Faith and Shadows: Read by Jenni DeWitt

Hello and welcome to my living room, where I read you the fourth chapter in Visible and Invisible. If you want to start from the beginning of the book, go HERE!

Welcome to Chapter 3 of Visible and Invisible, Book 1 in my Faith and Shadows series.

For generations, teenagers in an isolated Nebraska town have shared the same nightmares.

Everyone knows. No one talks about it.

But when the evil from seventeen-year-old Eva’s dreams enters her waking world, staying silent is no longer an option. The battle for her soul has already begun.

Welcome to Visible and Invisible, Book One in my Faith and Shadows series, a story of supernatural suspense, small-town secrets, and spiritual warfare.

Each week, I’ll share another chapter. You can watch or listen to me read in the video above, or read the chapter yourself below.

Whether this is your first visit to Eva’s world or you’re returning to the story, I’m glad you’re here. Let’s begin!

Chapter 3

After school, Eva stepped through her unlocked front door. They’d lost the key years ago and never got a new one. What was the point? Old Mrs. Cotner, the snoopy lady next door, was twice as good as any lock or security system. Gramps always said secrets could hide in a small town. As far as she could tell, no secrets could survive here.

She rode her bike to work so she could enjoy her last few moments of the beautiful day. When she got off work, it would be dark. As she rode, the mums caught her eye as they burst out of flower boxes in enormous circles of bright orange and deep pink. The pool was sad and lonely waiting for winter. Eva clocked in at exactly 3:47, only two minutes late. The head cook, Roxie, gave her the usual welcoming glare. Eva returned her glare with a shrug and got to work. What was it with crabby, old lunch ladies? Mutant Lunch Lady strikes again.

Eva loved her job because of the residents. Their stories were amazing. One old guy told her about being a paperboy in Chicago during World War II. Another guy told her stories about living in Wyoming when it was still the Wild West. He had to take his pistol with him to deposit the money from his bar in the bank every night. A conversation with the residents was a stroll through history. Their parents drove horses and now cars can drive themselves. It was amazing.

Jai’Lune worked at the Care Center, too, but she was a nurse’s aide. You couldn’t pay Eva enough to do that job. She preferred to stay as far away from bathroom duty as possible. Her job was easy. Set the tables, serve the food, clean up afterward, repeat. She finished loading her trusty plastic cart and headed out to set tables.

A few minutes later, people filled the dining room, and it was time to serve supper. She was carrying a plate to the table where the Alzheimer’s patients sat and one of them reached out with shocking speed and grabbed her arm. The woman stared at Eva and said, “The dreams mean something. You need to figure out how to stop them.”

“Huh?” Eva said, pulling her arm away fast. “What, what do you mean?” But the haze of Alzheimer’s had already settled back into the old woman’s eyes.

The haunting experience stuck with Eva as she finished her shift. She couldn’t shake the momentary clarity and urgency in the old woman’s eyes. Could she be talking about the tornado dreams? But how could she possibly know about them? Eva had told no one, not even Jai’Lune, about them yet.

Eva shook her head. The woman couldn’t know. It was impossible. An Alzheimer’s side effect was all it could be. She put her head down and tried to focus on scraping the uneaten food off the plates.

* * *

“Excuse me?” Eva jumped and the plastic plate she was holding clattered to the ground. Her heart slowed a bit when she saw it was Nora, her favorite resident. Nora’s hair was disheveled as always, and her crooked skirt was hiked up too high on one side. The familiar smell of Avon perfume drifted Eva’s way, and she smiled. “Sorry about that, Nora. What’s up?”

Nora was usually all smiles, but today her bushy eyebrows were crowded together in concern. “Have you seen my sister? I can’t find her anywhere. I have a picture of her here. Oh dear, where did I put that?”

Nora rustled through her purse and produced an old picture of two young women in their twenties posing in front of a train station. It must have been windy that day. One of them was holding her hat on her head. The other was holding down her knee-length skirt. “That’s me there.” Nora pointed to the girl holding her hat. “And there’s Mabel. Oh, I need to find her. The tornados are coming. Have you seen her?”

