The Vision (2 page)

Water splashed across my face, soaking my skin and drenching my clothes. My body felt like it had been run over by a truck and my eyelids were as heavy as lead. I could hear the ocean lulling, but it didn’t make sense since I was up on the mountains.

Water hit me in the face again, and I opened my eyes right as a wave crashed over me. I scrambled to my feet, hacking up water as I scurried out of the ocean’s reach. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was standing on a sandy shore, the dark-blue ocean extending out before me, the golden sun reflecting against the water. Behind me, houses lined the beach, and one house in particular—a light-blue one—I knew would be the house where I would find my mom, Alex, Aislin, and Laylen.

Clutching the crystal ball my dad gave me, I ran for the house, the sand burning against the soles of my feet.

People dotted the beach, and they probably thought I was crazy; soaked from head-to-toe, holding a crystal ball as I sprinted like mad. I didn’t care, though. They could stare. I was no longer on the mountain and that was all that mattered at the moment.

I made it to the house panting and charged up the wooden steps of the back porch. “Mom,” I called out, throwing open the back door. “Mom!”

I moved across the kitchen and went into the living room.

No one was there and the only noise was the tick-tock of the wall clock.

Where were they? Did they go looking for me? Probably.

I had, after all, been missing for nine days. Great. I needed to find a phone and see if I could get a hold of someone—

let them know I was back.

I have no idea why people thought it was a good idea to get rid of house phones. Yes, there are cell phones, but cell phones don’t do any good when you don’t own one.

I searched the house, looking for a phone, but ten minutes later, I was still phoneless. I was just about to walk out the front door to go find someone who would let me use their phone, when the door opened on its own and Alex entered. His dark-brown hair was messy and not in an intentional way like it usually was. The color of his green eyes popped against the black t-shirt he was wearing. My happiness and thril of seeing him bubbled up inside me and I just about ran over and threw my arms around him. It was a bit of a shock, feeling this way toward him, and I wondered how deep my feelings for him were getting. It was extremely confusing to think about.

But I resisted the urge to run over to him, remembering Stephan’s words:
If you stay close to each other for too
long the star’s power will fade out. And so will you and
Alex.

“Hey, did you find him?” Alex asked, before I got a chance to speak. He shut the door and walked up to me, creating a bit of a problem because the electricity was firing up like a firework show.

I took a step back. “Did I find who?”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Laylen.”

I was so confused. “Why…Did something happen to him?”

Alex looked as confused as I felt. “Yeah, he disappeared remember. Everyone’s been out looking for him. I take it, though, you didn’t find him.”

WTF. What was he talking about? “But I’ve been gone for nine days.”

He looked at me like I was insane. “No you haven’t.”

“Yes I have…oh…” My mouth fell open as it dawned on me.

“Gemma, what’s wrong?” His bright green eyed gaze moved all over me. “Why are your clothes all wet?” He took the crystal ball from me and turned it over in his hand.

“Where did you get this?”

I didn’t answer. I just stood there, with my mouth agape, struggling to grasp what was going on. My father had sent me back to before Nicholas had captured me and handed me over to Stephan—before I had spent nine days locked away in the cabin. And he did not send me back in vision form. I was here in the present, and I could communicate and touch things…I think.

Without even thinking, I reached out and placed my hand on Alex’s arm. The electricity surged against our contact.

“Holy crap,” I whispered. I took the crystal ball from him and sank down on the couch that smelled of salt water and sand. “I can’t believe it.”

Alex sat down beside me, a concerned look on his face.

“Gemma, please tell me what’s wrong.”

I swallowed hard. “Something happened to me.”

“Okay…do you want to tell me what it is?” I slowly nodded and then started to explain everything that had happened to me—or didn’t happen I guess I should say, because if I was here at this very moment, then those nine days at the cabin never took place. I was back where I started only now I had a unique crystal ball in my hand and a ton of new unanswered questions.

I knew right away that I shocked the heck out of Alex. His eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly hanging open. It took him a minute, after I finished explaining, to say something

“So what you’re saying,” he spoke slowly, “is that right now we’re nine days in the past.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I think the nine days I spent at the cabin were somehow erased.” I set the crystal ball in my lap, thinking about what my father said about how he erased a vision and recreated it. “I think, somehow, my father erased and recreated some of the events of my life, so that I would end up back here.”

