Evermore - Alyson Noel [0]
also by alyson noël
Cruel Summer
Saving Zoë
Kiss & Blog
Laguna Cove
Fly Me to the Moon
Art Geeks and Prom Queens
Faking 19
evermore
alyson noël
st. martin’s griffin new york
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.
EVERMORE. Copyright © 2009 by Alyson Noël. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Title page art © Andrzej Tokarski | Dreamstime.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Noël, Alyson.
Evermore / Alyson Noël.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Since the car accident that claimed the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever can see auras and hear people’s thoughts, and she goes out of her way to hide from other people until she meets Damen, another psychic teenager who is hiding even more mysteries.
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-53275-8
ISBN-10: 0-312-53275-X
[1. Psychic ability—Fiction. 2. Immortality—Fiction. 3. Supernatural—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.N67185Ev 2009
[Fic]—dc22
2008033589
First Edition: February 2009
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Jolynn “Snarky” Benn—
my friend for many lifetimes.
(next time we’ll be rock stars!)
acknowledgments
I couldn’t have written this book without the infinite generosity and wisdom of the following people: Brian L. Weiss, M.D., and Christina Gikas, who showed me a past I never could’ve imagined; James Van Praagh, who taught me to look at the world in a whole new way; my agent, Kate Schafer, who so deftly guides me along; my editor, Rose Hilliard, who handles my stories with such care; my copy editor for several books now, NaNá V. Stoelzle, who spares me from all manner of grammatical embarrassment; and, as always, Sandy, the last of the Renaissance men!
aura color chart
Red: Energy, strength, anger, sexuality, passion, fear, ego
Orange: Self-control, ambition, courage, thoughtfulness, lack of will, apathetic
Yellow: Optimistic, happy, intellectual, friendly, indecisive, easily led
Green: Peaceful, healing, compassion, deceitful, jealous
Blue: Spiritual, loyal, creative, sensitive, kind, moody
Violet: Highly spiritual, wisdom, intuition
Indigo: Benevolence, highly intuitive, seeker
Pink: Love, sincerity, friendship
Gray: Depression, sadness, exhaustion, low energy, skepticism
Brown: Greed, self-involvement, opinionated
Black: Lacking energy, illness, imminent death
White: Perfect balance
The only secret people keep / Is immortality.
—Emily Dickinson
one
“Guess who?”
Haven’s warm, clammy palms press hard against my cheeks as the tarnished edge of her silver skull ring leaves a smudge on my skin. And even though my eyes are covered and closed, I know that her dyed black hair is parted in the middle, her black vinyl corset is worn over a turtleneck (keeping in compliance with our school’s dress-code policy), her brand-new, floor-sweeping, black satin skirt already has a hole near the hem where she caught it with the toe of her Doc Martens boots, and her eyes appear gold but that’s only because she’s wearing yellow contacts.
I also know her dad isn’t really away on “business” like he said, her mom’s personal trainer is way more “personal” than “trainer,” and her little brother broke her Evanescence CD but he’s too afraid to tell her.
But I don’t know any of this from spying or peeking or even being told. I know because I’m psychic.
“Hurry! Guess! The bell’s gonna ring!” she says, her voice hoarse, raspy, like she smokes a pack a day, even though she only tried smoking once.
I stall, thinking of the last person she’d ever want to be mistaken for. “Is it Hilary Duff?”
“Ew. Guess again!” She presses tighter, having no idea that I don’t have to see to know.
“Is it Mrs. Marilyn Manson?”
She laughs and lets go, licking her thumb and aiming for the tarnish tattoo she left on my cheek, but I raise my hand