Eva froze at the mention of tornados. Relax Eva. The picture was windy. Nora probably confused it with a storm. And Eva happened to know her sister had been dead for decades. “I tell you what, Nora. I’ll keep my eye out for your sister. Meanwhile, how about I walk you back to your room, where it’s safe?”

Nora evaluated Eva’s offer. “Well, I guess that would be okay, but if you don’t see her after a little while, come get me. We don’t have much time.”

“Okay, I will.” Nora nodded, and Eva took her arm, noticing the solid bone through her thin skin as she led Nora back to her room. She didn’t want Nora to keep worrying, so she tried to distract her. “What’d you have for lunch today? Was it any good?”

Nora’s eyebrows drew together in concentration. “You know, I don’t remember. But I’m sure it was good. The local café has excellent food.” Eva resisted the urge to smack her forehead. Nora didn’t even know where she was. How would she remember what she ate for lunch?

They inched along at Nora’s pace, slow and shuffling, and it took a while to get back to Nora’s room, but Eva didn’t want to rush her. By the time they made it, Nora forgot she was worried about her sister. Eva helped Nora into bed and pulled the covers up around her, tucking her in the way Eva’s mom used to tuck her in when she was little.

As Eva turned to leave, Nora reached one wrinkled hand up out of the blankets and rested it on her arm. “God bless you, child. Will you read to me for a bit? My eyes are shot, but I love to listen.”

Nora’s room was small, with a single bed, a nightstand, and a couple of chairs. Eva glanced around the room for a book. The only one she saw was an old Bible sitting on Nora’s nightstand under the glow of the lamp. Nora must have sensed her hesitation. “The Bible would be fine, dear.”

Eva didn’t have any experience with the Bible. She sat down in the old wooden rocker across from Nora’s bed and held it in her lap, uncertain what to do next.

With a shrug, she placed her thumbs together and opened the book near the beginning. A dried rose petal rested on the page, giving off a nostalgic smell. Eva moved it aside and scanned the words. They were divided into chapters. She picked the first chapter she saw and read:

Chapter 41 Pharaoh’s Dream. After a lapse of two years, Pharaoh had a dream. He was standing by the Nile, when up out of the Nile came seven cows, fine-looking and fat; they grazed in the reed grass. Behind them seven other cows, poor-looking and gaunt, came up out of the Nile; and standing on the bank of the Nile beside the others, the poor-looking, gaunt cows devoured the seven fine-looking, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

He fell asleep again and had another dream. He saw seven ears of grain, fat and healthy, growing on a single stalk. Behind them sprouted seven ears of grain, thin and scorched by the east wind; and the thin ears swallowed up the seven fat, healthy ears. Then Pharaoh woke up—it was a dream!

Eva read on about how Pharaoh tried to have all these people interpret his dreams, but no one knew what they meant. She could relate. Having strange dreams that didn’t make sense could consume you. Pharaoh brought a guy named Joseph out of prison, because everyone said he was great at interpreting dreams. She leaned closer and read on to see what would happen.

Joseph said to Pharaoh: “Pharaoh’s dreams have the same meaning. God has made known to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years—the same in each dream. The seven thin, bad cows that came up after them are seven years, as are the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind; they are seven years of famine. Things are just as I told Pharaoh: God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. Seven years of great abundance are now coming throughout the land of Egypt; but seven years of famine will rise up after them, when all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. When the famine has exhausted the land, no trace of the abundance will be found in the land because of the famine that follows it, for it will be very severe. That Pharaoh had the same dream twice means that the matter has been confirmed by God and that God will soon bring it about.”

The story made the hair on the back of Eva’s arms stand up. Could her dreams have a similar meaning to Pharaoh’s? Last night, for the first time, she’d had the dream twice in one night. A shiver went through her body. Could that mean something was coming soon?

Eva wished she knew a Joseph who could tell her what the dreams meant. Then again, the story said it was God interpreting the dreams. Joseph was simply reporting back what God said. Maybe she needed someone who could hear God. She rolled her eyes. As if that existed anymore.

Nora let out a quiet snore and Eva realized she was sound asleep. She stole a few minutes to re-read the story to herself, then she put the book on Nora’s nightstand and went back to work. But she didn’t stop thinking about what she read.

