The Vision (9 page)

I landed in Classic Gemma Style, tripping over my own feet and plummeting for the grassy ground. Laylen was still holding onto my hand, though, and pulled me back up before my face hit the ground.

“Thanks,” I told him, breathless.

He gave me a small smile. “No problem.”

Wait a minute. I could see his smile as if it were day time.

Was it day time? I glanced up at sky. The full moon beamed down amongst the silver speckles of stars. No, it was not daytime. It just looked that way, thanks to Aislin and her awesomeness.

“Amazing,” I muttered, touching the corner of my eye.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Laylen asked and I nodded.

I purposely had taken us into the forest because, from there, we could see the castle without being seen. That way we could get an idea of what was going on, before we actually went inside.

Laylen and I started through the tall trees, heading for the castle. The grey-stone tower poked out from the tips of the trees, like an arrow. Twigs and leaves crunched under our shoes and the air was chilly. For a while neither of us spoke, but then, suddenly, I had to know something.

“Why did you go to Stasha’s?” I blurted out and then quickly lowered my voice. “Why did you go with her to her house?”

He considered this for what seemed like an eternity. “I was standing outside of the…Red Dragon…debating whether I wanted to go in or not, when she showed up out of the blue. I think she hangs out there sometimes, but she didn’t want to admit it, so she pretended to be wandering around the area. She asked me if I wanted to go back to her house.” He paused. “I went with her because the only other option I had was going inside the Red Dragon.” A club where evil hung out…yeah, I could see a girl like Stasha hanging out there.

I tugged the sleeve of my thermal shirt down, trying to cover up the ugly permanent lines on my arms. “I’m glad you left with her then, even if she is sort of crazy.” He laughed and for a split second, some of his pain vanished from his eyes.

“You know, Aislin was freaked out the whole time you were gone,” I told him, dodging around a bush. “She cried practically the entire time.”

“Aislin always cries,” Laylen informed me, karate-chopping a low branch that was in his way. “She’s been that way basically forever.”

“Yeah, but do you think…maybe….it would help if you forgave her for what happened between you two.” I had no idea why I was saying this, and I worried I might have crossed a line.

He didn’t answer, staring straight ahead through the darkness. “Did you cry while I was gone?” I blinked up at him confusedly. “What?”

He met my eyes and tension clasped the air. “Did you cry while I was gone?”

“Oh, yeah, I cried until my tears ran out,” I joked, trying to break the tension.

He smiled and shook his head. “I knew you were secretly pining for me.”

I laughed and he did to. Then he swung his arm around me and pulled me into him.

“I’ll try to fix things between Aislin and me, but it has to be a mutual thing,” he said in a low voice. “She has to want me back in her life too, vampire and all.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I know. And I have this feeling she will.”

“But honestly, I could be okay with this.” He kissed the top of my head. “Just you and me.”

Part of me agreed with him—I could stay like this way forever. Just me and Laylen, the first friend I ever had.

We walked the rest of the way in the quiet still ness that only night brings. It wasn’t awkward or anything, just a comfortable silence; the kind of silence that only exist between two people who are comfortable with each other.

The bright lights inside the castle lit up the outside, warning us there were people inside.

Laylen guided us behind a large oak tree when we reached the edge of the forest. “Okay…we’re probably just going to have to make a run for the back.” He peered around the corner of the tree trunk. “I don’t see anyone outside.” His eyes searched for something. “And I think I see the rock Alex was talking about.” He met my eyes. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

I clutched the Sword of Immortality in my trembling hand.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Alright, then.” He was nervous, which made me even more nervous. He raised his eyebrows at me. “On the count of three?” he asked and I nodded, crossing my fingers I didn’t eat dirt during the sprint. “One…two…three.” We took off, charging through the night toward the ominous castle, our feet thudding in unison. I tripped over a rock, but caught myself and didn’t endure anymore stumbles the rest of the way. The rock was gigantic—the size of a car at least, and it took Laylen quite some effort to scoot it forward. Beneath it was a small hole burrowed into the ground. Even with my night vision, I couldn’t see the bottom. Laylen jumped into the hole first, since neither of us could tell how far of a drop it was, and Laylen was skilled in the art of enduring high falls.

“Alright, go ahead and jump,” he called up once he reached the bottom.

Figuring it must not be too far of a drop, I sat down on the ground, slid my legs into the hole, and without any hesitation I jumped. I was wrong, though. It was a far jump.

At least a few stories high.
At least.
But Laylen was there, in the darkness, breaking my fall as he caught me in his arms.

