Текст книги "The Underworld"

Автор книги: Jessica Sorensen

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

Chapter 20

I stood there, my hand still gripping the doorknob, my mouth agape. The people looked like corpses; their skin as pale as a ghost, their eyes sealed shut, their bodies strapped to the massive crystal ball that burned brightly like the sun. They were dead. They were all dead. Alex was dead. I couldn’t breathe.

“Calm down, Gemma.” Laylen’s voice was soothing

“They’re not dead.”

I dropped my hand from the doorknob, unable to take my eyes off the crystal ball, the people, the chains. “Are you—are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. The crystal’s collecting energy from them,” he explained. “If they were dead, they wouldn’t be useful.”

Calm down. You won’t be useful if you’re freakingout. “Okay, so where’s Alex.”

Laylen stepped cautiously into the room, and I followed. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be anyone awake hanging around in there, like a Foreseer guard or something. The coast was all clear. So why did I still feel like I was going to throw up?

“Maybe we should split up,” Laylen suggested. “You head right and I’ll take the left?”

I nodded, and he headed off to the left side of the crystal ball. I headed to the right, searching the peoples’ faces as I moved around the burning crystal.

It was difficult to feel the electricity in here because the crystal seemed to be radiating off an intense amount of electric energy. But if I really concentrated, I could feel the difference between the crystal ball ’s electricity and Alex’s.

With every chained up person I went by, I grew more nauseous. Yes, Laylen had warned me that what I would see would be bad, but I never pictured it like this…so sickening. What made it even worse was that it wasn’t just the chains that were securing the people to the enormous crystal ball. There were also tubes coming out of their skin that extended up to the crystal ball, like how an IV attaches to its a bag.

If this was how Foreseers collected their energy, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a Foreseer anymore. If you asked me, Foreseers weren’t much better than Water Faeries. Whether they were feeding off humans fear, or their energy, they were still feeding off of them.

My sickening feeling nearly exploded out of me when I spotted Alex chained to the crystal ball, tubes jabbing out of him.

“Laylen!” I yelled as I ran up to Alex’s lifeless body.

“Over here.”

For a moment I just stood there, staring at Alex, in a state of shock. But then I snapped out of it and began pulling the tubes out of his skin, one by one. They were small tubes and didn’t go in very deep, but each one left a tiny hole that dripped blood. “Laylen!” I yelled louder, looking for a way to get the chains off of Alex. “How the heck do I get these unlocked?” Alex’s eyes shot open, and I let out a gasp. He stared at me, his normally bright green eyes dulled over, and I wondered if he even recognized me. He looked so…weak. I had never seen Alex look so weak. It was strange.

“Are you okay?” I asked worriedly.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

“Laylen!” I yelled, for a third time. Where was he?

Had something happened to him? I started to freak.

“Coming,” I heard him say. And then he was right next to me. “Hold onto him,” he instructed, grabbing the chains.

I don’t know why, but I hesitated. Not because I was afraid to touch Alex or anything. Well, okay, maybe a little, but it was also because he looked so breakable.

“Gemma,” Laylen said with urgency, and I quickly wrapped my arms around Alex, ignoring the fact that a) he was shirtless and b) his skin, although cold and clammy, still spun a fiery amount of electricity that made my skin smolder.

I held onto Alex as Laylen snapped the chains like twigs. Alex fell onto me like a hundred and eighty pound weight, and I almost buckled to the floor. But thankfully, Laylen caught him before I did.

“excellent catching skills,” Laylen joked, flopping Alex’s arm over his shoulder, and balancing all of his weight on him.

“Hey, I never claimed to have them,” I said.

“Besides I’m not a half-vampire, half-Keeper who is freakishly strong.”

“Would you two stop messing around and get us out of here before we get caught.” The frail voice came from Alex. His eyes were still closed and he was leaning on Laylen.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” I put one hand on Laylen and one hand on Alex, then shut my eyes, crossing my fingers I’d be able to get all three of us out of here, and back to Adessa’s, safely.

“Don’t do anything from in here,” Alex said, his voice sounded the slightest bit stronger. “There’s too much power in here…you’ll end up hurting yourself.” I glanced at the crystal ball blazing vibrantly, and at the people chained to it. “Maybe we should help them.”

Alex’s eyelids slowly lifted open. “No, we have to go. You never should have come here.”

I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off of the chained up people, feeling a ping of guilt building in my gut. I used their energy every time I touched a crystal ball.

