Chapter 3
“Gemma,” a voice whispered in my ear.
I frantically tried to wriggle my way free from whoever had a hold of me. My heart pounded inside my chest as thoughts of who it could be blasted through my mind. Stephan? A Death Walker? Some other kind of monster?
Whoever it was had ice-cold skin, so I was leaning toward a Death Walker or another kind of similar monster.
“Jesus Christ, Gemma. Calm down.”
This time my brain registered who the voice belonged to and, feeling kind of stupid, I stopped my pathetic fight to get away. Laylen let go of me, and I let my breathing slow down to a normal pace.
“What are you doing?” I asked, breathing heavily.
“You scared the heck out of me.” Again.
“Shhh…” Laylen put his finger up to his deep red lips, glanced around the room, and then shut the door.
“Keep your voice down.”
“Why?” My voice came out way too loud so I lowered it. “Sorry. But why do I have to keep my voice down?”
He glanced around the room again, seeming nervous, and then locked the door. “So what do you think about what Alex told you?”
Hmm…so had I been wrong about Laylen trusting Alex? “I don’t know…What do you think about it?” He tilted his head from side to side, wavering. “I’m not sure…it just seems a little too…”
“Simple,” I finished for him.
He nodded. “Exactly. Aislin and I show up there and Stephan and the Death Walkers are conveniently gone. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.” I paused, considering what it could mean. But in my typical confused style, I felt as lost as ever. “So what do you think really happened?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. But I know the chance of the Death Walkers just leaving when they know you have the star’s energy in you, is slim to none. And I think it’s really suspicious that Stephan just passed out like that.”
“Well, Alex told me that Stephan passed out because of this.” I lifted up my locket, the purple stone reflecting sharply in the lighting of the room. “That this little stone is sugilite and that because I was wearing it, and Stephan tried to use harmful magic on me, it made him black out.”
Laylen took the locket in his hand, rubbing the purple stone with his thumb. The necklace was still attached to my neck, so I had to crank my head forward, putting my neck in an awkward position.
“That’s interesting….” he murmured and let the locket go, releasing my neck from its uncomfortable position. “It’s sugilite, but still …” His expression twisted with confusion.
“What? Does sugilite not protect people from certain kinds of magic like Alex said?” I mean, really, the odds were pretty high that Alex had been lying.
“No, it does.” He paused. “But I don’t get it. Alex gives you this necklace that has sugilite, knowing if someone uses magic on you, to let’s say take your emotions or mind away, that it won’t work. And that it’ll end up doing harm to whoever is using the magic on you. Yet, supposedly, at least according to the Keepers, you’re not supposed to have any emotions.
So what would be the point of Alex protecting you from the thing he’s been telling you has to be done?” I frowned, not at Laylen, but at the mention of my emotions. “So Alex told you everything then?”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I believe every part of what he said.”
“Me neither,” I agreed. My leg was killing me, so I went over and sat down on the bed, and Laylen followed, sitting down next to me. “So what else did Alex tell you?”
He gave me a sort of amused look. “Well, he told me that you guys took a little trip to the City of Crystal, where you found out that you’re a Foreseer.” I swallowed hard. “Did he tell about the vision I had to go into while I was at the City of Crystal?”
“He did.” Laylen answered with hesitance.
I hated to be reminded of that vision, and just talking about it shoved the memory of it into my mind; Stephan forcing my mom to go into lake—the entrance to The Underworld—where she’d been tortured to insanity by Water Faeries.
“You okay?” Laylen asked.
“I’m fine.” My voice sounded choked. There was a gap of silence before I asked, “Do you think there’s a way she can still be alive? My mom, I mean.” Laylen sat there, looking at me, not in a feeling-sorry-for-me kind of way, but more as if he was seriously contemplating what I’d asked him. Part of me grew eager that he might say yes; that there was a possibility that my mother, who I hadn’t seen since I was four years-old, and could barely remember a thing about—thanks to the detachment of my soul from my emotions causing my memories to be erased away as well —might still be alive.
“I don’t know, Gemma,” he said softly. “She’s been down there for a really long time.” My eagerness dropped to the floor and shattered like glass. “Oh. Okay.”
“Now hold on one second before you go getting that sad look on your face. All I said was that she’s been down there for awhile, not that there was no way she could be alive.”
I tried to keep my excitement to a bare minimum.
“So, are you saying that there might be a chance she still is?”
He twisted his lip ring from side to side. “Maybe…
There’ve been some people that have survived the Water Faeries tortured for a long amount of time without going too insane. And there have even been a few people that have escaped The Underworld before.”
“There have!” I shouted, and then made an oh-crap face at the loudness of my voice. We both stayed silent for a moment, making sure no one had heard and had decided to head upstairs to check on me.
The house was quiet, as still as the hot desert air, the only noise coming from the humming of engines from the cars passing by. “Sorry,” I whispered. “But I’m just really confused. The way Alex made it sound, it seemed like there was hardly any way that anyone could ever escape The Underworld. That once they were sent down there, they were basically trapped there until they died from the torture.” Laylen’s bright blue eyes twinkled mischievously.
