Текст книги "The Vision"

Автор книги: Jessica Sorensen

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

Chapter 23

I landed with the gracefulness of a cat, and I touched my finger to my shoulder blade, feeling a temporary moment of happiness for the mark. I was standing at the entrance of the cave where the red rubies waved across the snow-white crystal wall and dark red crystals pointed down from the glittering charcoal ceiling. I immediately took off towards where I knew the massive crystal ball burned bright, my feet softly thudding against the translucent crystal floor that covered the flowing midnight river. I ran passed the area where Laylen had knocked Nicholas out once, and charged by where Alex, Laylen and I had made our escape from the Death Walkers. I reached the pair of silver doors with the Foreseers mark on top and slipped quietly into the room.

My stomach instantly rolled at the sight of the bodies strapped to the giant crystal. Just like the first time I had been here, their eyes were still shut, their bodies still slack with tubes sticking out of their skin.

I walked towards the massive crystal ball, shining so brightly it hurt my eyes. Yet, I didn’t look away. I held my breath and tried to block out the human bodies on each side of me as leaned forward and put my hand to the crystal. Energy zapped through my body and my heart sped up so fast I thought it was going to explode out of my chest.

I couldn’t breathe. It was too much. I yanked my hand back and gasped at the sight of the Purple Flame burning in the palm of my hand.

I did it by myself. I took pride in this fact; a kind of pride I had never felt before.

Instinctively I shut my hand, and the flame poofed out. I opened it again and Ta-da! the flame ignited.

“Wow,” I muttered under my breath. I opened and closed my hand a few more times, watching in awe at the sight of the Purple Flame lighting up and smothering out. But, finally, I decided I better leave. I could play with the flame when I got back. I shut my hand, suffocating the flame, and headed to the door, slipping the Traveler’s ball out of my pocket. I had been warned once not to use the power of the Divination Crystal so close to the massive crystal ball that supplied all the energy, so I figured I would wander a ways back down the hall before I took myself home.

I cast one last glance back at the people strapped to the crystal ball, their energy being sucked from them. One day, I would come down here and free them all, even if it meant there would be no more Foreseers. The world could live without Foreseers. I mean, look at what my father had done.

I turned back to the door just as it swung open and smacked me in the face. The Traveler’s ball slipped from my fingers and crashed against the floor, breaking into pieces of glass and rubies.

“Crap.” It was a good thing I had a backup.

A man entered the room wearing a silver robe that matched his sliver eyes. His skin was pale, his hair grey, and I had seen him before.

“Gemma,” Dyvinius said, startled by the sight of me.

“What are you doing in here?”

“A…um…would you believe me if I said I was lost.” I said innocently.

He stared at me blankly, either not getting or not appreciating my sense of humor.

“Sorry.” I deliberated my options. I could go all ninja on him—I mean I was a Keeper now. But kicking an old guy’s butt didn’t seem right. So I let three seconds tick by, and then I ran.

My shoes skidded against the crystal floor as I barreled around the massive crystal ball. I wasn’t sure what to do.

Did I dare risk using my power so close to a crystal loaded with power?

“Gemma,” Dyvinius voice came from right behind me.

Wow, he was quick for an old guy.

I decided the heck with it and shut my eyes. It was definitely time to go. But I couldn’t feel it, there was no power. Had the Purple Flame sucked the power out of me?

“There’s no use trying, Gemma,” Dyvinius said, in his monotone-like voice. “I have the place on lockdown. No one may leave or enter, even with a unique Foreseer gift like yours.”

Chapter 24

So Dyvinius knew about my gift. Why did this seem like such a bad thing? Oh, yeah, because it probably was.

And what was this lockdown business?

I opened my eyes, telling myself to stay calm. “What do you mean you have it on lockdown? And how do you know about…my gift?”

He gave me a small smile, which looked creepy on his unemotional face. “You are your father’s daughter, aren’t you? How could I not know?” He turned around, his silver robe swishing lightly across the crystal floor. “This way please. We have much to talk about.”

Having no choice but to follow, I trudged along after him as he walked out the door and down the translucent crystal path. He led me over the bridge paved with bits of broken porcelain, underneath the pill ars, and through the tall, silver doors, saying nothing to me the entire time. The longer we walked, the more worried I became. What if he wouldn’t let me go? Or worse, what if he let me go, but took the Purple Flame away from me?

When we reached his silver throne perched upon the blue sapphire podium, he took a seat and stared at me heavily with his silver eyes.

