Текст книги "The Underworld"

Автор книги: Jessica Sorensen

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Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

Chapter 30

We drove for days. Yes, days. We drove all the way to the other side of the country, to the beautiful, but very humid, state of Maryland. The air was so heavy and moisturized there, it was like being in a sauna.

Not too far off from the little beach house we were hiding out in was the ocean. From the room I was staying in, I could sit out on the deck and watch the ocean’s waves crash against the sandy shore. It was a fascinating thing to watch for someone who had never seen the ocean.

The house belonged to a friend of Adessa’s, which was a good thing because that meant Stephan didn’t know where it was, nor Nicholas. When we arrived, we informed Aislin and she transported here. She had also put up some location charms, which were supposed to help make tracking us down more difficult. But at this point, I was prepared for the fact that at any given moment someone could turn up. It was only a waiting game. The question wasn’t if someone was going to show up, but when someone would. And who? The list was long.

It was our second night here. We had all been resting from the insanity of the last few days we had.

Alex was still recovering from being in the City of Crystal, and I was drained dry from all the bouncing in and out of visions. Everyone, including me, figured it’d be best to rest for a few days, and then I was going to give it a go at using the Ira. I wasn’t going to lie and say I wasn’t afraid of going to The Underworld. I’d been there before and that had been in a vision. Real life was going to be a lot worse because I wouldn’t be invisible. But I had to do it.

There was something else concerning me besides my future endeavor to The Underworld. Laylen’s moods seemed to be getting stranger. One minute he was perfectly fine, and the next minute he was upset over something. If I didn’t know any better, I would be wondering if he was experiencing a prickling sensation on the back of his neck that was releasing an abundance of his emotions. But Laylen had never previously been unemotional, so I knew he couldn’t be suffering from a soul-detaching-Keeper-gift that a certain red-headed Keeper, who had raised me, possessed.

No. Something else had to be up with him.

I was sitting out on the deck that extended out from my bedroom. The sky was a jet black, and the moonlight reflected like an orb against the dark ocean water. The stars were twinkling in their own beautiful way, and the lull of the ocean was having a calming effect over me.

If I hadn’t been sitting out there, I wouldn’t have seen him walk across the sandy beach, heading away from the house to who knows where. The light of the moon hit his blond hair making it look white, but I could tell by his height and the way that he walked that it was Laylen.

“Where is he going,” I mumbled to myself. I stood up and yelled, “Laylen!”

He turned and looked at me, and then…he ran.

“Laylen!” I shouted, causing a rising uproar amongst the neighbor’s dogs. “Where are you going?”

But he already disappeared into the darkness of the night.

“Crap.” I went into my room, slipped on my flip flops, and ran out of the bedroom. I was so mad at myself. I knew something had been wrong with him, but I never said anything, and now he was running away.

I reached the front door and realized I had two options here. One, that I take off on foot, all by myself, in the middle of the night, and roam around a strange town, looking for a vampire who was struggling with some kind of issues. Or I could go wake up Alex, and he could drive us around in the SUV.

Even as I headed back to Alex’s room, I wasn’t sure he would help me. Yeah, Laylen and Alex had been getting along—in fact everyone had been getting along—but I was still skeptical that Alex would jump out of bed and say “yeah, let’s go find him.” When I got to Alex’s door, I hesitated before knocking. It took him a second to answer, but the door did swing open, and a tired-eyed, shirtless Alex, with some serious bed-head, stood in front of me.

He blinked wearily at me. “What’s up?”

“I just saw Laylen leaving.” My words came out rushed. “Down the beach. And when I called his name, he ran.”

His eyebrows dipped down. “Where was he going?”

“I don’t know....but he’s been acting kind of weird since he…since he bit me.”

“You’ve noticed that, too?”

“Wait, you’ve noticed it?”

He nodded. “Yeah, he’s been acting just like…” he trailed off, looking away from me.

“Like me,” I said, like it was obvious, which it was.

There was no use tiptoeing around it.

“Well, I wasn’t going to put it that bluntly, but, yeah, he’s been acting like you.” He gave me a funny look.

“Or the old you. I’m not really sure about the current one.”

