Ethereal Read online

  A sudden drowsy feeling overcomes me. I stagger over to my bed, flop down and close my eyes.

  It feels like I’m falling—something unnatural like I’m rotating through the air in a series of erratic circles. I can feel it with every fiber of my being. I’m falling through space and time and landing right smack into a dream.

  Do you know who I am?

  A girl in skintight jeans and a hot pink tank top wags her finger at me. She’s got long dark curls that extend past her hips, and her eyes glint out like twin orange sunsets. She’s pretty in a scary, ethereal, sort of way.

  Chloe? I don’t hide my enthusiasm. Everyone around me knew her, and now I get to meet her, see her with my own two eyes.

  Yes, it’s me. Do you know why I came? She stretches out another foot taller like she’s made out of taffy and someone is pulling at her from both ends.

  To tell me how much you hate me? I say. I’m not sure if my sarcasm is coming out right. My voice vibrates like I’m talking from inside a fishbowl.

  I don’t hate you. She laughs a haunting river of vocal quivers. I called you here because I need you.

  You can’t have Logan. I don’t mean for it to sound so cold, and I’m not sure why I’m suddenly so territorial.

  I still have Logan where it counts. She says serious.

  I don’t think so. I don’t think I want to help you with anything. Don’t come knocking around these eyelids anymore.

  I will myself to wake up. It takes a bionic effort on my part to flutter my lids and open my eyes. I roll off the bed and land on the floor, my stomach writhing from nausea.

  If she comes back I’ll smoke her out of existence.

  I don’t know how, but I will.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Game Changer

  Brielle drags me to the mall. The air is thick with summer, heavy as a sopping wet bath towel. A thick cloud cover presses in the heat. It feels strange suffering in this airless environment devoid of any sunlight.

  It’s an outdoor mall so we don’t have mercy from air conditioning unless we step into the stores, and already we’ve seen everything there is to see.

  We sit out under a giant umbrella eating our shared ice cream, a double scoop of chocolate from a cup. A hoard of small children run in and out of a fountain, watching the water shoot up out of tiny spouts that line the area labeled as the wet zone.

  There’s something strange about this atypical day that doesn’t settle well with me. My skin feels like it’s on fire, and it has nothing to do with the bizarre dark heat wave we’re experiencing. It feels odd. As though someone’s watching me, following me. I scour the vicinity like a hawk, looking for people, animals, an errant shop worker who happens to be leering in my direction, but nothing.

  “You’re thoroughly paranoid, you know that?”

  I’ve made the mistake of sharing my thoughts with Brielle.

  “I don’t know.” I stage my body out like a siren waiting to draw someone in. “It’s like an instinct. I just know someone’s watching. You ever get that feeling?”

  “No. Besides you’re starting to creep me out. It’s the same kinds of things Chloe was saying before…” She shrugs and takes another bite of her ice cream.

  “Really? Then maybe they’re back?”

  “Don’t say that.” Her voice sharpens. “Don’t ever say that, Skyla. There is nobody around us. Trust me I’ve looked. My dad is a detective, it’s in my blood to know these things.”

  And it might be in mine to know if someone or something is after me.

  I don’t let Brielle see how shaken I’m beginning to feel. It’s like each passing moment brings them closer. Their intent is not good, that much I know. I can’t help but wonder if it’s the Counts? Bitch squad maybe? Most likely the latter, or worse, Tad and my mother.

  “Oh thank God.” Brielle stands up and lunges in to hug someone behind me.

  It’s Gage.

  “Hey!” I’m thrilled to see him, partly because Logan is never far behind, and partly because I suddenly feel well protected. No offence to Brielle, but I’m pretty sure she’s worthless in that department.

  “You’re late for your shift.” He pats her on the arm.

  “Oh shit! I’m so sorry! We have to go.” She quickly gathers her things.

  “Don’t go.” Gage says to me. “Hang out for a minute. I’ll give you a ride home.”

  “Sure.” I watch as Brielle spazzes out on her way towards the parking lot.

  “Drive careful.” I shout after her. “Is Logan here?” I revert my attention back to Gage. He’s already helping himself to Brielle’s half of the ice cream. He looks up and gives a wry smile.

  “What’s the matter? I’m not good enough?”

  Something about the way he says it melts the pit of my stomach.

  “Of course you’re good enough. It’s just you’re not Logan.” I’m not sure that made things any better.

  Gage leans back in his seat. He takes me in without an apology. He lets his eyes roam free over me, up and down until I clear my throat.

  “You always rude like that?” I ask.

  “I’m not trying to be rude. Sorry.” His dark hair nestles in little curls towards the base of his neck. He has got to be the hottest guy I’ve ever seen, next to Logan of course. It’s like they suffer from some beauty gene that took over and accidently created two perfect beings. “Heard my dad’s looking into things for you.”

