by Gloria Craw
On my way down the stairs, I found the kissing couple clogging the way again. The dark space was just too inviting for a couple like Nate and Melissa to stay away from. In a replay of the past, I tapped Nate Hopkins on the shoulder. He mumbled, “Go away,” but instead of using thought transference to remedy the situation, I leaned in close to his ear and yelled, “Move, please!”
He jumped backward about a foot.
“Thank you,” I said sweetly as I scooted between the pair.
Connor was laughing when I got to class. His shellacked hair was perfectly arranged as usual. Instead of avoiding him, I slid into the desk next to him. “Hey, Alison,” he said when I sat. “Where are Brandy and Ian?”
I’d been expecting the question. Everyone liked Brandy. Connor’s question was just the beginning of many to come. I worked hard to keep my voice steady when I responded. “She’s going to live with her grandma in Rhode Island. She’d been thinking about it for a while. I guess the timing seemed right to her. She’s leaving this morning.”
Connor’s face fell. He’d really identified with Brandy. “I wish she’d said something about it,” he muttered. “But hey, there’s always Skype, right?”
I wasn’t sure how Ian and I were going to deal with the Skype issue. We’d have to figure something out. “Is Ian coming, then?” Connor asked.
“I’m not sure. He went with his parents and Brandy to the airport.”
During class, my eyes kept moving to Brandy’s empty chair. Once I thought I caught a glimpse of her sitting there. In the illusion, her black eyes sparkled, and she smiled like she’d never been happier. When I blinked, the phantom was gone.
I was feeling pretty low when the bell for lunch rang. I thought about going for a drive, but then I remembered Brandy and her table in the cafeteria. Her friends would want to know where she was. Connor could tell them, but she would have wanted me to do it. I changed direction and walked toward the cafeteria. After filling my tray with food, I headed to the table at the back of the room. Some of her friends were already there. Felicity Nathanson, the girl I’d talked with at the party, waved me toward her. Everyone welcomed me in like I was a part of their group. Brandy had left me with a ready-made group of friends. Another gift.
After the last bell, I felt Ian’s vibration. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was nearby. I couldn’t keep a smile off my face.
I found him standing with his shoulder against my locker. He still looked tired, and by the way he shifted his weight, I knew he was sore, too. My breath caught when he smiled at me. Whether I liked it or not, I was half in love with him.
“You don’t look so good,” I said, mocking him.
“You’ve never looked better to me.”
“I suppose we both look better alive than dead.” I opened my locker and exchanged a few books, keeping only the necessities in my backpack.
“I see you’re moving on,” Ian observed. “I think that’s great.”
I closed my locker door and spun the lock. “I didn’t sense you around today. When did you get here?”
“Mom let me sleep late. They’ve been busy trying to clean up what we did yesterday. I just dropped by to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m good. Except it’s been hard explaining to everyone why Brandy won’t be coming back to school.”
“I’m kind of glad you took care of that. I doubt I’ll be up to talking much about her for a while.” Ian looked at me as we walked out of the school. “My interfering father has been taking credit for killing Sebastian. According to his version of events, he did it with one arm tied behind his back. He thinks telling everyone that will bring less attention to the situation, so you can remain relatively anonymous while you finish your time here.”
I laughed. “I’m fine with it. What about you? Don’t you want some of the credit?”
“Nope. I want to forget about it altogether, but that will never happen. There’s something I need to tell you.”
His tone indicated it wasn’t good. “What is it?”
“Nikki Dawning has been missing since the day before yesterday. No one has a clue where she is.”
I’d never liked or trusted Nikki, but the news was still upsetting. “What do you think happened?” I asked.
“I really don’t know. Bruce and Amelia are doing everything they can to find her.”
“And Luke, what about him?”
“My parents found him cowering at home. They had a tech check through all his emails and texts while they drilled him with questions to be certain he wasn’t the mole. You were right. He had nothing to do with Sebastian. But Nikki did. She’d been sending emails from Luke’s computer to his assistant, Maxwell. It seems they’d become friends somehow. She knew a lot about the clan meetings because her parents went to them. She mentioned her suspicions about you, too.”
