He rakes his fingers through his soaked hair, splashing droplets of water all over the place. “Yes, I’ve been hiding the Crystal of Limitation. But it was for a good reason. I didn’t want you to use it.”
“That wasn’t your choice to make,” I fume. “I’m the Foreseer. It’s my dad. Therefore, it’s my decision.”
He tightens the towel on his waist. “It’s dangerous. The amount of energy you’d have to channel… it could kill you.”
“Again, not your decision. You always do this. You hide things because you think you’re helping me, when all you’re doing is hurting me. Do you know how crazy it drives me, knowing my dad is trapped in his own head and I can’t do anything about it?”
“I understand more than you think,” he mutters, dazing off, then blinking back into focus. “And what’s so wrong with me wanting to protect you? What’s wrong with wanting to protect the one you love? You handed over your soul to keep me alive.”
I cross my arms. “And vice-versa.”
“Exactly.” He confines my face in his hands. “That’s why you should understand. I didn’t want you searching for that kind of power. Not after we just got rid of it.”
I huff out a furious breath. “It doesn’t matter now because the damn thing’s broken.”
I escape from his hands and fume out the door. This time he lets me go. I bang on Laylen’s door. I keep hammering my fist against it until it flies open.
Laylen’s eyes are wide with shock. “What’s the matter?”
I slip by him and he shuts the door. There are clothes all over the bed and hangers spilling out of the closet. I pace the floor, anger raging. He watches me, not daring to ask until I’ve calmed down.
“I can’t believe he’s been lying this whole time,” I finally say. “All this time it’s been hiding down there and he knew. He knew!”
Laylen rubs his face, confused. “Gemma, I know you’re mad, but would you mind explaining to me what’s going on? Because I’m really lost.”
“Alex had the Crystal of Limitation down in the basement the whole time. And now it’s broken.”
He catches my arm. “Are you sure he knew it was there?”
I nod vehemently. “He just admitted it. He said it took too much energy to use it and he didn’t want me going to look for that kind of power.”
“That wasn’t his decision to make.” Laylen releases me. “But still, I can kind of understand where he’s coming from. He was just trying to protect you.”
“Then he should have just told me that to begin with.”
“Yeah, but you know how he is. He always keeps stuff like that to himself, thinking he’s doing everyone a favor.”
I calm down a little. “I know, but I wish he’d stop.”
“Then you should talk to him about it,” Laylen suggests, scooting the hangers into the closet. “Talking helps.”
“Have you talked to Aislin yet?” I ask. “Now that Alex knows about Nalina, it’s not a secret anymore.”
“I told her, but she’s still pissed.” He frowns. “She said she’s sick of you and me keeping little secrets.”
“I’m sorry.” I exhale loudly. “This is my fault. I never should have asked you to do any of this.”
“What’s done is done.” Laylen pulls a leather jacket out of the closet. “So we might as well go see what Nalina knows. Perhaps she knows something we haven’t thought of yet.”
“Good idea.” I head for the door. “But we’re going alone.”
He laughs, putting on the jacket. “I figured as much.”
We hurry down stairs and out the door, stepping into the night. We hop into his black GTO and the engine revs, reminding me that Alex’s car is still stuck out in the field. I pat my pocket, checking that I have my cellphone. When I cool off, I’ll call him and make sure he didn’t wander out there by himself.
As we drive down the road, I glance back at the castle. The interior lights glow from the tower. I swear I see Alex standing near the window, watching us leave with his hand pressed to the window, waving an eternal good-bye. I turn away, shoving the voice away that whispers a fearful thought to me: I might never see him again.
Chapter 6
“Okay, so I’m a super powerful Foreseer, who can read visions of the past and future and this is where I choose to live?” Inside the safety of Laylen’s GTO, I observe the dreary Victorian house with broken shutters and a concaved front deck. “It’s like straight out of the Adam’s Family.”
Laylen starts whistling the theme song as we climb out of the car. The night air is chilly and dogs bark from behind the neighbor’s chain link fence. Our shoes crunch the gravel path and creak up the stairs.
“You want to do the honors?” Laylen signals at the door. “Or should I?”