“Okay.” Let’s get off that subject. “Well, if something is wrong with him, then we need to go find him.” Alex nodded and walked back into his room. I tried not to stare at him too much as he slipped a black t-shirt over his head. He put his shoes on, grabbed the car keys off the dresser, and then we were heading out the door.

“Okay,” he said, once the engine was running, and we both had our seat belts buckled up. “Which direction did he head in?”

“To the left,” I told him, and he backed the SUV

down the driveway. “So where do you think he’s going?” I asked Alex as we drove past the brightly painted beach houses that lined the street.

“I’m not sure,” he said a little too quickly.

My head whipped over to him. “You’re lying. I can tell.”

He shot me a dirty look, but then erased it; I guess he changed his mind about fighting with me. “Fine…I think when he…bit you it might have awakened the blood thirst inside him.”

I gave him an unconvinced look. “There’s no way that could be true.” But I didn’t fully believe my words myself.

He raised his eyebrows at me questioningly. “Think about it. You were his first bite, and if anyone’s blood’s going to make a vampire go all blood crazy it’s going to be yours.”

“Why would mine do that?” I was offended. “There’s nothing wrong with my blood.”

“I’m not saying there’s something wrong with it, just that it’s very…energized,” he said, then quickly added, “Or at least I can imagine it is.” His grip tightened on the steering wheel, and I stared at the hand I saw him cut in the vision—the one when we were little and we made some kind of vow to each other. Forem.

I traced the barely visible scar on my hand. “What does forem mean?”

He dropped one of his hands from the steering wheel and tucked it to the side of him.”Why do you keep asking me that?”

“Let me see your hand.”

“Gemma, quit being weird.”

I looked down at my hand. The scar was so faint, I never even noticed it until I had seen the vision. “I saw a vision of us when we were little. You and I were hiding in that hideout—that’s how I knew where it was.

Someone was yelling for us—I think it was you father

–and I was scared to death because I didn’t want to leave, so you cut my hand and yours, and we pressed them together and said forem.” My voice trembled.

“Right after that, I saw Sophia detach my soul.” It went so quiet that I could hear the roar of the ocean. I wasn’t sure why I told him about the vision, I just did. I wasn’t expecting anything, but when he looked at me, his eyes were so full of sadness I thought he was going to say that he was sorry I had to see that.

“Gemma, I’m-I’m—” His eyes widened, and he was no longer looking at me, but to the side of me, out the window.

I followed his gaze, and saw Laylen rounding the corner of a bar, the flashing neon signs glowing against his pale skin as he walked by them. He was not alone, either. He was with a woman. Her long hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her tan skin was like a shadow against the night.

Alex made a sharp turn and ramped the SUV over the curb.

“Who’s that he’s with?” I asked, clicking my seat belt loose as the car came to a stop.

“I have no idea.” He turned off the engine, and we both hopped out.

There were a group of men loitering at the entrance of the bar, and the smell of their cigarette smoke stunk up the air. They made catcalls as we walked across the parking lot, and I moved around to the other side of Alex, putting him between the rough looking men and myself.

One of them made a very inappropriate comment—

which I will not repeat—and Alex’s eyes lit with rage.

He started to move toward the men, but I grabbed his arm.

“Now is not the time.” I tugged at his arm. “Come on.”

He actually listened, but his eyes did glint murderously when one of the men shouted something about him being a wussy boy.

Those men should really consider themselves lucky, seeing how I’m pretty sure Alex could beat the crap out of all of them without even getting a scratch. (He is a Keeper after all ).

But all thoughts of those men immediately exited my mind when we rounded toward the back of the bar, and standing underneath the back light, right next to the dumpster, was Laylen.

And he was biting the woman.

Chapter 31

“Laylen,” I called out and he immediately let go of the woman. Her limp body hit the asphalt with a thumping noise that shot goose bumps all over my skin.

Laylen’s blue eyes were wide and he looked horrified as he glanced down at the lifeless body of the woman and then back at us. Alex stepped toward him, but Laylen put up a hand, his fangs gleaming in the light.

“Stay away from me,” he hissed.

Alex pointed down at the woman. “I’m just going to check to see if she’s okay?” He took a step forward again, making sure to move cautiously.

