Текст книги "The Fallen Star"
Автор книги: Jessica Sorensen
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Текущая страница: 18 (всего у книги 19 страниц)
But in case something does happen, I needyou to know that I love you more than anything.” My mother wiped a tear away from642/695
the younger me’s eye. “And I always will.
Never forget that.”
The younger me nodded and hugged my mother tightly. “I promise I’ll never forget.”
“Yes, you will,” I whispered, tears trickling down my cheeks. “You’ll forget everything.”
My eyes shot open. I was back at the cabin, lying on the bed. My eyes and cheeks were damp with tears. My neck was sore and hot—I must have been sleeping in a weird position or something. Whatever these things—visions, resurfacing memories, or maybe just dreams—were, I still had managed to cry in real-life. My guess, though, was that they were memories.
I tried not to think about how heartbreaking the scene between me and my mother was as I wiped my tears away with the sleeve of my jacket. It was just too painful to think about.
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Unsure of how late it was, or how much time had gone by since I’d locked myself in the room, I scooted off the bed and treaded over to the window. Pulling back the curtain, I saw that it was nearing dark. The hills were shadows, the sky grey. But it was still early enough that the stars had not yet awakened.
So what was I supposed to do now? The last thing I wanted to do was to walk out and find Marco, Sophia, Stephan, and Detaching Soul Guy waiting for me. I needed to find out if they’d arrived yet.
I tiptoed over to the door, cracked it open, and listened. The only noise I could hear came from my own breathing. Crossing my fingers that no one was here yet, I opened the door the rest of the way, went out into the living room, and almost jumped with joy when I found it completely people free.
But where was Alex?
Good question.
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I searched the house, checking the kitchen, the dining room, even going out into the garage. But nothing. There was no sign of Alex anywhere. Is that necessarily a bad thing? I asked myself, and sighed because the answer was yes.
I was just about to sit down on the couch and wait it out when I spotted Alex through the sliding glass door. He was sitting in a porch swing on the back porch. Beneath the dim porch light, I could see that he’d ditched the black baseball hat, his dark brown hair sticking up in its messily, yet perfectly done, way. He was staring down at his hand, and I couldn’t help but feel nervous about what he might be holding in it.
I made my way over to the sliding door, and paused before gliding it open. I stepped out into the cold night air, my breath puffing out in a cloud.
He glanced up at me, and then returned his gaze back to whatever was in his hand.
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“It’s freezing out here.” I tugged the hood of my jacket over my head, tucked my hands up into the sleeves, and tromped through the snow over to the swing. “What are you doing out here?”
“Just thinking about stuff…” He clasped his hand around something shiny and sliver and looked up at me. “I’m surprised you came out of the room. I was pretty sure that you were going to lock yourself in there and refuse to come out.”
“It wouldn’t have done me any good.” I sat down on the swing, and it rocked beneath my weight. “You guys probably would have just broken down the door and dragged me out.”
He didn’t say anything, but it didn’t matter. I already knew the extent of what the Keepers would do to keep the stars power thriving.
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I let the tips of my shoes trace across the snow as the swing swayed back and forth.
“So…what do you have in your hand?” He hesitatingly opened his hand, and a necklace rested in his palm. A violet stone carved the center of a silver, heart-shaped pendant. The color of the stone reminded me of the color of my eyes.
I stared at the necklace, mesmerized by its beauty. “What is it?” A smile teased at his lips. “A necklace.” I rolled my eyes. “Obviously. But why are you showing it to me?”
“Because it was yours.” He slipped the chain of the necklace through his fingers and dangled it in front of me. “Your mother gave it to you when you were little…before everything happened.”
“It was mine? Really?” I asked excitedly.
He nodded. “It really was.” 647/695
I pressed my lips together, my eyes starting to burn from the tears that were threatening to break through.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I nodded because I couldn’t speak. I don’t know how to even begin to explain to you just how much this meant to me. I’m not even sure there are any words that would fit what I was feeling. Okay, imagine if every ounce of who you are was ripped away and there was nothing left but a lost version of yourself struggling to find a way back to a life you’d never known—a life you knew had to be better than the empty one you were living.
That’s what this necklace was. A piece of my past that reminded me that I’d once had a good life, with a loving mother, free to do and feel as I pleased.
“So…” I began after I’d found my voice again. “Why are you showing it to me?”
“I have no idea,” he said, not in a rude way, but in a confused one.
