He twisted his lip ring from side to side. “Maybe…There’ve been some people that have survived the Water Faeries tortured for a long amount of time without going too insane. And there have even been a few people that have escaped The Underworld before.”
“There have!” I shouted, and then made an oh-crap face at the loudness of my voice. We both stayed silent for a moment, making sure no one had heard and had decided to head upstairs to check on me. The house was quiet, as still as the hot desert air, the only noise coming from the humming of engines from the cars passing by. “Sorry,” I whispered. “But I’m just really confused. The way Alex made it sound, it seemed like there was hardly any way that anyone could ever escape The Underworld. That once they were sent down there, they were basically trapped there until they died from the torture.”
Laylen’s bright blue eyes twinkled mischievously. “Yeah, but Alex doesn’t hang around with the same kind of crowd as I do, does he? You learn a lot of stuff when you’re not just limited to the Keepers circle.”
Now I was letting myself get a little excited over what Laylen was saying. Well, except for the fact that he said “crowd.” What kind of crowd were we talking about here? Vampire crowd? Witch crowd? Black Angel crowd? All were possibilities, and there were probably other possibilities that I didn’t even know about.
“Is there any way we could find someone who will maybe help us find out if she’s alive? And help us find out if there’s a way we could get her out of The Underworld if she is?” I held my breath as I waited for him to answer.
It took him a second, but he nodded. “It won’t be easy, though…And it’ll be dangerous.”
I should have been scared. But after you’ve faced a swarm of murderous Death Walkers, been hit by their Chill of Death, and stared into the eyes of a man who is trying to wipe your mind away, “dangerous” becomes a little easier to deal with. “So you’re saying that maybe we could go and talk to someone about her?”
He mulled over my question for so long that I was sure he was going to say no. “Yeah, I think we might be able to do that.”
“Really,” I was practically bouncing. “Are you serious?”
He nodded. “I think your mom may know more about what’s going on than anyone does. I think that might be part of the reason why Stephan sent her there—so she couldn’t tell anyone what she knew.”
“I think so too,” I agreed. “In fact, in the vision, she told Stephan that one day he’d get caught and that he didn’t have everyone wrapped around his finger.”
“Then I think the sooner we can find out if she’s alive the better. And maybe we can put all this madness together and get some real answers.” He paused. “But I don’t want you to get too excited, just in case things don’t turn out the way…the way you want them to.”
“I won’t,” I assured him, but I still couldn’t help but get a little excited. Well, okay, I was beyond excited. In fact, I think I’d hit a whole new level of excitement and…yep, there it was. The prickle.
I know. I know. I was totally setting myself up for some serious heart-ache here. But I couldn’t control myself at the moment. Just seeing my mother…it would be amazing. Especially after being raised by Marco and Sophia, who were two of the most cold-hearted people I knew. Well, besides Stephan.
Wait. Hold on. “Laylen, what happened to Marco and Sophia?”
“I have no idea,” he said with a shrug. “No one does. They just up and disappeared.”
Hmmm…very strange. So did that mean they were playing on the good side or the bad side?
I opened my mouth to ask Laylen this, but a knock at the door caused Laylen and I to jump to our feet.
“Gemma,” Alex’s voice floated through the door. “Are you in there?”
“Uh…Yeah,” I called out. “Just a second.” I turned to Laylen and whispered. “Great. What am I supposed to tell him when he asked why you’re in here?”
“You’re not going to tell him,” Laylen whispered, searching for a place to hide. “If he knows I am in here, he’ll know something’s up. And if he knows what we’re planning to do, he'll go out of his way to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
Excellent point. Alex would say it was too dangerous, at least for me anyway. Because that’s what he always says. Besides, the question of whether or not Alex was lying about what had happened back at the cabin was still a big giant question mark. So for now, at least until we knew for sure what was going on, it was probably best to keep our plan a secret from Alex.
Laylen got down on the floor. “Just pretend I’m not here,” he whispered. And with that, he slid underneath the bed.
I waited until he was completely under before unlocking the door and opening it. “Hey, what’s up?” Real cool Gemma. I sounded way too casual.
He gave me a suspicious look. “You’ve been up here forever. What are you doing?”
“Um…changing?” It sounded like a question, and I wanted to slap myself on the head for sucking so badly at playing it cool.
