Never (The Ever Series Book 2) (27 page)

“Of course not.”

Right. Like I’m being silly. Like there’s even a shred of possibility that there’s been anything rational about my life since I first laid eyes on Ever. Alex pulls on the pack and grips the trunk with one hand, and I take his other hand when he offers it. A second later, I feel a whoosh of freezing air against my face. Then we’re at the top of the ice, looking down on the tiny boat below. A wave of dizziness hits me, and I turn away from the edge, only to find myself looking out on a bluish white expanse I never could have imagined. It’s impossibly beautiful, and I think of any place on Earth, this one probably suits these immortals best.

Alex points, and several yards away I see a vehicle that resembles an oversized bulldozer.

“Really?”

He smiles.

“You aren’t afraid of a little snowcat, are you? This is the last means of transportation. I promise. It will only be an hour or two before we get there.”

“Where again is
there
?”

“The middle of nowhere.”

“Oh. I thought this was the middle of nowhere already.”

He helps me into the cab, and the beast starts rumbling. When Alex hands me a pair of industrial noise-blocking headphones, I put them on, relieved to find that the noise is instantly dulled. I look out and marvel at the vastness. Then, after a few minutes, way out in the distance, I see what looks like a gathering of people. My heart leaps, and I point mutely, taking off the headphones.

“Emperor penguins,” Alex yells with a wry smile.

“Good! ’Cause I thought it was an army of little men in tuxedoes coming to get us,” I mutter sarcastically.

Our icy surroundings look enduring, but somehow I’m sure with enough time, pollution, and human interference, everything here will cease to exist eventually. Everything ends, I realize—except these immortals. I look to Alex and study him, thinking of the first time I saw him, staring into his eyes, which were coal black at the time. How different would things have been if I had met him first. And how much had what Ever and the others told me about Alex—starting with the name
Iago
—colored how I saw him? If he had reached me first and told me that Ever had spent an eternity destroying people like me, would I have seen Ever as the monster?

Now I’ve seen a different side of
both
of them—a penitent side. But they would still be considered monsters by human standards. And what does that say about me that monsters seeking some brand of redemption are all I seem to attract?

We’ve been bumping along for what seems like forever when we come over a crest, and I see a small structure built into the base of the glacial ice below. After our race across the globe, I feel a sudden stab of claustrophobia at the sight of it. Do Ever and the others think I’m going to spend the remainder of my existence in a jail cell? Is that my ultimate punishment? As we get closer, I wonder if it’s just a research station, abandoned long ago. To me, it looks like a steel prison. I swallow and look at Alex.

“What is this place?”

“Your beloved’s plan A,” Alex says with a snide smirk.

When we get out, the wind whips at us, and I shiver, more at the remoteness than anything else.

“You’re right,” I whisper. “It does feel like the edge of the world.”

Alex helps me across the ice, and as I look around, I have an overwhelming sense of doom and panic. There’s nothing here.

I try to keep my breathing even as I lie and tell myself that everything will be okay. Ever will be here soon, and we’ll find a solution that doesn’t involve me staying at the southern most tip of the globe until I’m Madame Rousseau’s age. As Alex walks ahead of me toward the doors, I watch as he leans into a small alcove and positions his face at the center of a screen. Immediately the doors slide open, and I realize that this place isn’t so ancient after all.

He takes my hand, and we walk inside. The interior is mostly made up of stainless steel, but there’s a couch and a basic kitchen to the left. To the right, I see a long corridor with multiple doors. Near the entrance we just came through there’s a complicated computer system with a bank of monitors relaying images from every possible location—not just vantage points outside the bunker, but random locations as well. I squeak in surprise when Chasen appears right in front of us, and he laughs, thoroughly entertained.

“I will never get sick of that!”

I smile.

“Good. I’m glad you still find me so amusing.”

“So, you remember me now?” he says with a look at Alex.

I nod.

“Have you talked to Ever?” I ask nervously.

“He’s not with you?” Chasen asks with another look at Alex.

I shake my head as my anxiety ratchets up another ten levels.

