It happens so quickly that I don’t have time to process it. One minute my brain is full of haziness where I can only see one single thought—kill Alex—and then suddenly I’m free, my heart flooding with emotions.
Pain. Longing. Need. Sadness. I see so many things. Alex and I. Our hide out. Violet flowers. Dancing in a field. Blood Promise. Forever.
Everything I’ve ever felt in my past, before my emotions were erased, surges through back to me and jumpstarts my emotions.
I scream at the top of my lungs. “Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop. It’s me. It’s me. Alex, stop!”
But it’s too late. He gags as he pulls the needle out of his heart. Gasping for air, his skin pallid, eyes wide. Seconds later, he crumples to the floor.
A blood-curdling scream rips from my lips. “Aislin! Untie me! Please. He can’t die now!” I did this. This is all my fault. No. Help. Stop. Please. God, it hurts so much.
Aislin buckles over Alex’s body with her head tucked down as she utters a chant under her breath, over and over again. Her hand glows red as she presses it to his heart. I realize she’s doing a spell, hopefully one that will bring him back. However, the longer it goes on, the more my hope crumbles. After a while, Aislin gets quiet, tears still falling from her eyes as she glances up at me.
“He’s dead, Gemma. He’s dead,” she whispers softly as the glow from her hand fades.
“No, he’s not!” I cry as I tug on the ties around my arms and legs. “Aislin, please untie me. I need to be with him.”
She finally is able to get up, and then she moves over to me, her eyes swollen; tears streaming down her cheeks. She unfastens the ties around my wrists, her fingers shaking. As soon as she gets the last one, I spring upright and scramble over to where Alex is lying on the floor. His eyes are open, though distant and blank; his arms and legs are sprawled on the floor. He’s not breathing. I check his pulse with my fingertips. Nothing. I try to feel the sparks. Nothing. I feel nothing.
I vaguely hear Aislin say something to me, but I can’t make out her words. There’s so much pain. Emptiness. I feel like I’m being pushed down from it. Sinking. Falling. Dying.
***
There’s a frozen lake before me and icicles dangle from the leafless tree branches. The dark sky casts a shadow over the icy land and the air is as chilly as death. Alex’s arms are wrapped tightly around me as we stand near the edge of the frozen water, holding onto one another as if our lives depend on it.
“We’ll be all right, won’t we?” I ask him, but he doesn’t respond.
A gentle breeze blows through my hair and the silence around us makes the world feel desolate, hollow, and empty. At the moment, though, I feel at whole; at peace, calm.
I tip my head back and look up at him to tell him my worries, but he shushes me as he brushes my hair away from my face. “It will be all right,” he whispers, but his voice is unsteady.
My lips part to argue, but a crackle rises through the air and sucks the words from my lips. Moments later, tall, cloaked figures emerge from the trees surrounding us.
“Death Walkers.” I look at Alex in terror. “What do we do?”
He sweeps my hair back again and pulls me closer to him. “It will be all right,” he whispers again. “Just trust me.”
I feel warmth and pain. Heat and agony. Then suddenly I’m suffocated by light. Yet for some reason, it feels like everything will be okay.
Gripping onto him, I take a deep breath and let the warmth engulf me, allowing myself to get taken away from the world as I hold onto Alex, refusing to let go. There’s a soft tug and I can feel him slipping away, though. I let out a scream, but I get lost in the light.
***
“Gemma,” a voice calls out to me. “Can you hear me?”
My body tenses as light encircles me. “Who’s there?”
“Come toward me,” the voice echoes around me.
I lift my hand to my forehead and try to shield my eyes from the blinding light, but I still can’t see a thing. “Whoever you are, I can’t see you. The light’s too bright.”
“Yes, you can,” the voice assures me. “You just have to look harder.”
The voice sounds familiar, but I’m certain that it doesn’t belonged to Nicholas, even though it seems like something he would say to fuck with my head. The voice is much deeper, though, and sounds older and wiser.
I blink a few times and the light begins to dim. Slowly at first, and then more quickly, until there’s nothing left other than a soft glow orbing around me. I can see my hands and arms… my feet… I start to get my bearings when, suddenly, my legs are ripped out from under me.