“Gemma, I’m not sure if you fully understand our laws,” he finally said. “But we have certain rules to which Foreseer’s are supposed to abide to. The first and most important being never tamper with visions.” He paused, placing his hands on his lap and overlapping his fingers. “I’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but your father broke this law a long time ago.”

“You know who my father is?” I fidgeted around anxiously.

“How could I not?” he said with a blank tone. “You look so much like him.”

Absentmindedly, I touched the corner of my eye. “Why didn’t you say you did the first time you met me?”

“Because, back then you weren’t who you are now,” Dyvinius said with a glint in his silver eyes. “I see you heading down the same road as your father did.” I wondered if by “see” he actually meant see. “What road?” I played dumb.

He leaned forward in his throne. “Has anyone told you what happened to your father?”

“No.” I lied, wanting to hear his side of the story.

“Well, he was a lot like you in the sense of his power,” Dyvinius explained, not looking very happy. “He could use the power of the Divination Crystal beyond the boundaries of an average Foreseer, beyond what even I can do.” Hmm…What was he getting at here?

“Your father has done some unforgivable things.” Dyvinius paused, considering something. “And because of that, he will forever pay—he will forever be a prisoner in the Room of Forbidden, alone in his own mind.” I shivered, still a little shocked by the idea that the Room of Forbidden was actually a place in his mind. I had been in my father’s mind. But I assumed that Dyvinius did not know about this.

“Changing visions is a dangerous thing, Gemma.” Dyvinius curled his pale, thin fingers around the edge of the arms of the throne. “And there is severe punishment for it.” Punishment? As in the Room of Forbidden? But how could this apply to changing a vision back to what it was to begin with? How could it apply when I would be saving the world? God, I hoped it didn’t apply, or else I would end up stuck in my own head, just like my father.

“Now, I hope you will take what I said and obey the laws.” His silver gaze bore into me. “I wouldn’t want you to end up like you father.”

“I won’t end up like him,” I assured him, hoping it was true.

“Good.” Dyvinius seemed pleased, but it was hard to tell for sure since the man hardly showed emotion. “You may go.” He gestured toward the tall, silver doors.

I didn’t even question why he was letting me go. I turned around and headed down the porcelain path for the tall, silver doors. It took all my will power not to take off in a mad sprint.

“Oh, yes, and Gemma?” Dyvinius called out.

I stopped, but didn’t turn around.

“I look forward to the day when you come back for your training,” he said in a way that made me wonder if he thought I was never coming back.

When I returned back to the house, Alex was awake, reading his mother’s journal. I didn’t know how long I had been gone, but enough time passed that the sun was rising up from behind the mountains and softly kissing everything with light.

I don’t think Alex would have even realized I had been gone if I hadn’t Foreseed my way into the living room instead of my room, something that was entirely done by accident because I had been using my power a little too much and my weakened state was making me lose some of my control.

My sudden appearance in the middle of the living room scared him so badly he actually leapt to his feet and reached for his knife that was on the coffee table. But once his brain processed it was me, he relaxed. That is, until he realized my sudden appearance meant I had snuck away somewhere.

“What…Where have you…” He was pushing on the verge of a freak out, but struggling to control it.

Hmmm…what would be the best way to handle the situation?

I opened my hand and the Purple Flame ignited.

His face froze in shock, but the anger left. “Where...how did you…”

I put out the flame, sat down on the couch, and started to explain.

“You saw Nicholas?” It was the first thing Alex asked when I finished my story.

“No. I didn’t see him. But Nicholas’ voice was there…he told me what to do.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Alex sat on the couch across from me, looking both hurt and irritated. “Why didn’t you take me to the City of Crystal with you?” I shrugged. “I’m not sure…I guess I just thought it was something I should do on my own.” I paused. “And I think you and I needed a little break from one another.” Okay, he no longer looked hurt, just pissed. “You think we need a break from each other?”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said quickly. “It’s just that…

didn’t you feel a little…weird after we got out of the hiding spot at your house?”

He gave be a blank stare. “I didn’t feel anything at all.”

“Don’t be like that,” I said in a sharp tone and then added a polite, “Please.”

He continued to give me the same blank stare, but I could see the struggle flickering in his eyes. He was trying to turn it back on…his emotions, instead of being the old uncaring Alex. And then, suddenly, it flipped on like a light switch, and the look he gave me made me want to run up to my room—I should run up to my room.