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“Okay…” I said, sounding as confused as he did. “Do I get to keep it?” He eyed me over. Then he took hold of my hand and placed the necklace in it, the metal warm against my frostbitten skin.
“So…that’s a yes then.” I wanted to know before I got too excited.
He leaned back in the swing. “Yeah, you can keep it.”
“Thank you,” I said in the softest voice I’d ever heard come out of my mouth.
“Wow, two thank you’s in a day. That’s impressive.”
I smiled, but it was forced. I just wasn’t feeling it at the moment. Yes, I was excited about the necklace, but sad at the same time, because I knew at any given moment, my re-collection of it, along with everything else, would be gone forever. And that stole away all of my wittiness.
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“Gemma, are you alright?" He furrowed his eyebrows quizzically. “You’re acting kind of… strange.”
“So are you,” I said, clamping my hand around the necklace.
“How so?”
“You’re being too nice, giving me the necklace and everything. It’s weird.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he agreed.
“Maybe I should take it back.” He made a move for the necklace.
I wrenched my hand back. “I didn’t mean you had to take it back. I want it, and I’m not giving it back to you.”
“Relax, I’m just teasing you,” he said.
“Look, I know things have been up and down between us, but just for a moment, can we try to be normal.”
I frowned. “That last time I thought things between you and me were headed to Normalville, you were playing me for a fool, 650/695
so you could try to find out if I knew why my emotions had suddenly started up again.”
“And I’m sorry for that,” he said sincerely.
“Oh. My. Word. Did you just say sorry?” I widened my eyes and did an over exagger-ated look of shock. “Holy crap. I think the world just stop spinning.” He grinned and I added, “Is that normal enough for you?” A moment of silence passed between us.
I stared down at the necklace, the silver and purple sparkling almost like the stars that had now dusted themselves across the sky.
“Aren’t you going to put it on?” he asked, nodding down at the necklace in my hand.
“Yeah, good idea.” I’d started to unfasten the clamp when it hit me. What if there was something wrong with the necklace. What if it wasn’t my necklace at all, but some kind of soul detaching device that Alex was trying to trick me into putting on? What if when I put it on, my soul would be gone? I stopped 651/695
fumbling with the clamp. “You know, I’m not sure if I should. I mean, what if this is a trick or something? For all I know, putting this on could be part of the process of detaching my soul.”
He shook his head and sighed. “It’s not and I can prove it.” He reached over and flipped the pendant to the back. Flawless cursive engraved the letters GL—my initials.
“See, GL—Gemma Lucas.”
I smiled a real smile. It really did belong to me. I flicked the clasp open and wrapped the chain around my neck.
Okay, so I’m not sure if you’ve caught onto this yet, but I am not a jewelry wearing kind of girl. Putting a necklace on was like a whole new experience for me, and I couldn’t get the sucker to hook shut.
“Need some help?” Alex asked, looking like he was enjoying watching me struggle.
“No,” I refused stubbornly. “I got it.” But after a few more minutes of trying to get the 652/695
dang clamp closed, I gave up. “Oh, fine. I guess I need your help.”
He laughed, making a circle in the air with his finger. “Turn around.” I did, and he took the necklace from my hands, his fingers grazing mine. I tried my best to ignore how hot his touch made me feel as he fumbled to secure the clasp of the necklace closed.
But like me, he seemed to be struggling.
“Hmmm…” He paused. “Well that’s interesting?”
I glanced over my shoulder at him.
“What’s interesting?”
“Well, it looks like you got your mark.”
“A Foreseer’s mark.”
He nodded, tracing his finger gently along the back of my neck. “I can see the outline of it forming right here.”
“What does it look like?”
“Exactly like Nicholas’s,” he said. “Each groups mark always looks the same.” 653/695
“So does that mean I might actually be a real Foreseer?”
“Yeah, probably. But I still don’t know how. I never thought you were a Foreseer. I thought it was just the stars power setting off the crystal. Usually possessing Foreseer ability requires coming from a line of Foreseers.”
“My mother wasn’t one?”
He shook his head. “Jocelyn was just a Keeper.”
“What about my father?” I asked.
“Maybe he was.”
“Maybe. But I can’t say for sure since I don’t know who he is.”
“You don’t know who he is!” I exclaimed.
“How is that even possible?”
“Because Jocelyn would never tell anyone who he was. For some reason, she insisted she had to keep it a secret.” Well, that sucked. Not only was my mother’s death a big giant question mark, but now I come to find out no one knows 654/695
who my father is. I really was all alone in this world, wasn’t I?