“Yeah, but Alex doesn’t hang around with the same kind of crowd as I do, does he? You learn a lot of stuff when you’re not just limited to the Keepers circle.” Now I was letting myself get a little excited over what Laylen was saying. Well, except for the fact that he said “crowd.” What kind of crowd were we talking about here? Vampire crowd? Witch crowd? Black Angel crowd? All were possibilities, and there were probably other possibilities that I didn’t even know about.
“Is there any way we could find someone who will maybe help us find out if she’s alive? And help us find out if there’s a way we could get her out of The Underworld if she is?” I held my breath as I waited for him to answer.
It took him a second, but he nodded. “It won’t be easy, though…And it’ll be dangerous.”
I should have been scared. But after you’ve faced a swarm of murderous Death Walkers, been hit by their Chil of Death, and stared into the eyes of a man who is trying to wipe your mind away, “dangerous” becomes a little easier to deal with. “So you’re saying that maybe we could go and talk to someone about her?”
He mulled over my question for so long that I was sure he was going to say no. “Yeah, I think we might be able to do that.”
“Really,” I was practically bouncing. “Are you serious?”
He nodded. “I think your mom may know more about what’s going on than anyone does. I think that might be part of the reason why Stephan sent her there—so she couldn’t tell anyone what she knew.”
“I think so too,” I agreed. “In fact, in the vision, she told Stephan that one day he’d get caught and that he didn’t have everyone wrapped around his finger.”
“Then I think the sooner we can find out if she’s alive the better. And maybe we can put all this madness together and get some real answers.” He paused. “But I don’t want you to get too excited, just in case things don’t turn out the way…the way you want them to.”
“I won’t,” I assured him, but I still couldn’t help but get a little excited. Well, okay, I was beyond excited. In fact, I think I’d hit a whole new level of excitement and…yep, there it was. The prickle.
I know. I know. I was totally setting myself up for some serious heart-ache here. But I couldn’t control myself at the moment. Just seeing my mother…it would be amazing. Especially after being raised by Marco and Sophia, who were two of the most cold-hearted people I knew. Well, besides Stephan.
Wait. Hold on. “Laylen, what happened to Marco and Sophia?”
“I have no idea,” he said with a shrug. “No one does. They just up and disappeared.”
Hmmm…very strange. So did that mean they were playing on the good side or the bad side?
I opened my mouth to ask Laylen this, but a knock at the door caused Laylen and I to jump to our feet.
“Gemma,” Alex’s voice floated through the door.
“Are you in there?”
“Uh…Yeah,” I called out. “Just a second.” I turned to Laylen and whispered. “Great. What am I supposed to tell him when he asked why you’re in here?”
“You’re not going to tell him,” Laylen whispered, searching for a place to hide. “If he knows I am in here, he’ll know something’s up. And if he knows what we’re planning to do, he'll go out of his way to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
excellent point. Alex would say it was too dangerous, at least for me anyway. Because that’s what he always says. Besides, the question of whether or not Alex was lying about what had happened back at the cabin was still a big giant question mark. So for now, at least until we knew for sure what was going on, it was probably best to keep our plan a secret from Alex.
Laylen got down on the floor. “Just pretend I’m not here,” he whispered. And with that, he slid underneath the bed.
I waited until he was completely under before unlocking the door and opening it. “Hey, what’s up?” Real cool Gemma. I sounded way too casual.
He gave me a suspicious look. “You’ve been up here forever. What are you doing?”
“Um…changing?” It sounded like a question, and I wanted to slap myself on the head for sucking so badly at playing it cool.
He looked down at the pajamas I was still wearing, and I realized my answer had been even more idiotic than I’d originally thought. I needed to think of something to tell him. And quick.
“Well …I was going to change, but I couldn’t…um…
figure out where the clothes are.” Not my best lie, but hopefully it would do.
He looked unconvinced as he walked into the room and over to a dresser. He pulled open the top drawer and pointed inside it. “The clothes are in here.” Ignoring the heat the electricity caused by him being in the room, I made my way over to the dresser.
“Oh. Okay. Thanks.”
He gave me a strange look and then glanced around the room, as if he were looking for something that shouldn’t be there. Like maybe a six foot four Keeper/Vampire hiding underneath the bed.
Finally, Alex gave up on looking for whatever it was he was looking for and stuffed his hands into the pockets. “Well, come downstairs when you’re done.
Adessa made dinner.”
“Alright, I will,” I told him, again sounding way too laid-back.
“Okay…” He raised his eyebrows at me, before heading to the door, shooting one last look over his shoulder, before stepping out of the room.
I let out a breath of relief, shut the door, and spun around as Laylen army crawled from underneath the bed.
He stood up and dusted off his jeans “That was close.”
“I know. It was like he knew you were here or something.”
Laylen laughed, and I felt like I was missing out on a joke.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing…so yeah, I think we should sneak out tonight and talk to a few people I know. See if anyone has heard anything about your mom. You up for it?”
“I…uh…yeah?” Why did I suddenly feel hesitant?
This was my mother we were talking about. But for some reason, it felt wrong—keeping what we were doing from Alex.
