About the book

Surviving Ever may not be easy, but somehow I'm managing. So far.

Luckily I've made a new friend, Jadus. He's not exactly human, but he's teaching me how to survive here. Even though I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I miss home, he makes life bearable. Despite the not being human thing, I think I may be falling for him. Unfortunately Ever isn't the place for romance.

Now I have to deal with a barbarian king and a crazy shape-shifting witch on top of the everyday dangers. With each day that passes, it becomes more important I learn to control my fire powers.

If I can't I might lose everything; any hope of finding my dad, Jadus...my life.

An excerpt from the book

"Misha, run!"

The command is quiet but urgent. We both reach out at the same time and my hand slips into his. I follow Jadus blindly, without thinking. I would follow him anywhere.

We dash through the jungle. Plants and vines and trees of every color whip by. We run carefully. Most plants are poisonous. Some have teeth and will try to eat us if they can.

It's not the plants we run from now. Jadus has been here longer, he knows the jungle sounds better. When he hears something out of place we run.

I don't ask questions.

I met him the day I ended up in Ever. The day my family banished me because I can control fire. No one came to Ever willingly.

Ever is a magical place. It's not like earth. Rainbow jungles sit beside pink deserts and towering cliffs. There is more. I haven't seen much of it yet.

Jadus doesn't mind about the fire. He's different too. He can see the past and the present sometimes. I don't think his gift is very useful here. Not that I've seen so far.

He's not human either. Not from earth. I don't know where he came from or how long he's been here. I haven't asked. Yet.

I haven't known him very long. Only a few days. I trust him already though. With my life. He's saved me more than once.

Ever is a dangerous place. Deadly. Most don't survive it.

He glances back at me and I smile. It's hard not to. Not human, but close enough. There are feathers hanging down from the back of his ears. His hair has patterns like a bird. He's older than me. Not cute. Handsome?

Jadus jerks me to the left and I stumble. I need to pay attention.

Something roars behind us. I hear something large crashing through the trees. It sounds close. Fear makes my skin grow cold and my mouth dry.

We run a lot, but aren't chased every time. When we are it's never good. Too many times we've almost been caught. I don't want to be some beast's lunch.

A roar echoes though the trees again. Louder. Closer.

I wish I had a big gun. Heck, even a knife would be helpful. I don't even have a stick. All I can do is run. Lucky for me back home I did track, I ran every day.

My heart pounds loudly in my chest as we run faster. The beast roars again. Closer.

I want to close my eyes. I don't want to see. I'm tired. So, tired. Tired of running. Tired of being scared.

My power hasn't been very useful here. Back home, I always saw flames everywhere. No one else saw them.

I haven't seen the fire since I came to Ever.

The fire is still with me. I feel it inside. It makes me hot sometimes. When I'm lucky, I can call it. I can protect myself from it, force it to obey me, and put it out. It's not easy to do. It's easy to lose control.

I've used it to protect myself here. Just once. That time I was lucky it came, it doesn't always. Putting the fire out proved more difficult. I'm new at this, too new. Mom died before I could learn everything. Not being able to control it scares me.

I haven't tried to use fire as a weapon again. I don't want to hurt Jadus.

He stops suddenly and I actually run into him. We catch ourselves, holding on to each other.

"Sorry!" I'm about ready to die of embarrassment.

His strange feathery brows draw together. "Are you okay?"

I nod quickly and then glance over my shoulder. "Is it gone? Did we lose it?"

"Yes." He looks over my head. "Something bigger is out hunting."

Through the tree branches I see something flying above us. It's so large it blocks out the color of the sky. "Great."

He grins. "We're too small to be noticed by it."

I suppose that's a good thing. I smile back. His gloved hands are still on my arms and he gives a squeeze. He's still smiling at me.

I feel a blush start to spread across my cheeks.

"Those hot flashes again?"

I nod. A good excuse, but also true. I still get them a lot. I started getting them about a year before I found out I'm a firestarter.

Mom got them too. I don't want to think about her or about her death. It's so hard not to. I grew up without dad. He disappeared ten years ago. Seems Uncle Jeff sent him here too. Dad's older brother became my guardian after mom died. He did a pretty crappy job.

He and a bunch of other firestarters banished me. They said women aren't supposed to have this power. They said we can't control it. They think we are too wild.

Mom did. It wasn't fire that killed her, but cancer. Maybe I can control it too. God, I hope so.

I don't want to think about it anymore. "Ready to go?"

Jadus releases me but keeps smiling. He's been smiling a lot lately. I think he missed having someone to talk to. It must have been hard, living here alone.

There are a lot of people in Ever, but Jadus is the only one I've met. Luckily he wasn't someone banished here for his evil deeds. I think.

I worry more about the horrible creatures in the jungle. Some of them look friendly. Nothing in Ever is though.

So far I've been attacked by a giant furry beast, a black screeching animal, a vine with teeth in its thorns, and green ducks. That was only the first day.

The stupid ducks give me nightmares.

I follow Jadus again. We don't have time to just hang out. We need to find food that isn't poisonous. We need to collect wood that is safe to burn. This place isn't summer camp.