“I was right about her all along.”
“It seems so.”
“Do the Truss know Sebastian is dead?”
“My dad made sure of it. His tech hacked into the police department photos of the burned suite at the casino. There were a few gruesome one showing Sebastian’s charred remains. Dad had them sent anonymously to some Truss higher-up on the food chain. It’s still too soon to know if relations between the Truss and the rest of the clans will improve, but we did our part.”
I sighed. “Yes, we did.”
“I never doubted we would.”
“Never?”
“Okay, maybe once or twice. But my doubt never lasted long. I knew we’d win.”
His easy confidence was contagious. I was starting to see that if I could face Sebastian Truss head-on, I could do just about anything. Without thinking about it, I reached up and gently touched the worry line near Ian’s eye. “I wish this would go away,” I said.
“Is it that bad?” he asked, reaching up to touch it, too.
“No one notices it but me. I hate that you’re marked for what you did for me, though.”
He smiled. “I’m not.”
We stopped at my car, and I put my fingers on the handle to open the door. Ian stopped me. He raised his hand to the side of my face. Then he rubbed my cheekbone with his thumb. I closed my eyes in response, and he rested his forehead on mine. “We make quite a team,” he said.
I leaned into him, enjoying the warmth of his breath on my cheek. In spite of my best efforts, this boy I hadn’t wanted in my life was now very important to me. I slowly moved away from him. “I have to go in to work,” I said. “But if you’re feeling up to it, we could go to dinner afterward.”
His eyes lit up. “Okay, but you’ll be paying. I just won our bet. You asked me to dinner.”
“Hey, I didn’t accept the terms of that bet.”
He laughed. “Fine, but you have to admit I’m pretty irresistible.”
I shook my head and laughed. I wouldn’t say it out loud, but he was.
Acknowledgments
My sincerest thanks to the amazing Liz Pelletier at Entangled Publishing for being my editor and fierce supporter. So much thanks to Deb Shapiro and Heather Ricco for handling publicity on Atlantis Rising. Big thankyou to Meredith Johnson for tying loose ends. Thanks to Laura Ann Gilman and Stacy Abrams for their thoughts on the story. Thanks to Steven Parke for the lovely cover art. Genuine thanks to Madison Pelletier for her thoughts and ideas. And to all the other great people at Entangled who helped turn this dream into reality, I appreciate it more than I can say.
Much thanks to my sister, Jennifer, my beta reader and cheerleader. Thanks to my husband, Mark, for encouraging me to be patient and for taking care of things when I went into writing mode. And lastly, thanks to Ashlee, Alison, Amanda, and Ann, my little ones, for being my inspiration and for understanding when I have to shut the door for writing time.
About the Author
Gloria Craw grew up in the desert southwest, inspired every day by the wide skies and rich colors around her. After high school, she attended the University of Utah where she majored a
nd got a degree in anthropology. These days, she lives in the ‘burbs’ just outside of Seattle, Washington where she is the shepherd of a husband, four daughters and a very hairy dog.
www.gloriacraw.com
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Reality is only an illusion.
Except for those who can control it…
Worst. Birthday. Ever.
My first boyfriend dumped me—happy birthday, Josie!—my dad is who knows where, I have some weird virus that makes me want to hurl, and now my ex is licking another girl’s tonsils. Oh, and I’m officially the same age as my brother was when he died. Yeah, today is about as fun-filled as the swamps of Dagobah. But then weird things start happening…
Like I make something materialize just by thinking about it.
When hottily-hot badass Reid Wentworth shows up on a motorcycle, everything changes. Like, everything. Who I am. My family. What really happened to my brother.Existence. I am Oculi, and I have the ability to change reality with my thoughts. Now Reid, in all his hotness, is charged with guiding and protecting me as I begin learning how to bend reality. And he’s the only thing standing between me and the secret organization that wants me dead…
Read on for a sneak peek!