I choked back my tears.
He sighed. “Here, let me put this thing on you, and then you can go look at the mark in the mirror.”
I nodded slowly and turned back around.
He started fiddling with the clamp again, his fingers teasing me with their touch. I gazed off into the darkness of the night, thinking of my mother and father and how I hardly knew anything about them. And that seemed to be creating this giant hole inside my heart.
“You’re nervous,” he remarked.
“Huh?” I shook my head. “No, I’m not.”
“Your foot's shaking like crazy.” I looked down at my foot and realized I was tapping it crazily against the snowy ground. Apparently, I’d channeled all the hot energy that Alex’s touch was bringing on down to my leg. “I’m not nervous. It’s just 655/695
that…”I felt the necklaces fall against the back of my neck—he’d gotten it hooked.
Finally.
“Just that what?” he asked, his mouth extremely close to my ear.
“Nothing.” I started to move away.
“Never mind.”
He caught me by the waist, making my body much hotter. “Just tell me.”
“It’s nothing.” I kept telling myself to breathe as a mixture of heat and confusion swirled through my body. “It’s just the electricity.
It
sometimes
makes
me
a
little…squirmy.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is.” His breath was hot against my skin, making every part of me go crazy. A moment later, I felt his lips press against the back of my neck. I froze, and I was pretty sure that my heart even stopped beating for a second. I tried to tell myself to get up and walk away. Don’t do this. It wouldn’t be worth it. You wouldn’t656/695
even know if it was real or if he was playing you.
But then he whispered my name, and I turned around instinctively. After that, all my thoughts floated away. I could no longer think. Why? Because he kissed me. And not like the little peck back on the bus where our lips barely touched. No. This one last a lot longer and was full of fire.
At one point, I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he pulled me closer to him so that are bodies were touching. There was so much heat that I wouldn’t have been surprised if the snow was melting on the ground beneath us.
Okay, so I know what you’re thinking.
How could she kiss him after everything?
But please, try not to judge me too harshly. I know things haven’t been the best between Alex and me, but I am only human after all.
Or at least part human, anyway. And I have things I want to do, like kiss the guy that can 657/695
make my skin sparkle. And you know what, unlike you, my time to do so is going to run out, like, any second, so this is probably my one and only chance to get kissed.
I’m not sure how long the kissing went on, but eventually we did break away from each other. Which was a kind of good, if only to keep me from passing out from lack of oxygen. But I did feel a ping of longing for my lips to be touching his again.
Alex gazed up at the night sky, rocking the swing back and forth. His serious expression that he usually carried had nearly faded.
If you ask me, it made him even more gorgeous.
The pendant of the necklace pressed warmly against my skin. I absentmindedly rubbed my thumb against the violet stone as I stared up at the sky, thinking about the kiss and trying not to think about the fact that fairly soon here I’d remember nothing about it. I spotted the constellation Andromeda, 658/695
the bottom point of Cassiopeia pointing at it like a target. I thought about the other people in the world staring up at the stars. I hoped they were happy and grateful to be alive.
I felt a small crack running along the edge of the pendant. I looked down and realized that it wasn’t just a pendant but a locket.
I snapped it open. Framed inside was a thumb size photo of a group of people. I squinted down at the photo, examining each of their faces and then…”Oh my God.”
“What’s the matter?” Alex asked.
“Is that my mother?” I asked, pointing at a woman with long brown hair and bright blue iris—the woman I’d seen in so many visions/dreams/memories.
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s her. Is she the one you saw in the vision?” I didn’t answer, sliding the tip of my finger to the man that stood beside her. “So who’s this next to her?”
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“That’s my father.” He gave me a funny look. “Why?”
Well, crap. I jumped to my feet, panic firing through me as wildly as the sparks did when Alex had kissed me. Why, you might be asking, was I freaking out? Because this man—aka Alex’s father—had a faint white scar grazing his left cheek.
I took a shaky breath. “Because he’s the one I saw force my mom into the lake.” Chapter 32
“No. There’s no way,” Alex said, shaking his head. “It’s gotta be a mistake.” We’d gone into the living room because the temperature had dipped so low that our butts were almost to the point of freezing off.
Literally. He’d said about a thousand times that there was no way his dad could have forced my mom to get into the lake.