The Pharaoh’s dreams were different but had the same theme. Seven good and seven bad things. The tornados were the theme of her dreams. They must be the key. She needed to figure out what they meant.

* * *

Eva was sweeping the kitchen floors when the lights flickered. She looked up to see Nora standing there, facing away from her. Nora’s body was shimmering, and Eva blinked hard, trying to get her eyes to focus. The lights flickered again, and Nora was gone.

Eva went into the dining room, but Nora wasn’t there, and she wasn’t in the hallway either. Where had she gone? Baffled, she went to the nurses’ station. “Hey, Nora’s out wandering around.”

The nurse didn’t bother to look up from her phone as she said, “I doubt it—she passed away last week.”

“What?” Eva’s voice was louder than she’d intended.

The nurse glanced up. “She was 94, honey; she’s better off where she is.” The nursing home served as most people’s last stop on this earth, and it was normal for residents to pass away, but this was something entirely different. “Are you alright? You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I… I… just really liked her.” Eva hurried back to the kitchen, wondering what on earth was happening. Nora hadn’t been wandering around? But she had seen her. She’d talked to her. The fluorescent lights above her flickered as she went over every detail in her head. None of it made any sense if Nora was already dead.

* * *

When Eva got home, the house was empty. She never enjoyed coming home to a dark house, but tonight it was creepier than normal. She let herself in and turned on all the lights. The lightbulb made a pop and went dark when she flipped it on. She shivered and toggled the light switch a couple times, but the bulb was dead. She opened the door to the backyard, and Flip shot in like a bullet, her toenails making a familiar click on the old hardwood floors. At least Flip was around. She made the empty house a little less ominous.

Eva grabbed some cookies and milk, kicked off her shoes, and sat down on the couch to do some homework. Halfway through the first question, the lights flickered and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She peered around the room. Someone was there… someone angry. There couldn’t be anyone in their tiny house though. She’d walked through each room, turning on the lights. No one was there but her and Flip.

When Eva was little, she used to get the feeling someone was with her in the room, but it was comforting. It made her less lonely. This was different. It was as if someone in the room hated her. Fear crawled over her skin like spiders. Her throat tightened with anxiety.

Get it together, Eva. Quit freaking yourself out. Do your homework and go to bed. You are fine!

But she wasn’t fine. A few seconds later, she heard something clinking, metal on metal. Flip was asleep with his back against the couch, but his head popped up at the sound. He was staring at the middle of the room, whimpering as though he could see something Eva couldn’t. She stood up, hands out in front of her in a defensive position.

Something sharp cut through the sleeve of Eva’s t-shirt as effortlessly as a knife through warm butter. She yelped and jumped back, grabbing the first thing she laid hands on—the fire poker they’d never used. She swung it in front of her with a violence she didn’t know she possessed. Fear shot through her veins when it collided with something she couldn’t see. Her arm reverberated with the impact and the sound of metal on metal rang in the air. She stabbed straight forward the way knights did in the movies, and in an instant the sense of fear and darkness evaporated from the room.

Eva stood there in the silence, ears straining for the slightest sound, but it was over. She threw the poker down on the bricks in front of the fireplace and ran to her room, Flip hot on her heels. She slammed the door behind her and hopped into bed with the blankets pulled up to her eyeballs. Flip jumped up to join her on the bed.

Eva tried to calm herself with deep breaths. Her inhaler was in the bathroom and there was no way she was going out to get it. Her heart pounded loud in her ears. What was going on? She didn’t know how much more of this she could take.

Tomorrow she was going to tell Jai’Lune everything. Maybe they could figure it out together. Maybe not. But she needed to tell someone. And Jai’Lune had always been her person. It would all be okay after she talked to Jai’Lune.

Want to keep reading? Buy the complete book on Amazon. (paid link)

Welcome to the second chapter of Visible and Invisible, Book 1 in Jenni DeWitt's Faith and Shadows series!

For generations, teenagers in an isolated Nebraska town have shared the same nightmares.

Everyone knows. No one talks about it.

But when the evil from seventeen-year-old Eva’s dreams enters her waking world, staying silent is no longer an option. The battle for her soul has already begun.

Welcome to Visible and Invisible, Book One in my Faith and Shadows series, a story of supernatural suspense, small-town secrets, and spiritual warfare.

