Текст книги "Broken Visions"
Автор книги: Jessica Sorensen
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 14 страниц)
Chapter 29
When we get back to the house, Laylen and I decide that the best thing to do is go downstairs and simply ask Alex if he knew about the mark. We could sit there and try to figure it out ourselves but at this point I am tired of dithering around things.
In the living room, Aislin has herbs and candles in front of her as she reads a page on her spell book. She hasn’t had any luck yet getting the mark off my mother and has been burying herself in trying to solve what went wrong. It shows through her red eyes, bags under them, and, she’s in her pajamas, her hair a mess. Alex is sitting beside Aleesa as she watches something on television, but it’s clear he’s not paying attention, gazing off into empty space.
When he looks up at me, he sort of flinches as if seeing me is painful for him. I simply raise my arm up and show that the lines are gone, figuring that’s the best way to start this conversation.
He drops the remote onto the table, stunned. “How did you get them off?”
I glance at Laylen beside me and he gives me an encouraging look. “We paid Stasha a little visit,” I tell him.
“What?” He’s baffled and so is Aislin, who looks up at us, confounded. “When?”
“Just barely,” I explain. “I had a little hunch that if they were gone, the Purple Flame might work.”
“I wish you would have said something before you took off,” he says, trying to keep his need to be dominant and controlling intact.
“Yeah, I know, but you were talking to Aislin and I didn’t want to bother you.” I glance from Laylen to Aislin, who are listening intently, then back to Alex. “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?”
He gives me a funny look, but goes into the kitchen with me without asking questions.
“Okay, what’s going on?” He reclines against counter, arms folded. “You’re acting weird.”
“When Laylen and I—” I start, but a strange noise escapes his throat, like he’s choking back a cough. “What was that noise you just made?” I inch toward him, attempting to pick up on his vibe.
“You really want to know?” he asks and I nod. In three long strides, he’s stolen the space between us and backed me up into the counter. An arm comes down on each side of me, trapping me between him. “My problem is that every time you have a problem, you run off with Laylen. And it’s driving me crazy. After how far we’ve come… after the things I’ve shared with you… I thought by now you’d come to me when you needed help—it’s what I’m good at.”
“I’m sorry, but it seemed better to take Laylen since he can’t die from Stasha’s touch.” I suck in a loud breath. “And she’s your ex-girlfriend.”
“I already told you she never meant anything to me.”
“Yeah, but you clearly meant something to her—she has pictures of you two all over her house.”
He presses his lips together. “What do you want me to do?” He pauses and I can tell the way his eyes crinkle that he’s trying not to smile. “Go to her house and steal all the photos away, because I will. Just say the word.”
I shake my head, attempting to stay annoyed. “No, that’d be silly.” I pause and his smile starts to break through, so I reach forward and playfully pinch him on the side. “This isn’t funny.”
Now he’s grinning as he touches the spot where I pinched him. “It kind of is.” He brushes a strand of hair out of my face. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”
“That’s not what this is about,” I tell him then remember what I’m really supposed to be discussing with him. “Did you know Stasha has the Mark of Malefiscus?”
The shock on his face is too real and I know right away that he didn’t. “No, she doesn’t… I’d know….”
“She does, though. I saw the mark on her wrist, and she told us she’s had it since she was born.”
“That’s not possible.” He shakes his head, gripping onto the counter. “I’d know if she did.”
I hated that he would know. “So I’m guessing that either he recently put it on her and tampered with her mind to make her think she’s had it forever, or this is another case of the butterfly effect from resetting time…” I look down at my hand and flex my fingers. “It’s time for me to go see what I can do about this.” I open my hand and the flame smolders.
“You think it’s going to work now?” Alex asks, the flame reflecting in his bright green eyes.
“There’s only one way to find out.” I march out of the kitchen without putting the fire out and Laylen, Aislin, and Aleesa all jump back. I scoop up the mapping ball and place it in my hand as they all watch. It fits perfectly and my skin begins to sizzle. Energy torrents through me, violet, passionate, untamed. My eyes snap wide as searing heat spills through my veins, gives me an indescribable power, and then sucks me into the glass.
Chapter 30
It’s so dark it makes the air thick and heavy, bearing down on me and crushing my body. I have to be dead. There’s no way I could be alive with this much pain. But then I open my eyes and see the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen before me, like I landed outside of the world, where the stars shine. They are everywhere. Above me. Below me. As far as my eyes can see.
