Chapter 8
“Lost Souls can’t cross over unless they’re freed from The Afterlife,” I say with skepticism. “And even then, they’d have to return to their own bodies. At least, that’s what happened when I freed them.”
“Yeah, but this is different.” She sits cross-legged on the floor and opens the book on her lap. “Not a whole lot of people know this, but Lost Souls used to roam the world back in the day.”
I kneel, angling my head to look at the brittle pages. “That’s hard for me to imagine. Lost Souls are… well, they’re not the best looking creatures in the world. They look a lot like mummies.”
“The Death Walkers were hideous,” she points out, turning the page. “And they were all over the place before you killed them.”
I remember the monstrous beasts, with yellow eyes and skin like rotting corpses. “Good point.” I scoot beside her so I’m looking at the pages right side up. “You said they used to roam the world. So what happened to them?”
“The Keepers happened.” She fans through the pages, the edges of the paper grazing her hair. “They forced them back into The Afterlife and forbid the Queen to let anymore cross over. There was this little thing,” She holds her hand out to the side, snapping her fingers, considering something. “I think it was called a sigillum cristallum. It was a crystal they stole from The Afterlife and when they brought it here to the Human World, it stopped Lost Souls from crossing over. Of course, with a little help from Wicca magic.”
“What about the Queen?” I ask. “Has she ever stepped foot into the Human World?”
“Not that I know of,” Aislin replies, drumming her chin. “But it doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Why? Are you thinking about your dream?”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.” I skim my fingers along the page, filled with sketches of mummies, chains, and words of another language. “Is this a book about Lost Souls?”
“It’s the history of The Afterlife.” She turns to the next page. “It talks about the rise and fall of The Lost Souls and what they did when they walked the world.” Her finger browses the page. “They took possession of human bodies, ones with broken souls.”
“Alex’s soul isn’t broken, though,” I say.
“But it’s not normal either. It’s connected to yours, which could make it vulnerable to Lost Soul possession.”
“But wouldn’t it make mine vulnerable too?”
Her eyes rise to me and then land on my hand. “Do you feel strange? Like maybe your mind’s not your own?”
I think of the dream I had with Nicholas. But Aislin doesn’t know about that. “If you’re talking about the slap,” I say, cuddling my hand. “Then you should know he deserved it. He called me emotionally challenged.”
Her expression suspends in disbelief. “He actually said that to you? What a jerk. There’s definitely something going on with him.” She closes the book, tucks it under her arm, and gets to her feet. “Let me read through this and see if I can find anything that might tell us how to kick a Lost Soul out of a human body. If we can do it, then we’ll know if he’s possessed.”
I hope he is, otherwise those horrible words he spoke to me were his own. “What do I do in the meantime?” I ask as we advance up the stairs.
She unlocks the door. “You keep your distance from him. Otherwise someone’s going to end up hurt.” She pauses in the hallway, reaches into her pocket, and extracts a tiny clear marble. “If by chance something bad happens, take this and shove it in his ear.”
I hold the marble between my thumb and index finger. “What will happen to him?”
“Let’s hope you don’t have to find out,” she says with a thoughtful smile. “But I want you to be able to protect yourself from him. If he is possessed, we don’t know what he’s capable of.”
I sigh and hide the marble in my pocket, hoping she’s right and I don’t have to find out.
While Aislin is digging through the book, I head to get the Crystal of Limitation fixed. I want to take Laylen with me, but check with Aislin first, not wanting to create more conflict between the three of us. She agrees and sneaks into the library to avoid hanging out in her room with the closet full of sprites.
I slink into Alex’s room to acquire the crystal. He’s not there and relief washes over me. Until I notice the crystal’s missing from the bathroom counter. With my hands on my hips, I step back into the room, puzzled.
“Are you looking for this?” Alex obstructs the doorway, each of his hands cupping a broken piece of the teal crystal.
I eyeball the crystal, sensing an impending fight. “Yeah, can I have them please?”