Laylen didn’t protest. He sunk to the ground and cradled his head in his hands. While Alex made sure the woman was okay, I carefully made my way over to Laylen. He looked so broken that I wasn’t sure if I could handle this or not. I was no pro in dealing with human emotions—heck, I could barely deal with my own most of the time. So as I knelt down on the asphalt beside him, I tried to will the prickle to show up and release some kind of emotion that would let me know what to do.

It never came, though, so I guess I would have to figure out this one on my own.

“Laylen,” I said, gently touching his arm. “Are you okay?”

He pulled away. “Don’t touch me.”

“She’s okay,” Alex said and he came over and stood behind me. “She’s just unconscious.”

“See, she’s okay,” I told Laylen.

Laylen raised his head, and I almost shrank back from the anger in his eyes. “It doesn’t matter. It’s still there.”

“What’s still there?”

“The…the hunger.”

I glanced up at Alex, my eyes pleading with him to help me out. I didn’t know what to do.

He gave me this look, and I thought he wasn’t going to help me, but then he knelt down on the ground next me and said. “Look, she’s not hurt, okay. So let’s just go back to the house and forget this ever happened.” Laylen glared at him with his fangs out. I had to admit he looked terrifying. But for his sake, I made sure to stay calm.

“Hey,” I said, telling myself I could do this. I could be sympathetic and make him feel better. “It’s going to be okay. She’s not dead, only passed out, and when she wakes she’ll probably feel really…” I searched for a word that would describe what I felt when he bit me.

“Euphoric.”

“It doesn’t matter how she feels,” he said, his voice pained. “I bit her, which is something I’ve spent the last few years trying not to do.”

God, this was all my fault. “Laylen, this isn’t your fault. Please just come back to the house with us—

we’ll figure something out, okay?”

Honestly, I didn’t think my little speech was that persuasive, but apparently he thought it was, which was all that matter. He got to his feet and then all three of us went back and climbed into the SUV. We drove back to the beach house in silence. I made sure to keep an eye on Laylen, fearing he might freak out and try to run away again.

He seemed calm, though, but still not his normal self, which had me worried.

What if Laylen, the only person who’d ever told me the truth—who was always there for me—was gone?

When we arrived back at the beach house, Laylen went straight into his room and said he was going to bed. I was afraid he might leave again, but Alex promised he would watch him. We had woken up Aislin, not intentionally, but nonetheless we had to explain to her what had just happened. Then I sat on the couch, listening to Alex and Aislin argue over what to do with “him.” I didn’t like how they were talking about Laylen, like they feared he might go off the deep end and kill us all. I, in no way, believed this could ever be possible. And when they started talking about leaving him behind—going someplace else without him—I lost it.

It was late, and I was tired. The prickle had been nagging at the back of my neck and I finally shouted,

“Would you two just shut up!” They both looked at me with surprised expressions, which I couldn’t blame them for—I surprised myself. I lowered my voice.

“Look, he’s not going to freak out and kill anyone, okay? So just drop it.”

“Gemma,” Alex said, his tone letting me know I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say. “We can’t know for sure whether he’s dangerous or not.

He’s bitten someone now, everything has changed.”

“When he bit me, you didn’t have a problem with it,” I pointed out.

“Oh, I had a problem with it.” A look passed over his face like he regretted what he just said. “Look, we have too many other problems to worry about. And right now I think we really just need to focus on getting into The Underworld.”

I shook my head. “No. I won’t leave him. You two do whatever you want, but I’m staying.”

He held my gaze, and I could see the cocky attitude rising in him. It was something I hadn’t seen lately.

“You know you can be really stubborn sometimes.” I shrugged. I wasn’t going to even try to argue with that. I knew that I was. “Stubborn or not, I’m still not leaving him.” I held Alex’s gaze with sheer and utter determination, forcing myself to ignore my normal instincts to look away—let him win.

“Fine,” Alex said. “We’ll stay with him, but if anything happens it’s on you.”

I almost laughed, because he said the same thing to Laylen once about me.

“Fine, it’s on me.” I stood to my feet. “Now I’m going to go check on Laylen and make sure he’s okay.” Ignoring the dirty look Alex gave me, I left the room.