“It’s so gorgeous,” I whisper in wonderment. But as I start to wander across the stars, my heart sinks in despair. There is no sign of memories or anything that will lead me to it.
But as if answering me, one of the stars just in front of my feet illuminates. I hop back as light flows out of it and casts against the darkness like a movie screen. At first it’s blank, but then people appear on it. A man probably about twenty years old with dark brown hair and violet eyes—my dad. He’s talking to an older woman with flowing auburn hair, wearing a pressed tan dress—Sophia.
“Well, I don’t see how that would be possible,” Sophia tells my father as they hike up the grassy hill toward the grey stone castle at the top. “Jocelyn’s too busy with things. And she’s supposed to be taking her Keeper’s test soon.”
“I understand your concern,” my dad replies, attempting to dazzle her with a charming smile. “But I promise you, I won’t keep her out too long.”
Sophia fixes him with a stern gaze, one that I had seen many times, not at all affected by my dad’s charm. “Well, I’ll have to think about it and discuss it with her father, but we’ll see.”
My father stops on the hill, beaming. “That’s all I’m asking for.”
Sophia gives him a curt nod and then hurries to the front door of the castle, leaving him on the hill. My father turns, picks up a rock, and chucks it into the lake, making the water ripple. He looks happy, not like someone who is about to cause the end of the world.
“He couldn’t have always been evil,’ I say. “There’s just no way.”
The scene swirls back into the star. Not the vision I’m looking for, but it was interesting to see my dad, just a normal guy, wanting to ask my mom out.
Suddenly, another star lights up against the darkness just a few feet away. On the screen, my father is the main focus, about the same age as he was in the last one. He’s sitting next to my mom who looks around the same age as him. Her makeup is done and her hair is curled up and they’re in the corner, huddled together, with a stack of books by their feet.
“I still don’t understand why you have to help him,” my mother says to my father. “It doesn’t make any sense.
My father takes her hands in his. “Everything will be okay, Jocelyn. Stephan assures me that once I help him, we can be together; that he’ll make it so your parents won’t have any problems with us wanting to get married.”
My mother swallows hard. “Julian, please don’t do this... I’m begging you”
“It’ll be alright.” My dad cups her face in his hands and leans closer. “Stephan just needs my help with something and then this will all be over. And you and I can begin our happy life together.”
She looks like she wants to say something but can’t. “Help you with what? Has he even told you?”
“He hasn’t, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
My mother itches at her wrist, right where the Mark of Malefiscus is now, but her long-sleeved shirt covers it up. She keeps scratching and scratching like she’s trying to claw her skin off.
“Please don’t go, Julian,” she pleads. “I’m begging you not to.”
“I have to otherwise, I’ll never have this.” And then he kisses her.
I let out a shaky breath as the picture fades back into the star. They seemed so normal and in love, not evil or marked, not about to end the world.
I move to the next star and wait for it to light up, wondering what I’m going to see next. When the screen shines across the blackness, my body tenses. Stephan is sitting at a long mahogany table, dressed in black, his hair slicked to the side, and he’s grinning. Across from him, is my dad with his arms on the table, the sleeves of his blue shirt rolled up revealing that his arms are mark free.
“I have to say, Julian, I’m surprised you showed up.” Stephan says. “Jocelyn must mean a lot to you.”
My dad shifts in the chair and then tucks his arms underneath the table, anxious. “Is it true you can create marks? Can you really mark me as a Keeper?”
I nearly fall to the ground. That’s what he wanted? He wanted Stephan to make him a Keeper?
“Hmmm...” Stephan grazes his finger across the scar on his cheekbone, musing. “Is it true there’s a way for a Foreseer to change a vision?”
My dad’s expression plummets. “I—I don’t think so.”
Stephan slants forward in his chair toward my father. “You know what I hate more than anything, Julian?” he asks in an icy tone, his eyes darkening. “People who lie. I can’t stand fucking liars.”
“I’m not lying, sir,” my dad says, his voice faltering. “I swear, I’m not.”
Stephan digs his fingernails into the wood of the table, as if channeling his anger there. “I understand there are rules that the Foreseers have that forbid you to tell me.” He scoots back and then rounds the table, halting in front of my father. “Give me your arm, Julian.”
“What?” My dad gapes up at Stephan. “Why?”
“Give. Me. Your. Arm,” Stephan repeats in a firm tone.
My dad exhales loudly then extends out his arm. Stephan retrieves a knife from the table and without warning, plunges it into my father’s forearm. “Vos es venalicium!”