He sets them down on the dresser. “If you want them, then go ahead and take them.”
I’m more than willing to accept his challenge. I march for the crystal, chin tipped high. Just as I anticipate, he barricades my path.
“You think I’d let you have it that easy?” He questions with a ridiculing curve of his eyebrow.
“No, but I was hoping.” My hand inches for the marble in my pocket. “But if you want to do it the hard way, then it’s fine with me.”
He rolls up his sleeves and grins wickedly. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Seriously?” I frown. “You want me to fight you?”
He shrugs. “It doesn’t really matter if you do. We both know how this is going to end. We’ve both experienced your fighting skills. Or lack of fighting skills I should say.”
Raging with fury, I charge, regretting it, but not being able to stop myself. He catches me effortlessly, reels me around, and pins me against him.
“See, point proven,” he whispers in my ear, his lips brushing my skin. “You can’t take me. You’re helpless.”
I kick him in the shin. He buckles over, moaning. My fingers fumble to retrieve the marble from my pocket. Just as I grasp it, he rams into me. We fall to the floor. Alex braces my head from slamming against the stone floor, a glimmer of hope that he still exists somewhere inside.
He lines his body over mine. “See, I told you I knew how this was going to end.”
My fingers grasp the marble. “I’m so sorry.”
His face contorts. “Sorry for what?”
I shove the marble into his ear. It sounds like a pinball machine as the marble rolls down his ear canal.
He swats his hand at his ear, like there’s a bug in it. “What’d you do to me? Gemma, what was that?” His head quivers erratically. “Gemma… please…”
I scoot from under him. He blinks furiously. I hug my legs to my chest as his hands and legs go limp. His eyes recede into the back of his head and his body crumples to the floor. I inch toward him, smooth his sweaty hair back, and check his neck for a pulse. His heart beats a consistent rhythm.
“Sorry,” I whisper. Then I heist the crystal halves and leave him alone in the room. I race to the library, a small room stacked with disordered bookshelves. A checkered rug spreads underneath two leather recliners that border a slim table. Aislin sits in one chair, her feet kicked up on another. The book containing the history of The Afterlife rests in her lap and she studies the pages.
“I had to use the marble,” I declare, taking a seat on the table.
She lowers her feet to the floor and sits up straight. “Already? Jeez, that was a lot quicker than I guessed.”
“He challenged me to a fight,” I say. “Winner takes these.” I hold up the two portions of the crystal ball. “He gave me no choice, really. But I still feel like a complete jerk. He’s passed out on the floor.”
“Just remember he’s not himself. In fact, if you start picturing him a lot like this, you’ll feel much better.” She raises the book and taps her finger on pictured of a man with a hole in his chest. Wisps of smoke follow the feet of a mummified corpse flying headfirst into the hole.
“I’m not sure if that helps.” Flabbergasted, I take the book and gape at the drawing. “How did I not see this happen?”
“Well, you said he felt the cut after you guys left that freaky windstorm,” she says. “So I’m guessing one followed you back and took over his body while he was alone.”
I run my finger along the hideous picture. “Does it happen to mention how a Lost Soul could get up to the Human World?”
She frowns and recaptures the book. “No, that’s what doesn’t make sense. It says here that they’ve been banished for hundreds of years and there are no reports of any returning.”
“But that book’s old,” I point out. “So maybe there have been, but they haven’t been reported in that book.
Aislin drums her fingers against her chin, pondering. “What we need is someone who understands The Afterlife… someone who understands death and the rules.”
I pull a face. “I think I know someone, but getting their help is going to be like pulling teeth.”
She sets the book on the table. “Who?”
“A certain faerie/foreseer that's been dead and has a connection because of his faerie blood. The Queen of The Afterlife is a Banshee, which is a type of faerie. Although, Nicholas insists all breeds of faerie hate him because he’s only half fey.”
“Yet, he’s helping Luna,” she notes. “So maybe he’s exaggerating a little.”
I laugh sarcastically. “Nicholas exaggerate? Never.”