I shook my head at the absurdity of my own thoughts. I had to keep my head clear and not think about Alex. “Yeah, I’m definitely up for it.” He gave me a funny look. “Are you sure you want to go? I’m not going to tell you what to do—you’ve had that done to you way too much—but I feel I should warn you it may end up being kind of dangerous.” I considered what he said, but still wanted to go. At this point in my life, I felt I needed to hear things for myself. “I’m still up for it.”
“Then I’ll come here tonight after everyone’s asleep.” He started for the door.
A thought popped inside my head. “Wait a sec.” He turned around. “What’s up?”
“Why do you think Stephan wants the star’s power?”
“I don’t know…But if Stephan wants it, and he’s working with the Death Walkers…” He trailed off, worry slipping onto his face. “Well, if our plan does work out, and we find out your mother’s alive maybe she’ll have some of the answers to what the heck is going on.”
***
After I’d changed into the most decent clothes I could find—a pair of shorts and a purple tank top—
and pulled my long brown hair into a ponytail, I went downstairs. It took me a little bit to find the kitchen, which was a dimly lit room that had blue and black striped walls, black countertops, and indigo tiled flooring. Everyone was there by the time I entered.
Alex and Aislin were sitting at a small oval table in the corner of the room, and Adessa and Laylen were over by the counter. Adessa was stirring something in a steaming pot on top of the stove.
Aislin’s bright green eyes lit up when she saw me.
She looked like her normal, perfect self. Her golden blonde hair was curled up; a pair of diamond earrings twinkled in each one of her ear lobes. She had on a lacy pink tank top and her smile was as bright as ever. “Oh my God. It’s so good to see you awake, instead of unconscious.”
“I already told you she’d woken up.” Alex rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t know why you’re getting all excited about it.”
“Because she’s awake, Alex.” Aislin gave him a firm look. “Need I remind you that for awhile we thought she wasn’t ever going to wake up.” If looks could kill, Aislin would have been dead by the invisible daggers shooting from Alex’s bright green eyes. I don’t know why he was getting mad at her, though. I’d already thought I was dead when I’d been trapped back in the black emptiness.
They continued to scowl at each other as I sat down in an empty chair at the table. They eventually stopped having their little stare down when Adessa came over and placed what looked like a pot of chicken noodle soup down on the table, her metal bangle bracelets clinking together as she moved her hands away. Like Aislin, Adessa is a witch, so I wasn’t going to automatically assume what was in that pot was food.
My knowledge about witches was limited, so whether or not they brewed pots of potions was beyond me.
But in this new world I’d been thrust into only a few days ago, I was never going to assume things again.
Or at least try not to.
Adessa’s golden-cat eyes landed on me, and she gave me a welcoming smile. “hello, Gemma.” I forced a small smile, just so I wouldn’t seem rude.
“Hey.”
She smiled again, tucking a strand of her black wavy hair behind her ear, and then went back over to the stove.
Aislin grabbed the spoon in the pot, and began stirring it until Adessa took a seat at the table. Laylen did as well, carrying a stack of bowls in his hands. As I glanced around at the five of us, I couldn’t help but think how strange this was. And I wasn’t just saying strange because I was sitting at the table with two witches, a vampire, and a Keeper, but because I was sitting at a table, getting ready to eat. Something I’d never done before in my life.
“So who’s hungry?” Adessa asked, taking a bowl and scooping some—hopefully—chicken noodle soup into it. When no one answered, she set the bowl down in front of Alex, who slid it in front of me.
“Ladies first,” he said with a charming smile.
How gentleman-like of him, which made it all the weirder.
“Thanks,” I muttered. I stared down at the bowl of hot soup, watching the steam rise up as I thought of my mother and how, in just a few short hours, I might find out that she’s still alive. After spending most of my life thinking she was dead, the idea seemed strange and unfamiliar.
So how are you feeling?” Aislin asked me.
I tore my gaze away from the soup, and my thoughts. “I’m fine.”
Her forehead furrowed over. “Is something wrong?” I shook my head. “No. Not really….I’m just a little confused still. That’s all.”
“About what?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Everything really.”
She shot Alex a stern look. “Didn’t you explain anything to her?”
“I explained to her that none of us know anything,” he said, aggravated. “Not really. anyway.” Aislin’s bright green eyes pierced into him as if she were trying to burn a telegraphic message into his mind. Although I didn’t mind Aislin—I mean, for the most part, she’d been nice to me—I knew she was almost as good of a liar as Alex, which put the count up to two people sitting at this table that I couldn’t trust. And Adessa, well I knew nothing about her, and the whole trusting strangers’ thing had never gone that well for me. (Think City of Crystal, where an overly friendly half-faerie lives). The only person I felt I could rely on was Laylen.
I glanced over at Laylen, who was sitting there, with no food in front of him, because…well, because he’s a vampire and he doesn’t eat food. Everyone else was slurping away, and I hoped they didn’t notice when Laylen locked eyes with me. It was as if he was whispering a secret to me with his eyes. Tonight.
Yes. Tonight. I thought back. Tonight, maybe we’ll get some answers.