But I wasn’t buying it. I knew what I’d seen, and I knew it wasn’t a mistake—I’d seen the vision more than once. Not to mention the man kept showing up in my nightmares.
His face was practically engraved into my memory.
“It’s not a mistake,” I told him. “I know what I saw. I know it was him.” 661/695
He glared at me. “You don’t know that for sure.”
“Yeah, I do,” I assured him with confidence. “I’ve seen the vision twice.”
“But you were only able to see his face in one of them,” Alex pointed out. “So there’s a possibility that you might be mistaking him for someone else. I know my father would never do anything like that. Ever.” Tell that to Laylen. “How can you be so sure?”
He stared at me, dumbfounded. “Because he’s my father.”
I chewed on my lip, mulling over my options here. Should I tell him about my dreams? If I did, I ran the risk of giving away too much information, and I still wasn’t sure if I trusted Alex. Even after we’d kissed. “You were there, you know? In the vision. There was a little boy with the same bright green eyes as you.” I wasn’t sure if I was right or not, it was just a guess. It made sense, 662/695
though, when I thought about it. His bright green eyes and how he’d called Stephan his father.
“No. There’s no way,” he said firmly. “I’d be able to remember it happening if I was.” I raised my eyebrows at him. “Perhaps your mind has been tampered with too.”
“No. There’s no way,” he repeated, but the firmness from his voice had slightly faded. He ran his fingers restlessly through his hair. “Look Gemma, maybe you saw it wrong. Maybe it was someone else who forced your mom to go into the lake. I mean Dyvinius said that you didn’t see the vision correctly the first time. Who’s to say you didn’t see correctly the second time either.” I bit back my irritation the best I could.
“I saw it correctly both times. The only problem with the first one was that I couldn’t see the peoples’ faces.” He still looked unconvinced, and it made me so angry that I kept 663/695
going. “Besides, the vision isn’t the only time I’ve seen him.”
He blinked, looking lost. “What do you mean?”
“Well…” There was no backing out now.
I’d already opened Pandora’s Box. “Before I learned anything about who I was, I was having these nightmares where I was being chased through the forest by the Death Walkers.”
“Yeah, I remember you mentioning that.” He sat down on the couch and rested his arms on his knees. “But what does that have to do with my father?”
“Because at the end of every dream, the Death Walkers capture me and a man appears and orders them to finish me off.” I sighed and sank down into the couch beside him. “The man in my nightmares had the same scar as your father.” His eyes widened as I continued, “And back at Laylen’s, when I was lying on the floor freezing to death, 664/695
something happened to me—something similar to what happened to me back at the fieldtrip. I went into this vision, and there was a man and Demetrius chatting it up about how they’d gotten rid of some poor woman that was a Keeper.” He gaped at me. “Hold on. So what you’re telling me is that you went into a vision without a crystal ball not once, but twice.
Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“I did. At least, I did with the first one.”
“Yeah, but I just assumed that was some resurfacing memory or something. But if you’re seeing something that has Demetrius in it…” He let out a loud breath. “There’s no way that could be a memory. You’ve never seen him before.” Silence choked the air as he considered all of this. “How is it even possible for you to do that?” he muttered to himself. “How can you see a vision without a crystal ball? It’s just not possible.” 665/695
“When I asked you about it before, you said you weren’t sure if it was possible or not for someone to see a vision without a crystal ball,” I reminded him. “You even said that you may have heard of someone who could.” He stared down at the floor, seriously contemplating what I’d said.
“Alex,” I said a little too loudly and he jumped. “That’s not important right now.
What’s important is that this other man chatting it up with Demetrius had a scar on his cheek.”
He swallowed hard, looking…well, really, really vulnerable. I had to admit, I didn’t like how it looked on him. It made me feel anxious and had me questioning whether he was going to fall apart. He couldn’t fall apart.
Not if his father was secretly working with Demetrius. And was the one who’d gotten rid of my mother. And was heading here right now.
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“Look, I know this has to be hard to hear,” I said.
“Has to be hard to hear?” He laughed an unsettlingly kind of laugh. “What you’re telling me is that not only did my father send Jocelyn to The Underworld, but that he’s working with Demetrius.”
“I understand that it’s hard to hear, but do you think it wasn’t hard for me to watch my mother get sent to The Underworld?”
“Yeah, but you don’t even know her,” he mumbled.
“Hey.” I sprang from the couch and threw my hands on my hips. “That’s not fair.
The only reason I don’t know her is because of you.”
