I scowled at him. “Let’s just get this over with.”
He stepped toward me, never taking his eyes off of me, and it took a lot of effort on my part not to back away from him. Laylen walked toward the doorway, looking really uncomfortable with the situation. And that was okay. The less people watching this painful scene, the better. Because kissing a half-faerie—the only other guy I’ve kissed besides Alex—in front of Laylen and Alex was absolutely mortifying. I wished they would just leave the room, but instead Laylen leaned back against the trim of the doorway, folded his arms across his chest, and stared out into the foyer. And Alex…well, he went over and punched a hole into the wall.
I shook my head and took a deep breath as Nicholas leaned in.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the kiss. Honestly, I expected a little more than what happened. I mean, it wasn’t like Nicholas was hard on the eyes or anything, just a little weird and annoying. But as his lips brushed against mine, all I felt was…nothing. I felt absolutely nothing. In fact, it made me feel empty, like it was all wrong, and I needed to fix it somehow.
Weird.
I let Nicholas finish his one-sided kiss and then he pulled away, licking his lips.
“Okay,” I said, jumping right down to business. “Now get us the crystal and show us how to use it.”
Nicholas considered this with a sly look on his face. “The thing is there’s a slight problem with your plan. Yeah, the Ira can take you into The Underworld, without having to go through the whole process of being dragged down into the lake by the Water Fey. However, it also takes a very strong Foreseer to channel enough energy to use the Ira crystal. And I’m not that powerful yet.”
“So where can we find a Foreseer who has enough power,” I asked, trying to stay calm, something which Alex wasn’t trying to do—I could tell by the look on his face.
“You can’t,” Nicholas said. “At least probably not one that will actually help you do it.” He paused. “See the thing with Foreseers is that not a whole lot of people like us because we can practically see anything—good or bad. We can go to places where most can’t go, like The Underworld. And so when we do show up in The Underworld unannounced, it pisses the Queen off. And no one likes being around a pissed off Queen, especially a Queen who likes to torture people so her Water Faeries can feed off of the fear. So most Foreseers are unwilling to help another Foreseer go there.”
I felt like I was being choked. “Are you sure there’s absolutely no one that will.”
He shook his head. “Nope. There’s not.”
Okay, now I was pissed. He just tricked me into believing there was a way just so I would kiss him. Stupid faerie. “You know what? I think I’ll let Alex and Laylen take over from where they left off before the kiss.”
“Great,” Alex said, looking a little too happy about it. He along with Laylen started to corner Nicholas again.
“Okay, Okay,” Nicholas said, surrendering with his hands out in front of him “There might be a way…but it will take some time.”
“How much time?” Alex asked, still moving for him.
“A few weeks, maybe a few months,” Nicholas said with his back up against the wall. “It really all depends on Gemma.”
“On me.” I pointed at myself. “Why would it depend on me?”
“Well, I think if there were two Foreseers, then we might have enough power to use an Ira to go into The Underworld.”
Alex and I exchanged a look, and then Alex said to Nicholas, “How sure are you that it’ll work.”
“If she trains enough and builds up her power, then it should work,” Nicholas said looking—for once—like he was telling the truth.
Alex glanced at Laylen and Laylen shrugged. “It’s your call.”
Alex looked back at Nicholas. “You’ll train her here.” It wasn’t a question.
He nodded. “I’ll bring the Ira ball back with me after I’ve dropped you off at the City of Crystal to make good on the promise you broke to Dyvinius—something I can’t get you out of, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t.”
“Fine,” Alex agreed. “Take me to the City of Crystal to pay my debt. And while I’m gone, you’ll get Gemma ready to use the Ira.”
“Alright,” Nicholas said and slipped from his pocket the ruby-filled crystal ball that would take Alex and him to the City of Crystal. “Let’s go then.” He balanced the ball in the palm of his hand and held it out in front of Alex.
“Just one second before we take off” Alex said to Nicholas. Then he turned to me, giving me this strangest look ever.
“What?” I asked, confused.
Still looking at me weirdly, he leaned in toward me.
I wasn’t sure what he was going to do at first—kiss me? Yeah, that thought flashed through my head until I realized that he was heading for my ear not my lips.
“Make sure and be careful around Nicholas.” His breath was electric against my ear, and I had to try very hard not to gasp. “Faeries are tricky. He’ll twist things around and try to confuse you if you’re not careful.”
