll make a decision after I think.”

I look into her cloudy eyes and ask reassuringly, “Okay?”

She nods and looks the other way, as I swim toward the blue bed calling my name.

***

Suddenly I am falling down
, down, down, through the sea. There is less light as I fall farther away. I try to grasp for the light, the sky, but it’s out of my grasp. Darkness is consuming me. Everything is almost black, suddenly I feel as if someone or something has caught me. I glance over and see beautiful green eyes but they aren’t Jack’s.

I wake with a start and sit straight up. Glancing around, I remember where I am, I must have drifted off. Then my terrible reality hits me. I swim towards the front of the house meaning to ask Amber about her time with the Erebus. I remember the bits of conversation I overheard between James and Jaspen in the caves. I wonder if the guide who helped them gain access to the city was Amber.

I enter the front room and sitting in one of the chairs is Amber looking terribly afraid when her eyes meet mine. I glance over toward the other chair and realize someone is sitting there. I swim closer and the mer-man sitting in the other chair looks up at me. I’m greeted with the same set of beautiful green eyes from my dream.

He gets out of the chair, swims toward me and puts out his hand grinning, “Ever Harding, I am pleased to formally meet you. My name is Alex Raver. I was supposed to be your real guardian but Jack….”

“Kept you away from me,” I finish for him.

He averts his eyes and nods. All of the signs come back to me, he rushed me into the water at the first sign of mer-people in the forest that first visit to the beach. He was taken and when I saved him, they never came after us, they let us go without a glance. The biggest red flag though, was his avoidance of choosing sides. I can feel it again. I am deflating and losing my grip. I glide over to the chair and sink into it. My breath catches with the first sob. Amber glances at me with profound sympathy and sadness. All I can think is, Jack and I’m falling again and then darkness.

****

Acknowledgements

My Thanks!

I have complete gratitude for my family. You are my grounding place. Everything always comes back to you. Thank you to my boys for the many days and nights I was away, deep in the ocean and you took over in making meals and watching your sister. Thank you to my husband, Richard, for believing in me and encouraging my pursuit of a dream.

Much more gratitude than I can utter to all of my first readers. My very first, Shannon Longarzo, you were the true test to whether this book would work at all. My bests... Rochelle Gilman, Stephanie Rodriguez, Nicole Morse and Sember Baker, for all of your support and positive criticism, where would I be without you? My mom, Shelley Kelley and my mom in law, Stephanie Hayes, thank you for the multiple edits and encouragement, it meant so much in my journey.

About the Author

Heather Allen has just fulfilled a life -long dream by completing and publishing her first novel. Don't be discouraged though, she's not finished with Jack and Ever. Her 'Just Breathe' novels will be a trio when finished. She lives in Melbourne, Florida with her husband of fourteen years, two sons and daughter. Heather has been a teacher for fifteen years now and aspires to continue touching the lives of children through education but also taking them on a journey with her books.

You can find Heather on
:

twitter- hashtag-kelconcar,

her blog at heatherallen127.blogspot.com,

and facebook.