“Have you ever thought about what you’re going to do, after you fix the vision and everything goes back to normal?” he asked, leaning over the coffee table toward me.

My heart knocked in my chest. “I’m still not even sure if I can…I mean, I don’t even know what’s going to be waiting for me in the mapping ball.”

He smiled softly. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You’ve done a lot of things that seem hard at first.” I gave him a strange look. Where was this coming from?

He got up from the couch and took a seat beside me.

“Alex, I don’t think—”

He cut me off. “Just give me a second. I promise I’ll back off before things get too intense, but I have to say something, okay?”

I nodded, my voice barely a whisper. “Okay.” He sat silently for a moment, running his fingers through his dark brown hair as he deliberated his words. “You know, you and I are the same, I think.”

I gave him a duh look and gestured between us, at the invisible electricity flowing between us. “Well, obviously.” He smiled amusedly, getting what I meant. “But that’s not what I’m talking about.” He shifted in his seat, his knee bumping into mine for a split second, but it was enough to send a shockwave of heat through my body. “I mean, we’re the same in the sense of how we think.”

“I don’t…” I furrowed my eyebrows. Was I…like Alex?

He continued to struggle to put his feelings into words, I could tell because it was something I often did. Okay, so maybe we were kind of the same.

“I mean, we’re the same in the way we think,” he finally said, letting out a loud breath. “Like for instance, how neither one of us thinks about the future.” He paused, waiting for me to tell him if he was correct or not—if I thought about my future.

And this sad and unsettling feeling passed over me as I realized I hadn’t—not really anyway. I had never pictured what I would be, where I would go, or what I would do.

“I don’t,” I said, shocked by this sudden revelation. “I don’t think about my future.”

“Neither have I, really.” Alex flopped back in the sofa, his face twisted with confusion. “All my life I’ve focused on one thing…and that was being the Keeper my father wanted me to be.”

I slowly leaned back against the sofa, my brain running a million-miles-a-second. What would I do when this was all over? What would I do if I saved the world? What would I do with my life?

“We could go somewhere,” he said, meeting my eyes.

“You and I.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Just you and me?”

He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Why so doubting? Think about it. You put the vision back to what it was, and we no longer have to worry about my father playing out his crazy world-ending plan and you and I can actually do whatever we want for once.”

“Whatever we want.” The words felt funny rolling off my tongue, but in a good way. “Where would we go?” He shrugged, his eyes twinkling in the pale pink light that was flowing through the living room window. “Where do you want to go?”

God, the possibilities were endless, yet I couldn’t choose one. “I don’t know…someplace warm, I guess.” He laughed softly and it was a genuine laugh; the kind of laugh that lit up his bright green eyes; the kind of laugh that made my heart skip a beat. “And we’ll fly there, like how normal people travel because we’ll have all the time in the world…” he trailed off, his face growing serious. “We’ll have all the time in the world to spend together….forever, like we promised.”

I would have said something, but I was choking on the rapid thudding of my heart. I looked away at the floor. It sounded like such a nice plan…and what if it actually ended up happening—could it actually happen?

I felt his fingers graze across the back of my neck—

across my Foreseer’s mark—moving downward until they were touching my shoulder blade where my Keeper’s mark was tattooed.

My eyelids fluttered. Oh my God.

“Gemma,” he whispered with so much want.

And suddenly I knew what I wanted. A life I had never pictured before—a life I never thought I could picture. I jumped up and left Alex sitting on the couch with his mouth hanging open. I barreled up the stairs and burst into my bedroom. I ran over to my dresser and grabbed the mapping ball from out of the top drawer.

Yes, I knew what I wanted more than anything.

I wanted to fix it all, so I could live a normal life with the boy waiting for me downstairs.

Chapter 25

“Should we wake everyone up?” Alex asked when I returned to the living room with the mapping ball glittering in my hand.

I shook my head, my smile way to inappropriate for the situation I was about to put myself into. I knew what I was doing was dangerous, for the clear fact that I didn’t know what I was doing. All I could hope was that I would be able to find the vision and change it back to what it was. All I had to do was erase my dad, before he ruined everything.

It sounded so simple, yet it wasn’t. I mean, first off, just how many memories was I going to have to sort through before I made it to the right one? Nicholas had said the answer was in my mind, but what did that even mean? And then, there was always the concern that Nicholas had been feeding me a line when he told me all I had to do was erase my father before he recreated the vision.

