Everneath

“What?”

“Meredith said the Daughters of Persephone are raised to have no attachments to the Surface.”

“Yeah?”

He tilted his head at me as if I should’ve seen it. “So who raised her to believe that?”

“I don’t know. Her … mom,” I said as it finally hit me what Jack was getting at.

Jack was smiling and nodding. “I’ve met Mrs. Jenkins before. Meredith used to live on the same street as Ky. It was obviously a lie that Meredith moved away. What if her mom is still there?”

I couldn’t answer.

“I say we pay Mrs. Jenkins a visit.” Jack grabbed another chair and flipped it over on top of the table. “Maybe she knows how we can get Cole to leave you alone.”

TWENTY-FOUR

NOW

Jack’s car. Three weeks left.

After we were finished with our shift at the soup kitchen, Jack drove us to a rustic ski cottage at the base of the mountain. We stood on the porch for a few moments before knocking.

“What if she really did move?” I asked.

“She lives here,” Jack said with confidence.

“What if she doesn’t talk to us?”

“She’ll talk.”

“What if—”

“Look, Becks. You want to find a way to get Cole to leave you alone, right?”

I nodded.

“Okay, then. We’re doing this.”

I took in a breath and knocked on the door. A few moments went by, and then a woman opened up. The same woman I’d seen at the soup kitchen, eating lunch with Meredith. She was business casual, as if she were about to leave for work at a museum. She wore a red silk scarf around her neck, and her hair was in a tight bun.

“Yes?” she said.

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

“Hi, Mrs. Jenkins,” Jack said. “We were wondering if we could talk to you for a few minutes.”

“About what?”

Jack glanced sideways at me. “About your daughter, Meredith.”

Mrs. Jenkins’s face went blank. “Meredith lives with her father now.” She started to close the door, but I stopped it with my foot.

“Please, Mrs. Jenkins,” I said, finding my voice. “I know that’s not true.”

“Excuse me?” she said incredulously.

“I’ve seen her.”

Mrs. Jenkins’s eyes narrowed, and she pushed again on the door. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know she was in the Feed!” I blurted out.

Mrs. Jenkins froze, and gave me an icy glare. Jack inched toward me protectively. “How do you know?”

I took a breath. “Because I was in the Feed too.”

Mrs. Jenkins’s house had no decorations. No pictures on the walls. No trinkets in corners. Except for one ancient-looking jar on the mantel above the fireplace, there were no identifying features at all.

Everything from the walls to the couch Jack and I were sitting on was a different shade of beige. The place didn’t look lived in.

Mrs. Jenkins appeared from the kitchen carrying a tray with a teapot and three cups on it. “Greek mountain shepherds tea,” she said. “Nothing beats it.”

“Thank you,” I said. We each took a cup, and she sat on the chair opposite us. I couldn’t wait any longer. “Mrs. Jenkins, what do you know about the Daughters of Persephone?”

I’d caught her midsip, and she raised her eyebrows and put her cup down. “You mean to tell me you don’t know about them?”

“No.”

“Then how did you—”

“I don’t know. Cole just took me.”

“And you survived.” Even though she smiled when she said it, it came out like an accusation.

“Yes,” I said.

“Tell us about the Daughters,” Jack interrupted.

Mrs. Jenkins looked at Jack. “The Daughters of Persephone have a special interest in the Feed. We are taught about the Everneath, and when a Feed approaches, we prepare our children to become Forfeits.” She said this as if it were the most obvious thing ever.

Jack stared at her openmouthed.

“Why?” he asked.

She looked at him like he was crazy. “Because it’s a chance. To become the next Persephone. If one of them survives and takes over the throne, it would mean eternal life for her entire bloodline. Even those who have passed on before. The queen gets that privilege. Her family is automatically welcomed into the realms of the Everneath. That means eternal life for them.”

I shook my head. “You’re telling me you think the queen can bring people back from the dead?” Even though I found that hard to believe, I couldn’t help it when my mind flashed to my mom, and I saw how the idea would be enticing. But Cole had never mentioned anything like this.

She tilted her head. “You’re obviously angry, but I don’t see why. People have searched for the secret to immortality for thousands of years. This is the only way to guarantee it will happen. The Everlivings themselves have strict rules about whom they bring in, and the Shades enforce those rules. They can’t let just anybody in. There’s not enough energy to sustain a constant influx of people. It’s a very select society. This is the only other way.”

I looked at Jack, whose jaw was hard. “That’s disgusting,” he said.

Mrs. Jenkins turned to him. “If you think that’s disgusting, you should ask your girlfriend why she went under. She obviously didn’t know there would be a chance for exaltation, so what was her reason?”

Jack looked away.

I wasn’t expecting Mrs. Jenkins to be so forthcoming, and it made me realize something I should’ve seen before. Our conversation might lead to mention of the Tunnels, and Jack didn’t know about them. I had to steer her clear of the topic. The news of what was waiting for me at the end of my six months had to come from me, not Mrs. Jenkins.

“Mrs. Jenkins, do you know how I survived?” I asked.

She sighed and gave a slight shrug. “I only know of one person who survived like you. It happened hundreds of years ago. Adonia was her name. She Returned from the Feed, young and sane, as you did.”

“How did she do it?”

“She never had a chance to tell anyone.” Mrs. Jenkins gestured to the jar on the mantelpiece. “The current queen found her. Those are her ashes.”

I could feel the blood drain from my face. “The queen burned her?”

Mrs. Jenkins smiled as if I were a simpleton. “No. The queen found her and stole what was left of her energy. But when a queen steals your energy, the transfer is so violent it shreds a person. We burned Adonia’s remains.”