He looked down at the pajamas I was still wearing, and I realized my answer had been even more idiotic than I’d originally thought. I needed to think of something to tell him. And quick.
“Well…I was going to change, but I couldn’t…um…figure out where the clothes are.” Not my best lie, but hopefully it would do.
He looked unconvinced as he walked into the room and over to a dresser. He pulled open the top drawer and pointed inside it. “The clothes are in here.”
Ignoring the heat the electricity caused by him being in the room, I made my way over to the dresser. “Oh. Okay. Thanks.”
He gave me a strange look and then glanced around the room, as if he were looking for something that shouldn’t be there. Like maybe a six foot four Keeper/Vampire hiding underneath the bed.
Finally, Alex gave up on looking for whatever it was he was looking for and stuffed his hands into the pockets. “Well, come downstairs when you’re done. Adessa made dinner.”
“Alright, I will,” I told him, again sounding way too laid-back.
“Okay…” He raised his eyebrows at me, before heading to the door, shooting one last look over his shoulder, before stepping out of the room.
I let out a breath of relief, shut the door, and spun around as Laylen army crawled from underneath the bed.
He stood up and dusted off his jeans “That was close.”
“I know. It was like he knew you were here or something.”
Laylen laughed, and I felt like I was missing out on a joke.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing…so yeah, I think we should sneak out tonight and talk to a few people I know. See if anyone has heard anything about your mom. You up for it?”
“I…uh…yeah?” Why did I suddenly feel hesitant? This was my mother we were talking about. But for some reason, it felt wrong—keeping what we were doing from Alex.
I shook my head at the absurdity of my own thoughts. I had to keep my head clear and not think about Alex. “Yeah, I’m definitely up for it.”
He gave me a funny look. “Are you sure you want to go? I’m not going to tell you what to do—you’ve had that done to you way too much—but I feel I should warn you it may end up being kind of dangerous.”
I considered what he said, but still wanted to go. At this point in my life, I felt I needed to hear things for myself. “I’m still up for it.”
“Then I’ll come here tonight after everyone’s asleep.” He started for the door.
A thought popped inside my head. “Wait a sec.”
He turned around. “What’s up?”
“Why do you think Stephan wants the star’s power?”
“I don’t know…But if Stephan wants it, and he’s working with the Death Walkers…” He trailed off, worry slipping onto his face. “Well, if our plan does work out, and we find out your mother’s alive maybe she’ll have some of the answers to what the heck is going on.”
***
After I’d changed into the most decent clothes I could find—a pair of shorts and a purple tank top—and pulled my long brown hair into a ponytail, I went downstairs. It took me a little bit to find the kitchen, which was a dimly lit room that had blue and black striped walls, black countertops, and indigo tiled flooring. Everyone was there by the time I entered. Alex and Aislin were sitting at a small oval table in the corner of the room, and Adessa and Laylen were over by the counter. Adessa was stirring something in a steaming pot on top of the stove.
Aislin’s bright green eyes lit up when she saw me. She looked like her normal, perfect self. Her golden blonde hair was curled up; a pair of diamond earrings twinkled in each one of her ear lobes. She had on a lacy pink tank top and her smile was as bright as ever. “Oh my God. It’s so good to see you awake, instead of unconscious.”
“I already told you she’d woken up.” Alex rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t know why you’re getting all excited about it.”
“Because she’s awake, Alex.” Aislin gave him a firm look. “Need I remind you that for awhile we thought she wasn’t ever going to wake up.”
If looks could kill, Aislin would have been dead by the invisible daggers shooting from Alex’s bright green eyes. I don’t know why he was getting mad at her, though. I’d already thought I was dead when I’d been trapped back in the black emptiness.
They continued to scowl at each other as I sat down in an empty chair at the table. They eventually stopped having their little stare down when Adessa came over and placed what looked like a pot of chicken noodle soup down on the table, her metal bangle bracelets clinking together as she moved her hands away. Like Aislin, Adessa is a witch, so I wasn’t going to automatically assume what was in that pot was food. My knowledge about witches was limited, so whether or not they brewed pots of potions was beyond me. But in this new world I’d been thrust into only a few days ago, I was never going to assume things again.