“So that my father never got a hold of you?” Alex asked, still looking really lost.

It was weird having him ask me questions, and it kind of sucked because I didn’t have answers to give him. “I don’t know...I’m not sure how it works. He only told me he erased a vision and recreated it to change the outcome of the world’s future.” I twisted the crystal ball in my hand, staring at the glowing purple star inside. “He said he changed it so that the world would end the way I saw it in my ice-vision.” Alex’s forehead creased over. “Are you saying that he made it so my father could end the world?” I felt kind of ashamed of my father. “I think so.” Alex stared off into space, thinking about what I said. “So where was your father exactly?”

“I have no idea. He never told me. He wouldn’t tell me anything, really, just that I was going to save the world.” I held up the crystal ball. “And that everything I needed to know was inside this….Oh yeah, and in my head.” Alex dragged his fingers through his hair, tugging at the roots. “But none of what you said makes sense. Foreseer’s aren’t supposed to be able to control how the future turns out—they’re not supposed to recreate visions to their liking.”

“Yeah…But, I don’t know…it seems like it could be possible. I mean, look at me. I can travel around wherever I want by using my Foreseer ability, without the aid of a crystal ball.”

“Yeah, but you are…” he trailed off as I gave him a cold stare. He was about to say different, and I really disliked being called that. “Unique,” he finished, with a teasing smile that focused all of my attention on his lips, which painfully reminded me that I was never going to be able to kiss those lips again unless I figured out a way to get rid of the star's power.

His face fell. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head, not sure how explain that we were not supposed to be together; that the Blood Promise we made, to be together forever, was useless; that if we stayed close to one another for too long, there was a possibility we could kill each other. Of course, this was all based on if Stephan had told the truth.

“I have to—” I started

The front door flew open and smacked against the wall, rattling the shelves on it. Aislin burst in, her cheeks pinked with heat, her golden-brown hair a mess and her clothes covered in dirt and sand.

“What’s wrong?” Alex quickly stood up from the couch Aislin shook her head, tears streaking her cheeks.

“Laylen…Lay…” She burst into hysterical sobs.

I jumped to my feet. “What about Laylen? Did something happen to him?” I asked, in a panic stricken voice as the reality that saving the world wasn’t my only responsibility. I also had to save a vampire who was dealing with blood-thirst issues. Blood-thirst issues that I caused by begging him to bite me so he wouldn’t die.

Aislin sobbed hard. “I can’t—I can’t.”

“Just spit it out,” Alex said unsympathetically.

Looking hurt, Aislin wiped her tears away and pulled herself together. “I can’t find him anywhere.”

“Okay,” Alex said in an unfeeling tone. “Well, freaking out isn’t going to help us find him.”

Aislin fixed him with an angry glare. “You don’t need to be rude. I’m just a little upset, okay?” She looked like she might start crying again. “I never got to tell him I was,” she sniffed back her tears, “sorry…for everything.” She burst into sobs and ran off to her room.

“You know, sometimes I’m grateful I can shut off my emotions.” Alex turned to me. “It keeps me from doing things like that.”

I stared at him, half agreeing and half disagreeing. “Not all emotions are bad,” I said.

His bright green eyes burned with intensity. “Aren’t they?” His voice wobbled and he was breathing loud. He reached for me, about to touch me, and for a moment I just stood there, wanting him to touch me. But then I remembered we couldn’t get close—not until we knew for sure that it wouldn’t kill us.

I backed away from him.

His expression slipped into confusion as he pulled his hand back. “What’s wrong?”

“We can’t…” I took a deep breath, gesturing my hand back and forth between us. “You and I can’t—”

“Your heads bleeding,” he cut me off, staring at my head.

“Huh?”

He pointed at the side of my head. “There’s blood all over the side of your head.”

I touched my head and a warm, sticky substance coated my fingers. I pulled my hand away—blood. I went over to an oval mirror hanging on the wall and examined my head. On the left side, a cut ran across my scalp. And it had to be a fresh cut because blood was still oozing out of it and dripping down my hair.