Here’s the thing, though. I had a mom upstairs, branded by the mark of evil; a beautiful vampire friend, who was so sad it made my heart break every time I looked at him; a witch friend who was afraid to show who she really was; and a gorgeous guy sitting next to me who I wanted to lean over and press my lips to his, yet I couldn’t.

All this…well, it was enough for me to want to go in there and risk whatever I needed to, so I could fix it. So I could take the pain away from everyone and give them a future without death, loneliness, and despair.

So, I stood in the middle of the living room, opened my hand, and let the Purple Flame ignite. And I had to admit, it made me feel kind of powerful.

The purple glow lit up the worry in Alex’s bright eyes, but he didn’t say anything. He was letting me go be the Gemma I was supposed to be.

“Don’t worry,” I told him with a small smile. “This is what I was made to do.”

And with those last words, I set the mapping ball in my hand, right into the Purple Flame.

Then, I was gone.

Chapter 26

Actually, no I wasn’t. I thought I was, but when I opened my eyes, I was still in the living room, the Purple Flame burning as the glittering mapping ball sparkled in my hand.

“It didn’t work.” Alex’s mouth slipped into a frown.

I frowned too, glowering at the mapping ball. “But, why didn’t it work?”

Alex came over and examined the mapping ball without touching it. “I don’t know…maybe the Purple Flame wasn’t what we needed. I mean, you did get the idea from a note left on your bed.” He leaned away. “We don’t even know who left the note.”

Someone who smelt an awful lot like Nicholas, I thought, remembering the smell of flowers that had lingered outside my window after I found the note. But I didn’t say anything about this out loud, not wanting to look like a nut job and all.

“Yeah, but, I mean, the Purple Flame existed.” I glanced at the flame burning brightly in my hand. “It’s got to be used for something.”

We stood silently, staring at the flame, trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. But the only answer we got was the tick of the clock.

I sighed, removed the mapping ball from my hand, and smothered out the Purple Flame. “Dammit, I thought I had it.”

“Maybe that’s the problem.” Alex dragged his finger across my lip and I found myself growing more frustrated because I was supposed to be fixing everything so I could kiss his lips. “Maybe it’s because you’re trying too hard…

sometimes your power doesn’t work when you drain yourself dry.”

“Yeah, I guess that could be it.”

He quickly brushed his finger across my cheek, the touch was enough to make me shiver…and want more.

“Maybe you should go lie down and try to sleep for a bit, and then try again when you wake up.” His voice cracked and I wondered if he felt it too—the want.

“Okay, I will.” And then I practically ran upstairs, figuring the sooner I got to sleep, the sooner I could wake up and fix all this. And the sooner Alex and I could have our future.

Okay, so the sleeping thing wasn’t working. I was too restless to sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about Alex. The prickle was also going wild, pouring all these weird feelings through me. So, instead of sleeping, I ended up lying in my bed, staring up at the ceiling, trying to decipher the meaning behind these feelings. But it was ending up being as difficult as getting into the mapping ball.

And that’s when I heard it. The voice—that’s what I was calling it.

“The answers to your problems aren’t in your ceiling?” It said.

I gave a quick glance from left to right. “Who’s there?”

“That’s not the question you should be asking.” The voice tsked me. “You’re not focusing on the problem.” I sat up, wondering if I was losing it. “Are you the one who left the note?”

He made an annoying buzzer sound. “Wrong question again.”

“Who are you?” I asked, climbing off my bed. “And why does it sound like your disguising your voice like a game show host.”

“Gemma.” The voice sounded so disappointed. “You need to stop focusing on other things and start focusing on saving-the-world.”

“That’s kind of what I’ve been doing,” I said, offended. I walked over to my closet and threw it open expecting to see someone hiding inside, but nope. It was empty.

“Come on, Gemma, ask me the right question?” I shook my head, frustrated that I was now hearing voices while I was awake. But I decided to give it try. “The right question…How can I get into the mapping ball?”

“With the Purple Flame.” The voice answered in the same annoying talk-show-host tone that I knew was a disguise.

“I already got the Purple Flame,” I told the voice. “It didn’t work.”

Silence.

I sighed, and mimicking the annoying talk-show-host tone, I asked, “How do I get the Purple Flame to work with the mapping ball.”

“Ding, ding, there you go,” the voice said with an exaggerated cheerfulness.

Oh, my God. This was the weirdest thing ever.

“Now look at your arm,” the voice commanded.

