Sever (The Ever Series Book 3) (15 page)

“You—”

An arm wraps around my waist, pulling me off my feet and easily lifting me away from Victor. A second later, Ever is in front of me holding a double-edged blade with a handle at its center—like the one Alex used the day at West Street Beach. Victor smiles and touches his lips.

“Apart from the obvious, I can see now why you’ve both found her so alluring,” Victor purrs, smiling at Ever. “She has a passion I’ve rarely tasted on human lips … such a shame that passion wasn’t meant for you.”

Victor’s features ripple, and suddenly I’m staring at Alex again. Ever doesn’t flinch, almost like he was expecting him to morph into Alex. I swear softly under my breath and wish I had the power to send Victor screaming back to his dimension right this second.

“Wren, do think about the offer we discussed,” he says casually.

Ever takes a step toward him, but Victor just laughs.

“Not today. Another perhaps.”

I watch as he turns calmly and begins walking toward the door. When it swings shut behind him, Ever faces me.

“It’s just going to get worse, isn’t it?” I ask.

He nods.

“Victor will continue to test you until he believes he’s found your weakest point.”

And my weakest points are my guilt for all those I’ve put in danger—and my love for Ever
and
Alex.

I
’m sitting on the counter in the bathroom watching my mom get ready for her date with
Dick
. Since the moment Victor appeared on the street in downtown Portland, I’ve felt like my life has been swinging on a pendulum from normal to insane and then back again.

“I can’t believe my baby is going to be eighteen so soon! And graduation!” She pauses. “Did your father ever get back to you about coming up?”

I shake my head and look down.

“Are you going to go down there at all this summer?” she asks carefully.

“Maybe,” I shrug. “But I want to stay and work for as long as possible.”

I look up at my mom and realize that she’s trying to plan a getaway with
Dick
, which only makes me wonder how bad things will get before I panic and give in to Victor.

“What’s on your agenda for the evening?” she asks.

I smile.

“Shopping for dresses with the girls.”

It’s a welcome break from putting on my gladiator outfit and dodging pointy objects with Audra. Besides, my little “workout” sessions with her have left me with an unshakable sense of guilt. I’m afraid Ever knows why I’m doing it. Because no matter how much of my mind I think I can keep hidden, I may never truly grasp how powerful Ever is.

“That’s great, honey.”

Seeing the look of relief on my mom’s face, I frown. First off, she’s relieved that I’m not going out with Ever. Second, she’s wishing that I would stay over at a friend’s house so she doesn’t have to worry about coming home early from her date with
Dick
. Lovely.

“What are you and Richard doing tonight?” I ask innocently.

“He’s taking me to a show at the Schnitzer.”

“The concert hall?”

She nods. I remember passing it after Ever and I went to the museum last year. I exhale.

“So, are things between you guys getting really serious?” I ask despondently.

My mom looks at me with a wry expression.

“Honey, I know I went all mom-from-hell on Ever, but I’ve been thinking about it, and now that you’re almost eighteen, I need to trust that you’ll make responsible, adult decisions. And as long as you promise me you’ll be safe, you don’t have to tell me everything. But I expect the same from you. I don’t have to tell you everything. Fair enough?”

I nod and hop off the counter.

“Fair enough.”

She leans over and kisses me on the cheek.

“Have a good time with your friends tonight.”

I smile and nod before walking back to my room. Within an hour, I’m in the back seat of Chasen’s huge SUV with Audra at the wheel.

“This is
awesome
!” Lindsay squawks from the front seat.

To her, everything is either awesome or cataclysmic, and I guess I can relate. When she leans forward and jacks up the volume until the bass is making my brain hurt, Taylor and I look at each other and start to laugh uncontrollably. We’re on the way to the same mall where I got my dress for last year’s spring formal—the dance that I never attended. I’m glad Audra’s driving, mostly because I probably already would have crashed with Lindsay blasting the music and shrieking in my ear every five seconds.