My dad whimpers out in pain, his fingers moving for the knife. But it’s too late. A mark appears on his wrist as blood seeps out of his skin and dribbles onto the floor. “Why did you… I don’t understand,” my father stammers, pressing his hand to the wound.
Stephan tosses the knife onto the table, grinning. “Now you have no choice but to help me.”
My father removes his hand from his arm and gasps in horror. Along his forearm, there’s a black triangle outlining a red symbol.
“But you said you would give me the Keeper’s mark.” My father turns his arm toward Stephan. “What the hell is this?”
“Oh, you’ll soon find out,” Stephan says darkly.
The light diminishes into the star as my knees give out and I sink onto the starry ground. My mother lied. My father didn’t want power. He wanted to be with her. He thought he was becoming a Keeper. Why did my mom lie about this? Or didn’t she know the truth? Was the only story she knew from Stephan’s point of view?
But then Stephan had told me that a person had to possess evil blood for the mark to work, so either my father has some sort of evil hidden in him, or Stephan was lying about that and he can put the mark on anyone. Both scenarios make me shiver.
The man has ruined too many lives and it’s time to stop him. Filled with determination, I push to my feet. I need a way to find out a way to figure out which star held the right memory. I sort through my memories, trying to think of something that may have been mentioned in the past. Nicholas and my dad both said something about my mind having the answers. If I could just see which one holds the right memory… I get an idea as I think of the Foreseer book and concentrate on not seeing the stars, but seeing the one that carries the memory of my dad when he altered the vision that will lead to the destruction of earth. The stars begin to glimmer, playing a melody of color, and then a silver cloud rises from the ground. I move back as it slithers across the stars like a snake and into the darkness and I chase after it, weaving around stars, until it finally comes to a stop above a lavender one that shines brighter than all the others. The magical cloud swoops into the air and then swan-dives down into the star. I stop and wait for the screen to light up, but no light or movie clip appears so I lean over and peer into it. There’s a faint light emitting from the center and hesitantly, I bend down and brush my fingers against it. Energy jolts through my body and the ground trembles. The ground below my feet cracks and then begins to break. I let out a scream as the entire starry area around me crumbles, taking me with it.
Chapter 31
When I land, it’s soft and I’m breathless. I’m on a hill with my back to the Keeper’s castle, and in front of me, the lake and the trees, crisp with ice and frost, the water frozen, the sky cloudy and grey. And Death Walkers are everywhere.
My dad comes walking down the hill toward the lake. He’s still around twenty but he’s wearing the same silver robe he was wearing in the Room of Forbidden. His face is solemn, his violet eyes fixed on the lake with worry shadowing them. He doesn’t seem to notice me as he passes by, so I follow after him, figuring I’m in vision form.
“Where is it?” he mutters as he halts at the icy shore of the lake.
Death Walkers creep out from the trees, their black cloaks dragging across the snow, their yellow eyes reflecting against the ice. I shiver as the ground quivers with the beat of their march and when Stephan emerges from the forest, not too far off from where we stand. He has on a black cloak with the hood over his head and his eyes seem to light up in delight as he takes in the winter wonderland. He motions at someone behind him and out steps a man, much shorter than Stephan, wearing a cloak.
“Demetrius." My breath fogs out in front of my face as it laces with the arctic air.
“There it is,” my dad mumbles, staring at something near the shoreline just in front of his feet, a blur of colors and shapes.
I focus like I’ve been taught to do and the colors and shapes alter into two figures that rise up from the ground, clutching onto each other for dear life.
“Oh my God.” My heart stops at the sight I’ve seen before. Many times. In fact, pretty much every time I pass out.
I throw my hand over my mouth and start to back away. This is what my father erased to create a new path for the world. This is what was going to happen? Alex and I were going to die to save the world. I painfully understand now, what this means and what it means if I choose the right path.
I watch in torment as Alex brushes the vision form of me’s hair from my face. “It’ll be okay,” he whispers softly.
“How do you know?” she says, tears streaming from her eyes.
“Because I do.” Then he kisses her with so much passion that it electrifies the air. He keeps kissing her, his hands traveling all over her body as she grips onto his shoulders, fully welcoming the kiss, yet she’s scared. The electricity intensifies and then finally Alex pulls back and hugs her against him tightly, whispering something in her ear that makes her skin drain of color. But then she says something else that looks like it means everything to her. And as she buries her face into his chest, a light brightening around the two of them, she appears content.