Laylen was standing out on the deck. He didn’t even acknowledge me entering; he just stared ahead at the ocean. I went over and stood beside him, placing my hands on top of the decks railing as I looked out at the ocean as well. We stayed like that for awhile, silent and unmoving, watching the oceans waves.

“For the last few years,” he finally spoke. “I’ve felt so empty. After I was turned into a vampire, everyone I knew no longer wanted to be around me. And my parents were gone so…I was basically all alone.” I nodded, knowing how he felt; knowing how it felt to have no one; to be an outcast. To be all alone.

“I think the worse was Aislin.” He rested his elbows on the railing, still not looking at me. “I don’t know if you know this or not, but she and I used to be together.”

“She mentioned it to me once,” I told him.

A gap of silence trickled by and then he looked at me. “You know she just left me—just up and walked away. She never said exactly why, only that her father wouldn’t let her see me anymore. I don’t believe that it was just her father’s doing, though. I think it was her choice too and that hurt even more.”

I swallowed hard, thinking about when Laylen had been dying, and how he told me he could no longer feel the pain of being alone anymore. I thought back to my life and how I had spent every day alone. How when I started to feel emotion, this alone feeling had suddenly risen in me, like a giant gaping hole full of pain. I knew this was the same feeling Laylen was describing. I could feel it right now, not as painful, but still there.

Tears started to sting at my eyes. “It’ll be okay,” I said, not sure if I was trying to convince him or myself.

“Will it?” he asked, and I could see it in his eyes; the hurt, the sadness, the pain.

I don’t know why I did what I did next. I mean I never did it before, at least that I could remember. But maybe that’s just it. Perhaps I couldn’t remember—at least in the sense of remembering in the form of a memory—but I could feel the memory inside me. I could feel the memory through the prickle on the back of my neck, and it guided me to Laylen, and helped me wrap my arms around him, giving him a hug.

There was no hesitation on his part. He hugged me right back. And we stayed that way, just two people who understood each other; two people who knew what it felt like to have no one. But maybe that was no longer the case.

Maybe we had each other.

Chapter 32

When I woke up the next morning my eyes were a little swol en and red. After I left Laylen’s room, I went straight back to my room and cried. Most of my tears had been for Laylen, but some were for myself.

Strangely though, I did not feel as sad as I did last night. Maybe Laylen’s and my little hug had filled up some of my sadness. And hopefully, it did the same for him too.

I still had a lot to worry about, though. Laylen for starters still had me concerned, along with the fact that I was supposed to be attempting to take myself and Alex to The Underworld this morning. The pressure of actually being able to pull it off was weighing down on me like the hot, humid air. But all I could do about it was hope it would all be okay—that everything would go right.

So, I tried not to think about the fact that Nicholas had said that the Ira needed the power of two Foreseers to function as Alex and I sat in the living room with the Ira balanced on the coffee table.

Aislin was with Laylen, out on one of the decks. She was supposed to be keeping an eye on him while we were gone. But after Laylen’s revelation about Aislin abandoning him when he turned—which, may I add, was her father’s fault—my confidence in her was low.

“Now are you sure you want to do this?” Alex asked me, which was the same thing he asked me a thousand times already.

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m as sure as the last time you asked me.”

He cracked a smile, but it was a nervous smile—he was nervous.

I was nervous. “Do you have the diamond?” He patted the pocket of his jeans. “Yep, it’s right here.”

“Okay, then.” I took a deep breath and reached out for the Ira, my hand shaking with zero confidence, and I froze. “Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked him. “Because I could go alone.”

According to my vision, though, I already knew what his answer would be.

“I’m sure,” he said, nodding. “Besides, I was there in your vision, remember?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean you have to go,” I pointed out.

“Yes, it does.” He grabbed a hold of my hand, my fingertips buzzing electrically. “Now let’s go.” I took another deep breath, concentrating as I placed my hand on the Ira. It was shocking how much energy radiated from it. Between Alex holding my hand, and the power flowing off the Ira, I felt like I might burst from the energy zooming through my body.

The first thing I saw in my mind was the lake.