“What happened?” Alex moved up behind me, inspecting the cut on my head. “You weren’t bleeding before, were you? I didn’t notice if you were.”

“No, I don’t think so.” My eyes were fixed on the cut. Why was it so familiar? Not just the cut, but the pain that was starting to spread through my skull —a blinding pain like I had smacked my head on a rock or something…my eyes widened. “Oh my God.”

“What is it?” Alex asked, alarmed.

“I think…” I set the crystal ball down on the desk and bolted for the back door.

Alex chased after me. “Where are you going?”

“I think something’s wrong,” I answered, leaping down the back porch steps. I took off across the beach, heading for the cliff area where Nicholas had once knocked me out, before taking me to the cabin. I needed to see if there was blood on the rock I hit my head on. If there was blood on it then that meant…Well, I had no idea what it meant, just that it meant something wasn’t right.

“Gemma!’ Alex yelled from right behind me. “Where the heck are you going?”

I pointed at the rocky cliffs, pushing past a few people that were standing in my way. “There…I have to see something.” I slowed to a stop as I reached the cliffs.

Alex stopped beside me, panting. “What do you need to see?”

“I need to see if there’s blood on the rock that Nicholas shoved me down on,” I told him, heading down the path that twisted through the center of the cliffs.

“But I thought you said that didn’t happen.” Alex followed at my heels as we made our way further down the path.

“That your father erased it?”

I glanced over my shoulder at him. “I thought he did but now...” I shook my head. “I have no idea what’s going on, but if there’s blood on one of these rocks back in here, then something’s up—something’s not right.” My head was pounding and blood was trickling down my ear. I pressed my hand against the wound and picked up my pace, ignoring the rocks cutting my bare feet.

When I finally reached the end of the path, I swear my heart just about stopped. And all my confusion multiplied.

“What the?” Alex moved to the side of me and squinted at the ground. “What is that?”

“It’s….me?” I said, staring down at myself, lying on the ground, in a pool of blood. “Am I in a vision?” I wondered out loud.

From my peripheral, I saw a dark figure appear, and I jumped back, knocking my shoulder into Alex’s chest.

Nicholas, who was usually annoyingly calm—well, unless he was being chased by a Water Faerie in The Underworld—

looked about as shocked as I was.

His golden eyes widened as he glanced down at the

“me” lying in the sand and then back at the real me.

“What on earth…” He trailed off and something abruptly clicked across his face. He knew exactly what was going on.

“Wow, Gemma,” he said with genuine astonishment. “I a m
very
impressed.” He paused and then he lunged for me.

I don’t have the reflexes of a cat at all, and Nicholas was skilled in the art of lunging. Luckily, for my sake, Alex’s reflexes were that of a Keeper and with one swing of his fist, he knocked Nicholas out cold.

Nicholas’ body slumped heavily to the ground.

Alex shook out his hand. “His head is as hard as a rock.” I would have laughed, except I was too occupied with the fact that there was another “me” lying on the ground. I stepped over Nicholas and gradually made my way over to her—or me. Was she real? Or was she just a vision?

Hesitantly, I reached down and placed a hand gently on her arm. It was like I had stuck my fingers in an electrical outlet.

My eyes zipped wide as a blaze of electricity—more powerful than anything I had ever felt—zipped through me. I gasped, feeling the moment erase, as if it had never existed. The unconscious “me” buzzed with static, like a bad reception on TV, finally blinking and fading out into nothing.

My hand fell down onto the warm sand, and I stared at the empty spot in utter shock.

“Gemma.” Alex placed a hand on my shoulder. “What the hell just happened?”

His hand fell from my shoulder as I stood to my feet. My mind was so wired with electricity I thought my head was going to explode.

“I think I need to lie down.” I staggered sideways and then collapsed to the ground.

Light…everywhere, surrounding me, blinding me. Alex and I by the lake, holding on to one another.
It will be okay
.

Ice. So cold. Death. Shadows everywhere…suffocating me…I was dying…

My eyes shot open as I gasped for air. I clutched the bottom of my neck, hyperventilating as I shot upright.

