Song of the Fireflies
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of THE EDGE OF NEVER, J.A. Redmerski you a heart-wrenching New Adult novel of love, secrets and the choices we make…Love makes you do crazy things…Brayelle Bates has always been a force of nature and the only person who has ever truly understood her is her childhood sweetheart, Elias Kline. But Elias never knew the truth about her agonizing past – until one night changes everything.Desperate to escape her fate, Bray convinces Elias to flee with her, and as the two try to make the most of their circumstances, Elias soon realises that there’s a darkness driving Bray he can’t ignore. Now, in order to save her, he’ll have to convince Bray to accept the consequences of her past – even if it means losing her.
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Song of the Fireflies
J.A. Redmerski
For Michael N. and Alexander D.
Table of Contents
Read on for an extract from The Edge of Never
Elias
They say you never forget your first love, and I have to say that they are right. I met the girl of my dreams when we were both still fans of tree houses and dirt cakes—she made the best dirt cakes in Georgia—and today, seventeen years later, I still see her smile in everything good.
But Bray’s life has always been… complicated. Mine, well, I guess the same can be said for me, but as much as she and I are alike, there are just as many things that make us so very different.
I never thought that a relationship with her, other than being the best of friends, sometimes with benefits, could ever work. Neither did she. I guess in the beginning, we were both right. But by the end—and damn, the end sure as hell blindsided us—we were proven wrong. I admit a few dozen mistakes along the way are what led us here to this moment, holed up in the back of a convenience store with cops surrounding the building.
But wait. Let me start from the beginning.
Fourth of July—Seventeen Years Ago…
The kind of crush a nine-year-old boy has on an eight-year-old girl is almost always innocent. And cruel. The first time I saw Brayelle Bates flitting toward me through the wide-open field by Mr. Parson’s pond, she was marked my victim. She wore a white sundress and a pair of flip-flops with little purple flowers made of fabric sewn to the tops. Her long, dark hair had been pulled neatly into ponytails on each side of her head and tied with purple ribbons. I loved her. OK, so I didn’t really “love” her, but she sure was pretty.
So, naturally I gave her a hard time.
“What’s that on your face?” I asked, as she started to walk by.
She stopped and crossed her arms and looked down at me sitting on my blanket beside my mother, pursing her lips at me disapprovingly.
“There’s nothing on my face,” she said with a smirk.
“Yes there is.” I pointed up at her. “Right there. It’s really gross.”
Instinctively, she reached up and began touching her face all over with her fingertips. “Well, what is it? What does it look like?”
“It’s everywhere. And I told you it’s gross, that’s what it looks like.”
She propped both hands on her hips and chewed on the inside of her mouth. “You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not. Your whole face, it’s really ugly. You should go to the doctor and get that checked out.”
The tip of her flip-flop and her big toe jabbed me in the back of my hip.
“Owww! What was that for?” I reached around and rubbed the spot with my fingertips.
I noticed my mother shake her head at us, but she went back to her conversation with my aunt Janice.
Bray crossed her arms and snarled down at me. “If anyone out here is gross, it’s you. Your face looks just like my dog’s ass.”
Upon hearing that, my mom snapped her head around, and she glared at me as if I was the one who had just cursed.
I just shrugged.
Bray turned on her heel, sauntered away with her chin held high, and caught up with her parents, who were already many feet out ahead of her. I watched her go, the throbbing in my hip a reminder that if I was going to mess with that girl again, there would be more pain and abuse where that came from.
Of course, it only made me want to do it again.
As the pasture filled up with Athens’s residents, come to see the yearly fireworks display, I watched Bray do cartwheels in the grass with her friend. Every now and then I saw her look over at me, showing off and taunting me. She did get the best of me, after all, and it was only natural for her to gloat about it. I got bored fast sitting with my mom, especially since Bray seemed to be having so much fun over there.
“Where are you going, Elias?” my mom asked, as I got up from the blanket.
“Just right over there,” I said, pointing in Bray’s direction.
“OK, but please stay in my sight.”
I sighed and rolled my eyes; Mom was always worried I would get kidnapped or lost or hurt or wet or dirty or any number of things.
“I will,” I said and walked away.
I weaved my way through the few families sitting in the space between us in lawn chairs and on blankets, ice chests filled with beer and soda next to them, until I was standing in front of that abusive girl I couldn’t get enough of.
“You really shouldn’t do cartwheels in a dress, you know that, right?” I asked.
Bray’s mouth fell open. Her pale-skinned friend, Lissa, who had long, curly, white-blonde hair, and who I knew from school, smiled up at me. I think she liked me.