  “Yeah. I’m pretty excited. I’ve never thought about myself as an angel before. More like the opposite.” Not really, but I don’t have anything else to say. I take a huge bite off my spoon and fill my mouth with chocolate—prevent me from saying anything that might sound stupid.

  “Well you’re definitely an angel.” He arches his eyebrows at me. “I know.”

  “And how do you know?”

  “It’s my gift.”

  “Oh that’s right. Logan said you told him we weren’t going to die until a ripe old age.”

  “Don’t go doing anything stupid like standing in front of a train. Just because you’re going to live doesn’t mean you can’t do it as a vegetable.” His features darken.

  “Oh, right.” Mental note; Gage equals buzz kill.

  “I know something else about you.” He looks at me with studious intent.

  A bird whistles to his right, a large black bird, far too monstrous to be a crow.

  “Look at that thing!” I press my hand into my chest and back my chair up an inch. It’s sitting on the trashcan directly next to Gage. It looks like it flew in from some prehistoric time period. Its feathers are the exact same hue of Gage’s hair, and its eyes are glued with great interest on him. “Shoo it away. Make it go.” I cover my face with my hands so I don’t have to look at it as a horrible tremor of fear spirals through me.

  I look over my fingertips in time to see Gage flick his finger lightly into the air with no real malfeasance behind it.

  The giant bird races into the sky quick as a demon, streaks across the hemisphere like a black billow of smoke until it evaporates into the grey nothingness of the sky.

  “You made it do that didn’t you?” It was something more than your typical scatting of a bird. Something in the way Gage nonchalantly directed his finger in the air, it told me so much more.

  “I did.” He slumps into his seat as if bored with the effort he’s having to put in with me.

  “So what is it you know?” I lace my fingers together and flex them.

  “I know you’re going to marry me someday.” He doesn’t bother with a smile or a laugh, or anything to indicate he might be teasing.

  “Well I’m not.”

  “You will.” He pulls his cheek to the side almost apologetically.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Virtue

  Logan called a quarter after two and said he wanted to take me somewhere. Of course I said pick me up in fifteen minutes without even asking where. I’d go to the landfill if he wanted me to.

  I st
ayed up way too late last night, still afraid to fall asleep in my room. No scary dreams, thank God, but my head hurts from lack of sleep.

  His monster truck gets here a whole five minutes before he does by way of noise pollution. I wait at the bottom of the driveway, so I see him as soon as he drifts out of the fog.

  “Hey you!” I say climbing into the cab.

  “I would have come around and helped you.”

  “No worries.” I clasp his hand from across the seat. I go to put my foot on the last wrung and slip straight to the bottom. Without realizing what’s happening I’m floating through the air, rising effortlessly into the truck by way of his hand wrapped around my wrist. “How’d you do that?” I marvel shutting the door and reaching for my seatbelt.

  “Another one of my gifts.”

  “You’re like really strong.” My heart’s still beating erratic, swallowing up the extra oxygen my brain would have normally needed for me to say something a little more articulate. “Can I do that?”

  “I don’t know, can you?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  He pulls out onto the main road and we start in on our adventure. Trees whiz by in a blur. The fog rakes by in soft distended billows, faster and faster until it looks like we’re going back in time, or forward.

  “Your gifts grow.” He says. “They manifest with time. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. It’s poison every single time.”

  ***

  The Falls of Virtue are located in the dead center of the island. There’s a mountainous incline we climb seemingly forever until we crest up above the fog. The air is unusually clear—far more pristine than anything I was used to back in L.A.

  “Oh gosh.” Their sheer beauty steals my breath. A rainbow shivers across the three sacred falls, and shimmers in the warm veil of sunlight as if to greet us. “It’s…” There are no words.

  The mountain in the center disappears again to greater heights, banked in a layer of clouds. The fog lies just beneath our feet covering the water in the little lake, enough to create a mystical aura.

  “You have unicorns here too?” I quip.

  “Not at this location. They prefer the higher elevations where it snows.” He teases.

  “So that’s where the water comes from?”

  “Year round.”

  I step out to the rim of the lake. The falls are so loud, but not deafening like other waterfalls I’ve visited. It’s a soft enchanting rush, a never-ending flow of constant beauty that fills the waiting pool beneath. The water is the same cobalt shade as Gage’s eyes, and for a minute he flashes through my mind. I’m still trying to digest those last words he spoke.

  “This is where I want to get married someday.” Not to Gage. Maybe it’s not the thing to say to the guy who’s not quite officially your boyfriend, but it just feels right. This place practically warrants profound statements about ones future. Before Logan gets too bogged down with regret over bringing me here, I offer, “Gage said I was going to marry him.” I roll my eyes and laugh at the absurdity.

