“Gemma,” Alex started to say.
“I don’t want to hear it,” I told him. “She’ll wake up. I know she will.” Then I stood up and headed back to my mom.
She looked dead. I wasn’t even going to try and sugarcoat it because that’s how she looked. She lay in a bed with her eyes shut. Her veins were a dark purplish-blue against her pale skin. The rise and fall of her chest was the only thing that let me know she was still alive.
“Mom,” I whispered, staring down at her. The prickle traced down my neck, and suddenly the word “mom” didn’t seem so awkward. “Mom,” I said louder, tears soaking my eyes “Mom.”
And then I was falling down on the bed next to her, crying. And I cried until I fell asleep.
When I woke up, dawn was hitting the windows. The ocean’s waves were swishing outside, and the house was silent. My eyes felt puffy and swollen, and I wondered how long I had been crying before I fell asleep. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
“Gemma.”
Her voice scared the crap out of me, and I fell out of the bed.
“Ow,” I said, rubbing my elbow as I got back to my feet.
My mom was sitting up in the bed, staring at me in alarm. “Are you alright?”
I nodded at her, giving her the same look of alarm. “Are you alright?”
She swallowed hard and then started coughing. “I think I need some water.”
“Okay, I’ll go get you some,” I told her.
I quickly went into the kitchen, took a glass out of the cupboard, and flipped on the faucet. While I was filling up a cup of water, I thought I heard someone move up behind me, and I nearly screamed at the top of my lungs when I turned and came face to face with a very tall, blue-eyed, blond-haired vampire/Keeper.
“Holy crap.” I pressed my hand to my racing heart. “You just about scared me to death.”
“Sorry,” he apologized like it was his fault I was so jumpy. He had on a pair of jeans and a dark red t-shirt, so I was guessing he had been awake for awhile “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay…” I glanced around the kitchen. “What are you doing?”
He shrugged, looking so sad it made my heart hurt. “I don’t know…I heard someone get up, so I came to check who it was.”
“Oh.” I shut off the faucet. “I didn’t wake you up, did I?”
He shook his head. “I was already awake.”
“So is my mom,” I told him, excitedly.
“Is she…okay?”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to go find out.” I headed to leave, but stopped at the doorway. “You want to come with me?”
“Wouldn’t you rather go wake up Alex,” Laylen said, still standing over by the sink. “I’m sure he has a ton of questions for her.”
I had a ton of questions for her, but I needed to make sure she was alright before I started bombarding her with them, which was exactly why I wasn’t going to go wake up Alex. “I’d rather you come.”
“Okay.” He nodded and followed me out of the kitchen.
During our thirty second walk to my mom, I asked Laylen how things had been while Alex and I were gone. He told me they had been fine—that everything was fine—but I could tell that they weren’t. He seemed really unfocused. I decided that a little later I would ask Aislin how he had been while we were gone. But first, I needed to check on my mother.
She wasn’t in the bed when we entered the room. She was out on the deck, staring out at the ocean. I carefully approached her, the floorboards creaking underneath my weight, but she didn’t turn around.
I came to a stop beside her and handed her the cup of water. She took a few swallows and set the glass on the railing. I waited for her to say something, but all she did was look out at the ocean with a lost expression on her face.
“Mom,” I said, concerned she might have slipped into a state of shock again.
My mother turned and looked at me. Then her eyes moved to Laylen. “Laylen…is that you?”
He stepped up beside me. “Yeah, it’s me.”
She smiled, but it looked wrong, like she had to work really hard to make the corners of her mouth curve upward. “You’ve grown up so much.” She looked at me, and in the brightness of the rising sun, I could see her eyes held a deep sorrow in them. “And you…” she burst into tears, alarming me. “You’re—You’re still…” she trailed off, thinking about something as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. Then she let out a sigh. “You’re still you.”
I wasn’t sure what to tell her—that I wasn’t still me, but someone trying to figure out how to be me. But I was afraid saying this might break her heart, and she already looked really broken.
“So what’s been going on,” she asked and took another sip of water, “while I’ve been gone.”
What happened? That was the million dollar question, wasn’t it? I took a deep breath and started to explain.