Maybe even when I didn’t. And now I was supposed to leave and use their energy again.

“Even if you let them go, there’d be no way for you to get them all out of here,” Alex told me.

I swallowed hard and tore my eyes away from the people. “Okay, let’s go.”

Fortunately, Laylen was strong enough to hold Alex up as we headed out of the room and moved back down the cave, distancing ourselves from the massive crystal ball. Alex was really struggling to walk, his feet practically dragging across the translucent crystal floor.

“How far away do we need to go?” I asked Alex as we headed toward the spot where Laylen and I had entered the cave.

“Farther than this,” he said, his eyelids fluttering as he forced them open.

So we went further and, for some stupid reason, it never dawned on us that we might run into a very awake Nicholas, until we actually did. But Nicholas wasn’t what was sending my pulse racing like a jackhammer. It was the three Death Walkers standing next to him, the hood of their black cloaks caped over their heads; the glow of their yellow eyes reflecting across the translucent crystal floor.

“Crap!” I cried, at the same time Laylen screeched to a halt.

“Okay, time to get us out of here,” Laylen said as the three Death Walkers and Nicholas hurried toward us.

I grabbed a hold of Laylen and Alex, closed my eyes, and pictured Adessa’s living room; the dark blue walls, the purple velvet couches, and the black and white checkerboard floor.

“Gemma,” Laylen voice was full of fear. “Please hurry.”

I opened my eyes and saw that the Death Walkers were close. The air was slowly descending to a frosty chill, dotting my skin with goose bumps. I squeezed my eyes shut. Concentrate.

But nothing happened.

Focus.

still nothing.

Fog laced the air as the temperature continued to plunge. I was in full panic mode, trying to force us to leave this awful place. But I just couldn’t do it.

“Gemma.” Alex’s soft voice made me open my eyes.

His eyes were locked on mine; some of the brightness had returned to them. “Don’t focus on them. In fact, pretend they’re not even there.” I gave him an are-you-crazy look. Pretend that three ice-death machines weren’t running straight at us.

Alex slid his arm off Laylen and placed a hand on each side of my face, so I couldn’t turn my head.

“Pretend they’re not there.”

As I stared into his eyes; my heart rate began to slow, and my nervousness and fear floated away. I felt a delicate spark, and then I felt myself being yanked.

I thought I’d done it. I thought I’d managed to get us out of there unharmed, but a set of sub-zero fingers seized hold of my arm, thrusting a crackle of cold through my body. I screamed, suspended somewhere between being in the City of Crystal and traveling back to Adessa’s. My limbs acted as a tug-a-war rope, the Death Walker pulling me one way, and my Foreseer ability trying to pull me the other. I wasn’t even sure if I was still holding onto Laylen and Alex—

my body was too numb from the cold to feel anything.

I let out another scream as the Death Walker jerked me toward it, and I could see its glowing-yellow eyes only inches away from me.

“No!” I yelled. “No!” It was not going to end up this way. I would get us out of here. I forced myself to breath...relax…focus. I tried to ignore the monster that had a hold of me and mentally pictured Adessa’s living room. There was a loud snap, and then a burst of images flipped through my mind…the Wyoming mountains…Adessa’s…desert…snow…lake.

And then…nothing.

Chapter 21

The next thing I knew I was laying face first on the ground, my body sore from head-to-toe. I wondered if that snap I’d heard was my bones breaking from the Death Walker’s death-grip pull. But as I pushed myself up, all my limbs seemed to be intact. The only thing wrong with me was that my arm was tinged a purplish-blue from where the Death Walker had grabbed me.

I knew right away I wasn’t in the City of Crystal. It was too warm for Death Walkers to be nearby. So that was good, I guess. But I couldn’t see my surroundings. Everything was all hazy, just like back when I first started going into visions and the peoples’

faces would be blurred over. But this wasn’t faces; it was everything. I had no clue where I was.

Somewhere bright…and by the greenish shade the haze held, I wondered if I could be outside. I could also make out the faintest orange glow up above me that had to belong to the sun.

But why couldn’t I see anything? And where were Alex and Laylen?

I shook my head and blinked my eyes, as if that might help. But it didn’t.

“hello,” I shouted, starting to move through the haziness, feeling a little bit dizzy and queasy. “Alex!

Laylen!”

Nothing.

“Dammit,” I cursed. What was happening to me?

First I’d gotten stuck in a vision, and now I was, what?

Stuck in between one?