1.
Josie
“Hey, did you hear me?” my boyfriend, Tate, asked. His chestnut hair didn’t even budge in the quick breeze sifting through the school’s outdoor cafeteria. It wasn’t his best feature. “I’m ready to move forward in our relationship, to take it to the next level, but…I don’t think you are.”
My gut knotted.
This ass with his action-figure hair was breaking up with me—on my birthday! I folded my clammy hands. I’d seen public breakups, but this was my first as an active participant. I side-eyed my two friends Charles and Lauren across the table. Lauren had stopped mid-chew of her hummus-dipped carrot. Charles paused with his sandwich halfway to his open mouth.
I felt like I was wearing Princess Leia’s buns at a Star Trek convention.
Tate shuffled his feet in front of our bench. Waiting.
Pulling in a long sigh, I took a moment to think about my response. I knew name-calling wouldn’t do much good, so I settled on calling him out. “You mean I won’t put out, so you’re moving on to the next girl who will?” Tate’s face flamed red. Did I have to say it that way? No. But come on. He was dumping me on my birthday. Total jerk move.
Tate stood, his thumbs tucked into his pockets, and his face returned to its normal tan hue. “It’s not just the physical stuff. You’re…different, Josie. Distant. It’s for the best, for both of us.”
Seriously? Wow.
“Um, friends?” he finally asked.
Friends? Um, no. His tongue had been down my throat a few nights ago, and I didn’t let just anyone do that.
“Whatever, Tate.”
He walked past me, and that was it. My first real relationship over. Surprisingly, I felt like I could breathe easier, because I wouldn’t have that pressure of being a girlfriend anymore. But I had managed to defy the high school social ladder. At least for a few months, I, Josie Harper, had succeeded at being a science-loving, Trekkie-dork-to-the-core girlfriend to a popular guy who literally didn’t know the difference between Lord of the Rings and Lord of the Flies. And they didn’t think it could be done.
Lauren and Charles leaned toward me, both of them waiting for details. Lauren still hadn’t resumed crunching. Well, I didn’t have the energy to dish, so I turned away from the table. The relationship was over and it was still exhausting. Leave it to Tate to make this as painful as possible. I watched him stroll off like he didn’t have a care in the world. No one spoke. But really, what was there to say?
“Happy birthday to you!” My best friend Hannah’s soprano voice and dark curls bounced on the balmy Florida air, cutting into the awkward silence. She skipped among the tables toward me, carrying a familiar teal box.
I glanced back across the table to our usual lunch mates, who had just witnessed my humiliation. Charles and Lauren made the “cut it” motion across their throats.
“I agree with those two. Please don’t,” I moaned at Hannah. “It’s been a crap day.”
Hannah’s hazel eyes scrunched up in confusion as she positioned the box in front of me. Cupcakes. I welcomed whatever sugar euphoria they could provide me, but I didn’t think they would improve my mood. They were a bittersweet reminder of the day’s significance.
“How is your birthday bad already? It’s only noon.” She sat next to me, facing the street, and I turned so both our backs were to the school. Conversations resumed among our friends behind us.
“Thank you for that keen observation, Wesley Crusher.” I forced my voice to lilt up with enthusiasm, but the pathetic Star Trek jab hung in the air.
I peeked at my phone. “The exact time of my birth was technically three minutes ago, so maybe the rest of the day will be better.”
“Josie,” she whispered. “Seriously. What’s wrong? Is it your dad?”
Hannah and I had latched onto each other the first day of sophomore year when we were both new to Naples and Oceanside High. We hadn’t let go since. We basically knew everything about each other’s pasts—like, she knew I hadn’t seen my dad in more than a month and that my family was fragile.
Hannah drew a breath next to me. I wasn’t about to make eye contact with her—she could read me like nobody else. She’d asked what was wrong. Well, where to begin… “You want the rundown?”