“We hit a little snag at the airport,” Alex shrugs.

“That doesn’t explain why Ever would cut contact completely,” Audra says from behind me.

Alex smiles lazily at her, and I feel an undercurrent of hostility rolling off of her that rivals Ever’s loathing of Alex.

“Perhaps he had more pressing matters to attend to than providing you with status reports.”

When Audra steps toward him menacingly, I place myself between them.

“Hey! Now that we’re all together, don’t you think we should go after him?” I demand.

“No!” Audra and Alex say at the same time.

“
You
aren’t going anywhere,” she adds.

The way she says this makes my heart race. So,
that
is the plan. To keep me here indefinitely. Burying the terror rising in my chest, I smile.

“Fine. I hope somebody packed enough food for eternity.”

With that, I turn and start walking down the corridor for a better look at my prison. There are several rooms, and they resemble steel boxes for the most part. Some of them are set up as living quarters, but only one has a small sleeping cot. I assume this space is meant for me since I’m the only one who
sleeps
. Shuddering, I remember what Ever said about them having long periods of inertia. I’m just hoping the plan isn’t for all of them to lock the doors and power down for the next eighty years waiting for me to die of old age. Backing out of the room with the bed, I keep walking, relieved to find a functional bathroom.

Another blessing is the bookcase lining the wall of the atrium-like room at the end of the long hallway. At least I won’t get bored if I’m stuck here forever. And there’s a collection of cream-colored couches much like the ones I saw in the house in Portland. The sitting area faces a wall of glass, which is probably several feet thick and looks out onto an endless expanse of white.

Staring out into the nothingness, I focus my energy and call Ever’s name. I wait anxiously, but unlike the few other times I’ve tried this, Ever doesn’t appear instantaneously. Refusing to give up, I try again and again. Finally, with a sigh, I start pulling off some of the layers of clothing as I skim the bookshelves. Among the thousands of books, I find a hardback copy of
Ivanhoe
that looks like it could be two hundred years old. I take it from the shelf and drift back to the sofa. Flipping through the pages, I see certain passages have been marked with what looks like a fountain pen. The last section that is marked is way after the point I had read to in the fourth grade.

Death is the least of my apprehensions in this den of evil.

Rebecca’s words to her captor, Brian de Bois-Guilbert, the knight templar who fell under her spell and kidnapped her. Who marked this passage? I wonder. The implication of it makes me cringe. A fate worse than death. Is that what I face? I go back to the beginning of the book and start reading to pass time until I can figure out what to do. Within a few paragraphs I’m surprised by how far I got in the fourth grade. I yawn as I try to focus through all the
yore
and
churls
, and soon I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open. But every time they close, I feel a flash of panic.

Something is wrong. I can feel it. Who do I trust, though? My gut says Alex, the one I logically shouldn’t have faith in. Getting up, I begin pacing like an animal in the zoo. I have no answers, only questions. I turn back to the couch and see a tray with nonperishable food. I don’t know who left it for me, and suddenly I’m afraid of everyone’s intentions. Returning to the couch, I push the tray away and pick up
Ivanhoe
again. When I begin feeling tired again, I give up in hopes that maybe when I wake up this will all have been another bad dream.

“
They have him
!”

Blinking blearily, I feel arms around me, and I see that I’m still on the couch—curled up against Alex. I stare up at Audra, who is gazing down on us, her azure eyes as enraged as I’ve ever them.

“Was this part of your plan?” she thunders at Alex.

Chasen appears and touches her shoulder.

“We don’t know that,” he says.

“We do now. Ever makes no contact for forty-eight hours, and then this just appeared on the feed.”

She hits a button on a remote and points at the wall. I stare, fixated by a grainy black and white image of two figures dragging a third. I bolt upright.
Ever
.

“What do we do?” I scream.

“We should do what he should have done the first moment he laid eyes on her—destroy her now before we incur anymore losses,” Audra spits.

She means me. Feeling like I’ve just been slapped, I wince. A lot can change in a week. My eyes flit to Chasen, and even he looks shocked by her outburst.

