Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy Read online

  Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy

  © 2016 by P. Anastasia

  Paperback available

  Internal character illustrations by Fernanda Suarez

  Previously published as separate volumes.

  This omnibus includes:

  Fluorescence: Fire Starter 2015

  Fluorescence: Contagious 2015

  Fluorescence: Fallout 2016

  Fluorescence: Lost Souls 2016

  No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying recording or otherwise, without written permission of the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Coming soon from P. Anastasia:

  Dark Diary - A paranormal-historical romance.

  Worlds collide when a young woman with a dark past encounters a young man with an even darker one.

  More human than vampire, Dark Diary is a quaint, sophisticated romance detailing the accounts of two lovers who have paid the ultimate price…

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  Table of Contents

  Book I: Fire Starter

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Book II: Contagious

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Book III: Fallout

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Book IV: Lost Souls

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  . . .

  My name’s Alice Green. It’s not my real name, but if you knew what was going on, you’d understand why I need to be careful.

  Adults warn you your body will start going through “changes” when you get older. Mine did, but they weren’t normal “raging hormones, mood swings, ew—periods” kind of things. Weird stuff happens, your body does gross things and then you start looking at boys differently.

  Yeah. That happened—a while ago.

  This is different.

  I’ve been infected with something I can’t fully explain—bioluminescence—fluorescent energy. I can’t control when it appears. It’s volatile, and that’s what scares me the most.

  I hope, for your sake, this never happens to you or to anyone you care about.

  I hope you will never wake to discover this fire burning beneath your skin—this spark of living, breathing color crackling through your veins.

  . . .

  Chapter 1

  Why me?

  “Eric and his dog?” Sam asked, her brow furrowing.

  Stanley—the bully’s accomplice.

  “Yeah. Creeps staked out the main hall this afternoon, and I was late for class because I had to take the long way around. Again.” I rubbed my shoulder, recalling the brief spell of pain I’d felt following my mad dash down the hall after the bell had rung. I had never been much of an athlete.

  “I’m so sorry, Alice. I wish they’d stop. I mean, really, don’t they have anything better to do with their time besides make fun of you?” She rolled her eyes. “If they actually studied as much as they annoyed people, they’d be geniuses.”

  After school, I sat cross-legged, bundled up in a blanket on my best friend Sam’s couch, balancing a bowl of buttery popcorn in my lap.

  “I know, right?” I scooped out a greasy handful and shoveled some into my mouth. “I wish they’d get picked on by someone for a change.”

  “Enter chainsaw psycho! VROOM!” Sam lifted her arms up over her head and lumbered toward me, grinning maniacally and making sputtering sounds that drowned out the movie playing behind her.

  I laughed so hard, she broke character and started giggling. No wonder she snagged the best parts in our school plays right out from under me. She was an amazing actress.

  Really, though, I’d never wish for anyone to get hurt the way people did in horror movies—like the ones we loved to watch—but Eric and Stanley had been nipping at my heels since middle school. Using every excuse they could to make fun of me. Just because my name is Alice, doesn’t mean I have anything to do with white rabbits and Cheshire cats.

  Sam had been with me through it all. She was the only person I really hung out with in and out of school. We had sleepovers about once a month
where we watched cheesy B horror flicks all evening and stuffed our faces with as much junk food as we could in a few hours.

  Zombies. Ax murderers. This movie had both. An exaggerated death scene in the movie we were watching had me laughing so much I snorted like a pig. Gallons of bright red fake blood spewed at the camera and my bowl bounced right out of my lap.

  I scrambled to catch it, but a few pieces of popcorn tumbled out onto the floor. Sam craned her neck back to look at me and chuckled, her wild curly red hair bouncing around her face.

  “Popcorn overboard?” she asked with a smirk. “Uh, yeah. Sorry.” I faked a dumb toothy grin and batted my lashes. We both chuckled and then I wrapped myself back up in my blanket and secured the popcorn bowl between my pretzled legs.