Each week, I’ll share another chapter. You can watch or listen to me read in the video above, or read the chapter yourself below.

Whether this is your first visit to Eva’s world or you’re returning to the story, I’m glad you’re here. Let’s begin!

Chapter 2

Alex had never paid much attention to Eva. Until now. What was it about her? At lunch, she caught his attention and again during math. Maybe she’d walked home right in front of him a thousand times. How did he miss it? He watched her stop to let a leaf fall to the ground in front of her. She was unique compared to the other girls at school. It intrigued him.

Alex shook his head to clear it and headed to practice. When he got to the field, some guys were already jogging laps. He fell in beside them. They talked and joked with each other, but he stayed quiet. From experience, he knew that whenever he tried to join the banter, it turned out awkward.

Maybe he shouldn’t be surprised. They had nothing in common. His teammates watched mindless videos, and he was a book nerd. They loved to fix up cars, and he preferred to go fishing. For years, he’d tried to fit in and care about the stuff they were interested in because he wanted a friend. Any friend. Please God. But it was exhausting to pretend to be someone he wasn’t.

At Marysburg High, Alex was a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. He was too nerdy for the jocks and too much of a jock to fit in with the nerds. Still, there had to be someone out there like him, didn’t there? Maybe next year at college he’d find his people. Mom kept saying he would. Alex wanted to believe her.

At least when he dated Janet, he wasn’t as lonely. She always made plans for them, and they hung out with her friends. It made life easier and, if he was being honest with himself, it was part of the reason he stayed with her longer than he should have. He didn’t want to be lonely. But he wouldn’t give into his loneliness, or her tricks to win him back, this time. That was over.

They finished warm-ups and practice went into full swing. Alex welcomed the physical exhaustion. It quieted his mind and gave him an escape from his thoughts and this tiny town. After practice, he grabbed his bag from the locker room and headed out. His familiar, old rusty pickup made him smile. He’d never forget the day Pops handed him the keys on his sixteenth birthday. The truck was his ticket to freedom.

He couldn’t have saved up enough money for it on his own. Thanks to all the extra sports camps and practices, he couldn’t hold down a decent job. He didn’t want to be indebted to his dad, either. He hated the way his dad held it over his head with all the if you want to live under my roof talk. Pops would never do that to him.

The road home was two miles of highway and two miles of gravel, the perfect time to clear his head. He was enjoying the drive when, out of nowhere, something was closing around his neck. His truck slid right and left as he tried to claw away whatever was squeezing his throat, but he couldn’t get a hold of anything. He managed to guide his truck to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes, throwing it into park.

Pawing at his neck, he connected with something scaly and warm. He grabbed it and pulled with all his might. The pressure loosened for a fraction of a second and he gasped for precious air, glancing down at what he held in his hands. Nothing. He was clutching something solid. He could feel it, but nothing was there. How could he defend himself from something he couldn’t see?

The pressure around his neck tightened again. Alex acted on instinct, punching the air in front of him and swinging his elbows. The pressure released suddenly, and he hopped out of his pickup. It was gone, whatever it was. As fast as it began, the bizarre encounter was over.

To calm himself, Alex took deep breaths of the fresh country air. He walked around his pickup and stood peering out at the field. What was that?

Dread crept through his veins as it did when he woke from the dreams. Alex shook his head, trying to shake off the feeling the way he did after a tackle, but physical pain was easier to escape than emotional pain.

Without thinking, Alex hopped the barbed-wire fence and was in the field in a few strides. The alfalfa came up to his knees. Pops would cut it and let it dry on the ground soon, then bale it for the cattle to eat that winter. But right now, it was alive with purple flowers blooming on the tips of each delicate green branch. He dodged the plants as best he could, a pang of guilt hitting him every time he heard a snap of the delicate branches.

When he reached the creek, Alex knelt in the mud and splashed the stream’s cold water on his face. It brought him back to reality a bit, and he stood up, realizing he was in a field wearing nothing but cowboy boots and athletic shorts. Good thing nature was a judgment-free zone. It didn’t care that he’d worn his cowboy boots to school that day and didn’t have any other shoes when he took off his cleats. It was oblivious to the fact that he drove home shirtless this time of year to cool down after practice. Out here, he could simply be himself.