“Holy, crap,” I breathed into his chest as I clasped tightly to his neck. “I didn’t think it would be that far.”

“I thought it would be easier if you didn’t know,” he replied, letting me go so I could stand.

He was right—it was easier.

It was the thickest darkness down here. “Can you see?” I whispered.

“Barely.” Laylen took my hand. “This way,” he said, guiding me with him as he walked through the blackness.

I’m not really afraid of the dark or anything, but this was scaring me to death. I mean, I didn’t know this place, only that Stephan probably was around somewhere. And what if he was out there in the darkness, watching us as we wandered around blindly. What if we couldn’t see him, but he could see us and he was just waiting for the perfect moment to—

“Gemma, take some deep breathes and try to relax.” Laylen squeezed my hand. “Your hearts beating so loud I can hear it.”

“Sorry.” I took a deep breath, but I knew it wouldn’t relax me. “It’s just creepy, you know. I mean, I can’t see a thing.”

“I can see a little,” he tried to reassure me. “We’re in an empty tunnel. There’s nothing here to worry about.”
Worry about yet.
I scooted in closer to him.

The tunnel seemed to last forever. And just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, that the pitch black was never going to leave us, I could suddenly see again. But what I saw made me want to shrink back into the dark tunnel again. It made me want to run.

Laylen and I were standing in a torture chamber.

And we were not alone.

“What is this place?” I whispered, staring at the pale figure, strapped to a rack in the center of the room.

Laylen shook his head. ‘I have no idea…I’ve never been down here before.”

“Should we…” I gestured at the person bound to the rack.

“Should we free them?”

Laylen gave me a skeptical look and then slowly made his way over. I followed at his heels, trying to figure out if the person was alive or dead. Honestly, they looked dead, their eyes sealed shut, their body unmoving, their lips silent as a grave.

Even when we stood above them—or should I say her—

she still showed no signs of life.

“Is she…is she alive?” I said to Laylen.

Laylen leaned over her. “Yeah, I can hear her heart beating.”

“Should we…” I reached for one of the ropes around her wrist. “Should I untie her?”

Laylen nodded and reached for the other rope around her wrist. The rack wasn’t stretching her limbs to their full capacity, but her pale skin was pulled rather tight. Her curly black hair ran off the sides of the rack, and so did the worn-out blue dress she was wearing. Laylen and I untied the ropes around her arms and her legs, but still she didn’t move.

“Now what?” I wondered, reaching out as I considered giving her a soft shake.

But Laylen beat me to the punch, lightly shaking her shoulder. But still, she didn’t show any signs of being alive.

“Maybe she’s—” I started

The girl’s eyes shot open. She took one look at us and leapt from the rack. She backed herself up against the stone wall like a skittish cat, her black curly hair a tangled mess around her face as she let out the loudest blood-curdling scream.

“Son of a…” Laylen jumped for her, grabbing her as gently as possible and covering her mouth with his hand.

“We’re not going to hurt you, but you have got to stop screaming.”

The girl’s bright yellow eyes were wild as she scanned the room, the rack, the stairway that twisted up to a door.

Then, she caught sight of me and something in her expression changed. She calmed down.

Laylen slowly inched his hand away from her mouth, testing whether she was going to freak out and scream again. But she didn’t. There was something about the sight of me that was calming her.

“It’s you,” she breathed loudly. “I can’t believe it.” I glanced behind me, making sure there wasn’t someone else she was looking at.

There was nothing there but the tunnel

“Yeah, it’s me.” I shot Laylen an ‘is-she-crazy’ look and he shrugged.

“If I let you go, are you going to scream again?” Laylen asked her in a gentle tone.

The girl shook her head and he released her. Her bright yellow eyes stayed locked on me as she walked forward.

Laylen, I guess getting nervous, stepped between us.

“You think you know her?” he asked, pointing at me.

She nodded. “She’s the one he talks about all the time.

The girl with the violet eyes—the star.”

Well, holy crap. She did know who I was. “Who told you about me?” I asked, stepping up beside Laylen.

She glanced up apprehensively at the top of the spiral stairs. “The man with the scar,” she whispered.

Stephan.

“Why did he tell you about her?” Laylen held out his arm in front of me, still trying to urge me to keep away from her.

“Because.” She tilted her head, examining me over with her unnatural bright yellow eyes. “I’m the half faerie, half Keeper he needs for his plan.”

She said it as if were nothing out of the ordinary, as if we should have known this bit of information already.

But it wasn’t normal. At all. It was one of those things that made your jaw smack to the floor. At least that’s what I thought until she tacked on, “And I’m his daughter.”
Chapter 15

It was one of those moments where time freezes. No one moved. No one talked. No one breathed. As if we all had forgotten how to.