I kept walking, trying to stay calm, but it was hard to do because I couldn’t tell where I was. In fact, everything was so out of whack, including my senses, that for all I knew I could have been flying.

I called out a few more times, but each time I got no response.

“Okay,” I told myself, “calm down and focus.” I took a deep breath and tried to focus on my surroundings. I let me eyes relax and tried not to think of anything else. Gradually, bit by bit, things started to shift into focus…the trees around me…the sky above me…the lake below me.

The lake!

A spilt second later I was submerged in the cold water. I kicked and paddled, trying to tear my way back to the surface, but not knowing how to swim was making it difficult. Water was seeping into my mouth.

My oxygen was diminishing.

I was going to drown.

And then something remarkable occurred. I felt someone fold their arms around me and before I knew it I was breaking through the surface of the water. The sunlight, trees, and sky had never looked so lovely in my entire life. Along with Laylen’s bright blue eyes, which were watching me, as he kept us both afloat.

“One of these days,” he said breathlessly. “I’m going to have to teach you how to swim.” I didn’t say anything because I was too busy hacking my guts out.

Laylen swam us to shore, and we both collapsed onto the muddy grass, where we laid on our backs and stared up at the bright blue sky, the sunlight stinging at my eyes. After I finished catching my breath, I rolled over and looked at the Keepers grey stone castle soaring off in the distance. My gaze wandered over to Laylen, lying there on the ground, his damp hair glistening in the sunlight, beads of water glittering on his pale skin. If it wouldn’t have been for him, I might be dead right now—he’d saved me from drowning.

“Where’s Alex?” I asked him. “Did he make it here with us?”

“Yeah, he made it.” Laylen squinted against the sunlight with his arm flopped across his forehead. “I left him back there,” he pointed behind us, “when I saw you drowning in the lake. He’s still a little weak.” He gave a short pause. “Gemma, what happened back there? Why did we end up here…were you thinking about taking us to The Underworld?”

“No,” I said, a little offended he’d think that. “I was trying to take us back to Adessa’s, but the Death Walker grabbed hold of my arm,” I raised my arm up to show him the faint bluish-purple fingerprints that still marked my skin. “I kept trying to get us away, but then there was this snap…and I don’t know, a bunch of different images started flashing through my mind.

Then the next thing I knew I was here, but everything was all blurry, and I couldn’t see I was on the lake until it was too late.”

“You were lucky no one had just recently dumped any summoning ash in there,” Laylen said, glancing at the lake.

“Summoning ash?” I asked. “What is that?”

“In order for the Water Faeries to come up to the surface, summoning ash has to be put into the water first,” he explained.

I nodded as I remembered how I’d seen Stephan dumping some black ash into the lake before my mom was dragged away to The Underworld.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “How can you see any of this? I thought only the vision seer was supposed to be able to see the surroundings?”

“I have no idea,” Laylen said. “All I can think of is that maybe we’re not in a vision, like when we traveled into the City of Crystal only we just traveled to somewhere else.”

Strange. “So why do you think I screwed up getting us back to Adessa’s?” I asked, picking at the grass.

“Do you think it was because of the Death Walker?” Before he could answer a shadow cast over us.

Alex stood unsteadily in front of us. “That and probably because you’ve been using your Foreseer power too much.”

I squinted up at him, standing there, the sunlight gleaming behind him. There were shadows under his eyes, and he still didn’t have a shirt on. Rounding his left rib cage was a circle traced by a set of fiery-gold flames—the Keepers mark.

So that’s where it was.

“I haven’t been using it that much,” I lied, trying hard not to stare at his shirtless chest. “I think it might have had something to do with the Death Walker getting a hold of me…which why were they even there? And with Nicholas?”

Alex shook his head and sank down on the muddy grass. “Your guess is as good as mine. I honestly have no clue what the heck is going on,” he gestured around us, “with any of this.”

“Well, it might have something do to with the fact that Nicholas was tricking us when he said he could get me into The Underworld.” I sat up and shielded my eyes from the sun with my hand. “He never even intended to help me get to The Underworld. In fact, according to him, he can’t even go there.” Alex cocked an eyebrow at me. “What do you mean?”

I sighed and began explaining what had been going on for the last week while he was trapped in the City of Crystal, strapped to that awful crystal ball.

One good thing about Alex is that he’s a somewhat calm person…well, at least when it comes to stressful situations. With me…hmm…not so much.

