“Have you seen the life we live,” Alex told me. “Trapdoors are a must.” He raised the trapdoor open and shined the light down into the hole.
I was astonished by how small it was inside. “Are we going to be able to fit?”
He rubbed the back of his neck tensely. “I can find someplace else to hide.”
Nope. Not going down that road again. “No, we can fit,” I assured him and lowered myself into the hole.
It was small. Really, really small. But we managed to squish ourselves into it and with some maneuvering Alex managed to lower the door and get the rug to flop over it.
“Your dad doesn’t know where this is, right?” I whispered.
“No,” he whispered back, his breath hot on my face. “And I doubt he’ll even come in here. I mean, why would he?”
We were laying on our sides, face to face, our legs and arms pressed together. If this wasn’t crossing a line, I don’t know what was. If we stayed down here for too long, we would kill each other for sure.
Alex turned off the flashlight and everything went dark.
“How do we know when he leaves?” I asked quietly. “And what if he doesn’t?”
Alex didn’t answer and I knew I worried him. He shifted his body, pressing his legs harder against mine. “Sorry,” he said, inching them away.
It was growing so electric, I swear, at any moment we were going to turn all ‘glow-in-the-dark-like.’
“Maybe we should get out and try to make a run for it,” Alex suggested. “Hop out a window or something.”
“But if he sees us leaving—”
Alex threw his hand over my mouth. “Shhh….”
I held my breath, my pulse racing as I heard the soft thud of boot’s moving across the floor. A click—probably the light turning on. The boots paused right above of us and it was so quiet that I didn’t dare breath. The only thing I was grateful for was the fact that the air hadn’t chilled, so that meant no Death Walkers were nearby. It was only Stephan, but what was he doing. All I could hear was some fumbling around and then he would stand silently. This went on for quite some time, but then finally, the thudding of boots were heading away from us and toward the door. There was a pause and then the door clicked shut.
Neither of us moved. I think we were too afraid he was still in the room; that he knew we were hiding and was trying to trick us to come out. And maybe that’s why we stayed in there longer than we probably should have. The electricity kept buzzing and buzzing and I found myself wanting to reach out and touch Alex’s face. I was actually starting to feel a little weak, when Alex moved his mouth right next to my ear and whispered, “Stay put. I’ll be right back.”
If I had learned anything at all, stay put meant stay put. So I let him climbed out of the hiding spot to go check on things. Although, I wasn’t going to lie and say I wasn’t worried, especially when I heard the sounds of footsteps thumping against the floorboards above me. They paused for a few moments, and I waited for Stephan to throw open the door and say: ‘Ah! I found you.’
But it was Alex’s face that appeared when the trapdoor lifted open. I handed him the book and his mom’s journal, and then heaved myself out.
“Do you think he knew someone was here?” I asked.
Alex shook his head, his forehead creasing over with puzzlement. “I don’t think so…But why did he come here…and in my room?” He glanced around the room, his eyes landing on the top dresser drawer, which was open.
Alex handed me the flashlight and dug around inside the drawer. “Why would he…I don’t get it?”
“What’s missing?” I asked, pointing the flashlight at the inside of the drawer.
He shook his head. “My mirror.”
“Like your make-up mirror,” I joked and then pressed my lips together when he gave me a dirty look. “Sorry.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s just…I don’t get it—why did he take it?”
“Was there something special about the mirror?” I asked.
He shut the drawer. “I don’t know…I got it from a witch, who told me it would show me my future if I looked in it, but it was a bunch of crap because every time I looked in it all I saw was light.”
I dropped the flashlight. “You saw what?”
“Light.” He picked up the flashlight and shined it in my eyes. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I blinked against the bright light. “But maybe your father’s worried that we changed the future and he thought this mirror would show him.”
“Maybe…” Alex looked at me strangely, knowing there was something else wrong.
“We should probably go in case he comes back.” I started for the door, figuring he would argue, but he didn’t.
Alex was right—my Mitsubishi did make it off the hill. After a little bit of backing up, and some spinning of the tires, we were driving down the road. Alex hadn’t said a word since we had left his house. And that was okay. I was too distracted by what he had told me about the light. I worried that there might be a connection there, between what he saw in the mirror and what I kept seeing repeatedly every time my eyes closed.