I shield my eyes, trying to see what’s happening. I’ve never gotten past this part in my dreams, but deep down I know why. It’s the same reason why when Alex looked in the future mirror, he only saw light.
Because it’s the end for both of us.
“This is what happens right before the portal is about to open… the two of them stop it from happening, by sacrificing their own lives?” my father whispers under his breath as the light dims away. The sun shines brightly from the sky and the snow is melted, the land soaked with the afterglow. The Death Walkers, Stephan, and Demetrius are gone and ash is scattered across the ground and floating through the air. Everything is burned except for Alex and the vision form of me sprawled on the grass, our fingers intertwined as we lay side by side, dead.
My father shakes his head, tears rolling down his cheek. “I’m so sorry for letting this happen to you.” He steps toward our bodies, crouches down, and reaches for us, preparing to erase us like I did to myself on the shore.
I start to sob uncontrollably. “This is what I have to put back,” I choke. “I have to let this happen. Let Alex and me die, so that the world doesn’t freeze over and everyone dies.”
It’s the most difficult decision I’ve ever had to make. Either I can walk away and let the world head to its frozen death or sacrifice Alex and mine’s life so everyone can live. How can I do it? How can I kill Alex and myself?
“I can’t do this,” I whisper through my tears.
But as my father’s hand hovers above Alex, I realize what kind of person I am, a life changing moment that will define me forever.
My hand trembles as I reach for my father. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper then place my hand on his shoulder. He vanishes with a flicker and I collapse to the grass and cry until all the energy drains out of me. Then I curl up into a ball and for once, wish I was still emotionally numb.
Chapter 32
I wake up at the house, slamming to the floor, but don’t open my eyes, even when everyone rushes to me. I can’t do it—can’t face him, so instead I let him carry me to the sofa, pretending I’m unconscious, while Alex stokes my back.
I hate to hear him worried like he is, but opening my eyes means I’ll have to explain what happened. I’ll have to tell Alex that we are going to die in the close future and that what I changed back was our deaths.
I’m not sure how much time goes by, maybe hours, as I stay that motionless, listening to them worry, knowing that eventually I’ll have to officially wake up and tell them what I did.
“Gemma.” Alex’s breath feathers against my ear as he leans down and in desperation, whispers, “For the love of God, please just wake up.”
His plea tears at my heart and I decide it’s time. Opening my eyes, I sit up and he leans back to give me room.
“Oh, thank God.” Aislin presses her hand to her heart, relief sweeping across her face as she sinks down on the coffee table. “You’re okay, right?” She’s been crying, eyes red and swollen.
I can’t look Alex in the eye so I focus on Laylen and Aislin. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“What happened?” Alex asks, trying to catch my eye. “Did you change it or did something… bad happen?” He thinks I’m upset because my dad turned out to be evil. Part of me wishes that was the case.
I smash my trembling lips together, sucking back the tears, and manage to nod my head once.
He hooks his finger under my chin and forces me to look at him. “What’s wrong? I can tell something’s bothering you.”
“I stopped him from changing the world’s future.” I release an uneven exhale. “So now it’s back to what it was supposed to begin with before my father messed with it.”
“So everything’s good.” Alex is deciding whether he should be happy or not. “The world’s not going to end? In ice? My father’s not going to get what he wants.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and suck in a deep breath. “That’s not all.”
He’s hesitant. “What else happened?”
Knowing I should tell him first, I open my eyes and ask Aislin and Laylen, “Can you two give us a second? I need to talk to Alex alone.”
They give me lost looks at they get up and do what I ask. Laylen looks like I’ve wounded him, probably because he thinks I’m keeping secrets from him.
After the room is cleared, I turn to Alex and gather every ounce of courage I possess. “What I had to erase… what I had to allow to happen… what was originally supposed to happen is that… we… we sacrifice ourselves and die, killing the star with us.”
He doesn’t utter a word. The clock ticking. The wind howling. And I can hear Aislin and Laylen upstairs talking.
“So we say we love each other,” he says with indifference. “And then we die and that’s that.”
I nod, unable to speak.
More silence goes by and then Alex abruptly gets to his feet. “I can’t do this,” he mutters and then storms out of the room and out of the house, slamming the front door behind him and it rattle the entire house.
Seconds later, Aislin and Laylen come rushing into the room.
“What happened?” Aislin asks, looking around. “Where the hell did Alex go?”
Telling them is less difficult but still hard. When I’m done, Aislin runs up to her room sobbing hysterically. Laylen stays with me in the living room, but sits quietly with his arms folded.