Things that would freak out a normal person barely upset him. And as I told him about the visions I’d been going into, he stayed fairly calm. The only thing that got a rise out of him was when I told him about his father and the mark—the Mark of Malefiscus.

However, it wasn’t the rise I was expecting. I assumed he’d get pissed off and insist that there was no way that his father could have such a mark, but he didn’t.

Instead, he stared out at the water, looking lost. He was quiet for so long that I began to worry he was going into a catatonic state.

I gave Laylen a what-should-I-do look.

He shrugged, like he had no idea.

“Alex,” I said, keeping my voice low. “Are you okay?”

He didn’t answer.

I tried again. “Alex?”

“So this blue sparkling thing you said I was giving to the Queen,” he said suddenly. “Do you know what shape it was?”

“All I could see was that it sparkled,” I told him.

“Then Nicholas pulled me away and made me take us back to Adessa’s.”

Alex popped his knuckles, his jaw set tight. “Okay, well we need to find out what this blue shiny thing is before we even try to head down to The Underworld.”

“And we need to get the Ira,” I added.

The waves of the lake rolled up and back as we sat on the shore trying to figure out what to do.

“What would the Queen want that’s blue and sparkly,” I thought aloud.

Unexpectedly, Alex jumped to his feet, a little too quickly, and he tipped forward. Laylen leapt up and caught him before he dove head first into the water.

Alex swayed a little before regaining his balance, and Laylen let him go. It was weird, because before Alex had left, the two had been fighting.

“I think I might know what it is,” Alex said, gazing over at the forest.

“You do?” I perked up and got to my feet.

“Yeah, and it’s not too far from us.” He nodded over at the trees. “It’s over there.”

I looked over at the tall green trees that encircled the lake. “It’s in the forest?”

He nodded, stumbling as he took a step forward.

“Okay…” I was starting to grow concerned over Alex’s balancing problem. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Don’t worry about me,” he said, his tone sharp. “I’ll be fine.”

Well, if he was going to be rude about it, then fine. I wouldn’t worry about it. Okay, fine, technically that wasn’t true.

“Well, what is this thing?” I asked him as I wiped the mud off of the back of my legs. “And why do you think it’s in the trees?”

“It’s something that holds sentimental value to the Queen.” He staggered off toward the forest like he was under the influence.

Laylen and I both exchanged a questioning look, and then we jogged after Alex.

“I still don’t understand why something that’s important to the Queen would be out in a forest,” I said breathlessly to Alex.

“But yet it is,” he said, and sped up. Apparently, he’d gotten over his weakened state.

I sped up too, the fabric of my clothes scratching against my skin with my every movement. Also, since I had been wearing flip flops when I fell into the lake, they fell off of my feet, and now I was walking around barefoot. The leaves, twigs, and rocks rubbed sharply against the soles of my feet as I practically ran to keep up with Alex. But that was okay. Alex was barefoot too, and if he was tough enough to do it, then so was I. Besides, I’d felt worse pain in my life, both physically and emotionally.

Laylen trailed off a little ways behind us. He’d taken off his shirt while he walked and was ringing out the water. I didn’t mean to stare at him for so long—I mean it wasn’t like I never saw a guy without his shirt off before. And really, I wasn’t staring at him because he had his shirt off, so much as what I saw on his shoulder. (Well, that was stretching it a little, but I was still partially staring at his shoulder). Cupping his shoulder was the Keepers mark—fiery-gold flames bordering a black circle. So there it was; the mark that had branded him a Keeper. And right along his forearm was his other mark; the one that had branded him not good enough to be a Keeper anymore.

Laylen shook out his shirt and then noticed me gawking at him like a stalker. He gave me a funny look and I turned around, rolling my eyes at myself.

We walked through the forest for awhile, with Alex stopping every so often to glance around. He looked lost, and finally, with his forehead scrunched over, he muttered, “Where the heck is it?”

“Well, if you tell us what you’re looking for, then maybe Laylen and I can help you,” I pointed out as I shooed a bug away from my face.

“I don’t know…” He was hesitant, which meant there was something he didn’t want to say. “There’s this little hideout I use to hang out at when I was little…

there’s a hill somewhere with a bush covered by violet flowers.”

Well, there you go. I actually knew the solution to this problem. Go figure.

I turned in a circle, scanning through the trees and bushes, until I picked up on the direction I’d wandered in when I was in the vision and found the little hideout.

“It’s over there,” I pointed in the direction where I was ninety-nine percent sure the hideout was.

Alex gave me a funny look. “What is?”