Jack looked like he was going to be sick. I was sure my face mirrored his. How could Cole think I’d ever want to be a queen?

“So you see, my dear, even if you survive, that doesn’t mean you’ll be queen.” My heart started to race, and I suddenly felt very exposed. Was that why Cole and Maxwell had talked about keeping my existence a secret from the queen?

“Don’t worry, now,” she said, noticing my expression. “I had no idea you existed. I’m sure if you were going to end up like Adonia, it would’ve happened by now. It would take an act of betrayal by the Everliving who Fed off you to get word to the queen.” She looked at the jar. “I’m afraid Adonia was not in tune with her Everliving. He wanted her to be his queen, but she did not. So he took his revenge by telling the queen about her. And”—she paused for a moment—“where, exactly, the queen could find her.”

A sound like muffled ocean waves reached my ears as my pulse quickened. Would Cole ever do that to me? Could he? Jack grabbed my hand, which I hadn’t realized was shaking.

“I don’t want to be queen,” I mumbled.

“Well, you can just be an Everliving.”

Jack sat forward. “She doesn’t want to be an Everliving, either.”

She frowned and tilted her head, confused, as if Jack had just told her I wanted to scratch my own eyes out for fun. Uh-oh.

“Don’t be silly,” she scoffed. “What other choice is there? You don’t really think she’d—”

She was dangerously close to talking about the Tunnels. I had to shut her up, so I shot out of my seat and started coughing loudly and frantically. Jack put a hand on my back. “Do you need some water?”

I nodded, and Jack sprinted to the kitchen. I had a few seconds at the most.

“Don’t tell him,” I whispered to Mrs. Jenkins. “About the Tunnels.”

Her mouth opened in a speechless kind of way, and then Jack was back with a glass.

“Thanks,” I said, and as I sipped the water, I shot Mrs. Jenkins my most pleading look.

She tried to smile but it looked forced, and at that moment, her demeanor transformed from confused to calculating. Her eyes narrowed. “Despite how you feel now, if you do get to the throne one day, perhaps you’ll remember this old woman, who helped you in every way she could.”

Her own daughter hadn’t survived the Feed, and now she saw me as a golden opportunity for her. Without saying the words, she and I had made a bargain. She wouldn’t tell Jack about the Tunnels, and I would remember her when I was queen, an event she saw as inevitable.

Jack spoke up. “Is there a way we can get Cole to leave Nikki alone?”

She shook her head. “Everlivings are a tenacious bunch.” She gestured to the mantel. “In fact, I would be wary of making one of them angry.”

A chill ran down my back as I glanced at the urn, and I quickly changed the subject. “Mrs. Jenkins, why did Meredith Return?”

Her smile melted into a frown. “I was surprised too, although I shouldn’t have been. Meredith thought that since she came from the same line as Adonia, she would have a better chance to survive and become the next queen. She was convinced. Perhaps we both were.” She let out a deep sigh. “Meredith says she came back for me. It’s ridiculous, really, her attachment to me. I raised her better than that. And now I can do nothing for her. Nor she, me. The moment she left for the Feed, I let her go from my mind and my heart.”

How could she be so unfeeling? Meredith was her daughter. I looked at Jack, and he nodded, probably thinking the same thing.

Jack leaned forward. “Do you know where we can find her?”

“I haven’t seen her, and I’ve been looking.”

Finally I thought I saw a sign of humanity in her, until she continued.

“She stole a piece of jewelry that belongs to me. I think she took it to get my attention.”

The bracelet, I thought. Jack opened his mouth, but I shot him a look. He nodded almost imperceptibly.

“One more question,” I said. “How many of you are there?”

She smiled. “You’d find us all over the world. Near every entrance to the Everneath.”

“Why didn’t you tell her about the bracelet?” Jack said once we were in his car and driving away.

“It didn’t feel right. I don’t trust her. I feel like the bracelet is the only card we have to play, although I have no idea what to do with it.” I took a deep breath. “Plus Mrs. Jenkins was creepy and weird.”

“She’s a Daughter of Persephone. Weird probably doesn’t begin to cover it.” Jack allowed himself a little smile. “One thing I learned from our visit,” he said, his expression serious again. “We can’t let Cole know we’ve been digging around.”

I thought back to the urn on the mantel, and I was sure Jack was thinking of the same thing.

TWENTY-FIVE

NOW

School. One and a half weeks left.

My mark reached the end of my shoulder and started to trickle down my arm, and as it did, it looked like someone had poured chocolate syrup on me and it was oozing over my biceps, gravity helping it along.

I could feel the change inside of me as well. A dark, claustrophobic feeling, as if I were trapped inside one of the musty alcoves of the Feeding cavern. I felt it even when I was standing outside on a cloudless day, as if my face would never again be warmed by the sun.

The Tunnels were getting closer.

In my art class the following Monday, Cole—in his dark-haired “Neal” disguise—turned out several watercolor paintings that the teacher, Mr. Tanner, displayed at the front of the classroom.

“Now, this is what I mean when I talk about brushstrokes.” Mr. Tanner made sweeping gestures with his hands. “Where did you say you transferred from, Neal?”

“Seattle.” Cole glanced at me sideways. “The suburbs.”

Mr. Tanner inflated his cheeks, then blew out the air. “And this is the first art class you’ve taken?”

“The first one that involved paper. We were using rocks and chisels before.” He chuckled, as if enjoying a private joke.

Mr. Tanner smiled like he understood, even though it was obvious he had no idea what Cole was talking about. He turned to the front of the room, where he had attached paper to the chalkboard. Using his charcoal sticks, he demonstrated his own version of the technique Cole had used, and then put us to task on our own easels.