“It’s weird that this is it, don’t you think?” I say to Taylor and Ashley. “End of senior year? By this time next year, we’ll be finishing our first year of college.”

My friends will be, at least. I’ve stopped guessing where I’ll be.

“I’m just glad to be escaping the evil stepmother from hell,” Taylor says. “I keep telling myself:
Just gotta get through summer, and then I’m outta here
.”

I smile crookedly and squeeze her shoulder. When Audra merges onto 217, I marvel at the fact that after a year I can actually recognize some of the freeways in Oregon. On the other hand, if someone were to drop me off five miles from our house, I’d probably get lost, but knowing the freeway names is an improvement for me.

“So, Audra … what was it like with you and Chasen being on separate continents for the entire year?” Lindsay asks.

Audra glances at me in the rearview mirror and smiles. Lindsay has tentatively patched things up with Zach, and Victor has remained scarce since the day in the cafeteria, but I’m still aware how fragile things are.

“It passed by in a millisecond,” she says in an upper crust British accent.

“Wow. Really? I kinda thought—no offense—that you guys would have broken up.”

“We saw each other all the time, so it was easier,” Audra tells her.

“He came to see you?”

Audra nods.

“If you want to make it work, you make it work. But you’re young—”

“You’re only a year older than us!” Lindsay points out.

Audra smiles.

“Regardless, your outlook may change as your experiences broaden.”

Audra pulls off the freeway, and a minute later we’re passing by the coffee shop where I first confronted Ever—a lifetime ago. I gawk when I see Ever sitting out front like he was that night more than a year ago. He smiles as we pass, and I bite my lip to keep from laughing. I’m sure Audra knows he’s there, but no one else notices.

He never said much about the afternoon in Mr. McG’s classroom with Victor—and there wasn’t anything I could say to make it any better. For a few seconds in time, I had thought Alex had escaped, and I want to believe that what Victor felt in my kiss was simple—relief. But part of me knows that isn’t completely true.

Some part of me loves Alex with a desperation that I think only happens when you know your love is completely wrong but you still can’t help yourself.

Audra parks in the structure, and we all climb out. Last year, I had been dreading dancing in public, but I’m way past that. Dancing is no longer the scary monster it once was. And if I embarrass myself, it’s not going to kill me. Victor might, but dancing won’t. I know that now. Besides, what I said to Taylor is true: prom is probably one of the last times we’ll all be together.

Looking at Ashley, Taylor, and Lindsay, I realize that maybe it’s a good thing that we’ll all be going off in separate directions at the end of the school year. I’ll miss everyone, but I have to admit that they’ll be safer away from me. At least I hope they will be. But if I don’t figure out a way to beat Victor, then—I shudder and try not to think of the consequences.

Everyone votes to go out for dinner before shopping, which is fine since I’m making some money now. The Italian place by the movie theatre is packed with after-work shoppers, but we get seated pretty quickly. I order something with lots of butter, garlic, and shrimp. Audra, I notice, orders a salad. I’ve gotten used to watching Ever and the others eat—or at least appear to—on the rare occasions where it would attract more attention for them not to. After all, like Ever said, they don’t need food for energy, so eating, for them, is mostly pointless. But it’s still possible.

I order an Italian soda and try to think of how different things would have been if I had never left Southern California … if my parents were still married … if I couldn’t read minds … if I had never laid eyes on Ever.

Then I wouldn’t have any of this.

After dinner, when Ashley gets up to go to the bathroom, I see her talking to the server. A minute later, he comes over carrying a slice of chocolate cake with a candle sticking out of it. My mouth drops open when everyone starts singing
Happy Birthday
.

“But guys, my birthday isn’t even—”

“It’s close enough. Besides,
hello
! Your birthday is the same freaking day as prom, and after what you guys got me for my eighteenth?” Ashley says, plunking a gift bag down in front of me. “It’s time I repaid the favor.”

She snickers as I cringe. For Ash’s birthday, we got her a ridiculously lacey hot pink bra and matching underwear, plus a very adult book with my employee discount, amongst other things. When I groan in terror, Taylor shakes her head.

