chapter 36
Gemma
“Resetting time!” My eyes widen as I remember what my father said. Is it the same thing?
Evan flinches at the loudness of my voice. “Gemma, quiet. No one can know about this.”
I take some calming breaths; then lower my voice. “But you’re talking about resetting time. Like actual time?”
He rolls his eyes. “Okay, you’ve had the power of a Star trapped inside of you and you don’t believe resetting time is possible?”
Okay, he has me there. “But if there’s a way to reset time, why haven’t I heard about it?”
“Because it’s a secret of the Omnia,” he explains. “Why do you think I was so weird about telling you about it?”
I shrug. “I thought maybe you were just being a weirdo.”
His lips turn downward. “Well, I’m not. I’m trying to make sure this all plays out correctly.”
“Correctly?”
“Resetting time—performing the evanescence—is dangerous,” he warns in a high, unsteady voice. “It’s only supposed to be done when it’s supposed to be done.”
To a normal person his words probably would sound confusing, but to me, a Foreseer, I get it. “So that’s what I saw? In the vision? Me, resetting time?”
He shrugs. “That’s for you to interpret.”
I think about the paths, one long, one short, one endless, one abrupt. “I think I saw it resetting.”
He seems pleased by this, but I’m not. I’m scared to death. Scared that what waits for me in my past could be even lonelier and worse than what my future holds now.
“Why are you just now suggesting this?” I wonder, plucking at a stray piece of wicker on the arm of the chair.
He moves his chair forward, the legs making a loud scraping sound against the concrete. “It had to be the right time. It had to play out how it was meant to. You had to get to the point where you’d understand. I knew one day we’d probably be sitting here talking about this, but only if I did things the right way.” He pauses and I notice some of the marks on his skin are starting to glow. “You needed to be ready to do this. Mentally.”
“Why me?” I ask. “I’m not a Star anymore. There’s nothing that great about me. I’m pretty much just a girl who magnetizes trouble to her.”
His eyes soften a little and it looks strange on him. “You saved the world once. Do you know how many people can say that? How many people can say they saved the freaking world from a portal?”
“I didn’t do it alone,” I point out. “I had help and, if I didn’t, it would have ended.”
“I realize that, but there are other things about you that can make it so this can happen,” he says, and I start to shake my head in protest, but he holds up his hand, silencing me. “Just hear me out, okay?”
Sighing, I nod. “Fine, I’m listening, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to agree with you.”
He looks like he disagrees with me as he starts, “When I was younger, I was told a story by my father. He told me that I’d be powerful one day and that the time would come when I’d need to use one of my powers to change the world. That there’d be a war and the world would pretty much be falling apart.” He pauses, his forehead scrunched as he recollects. “But I’d need the help of another person, someone who’s already saved the world once. Someone who was a Foreseer, but who had other abilities. They’d be powerful, connected to the Fey and the Keepers, they could carry a hell of a lot more power on top of it.”
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at,” I tell him as he eyes me over.
He considers something, wavering, before he meets my gaze again. “You had the Star’s power inside you, right?”
I nod warily. “Yeah…”
“Do you know how strong you have to be to carry all that energy inside you?”
“Well, it wasn’t by choice.”
“But you still lived through it.”
“So did Alex.”
“But Alex isn’t you,” he points out. “Alex isn’t a Foreseer, Fey, and now a freaking Queen.”
“Empress,” I correct pointlessly.
He smiles, like he thinks I’m going to agree. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you can handle it.”
I tuck a strand of my hair out of my face with my chin tilted down. “Handle what?”
He smiles, but he looks sad. “My power.”
“Huh?” I nearly shout. “Your power?”
“Yeah, I’m going to give it to you,” he says simply. “Every Omnia is built for a purpose. Mine’s to give you my power. I’ll transfer it into you and it’ll give you the strength you need to travel back through time and reset it.”
He says it like, ‘Hey, I have a lollipop and now I’m going to hand it over to you.’ Like it’s as simple as sharing candy.
“Yeah, I’m not so sure…” I eye the door, wondering if I should run like hell.
“Not sure about what?” he asks. “Making your life better?”
I turn my head towards him. “Yeah, but how do I know it’s going to be better? I mean, for all I know I could never be born or something. Or I could be, but not end up with Alex. Or the same bad things could happen; I really don’t know.”
“Yeah, but you do know this…” He gestures at the door. “You do know that Luna and the Fey are running around and that you’re going to either have to kill her or be killed. There’s also a battle going on between the Fey and one of them is going to have to win eventually. If the world survives through it, it might not even matter, depending on who wins in the end.” He pauses, leaning in. “And Alex, he’s trapped with Draven.”
I swallow hard, thinking about what Alex will become. “I know all of this. You don’t need to remind me.”
“But I have to,” he says. “I have to get you to make a decision. Do we continue forward or do we take a risk and start over?”
I think about everything; good and bad. I think about the pain I’ve experienced, the fear, the love, the passion, the kisses, the friendships. The way it feels when Alex touches me. I think about what it took to get there and I think about how briefly it stayed before it vanished. It’s a moment in my life that I’ll remember forever, yet, I won’t. Because it’ll never actually happen. All I do is nod, but it’s enough that he understands.
Getting to his feet, he heads for the door, looking happier than I’ve ever seen him.
I get up and follow him. “Where are we going?”
He grins as he swings the door open and the air outside gusts in. “We’re going to save the world.”