“This is my thing, so I’ll do it.” I bang my fist on the door. The porch light falls off one hinge and wobbles to the side. “Why do we always end up going to places where the houses are falling apart? Why can’t anyone live in a normal place, like in a cul-de-sac?”
A large man shouts at another man from a small house across the street. We watch as they get in each other’s face, fist tightening, as they prepare for a smack down.
“Because its places like this that no one wants to come looking for you.” The voice startles us.
Our eyes dart to the now open front door. An older woman with grey hair and unwelcoming eyes fills the doorway. She wears a simple black pantsuit and around her neck, a gold chain threads a red teardrop pendant.
“Are you Nalina?” Laylen inquires in a polite tone.
“I wondered how long it’d be until you found me,” she says to me with an exhausted sigh.
Laylen and I trade perplexed looks. “Do you know me?” I ask.
She doesn’t answer, strolling away and leaving the door open. I dither momentarily and then enter the house. The floorboards squeak under my feet and a light flickers above. I follow Nalina into the kitchen. A bright light filters through the tiny room packed with an oval table and four chairs. On the antique stove a kettle boils, steaming the air.
“You want some tea?” she asks, fiddling with the teardrop pendant.
“No thanks,” I decline, concerned it could be poisoned.
Laylen and I take a seat at the table, while she pulls out three cups and pours us all teas anyway. She sets the steaming cups in front of us. They’re yellow, with tiny handles, and mine has a chip along the rim.
She drops into the chair and stirs her tea. “So you found me.”
“That depends.” I scoot the cup away and rest my elbows on the table. “Are you Nalina?”
She wipes the spoon on the lip of the cup. “I’m Nalina, ex-Foreseer and Dyvinius’ step-sister.”
“Ex-Foreseer?” Laylen and I say at the same time.
“My power was stripped from me,” she explains, heavy-hearted. “I can’t see visions anymore or have anything to do with them.”
I wipe the tears from my eyes produced by the heat of the tea. “Why, though? What did you do?”
She shakes her head, irritated. “Who says I did anything? You’re a Foreseer. You should know how their world works. One minute you’re in charge and the next you’re at the bottom of the barrel.”
My phone beeps from inside my pocket. Alex. I silence it. “Not really. I’m new to the Foreseer thing.” I pause. “Yet, you know about me?”
“I do.” She’s being vague and I question if we might have another Nicholas on our hands. She sips her tea and I notice the Foreseer’s mark coiling the back of her hand. “You’re Gemma Lucas, ex-star, current Foreseer, trying to free her father from an impossible place to escape.”
“How do you know all of this?” Laylen asks, pushing up the sleeves of his leather jacket.
“How does anyone know anything about someone?” she asks, her grey eyes locked on me. “Because they know them.”
“You don’t know me,” I protest, my senses hyperaware. “And I don’t know you. I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
“That you remember,” she says, implying that she knows my memory was once erased.
I push back from the table and Laylen follows my lead. “Look, I don’t know who you are or what you know about me, but you’re wrong.”
She quickly places her hand on mine in a comforting gesture. “Relax, and let me explain.”
I sink into the chair, but Laylen stays on his feet. A gap of silence ticks by, occupied by outside noises of yelling, barking, and a lot of thumping.
“You better start explaining.” Laylen taps on the face of his watch.
“My name is Nalina,” she discloses. “I'm Nalina Moraura, step-daughter of Naem Moraura and the biological daughter of Nalini and Julias Lucas.”
“W-what,” I stammer. “Then that means…”
“That means I’m your aunt,” she says simply.
“Holy Jesus,” Laylen breathes, gradually lowering into the chair.
I take in her features, the shade of her eyes, not quite violet, but the grey does have a hint of purple in it.
“I didn’t know I had—have an aunt.” I find my voice.
“You don’t know a lot of things about your life, Gemma.” She sips her tea. “Just because you stopped the world from ending, doesn’t mean your past catches up to you. Your mind’s still missing pieces. You know that.”
“And you know that.” I’m still shocked. “But I don’t understand how.”
She twists her grey hair in a bun on the back of her head and secures it in a knot. “I’ve been in hiding for a while. But like you, I like to pay little visits to places I don’t belong.”