She laughs with me. Then we shake our heads and sigh, wiping tears from our eyes.
“So what do you think?” She picks up her neon pink purse off the table. “Should we go torture him for information?”
“Might as well,” I say. “I have to get his help to use the Crystal of Limitation anyway. Nalina said I’m going to need the help of at least one other Foreseer who doesn’t mind bending the rules.”
“Why does it always go back to him?” She questions as we walk for the front door. She hangs her purse on the coatrack in the foyer. “I mean, doesn’t it seem like we always need his help when it comes to saving someone or something. It’s almost like he does it on purpose.”
I freeze with my hand on the handle of the front door. “You don’t think… nah, never mind.”
“What?” Aislin shuts the front door. We trek down the rocky path toward Laylen, who’s still working on Alex’s car in the driveway. “Just tell me what you were going to say.”
“It might be a really stupid thought, but do you think that Nicholas might have tampered with visions too? To, like, maybe wiggle his way into our lives? He always seems to be the one we have to go to and he always wants something in return for his help.”
She stops short of the base of the path. “Whoa. I’ve never thought of that. It couldn’t be possible. Could it? If he did, he’d be in the Room of Forbidden.”
“Yeah, good point.” I halt behind Laylen. “Like I said, it was a stupid thought.” But it bothers me.
“We’re on a mission,” Aislin says zealously to Laylen.
Laylen peers over his shoulder from below the hood. “What kind of a mission?”
“A save Alex, save my dad mission,” I explain. “We’re going to try to cross them both off in one shot.”
“Save Alex?” Laylen washes the grease off his hands with the bottom of his shirt, leaving long black streaks along the fabric. “Save him from what?”
“We think he might be possessed by a Lost Soul,” Aislin tells him.
“Is that why he’s acting like a total weirdo?” Laylen frowns and picks up a wrench. “I was wondering if something was wrong.”
“You noticed it too?” I ask and he nods. “Good, I’m glad I’m not the only one.”
“So we’re going to go pick up Nicholas,” Aislin says, pointing at the castle. “Alex is upstairs, sleeping in his room. He shouldn’t wake up for a while.”
“I don’t even want to know what you two did to him.” He chuckles, shaking his head. “You want me to come with you guys? It might be good to have some muscle to get Nicholas to agree.”
Aislin pops her knuckles. “We’re not helpless girls. I have my magic and Gemma, well she has herself. You know Nicholas has a thing for her.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that?” I ask, offended. “All he’s ever done is torture me.”
“But he always helps you. Always.” Laylen reminds me, tossing the wrench in the air and catching it. “And if I’m remembering right, wasn’t there a particular time when we caught him looking at you while you were—”
I cover his mouth, shushing him. “We promised never to talk about that again. Remember?”
His lips laugh against my palm. “Oh yeah, I forgot.”
“Nicholas loathes me and I loathe him. And that’s that.” I drop my hand away from his lips. “So we should get going. This is going to be so odd—I haven’t used my Foreseer power since…” I trail off, remembering the last vision I dipped into, right before Alex and I sacrificed our lives to save the world and each other. My heart compresses in my chest as my eyes drift to his bedroom window. He’s only been possessed for a few hours, but I miss him so much it hurts. “We should go. Laylen, will you keep an eye on him?”
He promises he will and Aislin and I are off. We journey a distance away from the Keepers’ castle since it’s bordered by praesidium, tiny lavender marbles that contain a power to prevent a Foreseer from entering the castle using teleportation. We stop at the shore of the lake, where the water unites with the dirt.
“This should be far enough.” I feel the mild hum of my power. “I’m going to take us into the City of Crystal, just outside his home. That way we can get a feel of things before we go barging in on him.” My line of vision moves to the castle, back to Alex.
“We’ll take him by surprise,” she jokes with an anxious laugh. “He’ll be okay, Gemma. We’ll get that Lost Soul out of him.”
“I sure hope so.” Because I feel lost without him.