Alex plopped down on a rock on the bank. His mind was fighting to find calm, and the sound of water trickling over rocks quieted his thoughts. Maybe he should tell Pops about the dreams. He’d know what to do. Pops always knew what to do. The idea comforted Alex, and he stood up to head back to the pickup.

* * *

At supper, Alex’s dad asked how practice was. Alex walked him through everything they did. Dad nodded in approval. “You think the team’s ready?” he asked. Their first game of the season was that week.

“I think so. The other team lost a lot of seniors. Should be able to catch a win.” I hope. Dad was always crabby for a week if they lost.

His dad smiled. “Should be a good game. Make sure you’re keeping your shoulder down. We don’t need you getting injured right before the recruiters come around.”

“Yes sir,” Alex responded, out of duty or habit. He wasn’t sure which.

He thought of the letters Dad had neatly stacked in a row on the old desk in their home office. When Alex was a freshman, they’d come from no-name colleges interested in what he could do. But as a sophomore and junior, the names on the letters were from slightly bigger colleges, ones he’d at least heard of before. Dad was hoping for the big names this year. Alex wasn’t even sure he wanted to play football in college, but there was no saying that to his dad. Alex didn’t have the heart to take that dream away from him.

Truth be told, Alex was still trying to figure out what he wanted to do. Leave this town. That’s the one thing he knew for sure. He’d come back to see Pops and his mom. Maybe not every weekend, but more often than his brother did. The pang of missing his brother hit his heart in that old, familiar way. Alex tried to ignore it. Trent graduated five years ago. Dad had been even harder on him than he was on Alex. Once Trent got out, he never looked back. Alex wasn’t sure he could blame him. Still, the hole his absence left stung. Not that they were even that close.

Alex had always been the annoying little brother to Trent. He tried everything to make Trent think he was cool, bringing him snacks when he played video games and doing his chores. He even joined the football team as a manager to get more time with his brother. But no matter how much he tried, he was always invisible to his brother. The same way he was to everyone else.

“Honey?” Alex’s mom said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“Everything okay? You’ve been kind of… out of it lately,” she said.

“You’re not moping around about that girl again, are you? What’s her name? Jenni, Jane. You better not let that mess with your game,” his dad huffed.

“It’s Janet. Her name is Janet. For goodness sakes, Travis, they dated for three years,” Alex’s mom said.

“Well, I can’t keep up with all their teenage drama. I have enough of my own problems to worry about.”

His mom pushed her lips together and rolled her eyes. But she’d learned long ago, as they all had, to keep her mouth shut. Otherwise, he’d go on another rant and sometimes even leave for days, and they wouldn’t know when he was coming back. She turned her attention back to Alex. “What were your highs and lows today, honey?”

Mom had learned this so-called game when she was co-teaching the Wednesday night CCD classes at their church. You were supposed to think of the best and worst part of your day and spill the beans about it. She’d take mental notes and bring it back to her prayer group to pray over. As if Alex needed his business spread around town by those gossipy church ladies. He made sure to keep it all surface level. “High: practice was good. Low: I have math homework.”

It was obvious she was hoping for more, and the guilt tried to sneak up on Alex again, but he shoved it back down. It was the best he could give her right now. She patted his arm. “Okay, honey, that’s nice.”

Maybe somehow she knew.

Want to keep reading? You can buy the complete book on Amazon. (paid link)

Welcome to the first chapter of Visible and Invisible, Book 1 in my Faith and Shadows series!

For generations, teenagers in an isolated Nebraska town have shared the same nightmares.

Everyone knows. No one talks about it.

But when the evil from seventeen-year-old Eva’s dreams enters her waking world, staying silent is no longer an option. The battle for her soul has already begun.

Welcome to Visible and Invisible, Book One in my Faith and Shadows series, a story of supernatural suspense, small-town secrets, and spiritual warfare.

Each week, I’ll share another chapter. You can watch or listen to me read in the video above, or read the chapter yourself below.

Whether this is your first visit to Eva’s world or you’re returning to the story, I’m glad you’re here. Let’s begin!