Panicking, I quickly shoved the image out of my mind, and tried to focus on the tunnel I was in during the vision. The dirt walls, the damp air, the darkness. I hadn’t expected it to be easy. Maybe Alex’s touch had given me the extra boost or something. Or maybe it was just my unique Foreseer ability that had made it so that when I opened my eyes we were there.

The tunnel was as dark as I remembered it being.

The damp air caused my clothes to cling to my skin.

The ceiling and walls dripped with water, and emptiness haunted all around.

“Do you know which way to go?” I asked Alex, still holding onto his hand.

He glanced up and down the tunnel. “I’m not sure…

didn’t you see where we went the last time?” I shook my head. “No. The only reason I found the cave where the vision took place was because Nicholas and I had been running from a Water Faerie, and I can’t remember which way we went…I don’t even know if we’re in the same place.” Alex let go of my hand and dragged his fingers through his hair. “Okay, left or right?” Just as he asked it, a scream rang out from down the tunnel from our left side, sending a spasm of shivers though my body.

“Right,” I said quickly.

He nodded, and we headed down the tunnel to our right.

The Underworld is not a welcoming place.

Obviously. With everything I’ve told you about it, I’m sure you fully understand that a place where the dead walk and torture punished souls could not be in any way welcoming. But to be there, for real, and not in vision form, was about as frightening as being chased by a bunch of glowing-eyed Death Walkers, and a man who wants to freeze over the world with ice.

As we crept down the tunnel listening to the horrific screams that seemed to be shooting at us in every direction, I couldn’t help but wish I could leave—run away where it was safe and warm and scream free.

But I knew I had to be stronger than that because this is where my mother had lived for the last fourteen years, and I only had been here for about five minutes.

I stayed close to Alex as we walked. Before we left, he had tucked a knife in his pocket, which brought some sense of security, but not much. Our shoes hit the moist dirt floor and created soft pitter patters up and down the tunnels. Water was dripping in my hair.

But these were all mild things. The real problem started when a white, floating figure appeared in the tunnel, just a little ways in front of us.

“Alex,” I hissed, pointing at the Water Faerie.

He put his finger to his lips, shushing me, and kept walking. We kept getting closer and closer to the Water Faerie. My heart thumped louder and louder in my chest. My legs shook, and my breathing faltered.

Then it was there, right in front of us, a ghost-like figure of a Water Faerie. Its eyes were two empty holes, its white fabric body trailing on the ground, and when we passed by it, it opened its gaping-hole-of-mouth, and let out a breathless scream. I clutched onto Alex’s arm as the Water Faerie turned and followed after us. It didn’t try to touch or communicate with us; it just trailed behind, tormenting us with its presence.

Then came another one, then another, and suddenly Water Faeries were everywhere, flying around us like freakishly large butterflies, only they weren’t butterflies but undead fey. Pieces of them kept swinging in my face, and I wanted to shoo them away, but my pulsating fear stopped me from doing so. We just kept walking and walking, further down the dark tunnel, and I prayed to God that it was the right way, because turning back meant we would have to endure the faeries’ torment even longer. It was as if they got some sick pleasure in my uneasiness, swirling and dancing over my head—they were probably laughing on the inside.

And just as I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, the tunnel opened up into a room. Well, not a room but a cave. The cave. The rock-shaped throne was in front of us, but the Queen wasn’t sitting in it. It was then that I realized something was wrong. We weren’t supposed to enter the cave ourselves, but be brought in by a faerie. I froze and Alex tensed up beside me.

“What is it?” He gave me a quizzical look. “What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t how it works,” I said, fear skyrocketing in me, which seemed to be causing chaos to rise among the Water Faeries. “We don’t come in here by ourselves. We’re brought in by a Water Faerie.” Someone cleared their voice from behind us and we both turned around. It was the Queen. Her long white hair draped down her back, and her hollow eyes were tinted with a spark of delight.

“Well, it looks like I have some unexpected visitors,” she said. “Coming here willingly to be tortured in my world—let the Fey take you as they will? I have to say you two are brave little souls”

This was all wrong. This was not what I had seen.

Something had shifted.

And Alex and I were screwed.