  Logan’s smile drops from his face like a brick. His eyes widen and he looks right through me, dazed.

  “So it must be true.” He says.

  “What? I’m not marrying Gage.” I say flatly. “I thought it was funny. Brielle thinks maybe he has a crush on me.”

  “He does.” He’s still gazing out into nowhere, right through my skull.

  “So what? I’m not into him.” I pause trying to wake him from his stupor with a wave of my hand. “I’m into you.”

  He snaps out of his trance, his lips pick up a slight curve.

  “I’m into you.” He comes in soft with a string of silent kisses, then heads into something meatier we can both bite into.

  I love kissing Logan. Kissing Logan at the Falls of Virtue is like stepping into a fairytale. Suddenly I’m transported to a land with dragons and villains. Of course I’m the princess, which in turn makes Logan the perfect prince.

  He pulls back, bouncing one soft kiss off the tip of my nose.

  “You in for a swim, princess?”

  “I don’t have my bathing suit.” I give a wry smile. I hate when I forget he can hear me, and I have a feeling I know what’s coming.

  “Swim in your underwear, or without. Your choice.”

  “I don’t have a towel.” It races out of me. Besides, I’m not sure if I’m up for the big fleshy reveal.

  “I have a few in the truck for emergencies.”

  “Does this qualify as an emergency?”

  “It’s the only one I know of.” His face fills with devilish intent. “I’ll swim in my boxers.” He holds up his hand like a boy scout.

  The thought of Logan striping down to his boxers makes me weak—writhe inside with intense pleasure. This can’t be good. Nothing good is going to come of this I can feel it.

  “Sure.” I go around the truck and take off my sweater. I happen to have on my bright pink bra with the rhinestone jewel inset between the cups, which practically demands to be seen it’s so perfect.

  I go to peel off my jeans, and for the life of me I can’t remember what underwear I’m wearing.

  Oh please God don’t let them be white mama’s. I have my fair share of granny panties no thanks to my mom’s never ending gifting of them, and once in a while I’ll put them on. If that’s today I’m going to have to seriously reconsider this whole idea. I tug past my hips only to reveal with great delight that I have on my yellow lace boy shorts, which is great because it covers a multitude of shaving issues.

  A knock ripples across the hood of the truck.

  I traipse back around towards Logan, and find him standing there in all his celestial glory, plus boxers.

  Heat rushes to my face as I feel him take me in. Per square inch I’m wearing the exact amount of clothing I’ve worn a million times before to the beach—technically more if you count the G-string my mother has no clue about.

  He takes my hand and pulls me into a careful, most delicate kiss. I can feel the warmth of his body—his bare skin against mine, and it feels wrong and right at the very same time.

  “You think the water’s cold?” I say pushing him back gently before things go too far.

  “I hope so.”

  We dive in together off a small ledge near the center of the lake. We might as well be swimming in arctic springs. It’s so cold. My skin feels numb as a rubber wetsuit. We dive under each of the three falls, steal secret kisses that seem to last an eternity beneath each one.

  There’s no way I would ever become Gage’s anything. Logan has me totally and completely. This is something that surpasses the length of years, the ladder of time. We’re building something eternal. I could feel it.

  Something dark glints to my right, a shadow of something moving in the evergreen, then I see it.

  The raven.

  All afternoon I wonder what it means.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Mixed

  It rains the entire next day. Brielle finishes up her shift at six, and invites Drake and I down to the bowling alley to play a few games.

  After paying for shoes and two games, I’m drained of nearly every penny of my Christmas money from last year.

  “I’ll give you a refund if you want.” Logan’s already offered to give back my money, twice.

  “I’m not here to rob you.” Although, I’m not above taking advantage of him in other ways. A naughty smile glides across my face.

  “No, but it’s my job to rob you, and I don’t feel good about it.” He presses an assortment of buttons and the register pops open.

  “How about you take me to dinner and a movie? Then we’ll call it even.”

  “Deal.” He slams the register shut, and I get out of line so he can help the people behind me. It’s busy tonight, like everyone on the island decided it was a good night to bowl.

  I see Brielle waving us over like mad in the far corner of the room. Drake strides ahead, as if she’s waving at him ex
clusively. And judging by the come hither look in her eyes, the cleavage down to her navel, she might be.

  “Hey, you playing?” Gage flicks at the shoes in my hands.

  His hair is slicked straight back, exposing the sheer perfection of his features. I’m shocked there aren’t a hundred girls mobbing him right now. Actually I think Logan looks a million times hotter, but I would never even want to imagine a single girl mobbing him let alone a hundred.