  As we sat watching the movie, I felt a warm sensation creep up my spine, starting off mild and then blazing into day-old sunburn pain within seconds. I rolled my shoulder back and forth and rubbed it with my other hand, hiding my discomfort from Sam. It was probably leftover from my impromptu sprint this afternoon. A muscle pull or…

  I doubled over. A sharp ache stabbed through me, shooting up my spine like an electrical shock.

  “Oh my God. Are you okay? What is it?” Sam turned around and tilted her head to the side.

  I almost cried out, but I gritted my teeth instead, trying to suck it up. “Ugh. It’s… nothing.” I shrugged, pulling the blanket up over my shoulders to fight the chill going through me. “I’ll be back in a minute.” After setting the popcorn down, I slid off the couch and trudged to the bathroom, clasping the blanket closed at my neck.

  I shut the door, flipped on the bathroom light and tossed the blanket over the shower curtain rod. My arm pulsed with deep, throbbing pain and the first thing I thought was that something had stung or bitten me. A spider?

  It felt like there was boiling liquid pumping beneath my skin. I gritted my teeth. A sickness swirled in my stomach. I leaned closer to the mirror and turned so I could see my back, sliding the spaghetti-strap of my sleep shirt over while twisting myself further around to look over my shoulder at my reflection. A large blotchy patch of skin blazed red. Hot to touch.

  “Oh my God…” I whimpered beneath my breath.

  I had to call Mom. There was something very wrong with me.

  A creepy, static-charge feeling made my hair stand on end. The pain was quickly intensifying. I turned on the faucet and splashed the area with a handful of cool water. It calmed the inflammation, turning it more pink than red.

  The sharp pain struck me again and I gasped. The first attack had been brief, but this one… wouldn’t go away. Burning. Spreading. I forced myself up to look into the mirror, and then had to cover my mouth to muffle a shriek.

  My back pulsed with an ugly neon-green glow, as if someone had cracked open and leaked instant glow stick over me. Thin bright green veins stretched up and over my shoulder toward my collar bone and down to the small of my back. It was brightest in the center—over my shoulder blade—and faded as it spread and forked out in various directions.

  I pulled myself up onto the bathroom counter and scooted closer to the mirror, contorting so I was nose to nose with myself. My hot breath fogged the mirror, distorting my reflection. I rubbed it clear with my forearm.

  The branching neon veins crawled beneath my skin, brightening and dimming rhythmically. A subtle dust-like aura leached out through the surface, casting off particles of glimmering light that quickly vanished.

  My hands trembled uncontrollably. My pulse raced.

  So bright. Such a vivid green. Disgusting. My stomach… felt sicker. Churning. I was about to throw up.

  I took a squirt of hand soap from the counter and rubbed it vigorously against the skin. I scrubbed it nearly raw with a wet washcloth, but all it did was cause me to hurt more. Nothing changed. The green continued to glow, fading in and out, the tiny lines of color still spreading across my back.

  Unreal.

  Toxic.

  I felt light-headed—dizzy. Breathing hard.

  I had to call mom now. Before…

  Ugh. Black and white dots speckled my vision, flashing in and out like stars.

  No.

  Not a panic attack. Not now.

  Breathe. Just breathe!

  Deep breaths. In through my nose. Out through my mouth. Slowly.

  Get a grip!

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket but it slipped from my shaking hands and fell onto the bathroom floor.

  “No!” I bent over and scooped it up.

  What if Mom thinks it’s drugs? Sam and I would never—ever. We’d made a promise. But…

  “Ya alright in there, Allie?” Sam knocked on the door.

  I gasped.

  “Uh, yeah,” I replied, my voice breaking.

  “Ya sure? You’ve been in there for, like, ever. Annnnd I heard ya squeal. Find a bug or something?” Her voice shot up an octave. She wasn’t too enthusiastic about bugs either.

  “Just… feeling a little sick.”

  “Like period sick? Or do you need some pink stuff?”

  “I… don’t know. It might be… another panic attack. I don’t know. I have to call my mom.” I tossed the blanket over my shoulders, hoping it would hide the glow, and cracked opened the bathroom door. “I’ll be okay. I think I should go home though.”

  “Awww, poor baby.” Sam reached toward my shoulder. I shifted, dodging her hand and her jaw dropped. “Wh-what is it?”