“The hiding spot we use to go to when we were kids,” I told him, adding emphasis on the “we” to make a point that I remembered.

“You remember that?” he asked, taken aback.

I watched him as I started to explain, wondering how he was going to react to the fact that I knew about our little promise we made when we were kids. “While Nicholas was taking you to the City of Crystal, I unintentionally went into a vision here.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Anything important happen?”

I shook my head, trying not to think about how I had to watch my own soul get detached before I could leave the vision.

“Nothing important at all?”

Now I gave him a funny look. “What does forem mean?”

For a brief second, his bright green eyes widened in surprised, but then the look quickly disappeared and was replaced by Alex’s lying poker face, as I was going to call the straight-faced look he got whenever he was going to tell me a lie.

“I have no idea what forem means,” he said, acting all whatever.

My gaze drifted down to his hands and I looked for a very faint, very small scar.

He clenched his hands into fist and started off in the direction I had pointed toward.

I didn’t follow him. Instead, I turned around and called out to Laylen, “Do you know what forem means?”

I heard Alex mumble curse words under his breath, but I ignored him.

“What?”Laylen came to a stop in front of me, his eyebrows dipping down.

“Forem. Do you know what it means?”

He gave me a puzzled look. “Yeah, it means—”

“Found it!” Alex yelled louder than was necessary.

Laylen and I headed off in the direction his voice came from and found him standing on the side of the hill, holding back the branches of the blooming violet bush. I climbed up the hill, my bare feet sliding in the rocks and mud, and Alex gave me his hand and helped my over the bush. I dropped my feet down into the hole and onto the first step of the ladder. Then I climbed down into my old childhood hideout.

Laylen, not even bothering to use the ladder, dropped in right behind me. It was pitch black, except for the soft sunlight trickling through the hole.

“Anyone have night vision?” I asked, and Laylen let out a laugh.

Alex pushed past us and vanished into the darkness. There was a lot of banging around, and then he struck a match. The pale orange glow orbed around the room as Alex hurried and lit a candle. Then he placed the candle down on top of a table, sat down on the floor, and began digging in the dirt floor.

“It’s buried in the floor?” I asked, squatting down next to him.

He nodded, digging quicker until there was a fairly good size hole. Then he stopped and pulled out a small wooden box. On the top of the box, written in child-like handwriting was the names Gemma and Alex.

“We had a secret box?” I asked him in awe as he pried the lid open.

He shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal, but the glow of the candles showed a twinkle in his bright green eyes. He lifted the lid off, and all three of us leaned over the box, like we had just opened a trunk of buried treasure.

I had to wonder what was going to be inside a box that was made by two kids—two very strange kids I might add. There was nothing too strange in it, though: a rock, a bracelet, a photo of me and my mom, which I immediately snatched up. In the photo, my mother and I stood out in a field dusted with violet flowers. The sun shined brightly in the background, and we were both smiling—happy.

I glanced at Laylen, remembering our silly little roll ercoaster ride, and wondered if it was the same kind of happiness as what I felt when this photo was taken.

Alex removed everything from the box, and piled all of it onto the floor, except for one thing: a sapphire-blue teardrop diamond.

“Thank God,” he said, clutching the diamond in his hand.

“That’s it? That’s what’s going to get the Queen to agree to free my mom?” I slipped the photo of my mother and me into the back pocket of my shorts, which were almost dry now, and leaned toward Alex to get a better look at the blue diamond resting in the palm of his hand.

“Is that the Cruciatus diamond?” Laylen’s eyes were huge as he stared down at the teardrop diamond.

“Yeah, it is,” Alex replied, his voice wavering.

“Is it—does it do anything?” I asked nervously, worried that maybe my energy would set it off or something.

Alex closed his hand around the diamond. “The Queen use to use it to suck the fear out of people before one of the Keepers took it from her.”

“But if no one can enter The Underworld, then how did they take it from her?” I asked.

“A long time ago things use to work differently,” Alex explained drowsily. “The Queen used to be able to come up to the castle to discuss matters of business and to make truces with the Keepers. That’s how the Keepers ended up sending people down there as a punishment. This,” he held up the diamond between his fingers, “was once used during a bargain.”

“Well, how did you end up with it?” I wondered.

He almost smiled. “You and I stole it.”

“Stole it,” I said, stunned. “Why would we do that?”

“For fun,” he replied with a shrug. “We used to do a lot of things like that.”

Interesting, I guess, and it was kind of nice that he was giving me a little insight into our past.

