Never (The Ever Series Book 2) Read Online Free
Author: C. J. Valles
to move, and as soon as my mom and Ever leave, I grab a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt from the dresser. Then I remember the outfit I had been wearing in France. What happened to it? Who changed me into my pajamas? My face goes pale as I remember my mom saying Ever’s sister Audra came by. Audra, who hates me.
I pull on a pair of jeans, my eyes flitting to the corners of my room, like someone is going to jump out at me. I wince when I realize that I’m actually afraid to be by myself. Pulling a sweater over my head, I hurry out of my room and down the hallway. At the landing, I don’t look at the mirror on the wall. Instead, I skip down the stairs as fast as possible, haunted by dark memories of what I thought were going to be my last moments alive.
My mom is in the kitchen, chopping tomatoes and onions and throwing them into a pot on the stove. She’s also telling Ever the story about me being afraid of the dark until I was ten. When she turns around, I give her a withering look. Then I rush over and hug her again.
“Don’t be gone too long. You don’t want to stress your system too much after the flu,” she warns. “And take a coat!”
At the closet, I pull on my waterproof boots, and Ever helps me with my jacket. As we step outside, the air feels icy against my lungs. I take several deep breaths, reveling in the sensation.
I’m alive .
For the first time since I woke up in an unfamiliar bed in a foreign country, I can finally appreciate that fact. Keeping my hands in my pockets, I start walking toward the end of the street. Neither one of us says anything, and without thinking about it, I continue until we come to the same bench where I was sitting when I found out—with absolute certainty—that Ever was more than human. I sit down, unable to look at Ever. It feels like an entire lifetime has passed since that night.
“Would you have killed Ashley?” I ask bluntly.
I need to know, and I harden myself to survive his answer. When several seconds pass, I finally bring myself to look up at him and find his features resigned yet pleading.
“After everything that has happened, you may not believe me, but no, I would not have harmed her,” he says quietly. “I would do anything to protect you, but I knew it would kill you if I sacrificed someone you cared for, even to save you. I knew there must be another way.”
I remember the glimmer of hope I felt as I reached into the blackness.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
Deep down, I know that if Ever were truly capable of destroying my friend, my mom—or anyone else—to save me, then I would have had nothing to come back to. I look up into the trees where the sun’s last rays are shining between the needles. It would have been dark by now when we first moved here. The fact that it’s still light means that spring, which Ashley called the season of storms, is coming.
The next morning when I wake up, I feel almost normal. Almost. I get out of bed and collect my clothes. I’m still a little tired, having spent half the night catching up on homework assignments that Chasen had collected for me while he was busy babysitting my friends. During my absence, Audra ended up being the one to watch over my mom, which makes me nervous. The last thing I want is to owe her.
Downstairs, I have a breakfast consisting of overly sweet orange juice and cold cereal with milk. I can’t help comparing it to my meal in France. Ever showed me last night on the Internet where I had been—a small town a hundred and thirty miles east of the Bordeaux airport. My memories of it are bright and surreal. An orange sunrise setting the town ablaze, the green of the garden, the crystalline blue of the stone pool—its water the same color as Alex’s eyes when they weren’t black as night.
The scenery would have been idyllic, if I hadn’t just woken into a nightmare.
Putting on my coat, I walk to the front door, stopping to look up the stairs toward my mom’s room. Ever promised
I pull on a pair of jeans, my eyes flitting to the corners of my room, like someone is going to jump out at me. I wince when I realize that I’m actually afraid to be by myself. Pulling a sweater over my head, I hurry out of my room and down the hallway. At the landing, I don’t look at the mirror on the wall. Instead, I skip down the stairs as fast as possible, haunted by dark memories of what I thought were going to be my last moments alive.
My mom is in the kitchen, chopping tomatoes and onions and throwing them into a pot on the stove. She’s also telling Ever the story about me being afraid of the dark until I was ten. When she turns around, I give her a withering look. Then I rush over and hug her again.
“Don’t be gone too long. You don’t want to stress your system too much after the flu,” she warns. “And take a coat!”
At the closet, I pull on my waterproof boots, and Ever helps me with my jacket. As we step outside, the air feels icy against my lungs. I take several deep breaths, reveling in the sensation.
I’m alive .
For the first time since I woke up in an unfamiliar bed in a foreign country, I can finally appreciate that fact. Keeping my hands in my pockets, I start walking toward the end of the street. Neither one of us says anything, and without thinking about it, I continue until we come to the same bench where I was sitting when I found out—with absolute certainty—that Ever was more than human. I sit down, unable to look at Ever. It feels like an entire lifetime has passed since that night.
“Would you have killed Ashley?” I ask bluntly.
I need to know, and I harden myself to survive his answer. When several seconds pass, I finally bring myself to look up at him and find his features resigned yet pleading.
“After everything that has happened, you may not believe me, but no, I would not have harmed her,” he says quietly. “I would do anything to protect you, but I knew it would kill you if I sacrificed someone you cared for, even to save you. I knew there must be another way.”
I remember the glimmer of hope I felt as I reached into the blackness.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
Deep down, I know that if Ever were truly capable of destroying my friend, my mom—or anyone else—to save me, then I would have had nothing to come back to. I look up into the trees where the sun’s last rays are shining between the needles. It would have been dark by now when we first moved here. The fact that it’s still light means that spring, which Ashley called the season of storms, is coming.
The next morning when I wake up, I feel almost normal. Almost. I get out of bed and collect my clothes. I’m still a little tired, having spent half the night catching up on homework assignments that Chasen had collected for me while he was busy babysitting my friends. During my absence, Audra ended up being the one to watch over my mom, which makes me nervous. The last thing I want is to owe her.
Downstairs, I have a breakfast consisting of overly sweet orange juice and cold cereal with milk. I can’t help comparing it to my meal in France. Ever showed me last night on the Internet where I had been—a small town a hundred and thirty miles east of the Bordeaux airport. My memories of it are bright and surreal. An orange sunrise setting the town ablaze, the green of the garden, the crystalline blue of the stone pool—its water the same color as Alex’s eyes when they weren’t black as night.
The scenery would have been idyllic, if I hadn’t just woken into a nightmare.
Putting on my coat, I walk to the front door, stopping to look up the stairs toward my mom’s room. Ever promised
Readers choose
James Sheehan
Mellie George
Teresa Ashby
Seth Skorkowsky
Victoria Parker
Amy Meredith
Jane Lindskold
Ben Lerner
Ruth Dudley Edwards
Rochelle Alers