I place my hand on her arm and seal my eyelids. The pull overtakes me as I envision the City of Crystal, the wavy patterns of rubies on the wall, the red icicles dangling from the charcoaled ceiling. I picture my feet on the translucent floor, the river flowing beneath it, carrying pieces of gold. I add a domed house carved out of snow-white crystal, the gemstone shingles, the glowing tree that decorates the glistening front yard. Then I put us there.
“That’s the weirdest thing,” Aislin remarks, impressed. “It’s nothing like transporting. We just go. No magic involved.”
I glide across the crystal floor, toward Nicholas’ house.
“What if he’s not here?” Aislin asks, sliding across the slippery ground. “We probably should have checked before we left.”
“We’re here now. So it doesn’t really matter.” I raise my fist to knock on the icy front door, but pull back. “Maybe we should check though the window or something first before we go in.”
“Good idea,” Aislin agrees. “We can take him by surprise for once.”
We skulk to the side of the house and hunch below a frosted window. I wipe it with the sleeve of my shirt, hoping he doesn’t see me. Then I sneak my head up. Inside is a bedroom with a single bed, a metallic trunk, and two wooden night stands. In the corner there is a tall mirror where Nicholas is admiring his reflection. Soft music vibrates from the stereo, the closet is open, and the faerie takes a white shirt from a hanger. He shucks off his red tee and replaces it with the white one. It’s a quick move, but I still spot an odd mark on his back; a black serpent spiraling up his spine, the head ending on his left shoulder blade.
“What does a serpent mark mean?” I hiss, lowering my head beneath the windowsill.
Aislin picks a glass petal from a flower and flicks it. “I didn’t know a mark like that existed.”
“Nicholas has one on his back.” I pop my head up. He’s got his back turned toward the mirror, his shirt rolled up so he can check out his butt. “So this is what the faerie does when he’s by himself. Why am I not surprised?”
Aislin’s face scrunches and she looks through the window. “Oh my God, he’s totally checking himself out.” She stifles a laugh. “And now he’s giving himself a speech on how sexy he is.”
I start to laugh, but remember we’re on a mission. I grab her sleeve and guide us to the front door.
“Knock? Or barge in on him?” My fist hovers in front of the door.
“Barge in.” She grins. “It’ll be more fun that way.”
I open the door. Nicholas’ house is just how I remember it; green walls, the hardwood floors trimmed by lavender marbles of praesidium. A living room is to the right of the entryway and a slender hallway stretches straight ahead.
“It smells like flowers in here,” Aislin pinches her nose as we tiptoe up the hall.
“It’s Nicholas,” I say. “He always radiates a flowery scent.” She giggles and I nudge her with my elbow, choking back a laugh.
The walls are ornamented with shelves and an arrangement of crystal balls balance on them; blue, orange, small, large. There is a painting of a field full of vines and yellow roses, and a woman who has the same sandy hair and golden eyes as Nicholas.
“Ouch! Damn it!” Aislin curses loudly, jumping up and down on one foot. “I stubbed my toe on the table leg.”
The music hushes.
“We’re so busted,” I say.
Aislin flashes me an apologetic look. “Sorry, but it hurt like a—”
“Well, well, well,” Nicholas taunts us with smile. He has the white shirt on, his sandy hair hanging in his golden eyes. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
“Aislin, are you ready to pull some teeth?” I ask with my eyes locked on Nicholas.
“You couldn’t stay away from me.” He places a hand on his heart in a touching gesture. “It was seeing me at the castle, wasn’t it? You forgot how good looking I was, didn’t you?”
“One thing’s for sure.” Aislin snorts a laugh. “You sure haven’t.”
I cover my mouth, masking a grin. “We need your help with something… a project with a crystal and some information about The Afterlife.”
He struts down the hall until he’s invading my personal space, eyes glinting, his lips pressing, his floral scent stinking up my nostrils. “Why is it you always need my help?”
“You tell me?” I counter. “I’m starting to find it a little strange.”
