She smiles, standing steadily before me as she says, “I’m none of those things. My name’s Ever. Ever Bloom. I’m psychic, telepathic, but as far as I know I’m not crazy. Nor am I a patient impersonating a staff member. And though I’m probably the only person willing to believe you—trust me when I say, you won’t always feel so alone. There are plenty of us who realize the world isn’t anything like we’ve been trained to believe.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask, well aware how I just skipped over her more outrageous claims, only to focus on the benign.
“I’m taking part in a study on NDEs.” Fielding my blank look when she adds, “People who have had a near death experience.”
“You died?” My gaze flies down the length of her, thinking she is surely the strangest girl I’ve ever met, and yet there’s something about her that’s so calming, I have no desire to flee.
“More than once.” She lifts her shoulders, her eyes glinting with mischief when she says, “As will you.”
I shift from foot to foot, not really knowing how to respond.
“Listen,” she says, checking her watch and glancing toward the door just behind her. “All you need to know is that you’re not crazy. Not by a long shot. So please don’t believe them. Listen to your heart, it’ll never steer you wrong.”
I nod, sensing the truth behind her words.
“I wish we had more time to talk but—” She turns, smiling as the absolute personification of Tall, Dark, and Handsome pushes through the door and stands right beside her. “We’re late,” she says.
“That’s what happens when you won’t let me manifest a parking space.” He hands her an unopened bottle of water, grinning in a way so heart-melting, I have to force myself to look away.
Remembering too late how she claims to read minds, and the knowing smile she gives me, pretty much proves she just caught me mentally ogling her boyfriend.
“This is Damen. Damen Auguste,” she says, leaning against him and fitting into his side so easily, they’re like puzzle pieces—book ends—made to be together.
“I’m Daire,” I say, realizing I hadn’t gotten around to introducing myself earlier.
“Looks like your mom’s looking for you.” Damen gestures at a point just beyond my shoulder, where, sure enough, Jennika waits with a scowl on her face and a hand on each hip.
“Here.” Ever places her bottle of water into my hand. “Tell her you went to get something to drink. Don’t let her know you were about to run away. It’ll only make her mad, and that’s the last thing you need. Besides, you’re ready to face them now
, right?”
I start to return the water, but it’s only a second later when a new one just appears in her hand. And I’m so busy blinking and gaping, I almost miss it when she says, “Remember what I told you: Believe what you see—what you know in your heart to be true—and discard everything else they try to tell you.”
I nod, taking one last look at Ever and Damen, hoping I can carry some of their optimism and magick with me wherever I go. About to make for Jennika now calling to me from her end of the hall, when Ever says, “You’re headed for great things, Daire Santos. You just have to believe in yourself.”
I stop, shoot her a quizzical look. About to tell her that my last name is Lyons, not Santos, when she smiles and nods and urges me on.
I hurry toward Jennika, allowing her to wrap an arm around me and lead me away as I cling to Ever’s assurance that the glowing people are real. The crows too. And the fact that I’m the only one who can see them doesn’t mean I’m insane, but rather that I’m headed for something extraordinary.
I can only hope that it’s true.
The End.
Copyright (C) 2011 by Alyson Noël
Dear Reader,
I can’t tell you how excited I am to introduce you to Daire Santos—the gutsy protagonist of my new YA series, THE SOUL SEEKERS, debuting with FATED on 05.22.12!
After ending THE IMMORTALS series with the publication of EVERLASTING last summer, I was itching to create a new supernatural world with a brand new cast of characters. And since New Mexico has always been one of my favorite places to visit, with its interesting cultural mix, breathtaking landscapes, and mystical legends, I decided to place my story there, in the fictional town of Enchantment.
The world of THE SOUL SEEKERS is brimming with magick, mystery, and, yes—intoxicating romance! And I have to admit that when I first started writing Daire’s journey, I was a little jealous of the life she lived—it’s filled with just the kind of excitement and glamour I dreamed of as a kid.
As the daughter of a Hollywood make-up artist, Daire’s spent her entire life traveling the globe, moving from movie set to movie set. Getting lost in a Moroccan medina, getting kissed on the Pont Neuf in Paris by a young actor destined for the big time—it all seems so exciting on the surface, but after a lifetime of it, all Daire knows is that she’s never attended a real school, never enjoyed a real home-cooked meal, never spent a holiday in a place where she could actually speak the language, and she’s never stayed in any one place long enough to make a real friend.
But all of that changes on her sixteenth birthday when the visions and dreams that have plagued her in the past, return with a vengeance, and she is sent to live with the grandmother she has never met but who recognizes the signs as Daire’s true calling as a Soul Seeker—one who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead.
There, on the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico, Daire will make friends, fall madly in love, and confront an enemy so dark, she’s not only forced to embrace her fate as a Seeker, along with the sacrifices that go with it, but also to discover if Dace, the boy from her dreams, is her one true love—her fated one—or if he is allied with the enemy she is destined to destroy.