Daire Meets Ever, Page 5
Alyson Noel
“Your mother was right,” Paloma says, moving into the kitchen. Her light cotton dress swishing behind her, her bare feet skimming the floor in a way that prompts me to blink, stare, then blink again—making sure that she’s not really floating, despite how it looks. “Other than the eyes, you look just like your father, my Django.” Her own eyes moisten, as I fidget before her. The only picture I’ve ever seen of my father comes from one of those black-and-white strips you get from a photo booth.
There were three pictures in total: one of Django alone (smiling), one of Jennika alone (eyes crossed/tongue sticking out), and another of them crammed in together with a teenaged Jennika desperately trying to channel Courtney Love’s mid 90’s look with her bleached-blond hair, dark red lipstick, and extremely short baby-doll dress—her body draped across Django’s lap while he made a big show of kissing her neck as she threw her head back and laughed.
Needless to say, the third pic was my favorite.
They both looked so young and in love—so untroubled and free.
And while I definitely appreciated that part of it, it was the message that really stirred me.
It was a message of warning.
A cautionary tale at its best.
All the visual proof I would ever need that life could change in an instant.
A reminder of how just like that—your whole world can get flipped upside down and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Three months after that photo was taken, Django was dead, Jennika was pregnant, and nothing ever felt free or untroubled again.
At first I asked for the whole strip, but Jennika just laughed and said no. So then I asked for the one of the kiss—it was the one I really wanted anyway—but she shook her head, grabbed a pair of cuticle scissors, and snipped off the one at the top, and gave it to me.
So while Django moved into my wallet, Jennika hid the other two. Having no idea that every time she booked a new job, I’d spend the first day scoping out her hiding place so I could stare at the kissing photo while she was in meetings.
Paloma fiddles with a pot on the stove, alternately stirring its contents with a large wooden spoon, and lifting that spoon to her nose and inhaling deeply. Finally deeming it ready, she pours the contents into a large, hand-made mug and makes her way back to me.
“Drink this while it’s warm,” she says, the mug held in offering. “It’ll help you sleep. Help you keep calm.”
As much as I hate to admit it, I’m reluctant to take it, unwilling to risk it. Even though Paloma seems completely nice, and nonthreatening, and not at all like the scary witch doctor I feared—being here, in the house where my dad lived for sixteen years before he ran off to California where he met first my mom, then his death—well, it’s all beginning to feel a little weird.
Still, Paloma is patient—holding the cup in a way that leaves no doubt she’ll stand there for hours if that’s what it takes. And since the night can’t get any more strange and awkward than it already is, I heave a deep sigh, and consent. Wrapping my fingers around the smooth ceramic handle, instantly drawn to the wonderful, enticing scent the strange brew emits.
The next thing I know, I’ve already drained it. Watching Paloma place the mug on a nearby table as she says, “It should start to take effect very soon, so we best get you to your room.”
Her touch light and warm as she steers me by the elbow, leading me down a short hallway past one closed door, and then another, before ushering me through an arched doorway where I collapse on the bed.
Her nimble fingers tucking the blankets around me as she says, “In the morning, we will talk about everything, but for now, sweet nieta, sleep.”
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the immortals comes a breathtaking new series brimming with magic, mystery, and an intoxicating love story that will steal your heart away.
Meet the soul seekers.
Haunted by strange dreams, Daire goes to live with her grandmother, who recognizes what’s truly happening. Daire is being called to her destiny as a Soul Seeker—one who can navigate between the worlds of the living and dead.
On the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico, Daire meets Dace, the boy from her dreams. And she’ll have to discover if he’s the one…or if he’s the enemy she’s destined to destroy.
Read on for a glimpse of fated, book one of the soul seekers!
About the Author
ALYSON NOËL is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Immortals series, the Riley Bloom series, and seven previous novels for St. Martin’s Press. She lives in Laguna Beach, California, where she is at work on her next book.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
FATED. Copyright © 2012 by Alyson Noël, LLC. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Library of Congress
ISBN: 978-1-4668-1384-7
Table of Contents
Daire Meets Ever
Letter to Reader
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Other Selected Scenes
About the Author
Copyright