“Breathe.” Alex patted me on the back. “Just breathe.”

“I’m trying,” I coughed. I took a few slow, deep breaths until my breathing returned to normal, and then I tried to get to my feet. But the world twirled and swayed and I sank back into the sand.

“What happened?” Alex asked, kneeling down in front of me, his eyes scanning me over for any visible evidence that I might be broken.

“It felt like I couldn’t breathe,” I told him.

Alex, being Alex, straightforwardly said, “That’s because you stopped breathing.”

“Oh,” was all I could think of to say.

He touched the cut on my head and my scalp tingled with sparks. “Well, whatever just happened, it made the cut on your head seal itself up.”

I lightly grazed the side of my head with the tips of my finger. “It doesn’t hurt anymore either.” I dropped my hand and gave him a puzzled look. “What do
you
think just happened?”

“I have no idea.” He nodded his head at something behind me. “I wonder if he does, though.” I turned and found Nicholas still sprawled out in the sand, unconscious. “It looked like he might know something,” I said, turning back to Alex. “But even if he did, what are the odds of him actually telling us.”

His bright green eyes sparkled deviously. “Oh, there are ways to get him to tell us.” He got to his feet and dusted the sand off his jeans. “They’re just not nice ways.” I kind of felt bad for Nicholas, which I know sounds very weird, considering everything he has done. But, I mean, he had no control over what he was—the Mark of Malefiscus did. Well, okay, I had to retract that statement because not every annoying and wrong thing Nicholas did was because of the mark. He was just as annoying before he was branded by the mark. But that didn’t mean he deserved to be hurt.

I shielded my eyes from the sun’s brightness as I stared up at Alex. “What are you going to do to him?” He walked over to Nicholas. “We’re going to go back and get Aislin, so she can transport him into the house.” He paused, mulling something over. “I would drag him there myself, but I think it might look a little suspicious to some people.”

Some people? Try all people. “Well, maybe I should just go get Aislin, in case he wakes up and tries to leave.” Alex’s eyebrow curved up. “Can you even walk right now?”

Even though I was extremely dizzy, I was determined to show him I could. I gained control of my balance, before pushing myself to my feet. I rocked from side to side, and stumbled over to the wall of the cliff, bracing my hands against it.

“Gemma,” Alex started to say, his tone full of worry.

“Just give me a second.”
Alright, Gemma, one foot in
front of the other…
Yeah, okay, that wasn’t happening.

I collapsed to the ground, barely able to keep my eyes in focus. “Alright, you go get Aislin, and I’ll stay here.”

“Are you crazy?” Alex said.

“I’ll be fine.” I shooed him away with my hand. “Now hurry up and go get her.”

“You won’t be fine.” He frowned at me. “And if he does wake up, he’ll just take you.”

He had a point, but...

“At least take the crystal ball he uses to travel with.” I rested my heavy head against the cliff. “That way if he does wake up, he won’t get very far.”

“Do you know where he keeps it?”

“I think he keeps it in the pocket of his pants.” Alex gave me a blank stare. “”You want me to reach into the pocket of another guy's pants.”

Oh my word. Guys were such babies sometimes.

still not feeling up to standing, I crawled over to Nicholas, reach in his pocket, and took out his ruby-filled traveling crystal ball that shimmered red when it caught in the light of the sun.

Alex took the crystal ball from me and chucked it over the cliff. “Alright, let’s go.”

I gave a slow nod, not wanting to stand up and walk.

Every part of my body was weak, like all the energy had been sucked out of me.

Alex held his hand out and helped me to my feet. I felt like I was standing on an out-of-control merry-go-round.

I clutched onto his arm. “I think something’s wrong with me.”

“You’re just figuring that out?” he teased, but there was concern in his tone.

“Ha. Ha,” I said sarcastically.

He laughed.

I saw spots and my ears popped. “I think…there’s something…” I trailed off as I fell toward the ground.

Alex caught me. “Careful,” he said, steadying me. Then he lifted me up into his arms.

The electricity flowing from him was like a peaceful lullaby, singing me to sleep. But even through my dazed-out brain, I knew it was wrong. Alex was not supposed to be carrying me.