“It’s not that bad. Audra picked it out.
Trés
fancy. You can totally wear them for prom.”

“Yeah, Ever will
love
your present,” Lindsay cackles.

I give her a look.

“Then I’m definitely waiting to look until I’m safely in the dressing room to open this,” I mutter. “But thank you guys so much.”

I lean in for an awkward group hug, and Audra insists on paying for the entire dinner. As we walk to the dress shop, Lindsay’s usual manic energy level is infectious. Still, I can’t help envying everyone else’s excitement for dress shopping. Audra may be the only non-human present, but I feel like the pretender. I may have—mostly—gotten over my fear of dance-induced humiliation, but I still have miserable taste in formalwear.

Not surprisingly, within a few minutes, everyone else has a handful of hangers, and I’m still wavering back and forth on the one dress I’ve managed to pick out.

“Clearly not the right color for you,” Audra says, taking the dress I’m holding and putting it back. “Come with me.”

I follow her into the dressing room and gawk at the dress Taylor’s wearing.

“Um, wow.”

She cringes at me.

“Is it terrible?”

“No, it’s … I mean, are you trying to make Josh insane?”

Taylor smiles wickedly and spins around. Her dress is deep purple—with a slit practically all the way up the leg.

“Yeah, I kinda am.”

“Well, it’s perfect, then.”

I take out my phone and snap a picture of her.

“I’d send it to Josh, but we don’t want him drooling until prom. Messy, you know?”

“You really think it’s okay?” she asks nervously.

Ashley comes out of one of the dressing rooms wearing a neon green tube dress.

“Yes, Taylor—
yes
already!” she huffs. “We all think Josh is going to be a drooling moron when he sees you.”

When I shake my head, Ashley looks down at her dress.

“I know—it’s awful!” she says before stalking back into her dressing room.

Audra grabs my hand and pulls me into one of the empty rooms. Then I watch in horror as she takes my birthday present and pulls out a lacey, black bra and matching panties. Fortunately, I have totally gotten over stripping down to my underwear in front of immortal perfection. Getting completely naked is another thing. When Audra nods for me to try on my brand new lingerie, I smirk at her until she turns around.

“Happy now?” she demands.

“Um, yeah. I’m embarrassed enough trying these on with just
me
looking.”

“You humans and your modesty,” she mutters under her breath.

While her back is turned, I swap my regular cotton underwear for black lace. With a huff, she turns around and hands me a blood-red dress. By the time I slip it on, she’s wearing a shimmering sheath dress that makes her look like even more of a goddess. I study myself in the mirror.

“Really? It’s a little
red
, isn’t it?”

Audra gives me a stern look and then moves around me to zip the back.

“There. This was much more efficient than having you wander the store for an hour.”

I would argue with her, but I know she’s right. Turning toward the mirror, I smile crookedly at my reflection. I can’t fault Audra for her taste in clothing. Immortality apparently makes her impervious to poor fashion choices.

“Shall we go show the others?” Audra asks.

“Fine,” I smile. “Now everyone else can feel inferior to immortal perfection.”

When we walk out, Lindsay growls.

“You’re both freaking
done
?”

I smile. Then, thinking of Victor sitting across the table from Lindsay, I shiver. When Ash and Taylor join us, I start getting weepy.

“I’m really going to miss you guys.”

Lindsay rolls her eyes with an air of disgust.

“Shut up, Sullivan! Who’s the queen of drama? That’s right—
moi
! No weepy sob-fests until I say so.”

Ashley wraps her arm around Lindsay and rolls her eyes.

“I apologize on Lindsay’s behalf. She forgot her sensitivity pills at home.”

While everyone else continues trying on dresses, Audra and I go to the counter to pay for ours. When she takes my dress and gestures to the sales clerk that she’s paying for both, I open my mouth to argue until Audra’s cerulean eyes flash over to me. As in:
Who do you think is going to win this little argument?

I shrug. Yeah, yeah. Another immortal I can’t win against.