* * *

Chapter 1

Sleep beckoned to Eva like delicate tendrils of smoke. She tumbled backward into exhaustion, giving into its temptation. Fear stabbed her as she saw people running over the hill toward her with terrified expressions and flailing arms. Something was wrong. She moved toward the center of the house, calling to her friends to take cover. She crouched down and waited, but no one responded. They were running out of time!

She sprinted from the bedroom to the living room, whipping her head around as she searched for her friends. The large windows were a magnet pulling her gaze. A huge, horrible mountain of water was rushing toward the house. The people outside were running in a hopeless attempt to escape it.

As the water barreled down on the house, Eva threw her arms over her head and braced for the impact. When it hit, the windows would shatter. The roof would splinter.

Seconds ticked by and nothing happened. She peeked out from under her arms. The wave had passed. In its wake, a trail of bodies lay on the soggy ground. The few people who survived were running toward her house, which remained untouched.

Eva sprinted to the door and flung it open to let the people inside. She saw the reason they were still running. Three horrible, pure black tornados devoid of any light twisted and turned in a path straight toward them.

Eva screamed, or at least she tried to. Leaving the door open, she tripped over furniture, banging her knees as she shouted for her friends again. Where were they?

She spotted them in Jai’Lune’s car outside. They were laughing and smiling as if they were clueless to what was going on around them. Eva bolted out the door and ran toward them. “We have to get inside! The tornados are coming!” They gave her blank stares. Her long, brown hair whipped in the violent wind, creating a storm of its own as she ran closer, fighting the wind to get to them.

Eva woke up, gasping for air. Her gray t-shirt clung to her back, drenched in sweat. She shoved the damp tendrils of hair away from her face and peered around, frustration pulling at the corners of her consciousness and hands trembling. She resisted the urge to nibble her one remaining long fingernail.

Her battered math notebook caught her attention where it teetered on the edge of her bed. She scooped it up and squinted through tired eyes at the sloppy handwriting. The last problem was half done. Great, now she was falling asleep mid math problem. She tossed her homework on the floor with a thud. No way she was finishing it tonight; she’d have to do it in the morning.

Eva pulled her purple quilt—a relic from her fifth birthday—up to her chin the way she had when she was little. When Gram gave the quilt to her, she said, “I made it with love.” In her little kid mind, she had imagined Gram’s love was literally woven into the blanket. She used to wrap it around her and pretend it was Gram giving her a hug every night when she went to bed.

A movement on Eva’s left distracted her from the memory. She turned to see her dog, Flip, resting his head on the edge of the bed. Flip’s gaze seemed to ask, You okay? His shiny brown eyes were genuine, but his hair stuck up in such a ridiculous way she couldn’t help but smile. She stuck her hand out of the covers to rub his soft fur.

Outside, she could hear the wind rushing over the Nebraska plains as it hit the outside of her small, yellow house. It blew past, reminding her of the group of people in her dream, off to places unknown. The tornados still haunted Eva, but she needed to get some sleep.

Eva forced herself to focus on the trees outside her window, standing solid and reliable in her front yard. Pretty soon they’d burst into red flames, leaves glowing bright as a Nebraska sunset. In her town, too small to be a map dot, the trees were a local attraction. People would ride by on their bikes and stop to take pictures.

She imagined her tire swing hanging from a long rope in the tree where her grandpa tied it as a surprise for her tenth birthday. Eva pictured it blowing in the wind as if carrying an invisible passenger. Her eyelids were heavy.

Then she was running through a cornfield. The sharp leaves on the cornstalks cut at her bare legs. Her breath came fast as she tried to keep up with the people running beside her. Eva glanced over and saw Grace O’Donnell, her classmate since kindergarten, red hair streaming behind her like a warning flag and bright blue eyes flashing with fear.

To Eva’s left, her classmate Alex was running beside her. Even amid his terror, he ran with the grace of an athlete. His biceps strained against his t-shirt as he pumped his arms.

Eva dared a glance over her shoulder, trying to figure out why they were running. Three pure black tornados ripped toward them as if they might cut the night sky open and pour out their unspeakable darkness. Her heart pounded in her chest as she willed her clumsy legs to move faster.

After an eternity, they reached the edge of town and ran to the closest building—the church. Alex jerked on the ancient wood door, and it sprang open. They all shoved inside, and the slamming door blocked her view of the tornados.

