The Vision (16 page)

“I don’t even know what to think,” Laylen said.

He was sitting on my bed, his fangs put back where they belong, and his bright blue eyes wide as we tried to figure out what to do with the whole Stasha-being-marked-with-evil situation. I mean, it wasn’t like I hadn’t already thought she was evil, but the mark being there...it just shouldn’t be there. And yet it was and it was popping up all over. The thing that was really getting at me, though, was that Stasha said she had had the mark since she was born. So did Alex know about it? If he did, then, I felt like we were back to where we started; back to where I thought he was a liar.

“We should at least give him the benefit of the doubt,” I said, fiddling with a loose string on my purple comforter.

“See how he reacts when we tell him.”

Laylen nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” He met my eyes with a concerned look on his face. “You’re okay, right?”

I glanced down at where the lines once traced my arm.

“Yeah, I don’t think she did anything to me besides remove her death.”

He shook his head. “No, not with that. I mean, with the Alex thing. I know how far you two have come so you can trust him.”

I pressed my lips together. “Like I said, we should go talk to him—give him the benefit of the doubt, before we start accusing him of anything.”

“Alright then.” Laylen got to his feet and I followed.

“Are you okay?” I asked him as we headed down the stairs. I didn’t have to explain what I meant—was he okay with bringing out his fangs.

“I’m good. In fact, it was kind of nice to bring them out for a good cause.”

“Well, if it does start to bother you,” I started to say.

But he threw his arm around my shoulder. “I know. I know.

I’ll come talk to you first, before bailing.” Alex, Aislin, and Aleesa were in the living room when Laylen and I walked in. Aislin was typing away on the lap top, so determined to figure out why the spell at the cemetery didn’t work. Alex was trying to explain to Aleesa what a television was, and how people were not trapped inside it.

“Hey,” he said when he caught sight of me in the doorway. His eyes flickered in Laylen’s direction and then he said to me, “I thought you were resting so you could try to go in the mapping ball again.”

Aleesa let out a giggle at something on the TV.

“I couldn’t sleep.” I stared at him, my pulse racing as his bright green eyes burned intensely back at me.
Please,
please, say you didn’t know about the mark.
I raised my arm, figuring that was the best place to start.

His eyebrows dipped down. “Where’d they go?” I bit on my bottom lip. “We paid Stasha a little visit.”

“What?” His face reddened with anger, but he kept his tone calm. “You paid her a visit.”

“Yeah…I had this hunch that maybe if her death scars weren’t on my arm, the Purple Flame might work,” I explained.

“Okay…well, I wish you would have said something before you took off,” he said, trying his hardest to stay calm.

“But since you’re without the scars I assume everything went okay.”

I shook my head, leaning against the doorway. “Not exactly.”

Alex glanced back and forth between Laylen and me.

“What do you mean, not exactly?”

I looked at Laylen and then at Aislin, who was suddenly very interested in what we were talking about.

“Can I talk to you alone for a minute?” I asked Alex He gave me a funny look, but set the TV remote down and followed me out of the room and into the kitchen.

“So…what’s wrong?” he asked, leaning back against the teal cupboards and folding his arms.

I sighed. “Well, when Laylen and I—”

He let out a weird sound that sounding kind of like a snort mixed with a cough.

“What was that?” I asked.

He shrugged. “What was what?”

I eyed him suspiciously. “That weird noise you just made…why did you make it?”

He shrugged again, looking a lot like the old “whatever” Alex.

“Hey, don’t do that,” I said. “Don’t shut me out. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

He stared at me for a moment and then he was moving toward me, stopping just short of running into me.

“My problem is that every time you have a problem, you run off with him.” He pointed over his shoulder toward the living room where I knew Laylen was sitting. “It’s driving me crazy.”

Okay…he was being honest, which was kind of weird.

“Well.” I took a step back because the sparks were a little overwhelming. “It seemed better to take Laylen with me this time because Stasha can’t kill him with her touch, him being immortal and all.”

“And that’s the only reason?” His bright green eyes glimmered like gems as he waited for me to answer.

“Yeah.” I think that was the right answer.

He relaxed and I started to relax until I remembered.

“Wait a minute,” I took a step toward him. “I have to ask you something.”

He looked confused. “Okay….”

I took a deep breath. “Did you know Stasha has the Mark of Malefiscus?”

His jaw fell. “She doesn’t.”

“Yes, she does. I saw the mark on her wrist, and she told us she’s had it since she was born.”

“That’s not possible. I would know if she had.” I hated that he would know. “So you’re saying you didn’t know.”

“I’m saying there’s no way she could have one, unless she got it after we stopped…dating.”