I did. “Okay…it looks like an arm, well, except for the ugly olive-green lines tracing my skin.” I turned my hand over and looked at the hideous lines Stasha left on my skin when she tried to kill me. “Wait, is that what’s doing it?” Silence.

“hello,” I called out, trying not to be too loud on the chance that someone might hear me and think I had gone off the deep end.

“You can’t restore life with death in your hand,” the voice said in a serious tone.

Strangely enough, that actually made sense. “But it’s permanent, so how can I make it go away?”

“Go back and ask her to take it away.” The voice was fading.

“Are you crazy?” I said, glancing under my bed, wondering if someone was hiding under there. “Stasha will kill me.”

There was no one under the bed so I stood up and put my hands on my hips. “Okay, so are you suggesting that I go to the person who tried to kill me and ask her to take her death out of my hand?”

Nothing. No response. No annoying ding, dings.

Great. Now what? I sighed. I guess I was going to Stasha’s

I decided it was best not to go alone. I might sound like a coward, but I didn’t care. Visiting a girl who had tried to murder me was making me a little bit edgy. I needed backup just in case something bad went down, and I was guessing something would. The best person I could think of to take with me was Laylen because a) unlike Alex, he had never dated Stasha, therefore, his presence would keep any jealous fits of rage to a bare minimum and b) Laylen was immortal so Stasha’s touch wouldn’t kill him.

It was still early as I tiptoed down the hallway to the room that Laylen was sleeping in. Alex was still downstairs—I could hear him moving around as I crept by the stairway. I decided not to tell him I was going, because he would want to come, and like I said, this just didn’t seem like a good idea.

I cracked open the door and peeked my head in.

“Laylen,” I whispered, but all I got in response was a snore.

Great. I hope he is decent.

I slipped inside, shut the door, and flipped on the light.

“Laylen.”

I scared him—I got that as he jumped out of the bed, arms flying, ready to attack.

He calmed down when he saw it was me. “Gemma, what the heck?”

I pulled an ‘I-m-sorry face’, but my cheeks heated as I realized he was not decent. He only had on a pair of boxers and I quickly turned around to hide my blushing face.

“I’m sorry.” I shook my head at myself. “I should have knocked first.”

“It’s okay,” he said, moving around, hopefully putting on a pair of pants. “But what exactly are you doing.” I heard the sound of a zipper shutting, but I didn’t dare turn around until he gave me the okay. “I need your help with something,” I explained, my eyes glued to the door.

The jingling of a belt buckle. “Okay, you can turn around.” I waited a second longer before I turned around and I was relieved to find that he now had pants on, but he was still shirtless and I couldn’t help but be dazzled by the sight. I bit at my bottom lip, trying not to stare as he slipped on a black t-shirt, covering up both his Keeper mark cupping his shoulder and his muscles.

“You good?” He asked. “Because you look a little flushed.”

“I’m fine,” I assured him, but my skin was betraying me.

“That’s what you get for barging in on people while they’re sleeping,” he teased making me blush even more.

Pull yourself together. I cleared my throat, trying to clear out any embarrassment still lingering inside me. “So, yeah, I need your help with something.”

He raised his eyebrows at me curiously. “Oh yeah, with what?”

“With paying a visit to Stasha.”

His expression fell flat. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” He glanced at my olive-green scared arm.

“Considering what happened the last time you went there.”

“But I need to,” I said. “The Purple Flame won’t work unless I do.”

“Wait, you got the Purple Flame…when?”

I guess I needed to back up a few steps and tell him what happened.

“So you think the scars on your arms are what’s stopping the Purple Flame from working?” he asked after I finished telling him what was going on. Well, minus the details of how I had gotten the information about the scars. I mean, Laylen was understanding and everything, but telling him that a talk-show-host voice told me I needed to visit Stasha…I even thought I sounded crazy.

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”

“But how?” He swept his blue-tipped bangs away from his forehead. “How do you know?”

Crap. “Would you believe me if I said that a little birdie told me?"

He gave me a look like he thought I was insane, but Laylen being Laylen did not press further. “Okay, if that’s what you think, then let’s go to Stasha’s to get the marks removed from your arm.” He rubbed his jawline with a thoughtful expression. “But if she tries to kill you again, I might have to use some violence.”

“And that’s okay with me.” I got to my feet and took his hand. “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready,” he replied, standing to his feet, towering over me.

I shut my eyes and moments later, we were being swept away.