So you’re a faerie, too, I thought, but aloud I said, “Okay, I will.”
“And whatever you do, don’t take the necklace off,” Alex added, before stepping away from me. He went back over to Nicholas, who was waiting impatiently with the ruby-filled crystal ball in his hand. “And Nicholas,” Alex said, his hand extended toward the ball, but not touching it yet.
What?” Nicholas’s tone was mildly tolerant.
“I want you to remember one thing,” Alex said, his voice sharper than I’d ever heard. “Try anything, and I mean anything like what you just pulled with Gemma while I’m gone and you’ll have to deal with two very powerful witches and a vampire who are more than willing to protect her.”
“Whatever,” Nicholas said, but looked a little worried.
Alex didn’t say anything else. He placed his hand on the crystal ball, and in a blink-of-a-second later he was gone.
Chapter 10
Why did Alex make me feel this way? Why was he the only guy who could steal my breath away? Make my knees weak? Yet, at the same time, drive me absolutely insane?
After Alex and Nicholas took off to The City of Crystal, I was left with this horrid feeling of loneliness in the pit of my stomach; loneliness that always seemed to show up whenever Alex left me. I felt cursed by this feeling that tied me to a guy who had lied, been rude, and tried to control me. But for now, I guess I was bound to it, until I could figure out what was causing this electric bond between us. Something that I was hoping my mother might know about.
As Laylen and I sat on the purple velvet sofa, waiting for Nicholas to return, I decided to tell him what I’d seen in the vision—see if he knew anything about a vision filled with bright light.
But after I’d finished explaining to him what I’d seen, Laylen looked about as puzzled as I felt.
“I have no idea what that could mean,” Laylen said, sweeping his blue tipped bangs out of his eyes. “A bright light—that’s all you saw?”
I nodded. “And then Nicholas showed up and when I told him what I was seeing, he said my future was dead.”
Laylen’s face twisted with confusion. “I have no idea, Gemma. I really don’t. But…I really wouldn’t worry about it too much. I mean, there’s a chance that Nicholas could have been messing with your head.”
I nodded, but I still felt uneasy. I tried to think of something else, but all my brain wanted to do was think about Alex. Stupid brain. And it wouldn’t stop, it just kept going and going until…I remembered.
Alex.
Alex and I.
My memories were flashing back to me. Not all of them, but some. Alex and I picking flowers in a field; watching other Keepers practice sword fighting; playing, having fun, smiling.
“Gemma what’s wrong?” Laylen’s voice was only a glitch in my head.
My voice was soft, barely audible. “I can remember some stuff…about my childhood…about Alex and I being friends.”
“You remember? Like actually remember?”
I nodded. “They’re real memories. And I can feel how I felt when I was there.”
“Hurry, try to remember other things too,” Laylen said encouragingly. “See if you can remember what happened before they took your emotions away—if anything was said that might tell us what Stephan is really planning to do with the star.”
“Okay.” I closed my eyes, concentrating on my thoughts that were floating back to me. The feelings I’d felt during them, the prickle making the connection. But no memories contained Stephan. Just Alex. Alex and I. Alex…
My eyes shot open, and for a moment, I just stood there, unable to react because…well, because it had happened again. I’d made myself go into a vision. God, what did I look like to Laylen? Was I just sitting there with my eyes closed? Or had I fell out of the chair and onto the floor?
I shook my head. This was getting out of hand. If I didn’t figure out how to control this power of mine, one day I was going to slip into a vision at the worse time possible. Like say when I was driving or something.
I shook my head. That was a scary thought.
Deciding I should focus on the vision, I pushed that thought aside. I was standing in a forest thick with trees, where I caught a glimpse of the tip of a grey stone castle peaking through spaces between the trees. I knew I had to be the forest that surrounded the lake—the lake that was the entrance to The Underworld.
It was bright outside, the sky a clear blue. As I started to move through the trees, heading for the castle, I wondered what I was supposed to see. Perhaps something with Stephan? Although, I sure hoped it wasn’t the vision of my mother being forced into The Underworld. I had seen that more times than I ever wanted to.
But as a cool breeze swept through my hair and kissed at my cheeks, the impulse to head to the castle drifted away, and I found myself suddenly heading in the opposite direction, deeper into the forest.