I rubbed my hands across my face, feeling the stress. “I guess she could have been lying about that part, but I don’t know why.”

“Or do you think I’m lying?” he questioned with an arch of his eyebrow.

I hesitated. “I don’t think you’re lying.” He shook his head. “Now who’s lying?”

I started to protest, but he was stepping for me, backing me up until my back pressed into the counter.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” he asked.

I held his gaze. “If you tell me you didn’t know, then I’ll believe you.”

He placed his hands on the counter, so I was trapped between his arms. Then he leaned in, his face merely inches away from me. “I didn’t know she had the mark.” He was telling the truth—I could see it in his eyes. But I waited a second or two, before confessing this, because…

well, because I was kind of enjoying being trapped between his arms.

“Okay, I believe you,” I finally said, and he waited a second or two before he stepped back and freed me from his arms. I shook off the sparks. “So, why do you think she’s marked then? And why would she have a Death Walker at her house?”

He gaped at me. “What?”

“Oh, did I forget to mention that?” I asked and he nodded with an astonished look on his face. “Well, she had one there.”

Alex ran his fingers through his hair. “This just doesn’t make any sense. I mean, why the sudden abundance of marks? They were supposed to be nonexistent.”

“Do you think your dad’s going around, marking everyone, like he did with Nicholas and some of the Keepers?” I asked.

“He could be.” He shrugged “I guess, but didn’t that witch Medea say she had it since she was born and that there were others.”

“I know….it’s so weird,” I mumbled. “Like something’s changed.”

We looked at each other, perplexed.

“Well, maybe it’s time for you to put everything back to what it was.” Alex pointed at my arm. “You think that thing’s ready to go?”

I raised my arm up, examining it. “Let’s find out.” I went and grabbed the mapping ball, and moments later I was standing in the kitchen with the Purple Flame burning vibrantly in my hand. Alex stood over by the counter, arms folded as he watched me with an uneasy look on his face.

I took a deep breath, crossed my fingers that it would work—it had to work—and set the glittering mapping ball into my hand.

Then, I was gone.

It was too dark--I had to be dead. I panicked, thinking how completely and one hundred percent stupid it was for me to believe that a note left on my bed and a talk-show-host voice would give me the correct way to get inside the mapping ball. Go find the Purple Flame, go erase the death marks, what had I been thinking?

But then, I realized that my eyes were just closed, and when I opened them up, I was dazzled by the most beautiful sight. And I’m not talking about Alex. Stars. Yes, stars, sparkling beneath my feet like diamonds.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered in amazement. But my amazement quickly vanished as the comprehension of not having any idea of what I was doing draped over me.

I walked across the stars, my heart sinking in despair.

“What am I supposed to do?”

As if answering me, one of the stars, right in front of my feet, flickered. I jumped back as it lit up against the darkness like a movie screen. On the screen was a man probably about twenty years-old with dark brown hair and violet eyes—my dad. He was talking to an older woman with long red hair, wearing a perfectly pressed tan dress…it was Sophia.

“Well, I don’t see how that would be possible,” Sophia said to my father as they walked up the hill toward the Keeper’s castle. “Jocelyn’s too busy with things. She’s supposed to be taking her Keeper’s test soon.”

“I understand your concern.” My dad tried to dazzle her with a charming smile. “But I promise you, I won’t keep her out that long.”

Sophia, unaffected by my dad’s charm, fixed him with a stern gaze—a gaze I have seen many times. “Well, I’ll have to think about it and discuss it with her father.” My father smiled, his violet eyes shining like jewels in the sunlight. “That’s all I’m asking.”

Sophia gave him a nod and walked away leaving him on the hill. My father picked up a rock and threw it into the lake, making the dark blue water ripple. He looked happy, not like someone who had—or would be the cause of the world ending in ice and death.

The scene dulled away and dropped back into the star.

Not the vision I was looking for, but it was interesting to see my dad, just a normal guy, wanting to ask my mom out.

Another star lit up, ill uminating the darkness with another screen. My father, still twenty-something years-old, sat next to a woman with dark brown hair and bright blue irises—my mom. They were in what looked like the corner of a library, huddled together, a stack of books piled at their feet.

“I still don’t understand why you have to help him,” my mother said to my father in a low voice.

My father took her hands in his. “Everything will be okay.

I’ll help Stephan and he assured me that we can be together if I do—that your parents won’t have any problems with us wanting to get married.”

My mother looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t. “Julian, please don’t do this.”

“It’ll be alright.” My dad held her face in his hands.

“Stephan just needs my help with something and then this will all be over.”

She swallowed hard, and again she looked like she wanted to say something. “But, help with what? Has he even told you?”