“You can’t be right about my father,” he muttered, ignoring me. “There’s just no way.”
“If that were true, then how would I know all of this? What? Do you think I just made it all up or something?” 667/695
He shrugged. “How do I know? Maybe you did?”
I was fuming. “I’m not the one who’s a liar.”
He glared at me angrily.
I glared back just as angry.
I’m not sure how long our argument would’ve gone on—probably awhile—but I never got to find out because the air suddenly froze over with a deathly chill, and we both stopped talking.
Great. Not again.
Chapter 33
“How did they find us here?!” I was standing in the dining room, watching Alex dig frantically around in a secret cabinet that had been hidden behind a massive china cabinet. I hadn’t realized just how strong Alex was until he’d slid the enormous thing out of the way like it was made of air. “And what the heck are you looking for in there.” I was still pissed off about his refusal to accept that his father was responsible for my mom being trapped down in The Underworld, but my fear that the Death Walkers were heading here was overriding my anger.
After we’d felt the air freeze over, Alex had run over to the window, and yep, sure enough, a flock of them were headed right for the cabin. We wouldn’t have been able to 669/695
see them, since it was dark outside, but their eyes lit up the night like a swarm of fireflies.
“This is what I’m looking for.” Alex held up the Sword of Immortality. “And this.” He held up another sword, a much smaller one with a less jagged blade, which he shoved the handle of it at me. “Here, take it.”
“Why?” I backed away. “It wouldn’t do me any good.”
“You’ve stabbed one before.”
“Yeah, but that was a freak accident.” He nudged the small sword toward me.
“Take it.”
I sighed and took it. “What are we going to do now?”
“We’re going to make a run for it,” he said and rushed out of the room.
I chased after him. “How, though?
They're practically here already.” Heading for the door that led to the garage, he shot me a look over his shoulder that told me to quit being difficult. “So what?
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You’d rather stay and wait for them to get here?”
“No,” I said dumbly. “That’s not what I meant. It’s just that how are we supposed to get out of here?”
He opened the door. “In the Jeep.”
“Will we be able to outrun them?” He shrugged as he headed for the Jeep.
“Hurry up and get inside.” I ran over and jumped in, my nerves bubbling so badly that my hands were trembling. I was so afraid that just on the other side of the garage door the Death Walkers would be waiting for us, all yellow-eyed and hungry to kill. I quickly buckled my seatbelt and started chewing on my nails—I guess the nail biting habit was sticking for now—as the Jeeps engine roared to life With one hand gripping tightly on the steering wheel, and the other grasping onto the shifter, Alex sucked in a deep breath.
“Ready?”
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“No.” My voice shook.
“Okay, hold on.” He pushed the open button on the garage door opener that was clipped to the visor, and the door slowly inched open. It seemed like it took forever for it to rise up all the way.
Alex threw the shifter into reverse and started to back out. He only made it a few feet, though, before he hit the brakes.
“What’s wrong?” I followed his gaze to the rear window, and I had my answer. Tons and tons of glowing yellow eyes—they were everywhere—bursting through the darkness.
A moment later, someone emerged from around the corner of the garage. When the light hit the persons face, it felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. A man with black hair, dark eyes, and a scar on his left cheek.
We were so screwed.
Chapter 34
“Stephan.” Alex grabbed hold of the door handle, about to climb out.
“Alex,” I hissed. “ Pleasedon’t. We still need to get out of here. There are Death Walkers everywhere.”
“Alex,” Stephan called out in the commanding voice I’d heard him use so many times in my nightmares, but never in real life. Asleep or awake, the sound still sent a slimy chill down my spine.
The door handle made a clickas Alex started to push the door open. Panicking, I reached out and clutched on to his arm. He glanced down at my hand clutching his arm, and then looked up and gave me this strange look.
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“ Please,” I begged and released his arm.
“If this isn’t proof that you’re dad’s working with Demetrius,” I did a gesture back at the driveway where dozens of yellow eyes glinted at us through the darkness, “then I don’t know what is. We have to—” He pressed a finger to my lips, shushing me. Then he slid his fingers around the necklace hanging around my neck and tucked it down in my shirt. My mouth dropped open.
Huh?“Whatever you do, keep that hidden.
Don’t let anyone know you have it.”
“Why?” I asked, but he’d already turned away and was climbing out of the car, the Sword of Immortality clutched in his hand.
I sat there for a second, confused about why I had to keep the necklace hidden? It was just a necklace, wasn’t it? Then it hit me.
