When I open my eyes again, I’m lying face first in a field of grass. I push up, brush the dirt off my legs and arms, and then glance around at the lake, the cloudy sky, and the shallow hill as well as the stony castle near the horizon.
I start to walk forward, wondering where everyone else is when Laylen rises from the grass. His blond hair shimmers in the sunlight snaking through the cracks in the clouds.
“Jesus, how the hell did we get here,” he says then makes a repulsed face when he spots the grey stone castle towering in the distance. “And why here?”
“I’m not sure,” I say, stepping in front of him, the grass circling around us. “I lost control or something… the Death Walkers’ ice was making my power shaky.” I shield my eyes with my hand and glance around at the field and then the trees. “Where’s Alex?”
“Right here.” Alex coughs. He stands up in the grass just a little ways away from us and then hobbles toward us. There are dark circles under his eyes and he, of course, still doesn’t have a shirt on. The holes in his skin are more defined and his Keeper’s Mark is bright against his somewhat pale skin. His brown hair is damp with sweat and he looks like he’s about to hurl.
He spits in the grass and then hunches over, bracing his hands on his knees when he reaches us. “What the hell happened back there? And why was Nicholas with the damn Death Walkers in the City of Crystal?”
I can tell he’s in a lot of pain. I’ve never really understood compassion or giving comfort. I went years and years without being touched, feeling nothing, and then when I finally did, I was too old and all of my emotions left me confused. However I step forward and start rubbing Alex’s back, tracing my fingers up and down his spine. Laylen tries to ignore the fact as much as possible, but I catch him noting it. Alex tenses momentarily, but then his muscles unravel as he embraces and melts into my affection.
“It might have something do to with the fact that Nicholas was playing us.” I sketch a line up and down his spine. “He never even intended to help me get to The Underworld—he’s not even supposed to be there, which means he’s pretty much been lying and will probably continue to lie about everything. He could have been working with the Death Walkers this entire time.”
Alex elevates his head. “What?”
I sigh and the three of us sit in the grass as I begin explaining what has been going on for the last week while he was trapped in the City of Crystal. I tell him about the visions, how I saw us freeing my mom. I tell him about my nightmares and the triangular symbol. He doesn’t know what it is, either, but he doesn’t seem too surprised by the fact that his father’s scar is actually from a mark that’s been cut off. He says he didn’t know, but that he’s sort of glad, at least that way he has something to justify what his father’s doing—going to do. There are a few times where I swear he looks like he’s tearing up, but he shuts it off quickly, a true pro at hiding his emotions. As I watch him battle them, I start to notice just how similar we are. We both fight our emotions and act as if we don’t understand them. While I understand my reason, I can’t help thinking about what could have caused him to want to turn his own emotions off.
***
As soon as I get done telling him about what happened in The Underworld, Alex takes us straight to the hideout. It’s like he can remember it as if we’ve been playing in it only yesterday. When we climb up to the flourishing violet bush on the hill, we climb down the ladder and step into the dark. Memories instantly flood me and I realize that we spent a lot of time down here together.
Alex disappears into the darkness and seconds later I hear a match strike. He blows the dust off a candle and lights the wick. The glow orbs around the room and he places the candle down on top of a table, and then heads over to the trunk in the corner.
“It’s still in the same spot?” I ask, peering over his shoulder.
He lifts the lid up and begins rummaging through it. “That was the last time I ever came down here. You went to live with Marco and Sophia and I just didn’t see the point anymore.” He avoids eye contact with me as he searches for the gem.
There are a lot of silly objects inside it; a rock, a leather bracelet, and what looks like a bouquet of pressed flowers. At one time all of this stuff meant something to us, tied us together along with our friendship.
I lean back and trace my finger down the palm of my hand. “Alex, what does forem mean?”
The muscles in Alex’s back wind up as his entire body stiffens. “What?”
“That’s what we said to each other when we were in here.” I reach around him, take his hand, and then turn it over. I brush my finger along the minor scar in the center of his palm. “You said we were becoming blood brothers and then we said forem.”
I hear Laylen clear his throat fairly loudly. I look over at him and he appears uncomfortable, shifting his weight as he stares at the floor. I open my mouth to say… well, I’m not really sure. And I never do get to find out because he abruptly wanders over to the ladder and climbs up.