***
I tried my best to get everything right and fill her in on everything that had happened. There was so much though, and truthfully, I really didn’t know much. But I told her everything I knew. I told her about my lifeless years and how the prickle came and freed me. I told her about the Death Walkers and how Stephan was working with them. How he had the Mark of Malefiscus and how he put the mark on Nicholas. I explained to her my special Foreseer gift and the visions I saw. And even though I didn’t want to, I gave her the details of how Stephan had tried to take it all away from me again. And how the locket—the locket she gave me—had saved me.
She took it all in, processing my every word. When I struggled with certain details, Laylen jumped in and aided me through them. We also had to explain to her what Laylen was, even though it really didn’t have anything to do with any of this. But I felt like she should know everything—after being trapped in a place of death and fear for as long as she had.
When I was done, she sat there in silence. We were still out on the deck. The sun was beaming down. The ocean was roaring and people were out on the beach, splashing and playing in the salty water without a care in the world.
They were lucky—not having to know the dangers that were out there.
“Gemma,” my mom said after I finished talking. “I’m so sorry.” She reached over and tentatively took my hand. I could feel her pulse racing through her touch. “I’m so sorry you had to go through this.”
I swallowed hard, feeling my insides lurch. “It’s not your fault…I—I know you tried to protect me.”
She shook her head. “I should have tried harder.”
I didn’t want her to feel responsible. She did what she could—I watched her do it. Before I could try to convince her, it wasn’t her fault, though, she said, “I need to talk to Alex.”
“Alex,” I gave her a quizzical look. “Why do you need to talk to him?”
“Because,” she looked at Laylen then back at me. “I need all of you here—including Aislin—before I can explain what I know about what’s going on.” When I still looked at her strangely, she added, “I need all of you here, because what I’m about to tell you involves all of you. Each of you plays a part in it.”
“Plays a part in what?” I asked. “Stephan trying to open the portal.”
“Oh, Gemma.” My mom shook her head exhaustedly. “There is so much more to Stephan’s plan than just opening a portal and releasing the Death Walkers.”
Chapter 39
You know those moments where time seems to stop? Well, I was having one of those moments right now. Laylen, my mom, and I sat there as the words my mother had just said sunk in. Laylen had been right when he said that my mother probably knew things, but I’d never expected her to say there was a lot more to Stephan’s plan than just opening the portal, or that she would say all of us played a part in whatever Stephan was planning to do. I’d always assumed it was just me.
Me and the star.
I guess I was wrong.
Laylen got to his feet and told us he would go wake up Aislin and Alex. Then, he left my mother and I sitting out on the deck alone. For awhile, neither of us spoke. We just sat there, listening to people laughing out on the beach.
“So, how have you been really?” she finally asked. “And don’t say okay, because I know it’s not true.”
“I don’t know…” I said, searching my mind for a way to change the subject. “I don’t get something. Why was I able to undo what Sophia did to me…when she detached my soul, I mean.”
“That’s a question I can’t answer just yet,” she said, tilting her head up toward the sun. “I will, though, just as soon as everyone gets here.”
“Okay.” Not the answer I was expecting, but it worked.
Laylen returned seconds later with a very sleepy-eyed Aislin and Alex. Alex and Ailsin each grabbed a chair and dragged it to where my mother and I sat, and Laylen hopped up and took a seat on the railing.
Aislin was the first to speak, seeming kind of nervous. “Jocelyn, I can’t believe you’re here…It’s just so…” She looked like she was going to burst into tears
My mom, despite the fact she had been locked away in The Underworld, still possessed motherly instincts and reached over and placed a hand on Aislin’s hand. “It’s okay. I’m alright. Everything’s alright.”
I highly doubted that was true. In fact, I was fairly sure my mom was about to drop a not-all-right bomb on us here pretty soon.
Alex seemed less tolerant toward Aislin’s emotional behavior, and I even caught him rolling his eyes.
“So, Laylen said there was something you wanted to tell us?” he asked impatiently.
My mother nodded. “There is. But I need you to tell me what you know first. Gemma’s already told me what she knows, but I think you might know a little more.”