Alex closed his eyes, the blue diamond still clutched in his hand. He looked like he was sleeping.

“So what do we do now—just take the diamond with us when we go to The Underworld, and offer it to the Queen in exchange for my mother.” Well, that’s if we even get to The Underworld. We still needed the Ira, which Nicholas had, and after what happened at the City of Crystal it appeared that Nicholas just might be working with Stephan.

Alex didn’t answer, his eyes still shut.

“Alex,” I said softly. “Are you okay?” He still didn’t answer me.

I looked at Laylen worriedly, and he shook Alex gently by the shoulder. “Hey, you okay man?” he asked.

But still, Alex remained silent and motionless with the diamond resting loosely in the palm of his hand.

“Maybe the diamonds doing something to him,” I said, reaching for Alex’s hand that held the diamond.

When I touched his skin, I noticed how dull the flow of electricity was, and I immediately panicked, worried he might me dying.

“Alex.” My voice came out loud and panic-stricken. I grabbed his arm.”Wake up.”

His eyelids lifted, and a rush of relief swept through me like a breath of fresh air on a warm summer day. I started to pull my hand back, but he caught hold of it and grasped onto my fingers.

I stared at his hand grasping mine. “What are you doing?”

“Shhh…” He shut his eyes again. “I just need a minute, okay?”

Like a light bulb clicking on, it suddenly occurred to me what he was doing. He was feeling weak and our little electric connection was…well, it was recharging him. I could feel it too, ascending and boosting my energy.

Laylen got to his feet and dusted the dirt off of his jeans. “I’m going to go check and make sure no one’s coming. I’ll be right back.”

“You think someone would show up here?” I asked, glancing up at the hole.

He looked at Alex and then shrugged. “You never know.”

I almost told him to stay. Something inside me felt afraid—a strange kind of afraid. One I couldn’t quite explain and had never felt before.

Confused about my feelings, I sat there on the ground as Laylen climbed up the ladder and disappeared into the daylight. Alex was still holding onto my hand, the electricity growing hotter and hotter with each beat that went by. In all actuality, its heat was making me feel a little better too. I wasn’t even aware I had closed my eyes, until I heard Alex say my name. I cracked open my eyes and found him watching me with this intense look on his face.

I started to ask him what was wrong, but something in his eyes made me pause. I don’t even know what the look was, maybe a mix between tired and…

vulnerable. Or maybe it was just that he was really looking at me. And I mean really looking at me.

Then he was leaning in toward me, and I felt my body tense up. Half of my brain was begging for me to rip my hand out of his and run. But the other half was telling me to stay put. He had done so many bad things to me—terrible things that maybe I should have ran. But he also had gone to the City of Crystal, knowing he would be chained up to the energy sucking crystal ball, all so I could try to get my mother out of The Underworld. There were still small wounds in his skin where the tubes had been inserted. It wasn’t pretty, and he had done it to help me.

So I didn’t move away, watching, waiting, knowing I was going to let him kiss me.

“Gemma.” His voice was soft and shaky. A moment later his lips brushed mine, and electricity spun through me.

But the kiss lasted only a split second, because right as our lips touch, someone shrieked from outside. Alex and I both pulled away, and both our gazes shot toward the ladder.

Alex’s eyes scanned the room. “Where’s Laylen?”

“He said he was going to go check to make sure no one was outside.” My heart raced as I stood up.

“Don’t you remember?”

He shook his head and slowly got to his feet. “How longs he been gone?” he asked as he walked over to the ladder.

“I’m not sure…I lost track of time,” I said stupidly.

“Not too long…I don’t think.”

Another shriek ripped through the air, and this time I knew what it belonged to.

A Death Walker.

Alex’s eyes practically bulged out of his head. He ran over to the small little trunk in the corner and threw open the lid.

“What are you doing?” I asked, watching as he dug around in the trunk. “We need to do something—

Laylen’s out there.”

“I am doing something.” He took a small pocket knife out of the trunk and flicked open the blade.

“Why would you ever hide a knife in here,” I asked, gaping incredulously at the knife.

“Why wouldn’t I,” he replied, brushing passed me.

Well, look at him, all Mr. Prepared.

I followed him over to the ladder. “Yeah, but that tiny things not going to help us much if there’s a Death Walker out there.”

He stared up at the top of the ladder with his thinking face on. “You got a better idea.”

“I…no.”

“Well, then.” He placed his hands on the ladder and then said, “Stay here.”