He shook his head. “He hasn’t, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.” My mother scratched at her wrist, right where the Mark of Malefiscus marked her skin. But her long-sleeved white shirt covered it up and I wondered if my father knew it was there. She kept scratching and scratching at it like she was trying to scratch it away.

“Please, don’t go, Julian,” she begged “I’m begging you not to.”

My father pressed his lips together and leaned in to kiss her. “I have to, otherwise, I’ll never have this.” I let out a shaky breath as the picture faded back into the star. They seemed so normal and in love, not evil, not marked with the Mark of Malefiscus, not about to end the world.

I moved on to the next star and waited for it to light up.

But when the screen blazed across the blackness, my body tensed up. Stephan, dressed all in black sitting at a long mahogany table. Across from him, was my dad. His arms were resting on the table, the sleeves of his dark blue shirt rolled up revealing that his arms and wrists were free of marks.

“I have to say, Julian, I’m surprised you showed up.” Stephan’s grin was as evil as ever. “Jocelyn must mean a lot to you.”

My dad shifted in the chair uneasily. “Is it true you can create marks? Can you really mark me as a Keeper?” That’s what he wanted. He wanted Stephan to make him a Keeper. He hadn’t mentioned this to my mom. Why had he kept it a secret?

“Hmmm….” Stephan traced his finger across the scar on his face. “Is it true there’s a way for a Foreseer to change a vision?”

My dad’s face fell. “”I-I don’t think so.” Stephan leaned toward my father, his fingernails digging into the wood as he pressed his hands firmly into the table.

“You know what I hate more than anything, Julian? People who lie. I can’t stand liars.”

And that coming from the mouth of the biggest one I’ve ever met.

“I’m not lying, sir,” my dad said with an uneasiness that gave away his lie.

Something flashed in Stephan’s dark eyes that made me cringe. “I understand there are rules Foreseers have that forbid you to tell me what I ask.” He pushed back from the chair and walked around to the other side of the table, towering above my father. “Give me your arm, Julian.”

“What?” My father gaped up at Stephan. “Why do you need my arm?”

“Give. Me. Your. Arm.” Stephan repeated in a calm, but firm tone.

My dad let out a loud breath and held out his arm.

Stephan pulled a knife from his pocket and with one swift movement, stabbed it into my father’s arm. “
Vos es
venalicium
.”

My dad let out a cry of pain, his fingers moving for the knife. But it was too late; a mark had already burned into his wrist. Blood seeped out of his pale skin and dripped onto the stone floor. My dad pressed his hand down on the wound. “Why did you…I don’t understand,” he stammered.

Stephan tossed the knife onto the table, the blade stained red with my father’s blood. “Now you have no choice but to help me.”

My father clenched his jaw in pain, lifted his blood soaked hand away from his arm and gasped.

So did I.

A black triangle tracing a red symbol marked his wrist.

The Mark of Malefiscus.

“But you said you would give me the Keeper’s mark.” My father raised his marked wrist. “What is this?” Stephan grinned wickedly. “Oh, you’ll soon find out.” The light faded away into the star, and I sank to the blackened ground, sitting on the stars, trying to keep it together. My mother lied. My father didn’t want power. He wanted to be with her. He thought he was becoming a Keeper. Why would my mom lie about this? Or did she not know the truth? Was the only story she knew from Stephan?

I shook my head. The man had ruined way too many lives. I stood up, filled with the determination to fix it. But there were so many stars…it could take forever. I needed a way to figure out which one held the right memory.

Think, Gemma, think.

I shifted through my memories, trying to think of something—anything that was mentioned that might help.

Both Nicholas and my dad had said something about my mind having the answers, but right now, my mind seemed as blank as a sheet of paper.

I gazed at all the stars….if I could just see which one I…

needed. Oh my word. I jumped to my feet and focused on not seeing the stars, but seeing
the
star; the one that held the memory of my dad changing the vision. The stars began to sparkle as if they were playing a silent melody of color and light. Then, suddenly, a silver cloud rose up from the ground. I jumped back as it slithered across the stars like a magical snake, heading into the darkness.

Was that my answer?

I chased after it as it weaved around stars, until it finally came to a stop above one; a purple one that shined brighter than all the other stars near it. The magical snake swooped up into the air and swan dived down into the star.

I held my breath, waiting for the screen to light up, but there was nothing. No light. No movie clip.

I leaned over the star, trying to see what was inside it. But the only thing I could see was a faint purple light emitting from the center of it. Hesitantly, I touched my finger to the star.

Energy jolted through my body, and the ground shook like an earthquake.

I let out a scream as the floor beneath me collapsed.