I started reading through the pages of the Foreseer’s book. The first few chapters were pretty boring, but then I stumbled onto something interesting.
The Room of Forbidden: A desolate place where no soul lives except the seer that committed the crime. In the Room of Forbidden, the seer will spend an eternity alone. No one can enter the Room of Forbidden, for the room exists only in the seer’s mind.
“The Seer’s mind,” I didn’t mean to say it out loud.
“What?” Alex cast a quick glance at me, somewhat distracted.
“It’s nothing.” I waved him off. But I couldn’t understand how my dad was stuck in a room inside his own head. And that I was in there once.
I shivered and went back to my reading.
The power of a Foreseer’s mind: The Foreseer’s mind is one of the most powerful tools. In fact, some of the more powerful Foreseers are able to push their minds to see what they need to see in times of great need.
Push the mind to see what it needs to see in times of great need? Hmmm…I wondered how that one worked. I turned the page, hoping for detailed instructions, but the only thing there was a drawing of a person with an eye on the center of their forehead. I touched my finger to my forehead, wondering what it meant.
I went on skimming through the pages, looking for the words “purple” or “flame,” but by the time Alex pulled in the driveway, I still hadn’t found a mention of either.
Alex killed the engine and turned to me. “Hey, can we keep what happened back at the house a secret? I don’t want to worry Aislin more than she already is…she’s been really stressed out lately.”
I actually thought this was a good idea. “Yeah, I’ll keep it to myself.”
He gave me a small smile and we went inside the house. Aislin was sitting at the kitchen table, a bunch of herbs and leaves scattered in front of her, along with a few candles.
“Did you get the book?” She asked as soon as we stepped over the threshold.
I nodded, lifting up the Foreseers book. “Yep, we got it.”
“Run into any problems?” She was distracted with her herbs and didn’t notice when I glanced at Alex.
“No, everything went fine.” Alex slipped off his jacket and hung it on the back of the chair. Then he sat the box of herbs that we had picked up from Aislin’s room onto the table “Did you run into any problems here?”
She shook her head, turning a page of the book she was reading. “Everything’s fine. Jocelyn’s asleep, and Laylen’s showing Aleesa what a TV is.”
I slid down into a chair at the table. “What are you doing with all this stuff?” I picked up a red and green leaf and turned it in my fingers.
“I am trying to finger out a spell that will remove the mark.” She turned the page of the book.
I put the leaf back on the table. “Is that the book you…borrowed from Medea’s?”
“Um…yeah.” She peered up at me with a guilty smile.
I thought about her room and when I saw her shoplift. There seemed to be more to Aislin then what I had originally thought.
“You got that book from Medea’s.” Alex picked up the book and turned it to the back cover.
Aislin tried to grab it back, but Alex moved it behind his back. “I don’t think you should be doing any spells from this thing,” he said. “If it’s from Medea’s store.”
“It’s just something she was selling, Alex.” Aislin held out her hand impatiently. “Now give it back.”
Alex shook his head. “No, not until you promise me you won’t do any of the spells in it.”
“Fine,” she agreed, but I had a feeling she was lying. “Now give it back.”
He handed the book back to her, and she sat it on her lap. She reached over and grabbed the box of herbs and starting digging through it.
I let out a yawn, and my eyelids suddenly felt very heavy. “I’m going to bed,” I said.
Alex glanced up at the clock. “It’s pretty early for bed.”
“Yeah, but it’s been a long day that used a lot of my energy.” I gave him a pressing look so he would understand what I meant. Our little trapdoor incident had drained me dry and I was actually starting to feel some consequences.
“Well, goodnight then,” Alex said, pretending he had no idea what my look meant.
I sighed and got to my feet. I could barely keep my eyes open as I dragged myself up to bed. I was out before my head even hit the pillow.
Chapter 20
Light. Light everywhere.
“It’ll be all right,” Alex whispered, bushing my hair out of my face. “I want to protect you forever.”
The lake water crackled with ice, and death seized the air as the light blinded me.