  “I… I just don’t feel good.” I shuffled past. “I’m sorry, Sam.” The heat diminished and I started feeling a little relief from the pain.

  Her lips wrinkled into a frown and my heart tightened. Her big brown puppy-dog eyes put my stomach in even more knots. I’d known her since the second grade—my best friend in the whole world—but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her what I’d just seen in the mirror.

  I texted my mom.

  She replied within a minute. Record speed.

  MOM: Be right over…

  I wiggled the phone for Sam to see.

  “She’s coming now. Probably be here in ten or fifteen.”

  “Okay.” Sam sniffled, pretending that she was about to cry. “I’ll miss you,” she muttered, impersonating a small child.

  “I know.” I chuckled and tightened my blanket around my shoulders. I couldn’t forget why I was leaving early. The pain had let up, luckily, and my stomach had calmed down. Just being near Sam made me feel better. “We’ll finish our movie another night, I guess.” I grabbed my purse from off the coffee table and made my way to the front door. Sam tagged close beside me and then dashed ahead to get the door.

  I stepped onto the porch and shivered. My furry kitty slippers weren’t much help against the brisk night air. I started bouncing on the soles of my feet to fight the chill.

  “I’m sorry I messed up our night. I wanted to stay over. I really did.” I turned to her and smiled as honestly as I could. “I just don’t feel well.” I held my belly. “It might be the new meds or something.”

  Sam nodded and smiled, stretching out her arms to hug me. “I know and I still love you, Alice! I hope you feel better really soon.”

  “I will.”

  She squeezed tightly and I grunted as she choked a little breath from me. Best hugger ever.

  Mom pulled into the driveway.

  “Bye!” I waved and rushed to the car. Mom had the door propped open for me. I ducked down and hopped into my seat, yanking my blanket in behind me so it wouldn’t catch in the door frame as I pulled it shut. I clicked my seatbelt into place.

  Sam waved frantically from the driveway, shivering and bounding up and down in place with a huge goofy grin on her face. Poor thing hadn’t even grabbed a jacket on the way out.

  Mom’s eyes were focused on the road; she kept nibbling her lip and flexing her fingers on the steering wheel. I didn’t know what to say. We’d be home in a few minutes.

  “I’ll be
okay, Mom,” I said, breaking the awkward silence.

  “It’s okay. I’ll take you back to the doctor tomorrow. If it is that new medication, Dr. Eliza will have to get you something different. Don’t take any more tonight.” She veered her head toward me. “You didn’t take your second dose, did you?”

  “No. Not yet.” I shook my head and she went back to focusing on the road. We pulled into the driveway and I tugged my blanket up again, clutching my purse with my other hand.

  “You should head to bed. It’s late.” Mom punched a button on the keypad by the door and the garage door closed. I went upstairs to my room.

  Chapter 2

  Being a teenager sucks.

  As a freshman in high school, I thought I was over the awkward phase. I didn’t tell my mom about what had happened. She probably would have freaked out and taken me to the hospital. I didn’t need to be poked and prodded.

  Before bed, I did a bunch of googling and couldn’t find anything useful. Glowing skin, not exactly something found in a respectable Wiki. If it’s not on the internet, it doesn’t exist. Right?

  I texted Sam to let her know I felt better. It couldn’t be the meds. I didn’t see neon green skin on the list of side effects. Besides, I had anemia, not… cancer. I hadn’t been getting chemo or even had an X-Ray that I could remember. Iron and B12 don’t make you radioactive.

  I stretched the collar of my t-shirt, pulled it down my shoulder and craned my neck to look back. It had stopped glowing, but I knew what I had seen, and I wouldn’t forget it.

  I rubbed my shoulder with my hand and sighed. When will it happen again? Will it? What if I can’t cover it up next time? Would it scare Mom if I told her about it? Or Sam?

  My internet research wasn’t doing me any good. Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe it would never happen again.

  . . .

  I sat in the front row of the bus with one foot creeping into the aisle.

  “Feeling better?” Sam smiled, nudging me in the arm with her elbow. We hit a speed bump and I clutched my bag.

  “Yeah. Mom’s taking me to the doctor this afternoon, though.”