Because I probably wasn’t supposed to have the necklace to begin with, and Alex didn’t want to get in trouble for giving it to me.
Nice. Really nice Alex. And now I had to 674/695
climb out of the car and not only face the monsters that wanted to kill me, but also face the man who was responsible for my mother’s disappearance and the whole crappiness of my life.
I mean, I guess I could have just sat in Jeep until Alex and Stephan came and forced me to get out. Or I could have scooted over to the driver’s seat and peeled out into the night on my own, but Alex had taken the keys with him. Most likely so I wouldn’t do just that.
He knew me all too well.
So with wobbly legs, I dragged my butt out of the car, tucked the small knife Alex had given me into the back pocket of my jeans, and made my way over to where Alex and Stephan stood. I stayed several feet away from them, because seeing Stephan in real life was about a million times more frightening then seeing him in my dreams.
When I approached them, Stephan had been telling Alex something in a low voice, 675/695
but shut his mouth immediately when he saw me.
“Gemma,” Stephan said in an eerily calm voice. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.” Well look at him. Pretending like he’d never met me before. What a jerk. Now I’d love to be able to tell you that I spat every foul word that was running through my mind right in his face. But I didn’t. Just being there in the same room with him, I felt like I was suffocating, and my voice was getting strangled inside my throat. So instead, I just stood there like a coward, nervously eyeballing the Death Walkers that were gather-ing out in the driveway.
“Well, Alex, you’ve done a good job here—keeping her out of trouble and everything,” Stephan said. “But I’ll take it from here.”
Take it from here. What did that mean?
Detach my soul. Sick the Death Walkers on me? I eyed the door that led back inside the 676/695
cabin, contemplating whether or not to make a run for it. But where would I go?
“Okay,” Alex told Stephan, and I wanted to smack him in the back of the head.
“Traitor,” I muttered.
He shot me a look and shook his head once as if to say be quiet.
“Look,” Alex said to Stephan, “I understand that there are some things that need to be done here. But what I don’t understand is why they’re here.” He pointed at the Death Walkers.
“That is a very good question.” Stephan said in a condescending tone. “But right now, all I need for you to do is give me the Sword of Immortality and keep your mouth shut.
You know better than to question anything that I do.”
Wow. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was some kind of How To class that Keepers were required to go to in order to be such crappy parents/guardians, because Stephan 677/695
reminded me a lot of Marco and Sophia with the do-what-you’re-told-and-don’t-ask-any-questions attitude.
Speaking of Marco and Sophia, weren’t they supposed to be gracing us with their presence?
Stephan held out his hand and tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Alex to surrender the sword over.
“Okay, I’ll give you the sword,” Alex said, and my gut clenched. “But I have one small thing I have to ask you before I do.”
“Make it quick,” Stephan grumbled.
And the next thing I knew, Alex’s fist was slamming into Stephan’s face. After that, everything moved by in a blur. Stephan staggered back. Alex yelled at me to run. And I suddenly found myself running inside the house and out the back door into the forest.
Definitely not the brightest thing I’ve ever done.
Chapter 35
I’d made it a little ways into the forest before the entire severity of my situation hit me. I was running through the forest, being chased by Death Walkers and Stephan.
Great thinking Gemma. Way to set yourself up for a cold death. Didn’t your dreams teach you anything?
Yep, I was a real genius.
Debating whether to head back and get the heck out of the trees, I slowed to a jog.
What were my options here? I mean, I could either head back to the cabin and face whatever was waiting for me there, or I could keep going farther into the trees, probably end up lost, and eventually get captured if this played out anything like my nightmares, which I was beginning to think might be a 679/695
big possibility. After discovering I possessed Foreseer abilities, and that I might have been going into visions without the crystal balls help, what’s not to say that my nightmares weren’t the real deal too?
In the midst of my indecisiveness, I heard a twig snap from behind me. I reeled around and did a quick skim of my surroundings. I could barely see a thing, though.
The only light I had to go by was the faint light trickling down from the moon.
My heart hammered in my chest as I slid the knife out of my back pocket and held it out in front of me like I was some kind of Sword Fighting Master or something. Which, of course, I so wasn’t. Another snapping twig, and then I saw it—my imminent doom.
My grip tightened on the handle of the knife, my life flashing before my eyes as Stephan and a handful of Death Walkers ascended from the trees. Ice crackled over the snow, moving straight for my feet. The temperature 680/695