He leans in, his breath hot on my cheek. “If you’re trying to imply something, you need to come out and say it. I don’t have all day to figure it out.”
I gently push him out of my face. “I need your help with freeing my dad.”
He rolls his eyes. “That’s the stupidest statement you could make. Your dad’s in the Room of Forbidden. And I’ve already told you there’s no way to free him.”
“I have the Crystal of Limitation,” I say. “I just need some aid from another Foreseer willing to break the laws. And you seem to fit that bill very well.”
He feigns insult. “When did I ever break the rules? Yes, I might have questionable morals, but rule breaker doesn’t fit my style.”
Aislin cups her hand around my ear and whispers, “Bat your eyelashes at him.”
I shake her off. “Would you please just help me… please?” I’m on the verge of begging, and I don’t like giving the faerie that much power.
“What’s in it for me?” He licks his lips, his expression questioning.
“What do you want?” I ask, irritation evading my tone.
He grins and his hands dart to my hips. “I think the question is what do you want?”
I stomp on his toes. “Don’t ever touch me again.”
He winces, his jaw clenched, his golden eyes flaming. “I ought to make you pay for that. In fact, I will, by not helping you.”
I glance at Aislin for help and she nods.
“Transire nunc!” Rays of silver and violet stream from her hand. Nicholas starts to run, but slips on the rug and stumbles to the floor. Magic swirls to the ceiling and dives like a bird right into his stomach. He gags, his skin tinting green. His head thuds backward and his eyes roll back.
“Remind me never to piss you off,” I say to Aislin, standing over the unconscious faerie. “The problem is, now we have to tow him across the yard—I can’t foresee us out of here.”
Aislin raises her hand cleverly and waggles her fingers. “I can take care of that. Movere eum deinceps.” Nicholas soars upward and levitates down the hall. She snaps her fingers and the door flies open, rocking the house. His body descends outside, landing in the center of the icy yard.
“Again, remind me never to piss you off,” I say, and dash outside. “You know he’s going to be a problem when he wakes up. We might have to do something about that.”
She beams and we hurry to Nicholas. I station a hand on Aislin’s arm and prod my foot against Nicholas’ leg. I visualize the Keepers’ castle, the grey stones, the peaking towers, the trees embellishing the clear lake. But I don’t feel the pull. I try again, but my head aches in response.
I open my eyes. “Something’s wrong.” My hand falls from Aislin’s arm. “I can’t feel my power.”
Our gazes zip around the crystal area.
“Is there any praesidium lying around?” she asks.
I’m alert of the absence of power in my veins. “It’s not that.” I circle around Nicholas, biting at my thumbnail. “It’s something with him; something about him is blocking me.”
“Maybe he has praesidium on him?” She shrugs.
I raise my eyebrows. “You want to do the honors?” She shakes her head and I sigh. I squat down and pat his pockets. “Nothing. But there’s…” The current zaps me like a finger to an outlet. I’m joggled back and I bash my tailbone against the crystal ground. Snakes crawl over my skin or underneath my skin. I can’t tell.
“Get them off me!” I scream, clawing at my skin. “Aislin! Help!”
Aislin’s eyes snap wide and she stutters, “Gemma, get what off you? I can’t tell what you’re looking at.”
I throw up my arms, showing her the lines slithering under my skin. “I hate snakes! Please!” I thrust my legs. “Get them off!”
She gapes, baffled, her arms hanging to the side. “Gemma, there’s nothing on you.”
I scrape at my skin and droplets of red drip onto the crystal below.
Aislin seizes my hands and crouches down. “Stop scratching. There’s nothing there. Something’s just making you hallucinate. Now, relax and try again.”
Snakes are everywhere, sucking on my blood. But I shut my eyes, forcing past the crawling sensation. Again, I picture the castle, the lake, the trees, the cars. I breathe deep, pushing my mind through the block. A pop. We’re falling not to the castle, but into darkness, a suffocating hole with no bottom in sight.
We’re falling into the unknown.