“What’s his problem?” I ask Alex as he turns around, clutching something in his hand.
He shakes his head and lowers himself onto the dirt floor, pulling on my arm and steering me to sit with him. “It’s nothing.” He takes a deep breath and then opens his hand, showing me a shimmering blue gem.
“Thank God.” I skim my fingers on the clean-cut edges. “What is it exactly?”
“It’s the Cruciatus diamond.”
“Does it do anything?”
He encloses his fingers around the gemstone. “The Queen used it to suck the fear out of people before one of the Keepers took it from her.”
“But how did they get it from her if it’s so hard to get into The Underworld?” I wonder.
“A long time ago things worked differently,” Alex sighs tiredly. “The Queen used to be able to come up to the castle to discuss matters of business and to make truces with the Keepers. That’s how the Keepers ended up sending people down there as a punishment. This,” he pinches the gemstone between his thumb and his finger, “was used during a bargain between the Queen and the leader of the Keepers at the time.”
“How did you and I end up with it?”
He rolls his tongue in his mouth as he tries not to smile. “You and I stole it.”
“When we were friends?” I question, letting him know that I’ve been remembering more and more.
“How much do you exactly remember?” he wonders curiously.
“Not that much,” I answer. “Just a few images here and there, but there seems to be a lot of us together when we were young.”
Alex squeezes his eyes shut and drops the gem onto his lap, exhausted and looking like he’s about to tip over.
“Alex,” I say softly. “Are you okay?”
He remains silent, leaning his weight on his arm as he props it against the ground.
I place a hand on his shoulder and give him a gentle shake, concerned with how weak he looks. “Alex, can you hear me?” The electricity pulsates through us as I watch his chest lift and then descend with each frail breath he takes.
Then his eyelids lift open and his eyes collide with mine. A rush of relief sweeps through me and I start to pull my hand back, but he slips his hand over mine and positions my palm over his heart.
“What are you doing?” I whisper, loving that he’s touching me, but still worried about how exhausted he looks. The holes in his skin aren’t healing, either, they’re fully open, and some of them are still bleeding while others are mixed with dirt.
“Shhh…” He shuts his eyes again and his other hand finds the back of my neck. He draws me forward and presses our foreheads together. “I just need a minute, okay?”
I nod my head and then shut my eyes, too, the electricity elevating in voltage. My breathing becomes ragged the longer we stay touching and my hands itch to do things to him, inappropriate things.
When I feel him finally shift back, I open my eyes, only to find that he’s leaning in again.
“Do you know how hard it was?” he breathes, his palm resting on my neck, his thumb smoothing across the sensitive area.
“I’m sorry you had to do that.” I place my finger over a small hole in his chest where one of the tubes was embedded. “I really am, especially since you had to go there pretty much for nothing.”
He shakes his head. “Not that… I’ve already told you that pain isn’t a big deal.” He brushes his lips across mine. “Being away from you… it gets harder and harder… I swear to God it actually feels like I’m dying.”
I don’t know what to say at his honestly raw admittance and he doesn’t give me time as he crashes his lips against mine. I gasp while I glide my hands up the front of his chest, feeling his soft skin, which gets hotter the longer we kiss. He threads his fingers through my hair, tugging on the roots so he can tip my head back. Deep down I know that now is not the time or place, but then again I’ve seen the end of the world; I know it’s coming and moments like these will come to an end.
I let him lie me back into the dirt and lower his body over mine, pinning an arm on each side of my head as his tongue explores every inch of my mouth. I bite at his lip, but ball my hands into fists, resisting the compulsion to stab my nails into his flesh—he’s already got too many wounds at the moment.
The feel of his chest heats something deep within me and, as he positions his hands over my wrist, enfolding his fingers around them and restraining then down beside my head, I about come undone. I writhe my h*ps against his, lust and desire flooding my body at the intensity that is so overwhelming I can barely think of anything. Nothing other than him and I exist in this moment. Together. Something inside of me whispers that this is how it’s supposed to be.
Forever.
He pulls back a little, his lips red and swollen, his hair a mess, but his skin looks healthier. Strangely the holes in his skin have sealed together so there are nothing more than tiny, fingernail sized scratches.