“Well, Audra, my dear, what can I say? This
was
part of the plan,” Alex says.

He grabs me around the waist before I can jump away from him, and everything goes black.

I
come to coughing and retching, kneeling in the sand.

“What did you do?” I gasp desperately when I see Alex towering over me.

My eyes sweep around. As dizzy as I am, I know where we are immediately. West Street Beach. Alex doesn’t answer me. Instead he turns, keeping me behind him. I have to swivel in my kneeling position to catch sight of the approaching figures. They’re floating across the sand like wraiths.

“Why?” I whisper to his back. “Why now?”

He doesn’t say anything. He just watches silently as they approach. Two girls are up ahead, one with spiky carrot-orange hair, the other with a long, night-black mane. As they get closer, my knees weaken.
Ever
! Audra was right. Behind them are two young men, one with a shock of pale-silver hair, the other with long, snow-white hair pulled back. Ever is doubled over between them, being dragged. I lunge to my feet, but Alex restrains me. When they get to us, the girl with the jet-black hair smiles, but her eyes don’t reveal any emotion.

“We always knew you would return to the fold.”

“Please, come closer,” Alex purrs with a smile in his voice. “It’s been so long.”

“We’ve struck a great blow, brother. Hand that one over, and all will be forgiven,” says the young man with silver hair.

His black eyes slither over to me, and I realize that of the four of them, he scares me the most. When Alex turns and looks at me, I shake my head.

“Why?” I whisper again.

“I am sorry, Wren. I wish I deserved you,” he says softly.

He turns back to the four.

“Brothers, sisters. Are your memories so short that you’ve forgotten what exquisite liars torture will make of your captives?”

I stare at his back in utter confusion. Glancing at the four wraiths, I see doubt in their eyes as well.

“Ever, please prove to Wren here that you are indeed as devious as I am,” Alex says theatrically.

Speechless, I watch Ever’s head rise from its wilted position. With an expression of pure cunning, he straightens his arms, emitting a blinding white light that sends the two holding him flying in opposite directions. I don’t have any time to be relieved that Ever’s all right before Alex grasps me to his chest and turns us away from him. A second later, I feel the ground pulse, and when I look up, the two girls are gone as well.

The instant Alex releases me, I run toward Ever. He holds me to him, but when I turn, I see the four figures are already advancing on us, which means that Ever’s powers are a deterrent, not a solution.

“So, that was the plan, guys? Make them really, really angry?” I cry.

Alex joins us, and they both just stand there, waiting.

“Have you lost your freaking minds? Let’s get out of here! Shift! Do whatever it is you do!”

Alex reaches out and touches my cheek, and Ever does nothing to stop him. That’s when I realize something really bad is about to happen.

“No more running, Wren,” Alex says calmly.

An overwhelming sense of dread swallows me as he smiles. I watch in horror as he pulls a blade I’ve never seen before from his side and turns to Ever. I recognize the material; it’s made from the same substance as the infinity pendant Ever gave me.

“Ever, what was it you’ve always said?
Time is nothing
?”

The four of them are almost on top of us when Alex turns raises the knife in the air. A look of shock ripples across the faces of the four unnatural creatures before him, and I’m afraid he’s going to charge them with only a knife.

“You fool!” the girl with orange hair hisses. “You’ll be lost as well!”

“Then I suppose I’ll see you back in the hell we came from.”

I scream, and Alex turns back to me and smiles.

“Wren Sullivan, I shall never forget you.”

Ever grabs me as I lunge forward. Alex slashes the knife in the air, and I watch a black seam appear and begin to widen. Alex steps through the chasm, and the four, their expressions frozen in loathing, are sucked in after him. Seconds later, it’s just Ever and me, alone, on the beach. My body and mind are numb.

It’s over, but not in the way I expected.

“How is he getting back?” I whisper blankly.

When Ever doesn’t respond, I look up at him and know my answer immediately.

Never
.

Alex is never coming back. I look at the spot where I’m standing and understand why I’m here. This was his goodbye.