“You can’t…be…near…me,” I murmured, drifting in and out of consciousness.

He shushed me, and I was overcome by sleepiness. I rested my head against his chest and a second later, I was out.

I woke up lying in a bed in a room with sky-blue walls.

My vision was back to normal and my head was much clearer. I gradually sat up, just in case I was hit with another spout of dizziness. But my equilibrium seemed to be fixed.

Thank God. I actually thought I was broken or something; that whatever took place back on the beach had permanently blinded me or something.

The door cracked open and Alex peered in. He looked shocked to see me awake.

“Feeling better?” he asked, pushing the door open the rest of the way.

I stretched my arms out above my head and yawned.

“Yeah.”

He sat down on the bed and nervous energy was radiating off him. “You freaked the heck out of me back there, you know that?”

“Sorry,” I said. “I don’t know what happened...it was like all my energy was sucked away from me or something.” He was looking at me in a way that made my skin glow with heat. He placed a hand on my cheek. “You
really
freaked me out.”

My heart pounded inside my chest. Why was he looking at me like that—it was making me feel like I was suffocating.

I flinched away from him.

He frowned, his hand still hovering in the air. “What’s wrong?”

Not looking at him, I took a deep breath. “I need to tell you something.”

He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Okay, what is it?”

I shivered from his touch. I wished he would have acted like this when I first met him. “It’s about you and me,” I said, meeting his eyes.

He pressed his lips together, looking amused. “Oh, yeah?”

He still had his fingers in my hair and it took all my energy not to lean my head into his hand and shut my eyes. “Your father told me something about you and me when I was up at the cabin,” I told him, my voice trembling.

He looked worried. “Was it something bad?” I nodded. “It is.”

“But you were never up at the cabin, so that means it doesn’t matter, right?”

I choked back the strangling feeling rising up inside me, knowing that once I said it out loud, it would become very real. “I know, but I’m sure it still applies.” I paused. “He told me that if you and I were close to each other for too long then the star’s power would eventually fade away and you and I would fade along with it.”

I held my breath, waiting for him to get riled up, but all he did was sit there, staring at me. I was just starting to wonder if I had shocked the words right out of him, when he shut down. The scary part was that I swear I actually could see it; the emotion slipping out of his eyes and leaving nothing in its place.

“Well, okay then.” He stood up and headed for the door.

“That’s all you have to say?” I sprung to my feet, kind of pissed off that he wasn’t as upset as I was.

“What do you want me to say?” he asked with an uncaring shrug. “We can’t be near each other, so we won’t.” I glared at him. “Well, we could at least make sure it’s true before we do.”

He opened the door. “Why would we do that?” I was filled with the urge to shove him. “Why are you being such a jerk?”

He let out a frustrated breath and turned to face me.

“What do you want from me, Gemma? We can try to find out if there’s some truth to it, but it’s probably true—it’s probably why he never wanted us to be near each other in the first place.”

Whoa. I never thought of that, and I think, up until this point, I was grasping onto the hope that Stephan had been feeding me a line.

“I…um…” I was at a loss for words.

We stared at one another, unsure of what to do or say, while the electricity danced around us, laughing at us, taunting us, torturing us with its existence.

Aislin appeared in the doorway. “He’s awake.” I tore my eyes away from Alex. “Who is? Nicholas?” She nodded and Alex pushed past her.

Aislin gave me a funny look, but I didn’t feel like explaining what was going on.

“Is my mom back, yet?” I asked.

She had changed out of her dirty clothes and her hair was back to its normal perfect state. “No, I haven’t heard from her since we all split up to go find Laylen,” she said.

“But maybe it’s a good sign she’s not back—maybe she found him and is trying to get him to come back.” Maybe, but it worried me that she wasn’t back yet. It just didn’t seem like a great idea for my mom—who had just been freed from The Underworld a day ago—to be out by herself looking for a vampire with blood thirst issues.

“I know it’s not the best situation,” Aislin told me like she read my mind. “But I’m sure she’s okay.”

“I hope they’re both okay,” I said, but something in my gut told me this was not the case.