Before I Wake

Before I Wake
Rachel Vincent

Even death can’t get you out of high school… Covering up her own murder was one thing, but faking her life is much harder than ex-teen banshee Kaylee expected. Now she’s fighting to stay visible to the human world and struggling to find time alone with her new reaper boyfriend Tod.To stay in the mortal realm, Kaylee must reclaim stolen souls and, when her first assignment brings her face-to-face with an old foe, she knows the game has changed. Her immortal status won’t keep her safe. And this time Kaylee isn’t just gambling with her own life…

‘Well, look who survived her own demise.’

‘What the hell are you doing here, Thane?’ And how had he escaped Avari, the hellion Tod had given him to?

‘This is all your fault, little miss won’t-stay-dead. You and that blond reaper…’

Chills crawled up my arms. ‘What’s my fault? What’s coming?’

A slow, creepy smile spread over his face. ‘Until next time, little bean sidhe…’

‘No!’ I realised he was about to blink out of the alley and, in my desperation to take the soul he carried before he left, I accidentally unleashed my bean sidhe wail at full power.

Top volume.

Praise for RACHEL VINCENT’S

SOUL SCREAMERS series

‘unputdownable’ —Shout

‘a fantastic fun-filled rush of a book’

—Girls Without a Bookshelf

‘You’ve got to love it when a series gets better

with each book.’ —YA Book Reads

‘Twilight fans will love it’ —Kirkus Reviews

‘Awesome with a side of awesome’ —Mostly Reading YA

‘I’m so excited about this series.’ —The Eclectic Book Lover

‘A book like this is one of the reasons that I add authors

to my auto-buy list.’ —TeensReadToo.com

Also available fromRachel Vincent

Published by

Soul Screamers

MY SOUL TO TAKE

MY SOUL TO SAVE

MY SOUL TO KEEP

MY SOUL TO STEAL

IF I DIE

NEVER TO SLEEP

(e-book exclusive)

To find out more about Rachel, head to www.miraink.co.uk

Before I Wake

Rachel Vincent

www.miraink.co.uk (http://www.miraink.co.uk)

This is for every reader who’s ever stayed up too late to read just one more chapter.

For every reader with a paperback in a purse, or backpack, or glove compartment. For everyone with an ebook on a phone, or tablet, or laptop. For everyone listening to an audio book in the car, at the gym, or on the train.

This is for every reader the librarians know by name.

For everyone who’s ever said, “You have to read this!”

Thank you all so much for making Kaylee and her friends a part of your lives.

Acknowledgments

Thanks first of all to my husband, who puts up with the mental fog I walk around in midbook.

Thanks to my editor, Mary-Theresa Hussey, for endless advice and patience.

Thanks to everyone at MIRA Ink™, for everything done behind the scenes to make this book happen. That is truly an enormous list.

Thanks to my agent, Merrilee Heifetz, who made this book possible.

And a special thanks to Karen Shangraw, who brought Kaylee’s guidance counselor to life.

1

I WAS A VIRGIN SACRIFICE. AND YEAH, IT’S JUST as creepy as it sounds. I died on a Thursday, at twenty-seven minutes after midnight, killed by a monster intent on stealing my soul. The good news? He didn’t get it. The bad news? Turns out not even death will get you out of high school….

I’ve always hated Mondays, but this particular Monday, a beautiful day in late April, seemed ready to deliver its very own brand of hell. I stood in front of the bathroom mirror at seven-thirty in the morning, staring at myself, trying to decide exactly how alive I should look. In the movies, people are always faking their own deaths, but I couldn’t think of anyone else—real or fictional—who’d faked survival. I’d have to blaze this trail all on my own.

How pale would a person look twenty-nine days after being stabbed to death? That would depend on the severity of the wound, right? On the number of organs injured? On the amount of blood lost? Since no one at school knew any of those details, they wouldn’t know if my performance was off. So I could play the part however I wanted. Right?