She nudged me with her shoulder. “Yeah.”
“Okay,” I continued, despite the hollow feeling filling my stomach. “One: my dad hasn’t called, and I doubt he’s coming home. Nice, thanks a lot, Dad. Way to be there. Two: the lab assistant job I landed for the summer? Fell through. They left me a message during second block.”
Hannah groaned. I had been looking forward to that job—I needed that internship. It would’ve been perfect for college applications, and to let me escape this town. Because, for the love of Khan, I needed some space. I’d been on a tight leash since the day I was born, and an acceptance to an out-of-state university was my ticket to freedom. Case in point, the National Physics Honors Award. That was a biggie—and I wasn’t complaining about that. The flippin’ vice president of the country—yes, it was that big—would be hand-delivering my award in less than a week. Heck, that alone should’ve nabbed me this internship. Damn it.
I side-glanced at Hannah. I didn’t think she would fully support me on anything college-related. Any conversation of where we were going for school, well, Hannah was not a fan. Because of my brainy ways, there was no way we would end up at the same place.
Swallowing a lump in the back of my throat, I tried to change the subject. “And three: Tate just broke up with me.”
“He what?” Hannah screeched and jumped up from the cement bench, whirling to face me head-on. Her cheer skirt gave the guys behind her a one-second show. “I thought things were going well. And he knew it was your birthday!” She paced in front of me, muttering and swearing. The interesting ways in which she vowed to eff up Tate’s face made me smile despite the tears that continued to push at the backs of my eyes.
After a particularly colorful threat that involved Tate and “his beloved man parts,” Hannah sat back down and tore into the box. She pushed a cupcake toward me. “So no boyfriend, no dad, no job. Well, look at it this way—now you have even more reason to make a wish.” She ripped into a package of candles and shoved one into a cupcake frosted in the image of Sheldon Cooper. “Plus, now you’re back on the market for the party tonight.” She passed the cupcakes around the table. “Let’s turn this birthday around!” She was a cheerleader on the field and off, an eternal optimist, sometimes annoyingly so.
Lauren whooped in agreement. Charles slid a lighter toward the box, and Hannah’s
enthusiasm ignited poor Sheldon’s whole face.
It must have killed her to walk into Cake, Pie, and Chai café and order cupcakes decorated with the entire cast of The Big Bang Theory. She caught me smiling and winked.
True. Best. Friend.
“Thanks, guys.”
The yellow flame flickered. Hannah whispered, “Make a wish.”
My friends watched me, so I didn’t want to scoff at the silly birthday tradition. Wishes? Puh-lease. Wishes were right up there with Rudolph and Santa doing a sleigh drive-by. Or the Easter bunny delivering eggs. And no, it wasn’t my statistical analysis or scientific surety that told me so. Oh, I’d made wishes. Thousands upon thousands of them. But none brought back my brother.
When Hannah had asked about my craptastic day, I hadn’t brought up missing Nick. But I did miss him. I wished my brother were here with me now. With him by my side, I wouldn’t feel out of place, so different.
“Josie, if you don’t make that wish soon, Sheldon Cooper is going to melt like the wicked witch from Oz.”
No, there was no point in “wishing.” If I wanted results, I’d have to achieve them for myself.
I wish for…choice.
Choice was attainable. Well, maybe. With all the rules and restrictions from my mom, I was pretty limited in the whole “choosing” department. But this seventeenth birthday marked me one day closer to independence. To college. To being who I wanted to be without reservation.
If nothing else, when my eighteenth b-day rolled around, this would be in my grasp. I smothered my own smile. See? A wish could come true, with the proper parameters.
The flame disappeared with barely a blow. My friends clapped, and I was already starting to feel better. They were sweet for trying to make my day special.
Everyone dove into the iced deliciousness, Charles, of course, grabbing for the Penny cupcake and making a gross tongue swipe across her frosted face. Pig. I broke off a corner of mine, savored the equal parts of vanilla cake and smooth, sugary frosting.