Laylen was the first one to find his voice. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you are…Aislin and Alex don’t have a sister.”

“Oh, I’m only their half-sister.” She talked strange as if using her voice was foreign to her. “And they don’t know about me. My father keeps me hidden all the time. Down here.” She gestured at the rack.

“Of course he does,” Laylen said like something had just dawned on him.

“Why would he keep you hidden?” I asked.

“Keepers aren’t supposed to mix like that with fey,” Laylen explained to me, brushing his blue-tipped bangs away from his forehead. “There’s something about the blood…too much mythical creature on one side and not enough on the other that creates an imbalance.” He discretely nodded his head at the girl. “It makes things a little off.”

How off?
“What’s your name?” I asked the girl.

She stuck out her hand awkwardly. “I’m Aleesa.” Laylen shook her hand politely. “Nice to meet you Aleesa.”

I eyed over Aleesa and something didn’t add up. “You don’t really look like them. Alex and Aislin, I mean.”

“Oh, I get my looks from my mother. She was fey,” she said, like it explained everything.

It didn’t.

“It’s actually true,” Laylen told me, finally lowering his arm from in front of me. “Many of the fey have bright yellow eyes and dark hair like hers. Nicholas was an exception.”
Nicholas
. It felt like someone was choking me. “So Stephan is your father,” I croaked and Laylen gave me a funny look. “I mean, he created you for the plan…the end of the world plan.”

She nodded. “Yes, I am his half-faerie, half-Keeper sacrifice he needs. I am what will bind the fey to him.” My eyes widened. “Sacrifice?”

“Yes,” she said simply, her hands behind her back as she rocked forward on her toes.

The poor girl. She thought this was all alright.

I gazed around at the torture chamber, the rock walls, the cold cement floor, the rack. “How long have you been down here?”

She considered this, a look of perplexity twisting across her face. “I’m not sure. Forever, I think.” I shuddered. “Well, what about your mom? Where’s she?”

“Oh, she’s gone,” she said with a shrug. “She left me.” I had no idea what to do with this. Obviously, we couldn’t just leave her down here to be tortured by her own father.

But she also made me kind of edgy because she seemed a little off her rocker.

“Laylen can I talk to you for just a second.” I backed away toward the tunnel, motioning him to follow me.

“What’s up?” Laylen asked when we reached the edge of the tunnel.

“What are we going to do with her?” I said in a low voice He glanced over his shoulder at Aleesa, who was fiddling with a hole in the hem of her worn-out blue dress. “I guess take her with us.”

His answer didn’t really surprise me. That was the kind of guy Laylen was. “But is she…I don’t know…” I tucked a piece of my long brown hair behind my ear. “She seems a little off. What if she flips out on us or something?” His eyes filled with anguish. “I could flip out on you and yet you’re still with me.”

“Yeah, but you’re…you. I trust you more than I trust anyone.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t.”

I sighed. “We’ll take her with us, then. But just keep an eye on her.” I started for Aleesa, but stopped. “And I’ll always trust you, Laylen. I’ll trust you forever.” Getting Aleesa to leave with us proved to be a difficult task. First off, she kept saying over and over and over again that she wasn’t allowed to go anywhere. But after some persuading, she finally agreed. That just left the task of trying to keep her quiet while we snuck upstairs to get my mom. I was worried she might snap and start screaming again or something. This was a concern of Laylen’s too, and I suggested that maybe we should leave her here and pick her up on our way out. But after some deliberation, we decided we should take her just in case we had to make an emergency exit.

We crept up the spiral staircase, Laylen in front of me, Aleesa trailing along behind me. My palm sweated profusely against the handle of the Sword of Immortality and suddenly, I started to panic about having it in my hand. Why did Alex give me the sword? I wasn’t a Keeper. I hated to think it—considering who the leader of the Keepers is—but being a Keeper right now would have been real handy. I’ve seen Alex, Aislin, and even Laylen in motion; they were fast, strong, and graceful, and I really could have used these things at the moment.

“Okay,” Laylen whispered when we reached the top of the stairs. “I have no idea what’s on the other side of this door, so get ready.”

I nodded, but my legs were shaking like a new born fawn learning how to walk. Laylen took a deep breath and creaked open the door, sticking the knife out in front of him like a master sword fighter, which he probably was.

He lowered the sword. “Coast is clear and it seems the secret entrance has led us to another secret entrance.”