“So that’s how it’s going to happen,” he finally asks in a quiet voice. “It doesn’t seem fair.”
“I’m not sure it really is either,” I say, wondering if it’s a selfish thing to say or not. “But it is what it is. No more changing things, not when I know that it’ll lead to something good.”
He drapes his arm around my shoulder and hugs me against him, kissing the top of my head before resting his chin on it. “Maybe we could fix it… Maybe we can do something else that would keep you guys alive.”
Shaking my head, I shut my eyes and clutch onto his shirt, telling myself to hold on and not fall apart. “There’s nothing we can do. Everything is back to the way it was supposed to be and changing it will only cause more problems and mess up things.” Even though I try to fight them, the tears start to flow and I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to stop them.
* * *
In the midst of my crying, I somehow fall asleep and end up in my room. I recognize the familiarity of my bed when I start to wake up. My eyes are so puffy I think about not opening them again, but then I feel the hum of the electricity and make myself fully wake up.
Alex is lying beside me, not asleep, staring at me. “Sorry, I was just…” He looks a bit guilty.
“Watching me sleep,” I finish for him, turning on the lamp. It’s not completely nighttime yet but dark enough that I can only see the outline of him. I want to see all of him, savor the moments with him and everyone I care about.
“It’s not as creepy as it sounds,” he says, starting to laugh, but the happiness deflates quickly. He looks exhausted, dark half circles under his eyes, hair a mess, clothes wrinkled.
“No, it’s pretty creepy,” I attempt to joke, but fail miserably.
“You don’t have to do that.” He rolls onto his back and stares up at the ceiling. “You don’t have to pretend that everything’s alright when it’s not.”
“Don’t I?” I whisper. “It hurts too much not to pretend.”
He rolls to his side again and lets his finger travel down my cheekbone to my jawline, finally residing on the hollow of my neck. “Never pretend with me, Gemma. Promise me you won’t. Promise me you’ll tell me what you’re really feeling no matter how bad it is.”
I gaze up at his eyes that use to be so cold, but now give me so much comfort I can barely comprehend it. “You really want to know how I feel right now.” I ask and he nods. I wet my lips with my tongue and then lean up, knowing that what I’m doing might be wrong, but it’s what I want to do at the moment.
Without any hesitation, I press my lips to his and kiss him intensely but deliberately. I expect him to stop me and give me a big lecture about how we should stay apart, that we should let the star survive as long as we can. But he doesn’t and we both decide just to live in the moment. Live for the now. Live to live because any other way wouldn’t be right.
As he kisses me back with passion, he conceals his body over mine, his arms slipping upward and bearing his weight and my head is trapped between his arms. He’s touching all of me but it doesn’t feel like enough. I want more, but when I rush to rip of his clothes, getting caught in the heat of the moment like we’ve done so many times, he stops me by catching my hand.
“Just enjoy it, okay,” he utters softly with fear in his eyes, like he’s afraid to do so himself. When I nod, equally as terrified, he leans back down and kisses me gradually but with so much intensity, I swear we’re going to burn the house to the ground. I can barely get air into my lungs as our tongues entangle and our bodies weld together, conforming flawlessly. The kissing goes on forever, longer than I knew kissing could go on for. When he finally pulls back, he strips my clothes off me, going slowly and not tearing the fabric and I do the same to him, my chest heaving as I gasp for air, feeling things I’ve never felt before. I try to bury them, knowing I need to restrain what I’m certain is developing inside me, and toss his shirt aside. Then I gently trace my fingers along his perfect chest and impeccable stomach, feeling his muscles flex under my fingertips. He lets me study him, feel every part of him, then he lays me back down and does the same to me, his fingers drifting from my face, to my neck, my breasts, then to my thighs, his mouth trailing after his hand and leaving a path of heat all over my skin. By the time he’s done, I’m gasping for air and my body is aching for him to be inside me.
He must sense it to, because he situates himself between my legs and covers his body back over mine. “I want to say so many things…” he looks so torn. “But I don’t think I can.”
“You don’t have to say anything at all,” I whisper, leaning up to kiss him. “I already know.”
He kisses me deeply as he thrusts inside me and my fingernails dig at the flesh on his shoulder blades as overwhelming passion, lust, want, and need consume me. For a moment I feel whole. At peace. Like I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to do. And as he rocks inside me, whispering, “Everything we’ll be alright,” part of me believes him.
