The Hidden - Jessica Verday [0]
ALSO BY JESSICA VERDAY
The Hollow The
Haunted
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON PULSE
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
First Simon Pulse hardcover edition September 2011
Copyright © 2011 by Jessica Miller
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. SIMON PULSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
Designed by Paul Weil
The text of this book was set in Caslon.
Manufactured in the United States of America
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data Verday, Jessica.
The hidden / Jessica Verday. — 1st Simon Pulse hardcover ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Abbey knows that Caspian is her destiny and theirs is a bond that transcends even death, but as Abbey finally learns the full truth about the dark fate that links her to Caspian and ties them both to the town of Sleepy Hollow, she suddenly has some very difficult choices to make.
ISBN 978-1-4169-7897-8 (hardcover)
[1. Ghosts—Fiction. 2. Supernatural—Fiction. 3. Death—Fiction. 4. High schools—Fiction. 5. Schools—Fiction. 6. Irving, Washington, 1783-1859. Legend of Sleepy Hollow—Fiction. 7. Sleepy Hollow (N.Y.)—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.V5828Hid 2011
[Fic]—dc22
2011013704
ISBN 978-1-4169-8543-3 (eBook)
To Lee. You know why.
Contents
Preface
Chapter One: Broken
Chapter Two: Stuck Like Glue
Chapter Three: Straight Corners and Bad Angles
Chapter Four: Mind Mojo
Chapter Five: Regrets
Chapter Six: Last First Day
Chapter Seven: Uncertain
Chapter Eight: Crimson
Chapter Nine: Now or Never
Chapter Ten: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Chapter Eleven: Not Real
Chapter Twelve: Advice
Chapter Thirteen: An Opportunity
Chapter Fourteen: Early Graduation Gift
Chapter Fifteen: More Than Fear
Chapter Sixteen: The Perfect Dress
Chapter Seventeen: The Séance
Chapter Eighteen: A Message
Chapter Nineteen: Telephone
Chapter Twenty: The Hollow Ball
Chapter Twenty-one: November First
Chapter Twenty-two: Losing Time
Chapter Twenty-three: The Day After
Chapter Twenty-four: Bloodline
Chapter Twenty-five: Make It Right
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
PREFACE
My name is Abbey. And I’m in love with a ghost.
Chapter One
BROKEN
“If I can but reach that bridge,” thought Ichabod, “I am safe.”
—“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving
All I could hear was my heart beating. And all I could see were the Revenants looking down at me. As I stared up into Kame’s colorless eyes, I kept thinking, This can’t be happening. This isn’t real. It was going to happen like this?
“Will it happen now?” I asked Kame. “Are you here to help me … die?”
He didn’t answer my question.
“Is she okay?” Cacey whispered. “She doesn’t look good.”
Hysteria bubbled over, and I glanced down at myself. Blood covered my knees in dark, jagged lines, and my arm burned from where Vincent had tried to yank it out of the socket. My bedroom was in shambles. “I don’t look good?” I said. “I don’t look good?” Then I put my head down as tears covered my cheeks. This is it. Sophie, Kame, Uri, and Cacey are here to collect me. To help me pass over.
I was never going to see my parents again. Or Ben. I’d never have my own perfume shop, or graduate from high school. I’d never buy a house and get a dog.
I’d always wanted a dog.
But that didn’t matter anymore. My time was up. Besides, Kristen was already dead. And I was the reason for that. At least