They turned in unison and Eva saw familiar faces staring back at her from the pews as time stood still for two clicks of the clock. Then Grace shouted, “They’re coming! The tornados are coming! We have to take shelter!”

Eva, Alex, and Grace bolted for cover, but the people in the pews sat staring, their confusion morphing into annoyance. Then they turned their backs, dismissing Eva’s group without words. She bolted from her hiding spot and ran to the front of the church, desperate to get their attention.

The pastor strode toward her as if he intended to stop this nonsense, long white robes billowing behind him. Eva ran in the opposite direction, searching for shelter. Country music blared over the church speakers and Eva opened her eyes. After a moment of confusion, she realized she was in her own bedroom. Not a church.

Eva pushed the snooze button on her phone alarm to silence the music and laid back, a sense of dread rising in her like a bottle filling with water. Two nightmares in one night. That was a first. It was getting worse. Much worse.

* * *

The weight of the dreams pinned Eva to her bed, but she needed to get up for school. She sucked in extra air and let it out in a rush, trying to calm herself. She had to get it together.

Mom might be home from work. Hopefully, she wasn’t in one of her bad moods again. Eva remembered the days when her mom used to stroke her hair and tell her everything would be okay. Those days were gone. No more comforting ice cream for breakfast unless she got it herself.

Eva shook her head. She didn’t need anyone to get her ice cream. She was seventeen and perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She got out of bed with one eye squinting and the other closed. She didn’t need the lights on. After a decade in the same house, she had every nook and cranny memorized.

Eva wiggled into her favorite faded jeans and pulled on a teal shirt that matched the color of her eyes. She splashed cold water on her face and dabbed it with a towel, then grabbed her mom’s mascara and made a few quick strokes. Finally, she was returning to the land of the living.

As she walked to school, Eva stole a few extra minutes to read. She lifted her feet out of habit at the spots in the sidewalk where the tree roots had shoved the cement up into tiny mountain ranges. As she got to the school, Jai’Lune fell in beside her. Eva snapped her book shut and shoved it into her book bag.

“How about that horrible math assignment? Did you figure it out?” Jai’Lune asked.

“Barely. It’s a great way to fight insomnia, though.”

“True!” Jai’Lune’s laugh was a melody floating in the air.

“What are you wearing?” Eva was no fashion queen, but even she couldn’t miss Jai’Lune’s overalls, straw hat, and pink cowboy boots.

“It’s spirit week! My ancestors were a bunch of hicks, and I’m representing that fine lineage. I was going to chew on some straw for effect, but I kept sneezing.”

Eva groaned and smacked her head. They were supposed to dress up as their ancestors. She didn’t give two hoots about some stupid spirit week, but Jai’Lune always got into it. She had a pang of guilt. Maybe she should try harder.

Then again, her ancestors were a bunch of cow-milking, squirrel-eating farmers who spent their life trying not to freeze to death in the cold Nebraska winters. A life of survival. Eva glanced down at her clothes and shrugged. Good enough. After all, wasn’t she trying to survive her last year of high school?

When they reached the old brick school, Eva pulled the heavy front door open. They stepped inside as Grace strode by in traditional Irish dress. The memory of her dream slammed into Eva, catching her off guard. She took a deep breath. Get it together, Eva.

* * *

The day was a tired monster slogging by. As Eva waited in line for her tray of meatloaf-surprise, she scanned the room for a place to sit where she could blend in without being too awkward. Nothing had changed in the lunchroom for decades—not even the lunch lady. The tables had wheels and folded in half. Their light-brown tops were tired and worn from generations of lunch trays and soapy rags.

Finally, Eva made it to the front of the line. The lunch lady greeted her with the same scowl she probably gave Eva’s mom twenty years ago. Maybe she’s some sort of eternal mutant alien. Mutant Lunch Lady—that could be a good book.

Eva sat at the end of the speech team table and heard them talking about Alex and Janet. They’d broken up… again. Surprise, surprise. The story got less and less interesting every time. Janet got jealous of Alex. Alex got annoyed with her. It was mind-numbing. Since no one ends up with their high school sweetheart anyhow, what’s the point?