“What?” I asked as we cautiously stepped out into a hallway. “Why is this a secret entrance?” Laylen brushed his fingers against the wall. “We’re inside the wall.”

I gaped at him. “How do you know?”

He winked at me. “Because I know all.”

I shook my head as we started down the hall, making sure to glance behind me every few steps to check if Aleesa was still following.

She hummed quietly as she walked, glancing up at the ceiling and over at the walls, which were decorated with child-like art. I traced my fingers on the pictures, getting a sense of familiarity. Why did I know this?

Then it all came rushing back to me.

Alex and I as children, running up and down the hall, drawing on the walls, laughing, playing. I could almost hear the giggles still haunting the hallway.

“You okay?” Laylen’s voice pulled me back.

I realized I had stopped. “Yeah,” I shook my head. “Sorry.” We crept down the rest of the hall, until we reached a door.

“What’s on the other side?” I whispered.

“A spare bedroom,” Laylen said, clutching onto the doorknob. “I wonder if it’s emp…”

A muffled cry came from the other side of the door.

“Oh my God, it’s my mom.” I reached for the doorknob, but Laylen pushed my hand back.

“Just calm down,” he said softly and squatted down.

“Jocelyn,” he whispered through the door. “Is that you?” The crying stopped.

“Open the door,” I hurried Laylen.

“Make sure to keep calm,” he said and then creaked open the door.

The room was empty except for my mom, chained to the wall, like a prisoner. She had just escaped from being one a few days ago and it tore at me heart to see her like this.

She looked like she was sleeping, her head hung down, her shoulders slumped. There was a piece of duct-tape over her mouth and I carefully pulled it off.

“Mom,” I said. “Can you hear me?”

Her head wobbled as she looked up and blinked at me, tears streaming down her face. “Gemma,” she croaked.

“It’s okay, mom,” I said softly. “We’re going to get you out of here.”

She blinked again, still a little dazed. Then suddenly she was going crazy. “You have to go. You have to go now.” She was tugging at the chains. “It’s a trap. Gemma, go!

GO!”

A canopy of gloom covered the room as a chil slithered into the air. I turned around, my heart pounding like a jack hammer as a thick fog crawled across the stone floor and swirled around my ankles. Cold crackled across the maroon walls and ceiling, coating them with icicles.

Do not panic
, I told myself. To Laylen I said, “Can you get the chains off her?”

He nodded and grabbed the chains binding my mom’s wrist to the walls. He bent them and flexed them, trying to get the heavy metal to snap. But the chains were thick and covered with the Death Walker’s ice, and I could tell it was going to take him a moment.

I needed to prepare myself. I stood in the middle of the room, sword in hand, with no clue as to what I was going to do.

Aleesa let out a high-pitched scream, covered her ears, and backed into the corner of the room like a terrified little mouse.

Well, if they didn’t know we were here before, they sure do now.

The footsteps came, like a marching army, one by one, marching right for us. I glanced back at Laylen, still struggling to get the chains undone.

“I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying,” he said, bending at the metal links. “The damn things are thick and the ice is making it worse.”

I blocked him out—I blocked everything out. Something was taking over my body. A power I had never felt before.

And suddenly I knew what to do.

I held the Sword of Immortality in front of me, steadied in the perfect position that I knew any sword master would appreciate. My heart-rate slowed, my nerves calmed, and as the first black-cloaked figure entered the room, I swung the sword, stabbing it straight into its heart. Its yellow eyes lit up as its corpse-like body dropped to the floor.

I didn’t have time to prepare myself as another one walked into the room. I did this weird twirling thing that should have resulted with me landing on my face but instead, the sword jabbed into the Death Walker’s heart. I swung the sword again and again, the tip sinking through each of their rotting chests. The bodies were piling up as I moved like a pro, swinging the sword gracefully, my feet moving harmoniously along with it.

But more and more came charging in and before I knew it, the room was filled with Death Walkers. They circled me, the

yellow-glowing-eyed

monsters,

and

my

body

temperature started to descend. I glanced down at my hands, but they hadn’t turned blue yet.

And then Stephan walked in.

He was dressed head-to-toe in black, and he gazed at the Death Walkers’ bodies piled all over the floor, looking both annoyed and impressed.

“Well, I see that you’ve changed since the last time I met you,” he said unhappily.

He walked toward me, his boots cracking the ice covering the floors.

I stayed where I was, not stepping back, waiting until he was in swords reach, and then took a swing at him. But he flicked the sword away as if my new inner strength was nothing but a minor glitch to him.

“You know, you are a very hard girl to track down,” he said. “I send a faerie to find you, but he up and disappears.