Eva let her hair fall forward, blocking out the world as her mind drifted. The dreams were happening every night, a cartoon storm cloud following her around. She was losing hope they would ever stop. Somehow, each night was more terrifying than the one before.

Maybe she should research tornados? If she understood the dreams, they might stop. At least it was something to try. The thought of it made her feel less helpless. The bell blared and Eva jumped, bumping into the girl next to her. “Geez!” the girl shouted.

“Sorry,” Eva said as she bolted to go dump her tray. The school was built in 1910 and had about a million floors. She had to climb three of them to get to class on time. As the late bell rang, she slid into the seat Jai’Lune saved for her.

Eva sighed. She might be sweaty from climbing Mount Marysburg High, but she was on time. Alex slid into the seat next to her with a smirk. There were no assigned seats, but everyone sat in the same spot every day. Everyone except Alex. Each day, he sat in a new spot like he was desperate to keep life interesting.

The way people reacted always made Eva smile. They’d come in and see their normal spot taken. They’d spin in a complete circle and end up sitting in the broken desk in the back, even though there were plenty of other options.

The teacher interrupted Eva’s thoughts. “Open your books. You’re going to do your assignment with a partner today. Let’s count off.” Eva stifled a groan, wondering who she’d get stuck with this time.

Mrs. Buckle moved around the classroom, her arm serving as the Grim Reaper while she dictated the pairs. When Eva realized Grace was her partner, she relaxed a little. It could have been worse. Grace was a cheerleader, but she’d always been nice to Eva. She remembered Grace walking up to the school every day with a drove of brothers and sisters trailing behind her. It always made Eva wonder how it would feel to have siblings. She’d probably never know.

“Hey, Eva!” Grace said, flashing her pretty smile as she sat down.

“Hi,” Eva said, her voice coming out as a squeak.

“Do you understand this?” Grace asked. “It’s insanely confusing!”

“Yeah, it’s hard, but I think I’m getting it.”

It surprised Eva what a good team she and Grace made. When one of them didn’t understand a problem, the other did. “Ten minutes left,” Mrs. Buckle announced. “Ask questions if you have them.”

The football players at the next table smirked at Grace. “Hey, Grace, I got a question. Whatcha doing Friday night?”

Grace rolled her eyes and turned her back on them. Eva smiled. No one ignored the football players. They were gods in their small town. You’d think they went off to war, not some stupid football game every Friday night, the way everyone worshipped them.

They weren’t gods, though. Eva shivered, remembering eighth grade when they spent the entire year barking at her every time they walked past. They’d found her mom’s senior picture in one of those giant, dusty pages of class pictures hanging in the hall. “Your mom was a smokin’ hot babe. What’s wrong with you? Your dad must have been a dog.” She’d faked more stomachaches that year than she had her whole life.

Eva realized she was spacing off and snuck a glance at Grace. She knew she should offer some polite chitchat. It was the Nebraska way. Why couldn’t she ever think of anything normal to say? Come on Eva, it’s not that hard. People do it all the time.

She was grateful when Grace filled the silence between them. “Have anything fun planned for the weekend?”

“Nope. How about you?” People loved talking about themselves. She figured out a few years ago if you could get them talking about themselves, it was easier to keep the conversation going.

“I think I might go to the lake with some people tomorrow. It’s supposed to get arctic next week. This might be our last chance.”

“That sounds fun,” Eva said, trying to sound convincing. A part of her wondered what it was like to be popular, go to cool parties, and hang out with guys. But it was such a tiny part of her. The bell rang, and the class bolted out of their seats, headed for their next destination.

When the last bell rang, Eva shoved her way through the crowded hall to her locker, grabbed her heavy bookbag, and raced out of school like a prisoner on jailbreak. She was trying not to be late again for her shift at the nursing home.

As she walked, the gentle breeze brushed Eva’s face and carried with it the smell of change. She held her arms out at her sides as she walked through the falling leaves. She loved fall—nature’s dramatic flair before it gave up the ghost and succumbed to winter.

A leaf began its final descent in front of her, and she paused, tilting her face upward to enjoy the show. She had the sense she was being watched and turned to see Alex, football helmet in hand, staring at her from half a block away. Eva blushed and spun around, hurrying her steps toward home.

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