Chapter 22
After we climbed out of the hiding spot and slid down the hill, I gave the knife back to Alex because, let’s face it, I was no Keeper.
Another shriek rang through the forest, and out in the open it sounded louder and more terrifying.
“If you’re scared, then you can go back in there,” Alex told me, his voice urging—begging me to please go back.
I eyed him over. His skin was so pale. The little holes dotting across his body looked like they had to hurt. He also had shadows under his eyes, and although he did look a bit better than when we’d first found him in the City of Crystal, he still wasn’t his strong, normal self. And the voltage of electricity flowing off of him was still so muffled.
“No, I’m going with you,” I told him. “You need my help. You’re not strong enough yet.”
“I’m fine,” he snapped. “I don’t need your help.”
“Yeah, you do.” My voice shook a little, but I stood firm. “I can feel that you’re not okay.” He held my gaze powerfully, like he thought if he stared at me for long enough, I’d back down. And you know what, a week or so ago I might have, but today I wasn’t. It was like I had this adrenaline pouring through me—this inner strength.
“Fine, come with me then.” He pointed his finger at me. “But I swear to God, Gemma, if anything happens
—”
“I know, I know. Run. Hide. Save myself.” His mouth quirked and an amused smile started to show, but then another shriek filled the air, and we ran into the trees.
Most people wouldn’t run toward a shrieking monster that could quite possibly end up freezing you to your death. And normally we did run. But this was a different situation because Laylen could be in some serious trouble. The further we dipped into the forest without seeing Laylen, the more concerned I became.
My gut was telling me something was wrong with Laylen, and that maybe this was a trap. And yes, the thought did cross my mind that Alex might be a part of it.
I almost turned back.
But then another shriek reverberated through the forest, and I thought of Laylen, and how the Death Walker might be trying to hurt him.
Then came the fog. It moved across the forest’s damp ground like a snake, icing everything in its path.
Alex stopped as the fog reached our ankles, staring down at the ground, while holding his knife out in front of him. “Stay by me,” he whispered and I nodded.
The fog gradually seeped through my damp clothes and onto my skin, chilling my body to the shivers. I clenched my jaw tight to keep from chattering.
I’ve had nightmares of being chased by Death Walkers in a forest that have come true. And here I was again, in a forest with Death Walkers, only I wasn’t being chased.
Not yet anyway.
Alex scooted us behind the trunk of a very large oak tree and put a finger to his lips. We stood as still as people in paintings, and that’s when I heard it. A voice. A very familiar voice that I was absolutely sure belonged to a half-faerie, half-Foreseer, who might be working for the dark side.
“I can’t believe this,” Nicholas was saying. “I can’t believe she managed to drag all of us into the present time.”
I looked at Alex, and I knew he was thinking the same thing; that I’d brought Nicholas and the Death Walkers here with us. But if that were so then where had they been hiding.
“Well, it would have been a lot better if she hadn’t dropped us in the middle of the lake,” Nicholas said irritably.
Who the heck was he talking to? Himself?
Alex must have been thinking the same thing, because he took a cautious peek around the tree trunk. When he moved back, he looked completely mystified.
Who is it, I mouthed.
He shook his head and shrugged. Huh, so maybe faerie boy was talking to himself.
“I know, but where are they?” Nicholas asked, and the more he spoke, the more I wondered if he had lost his mind or something.
Another shriek rattled the air and shook at the trees, causing leaves to break off their branches and float to the ground.
“Would you stop doing that!” Nicholas exclaimed.
My eyes widened. Was he talking to the Death Walkers? No, that wasn’t possible…was it?
“Well, stop smelling the blood then!” Nicholas’s voice cut sharply through the forest.
Blood?Blood! Oh, no, please, please, don’t let the blood he’s referring to belong to Laylen.
“He tried to attack me first” Nicholas snapped. “It was self-defense. Besides, you would have frozen him to death anyway.”
There was a pause where all I could hear was my heart thumping erratically.
“So what if he created Laylen,” Nicholas said, annoyed. “Creating another vampire isn’t that hard.” Vampire. Vampire. Oh my God, they were talking about Laylen.
Without even thinking about what I was doing, I started to move around the tree, but Alex grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into him. He shook his head, and I glared at him, trying to wiggle my way free without making too much noise. He intensified his grip
—apparently some of his strength returned to him—
and met my gaze, his eye begging me to stop.
It hurt. It actually physically hurt to stay behind that tree and know Laylen was injured, while Nicholas chatted away.
“I’m not messing around,” Nicholas insisted. “I know what has to be done.” Another pause. “I know, but it might be a little difficult to find her. She’s very powerful and getting more powerful by the day. She can do things normal Foreseers can’t.” A shriek, and then,
“Fine. Let’s go back to the City of Crystal, and I’ll see if I can get an exact location on her.” There was a swoosh, and then silence.
Alex peered around the corner of the tree trunk, before letting me go. And then we were sprinting though the lingering fog that was starting to tint my skin a bluish-purple. But at the moment I didn’t care.
All I cared about was that Laylen was laying on the ground, on top of the scattered leaves and twigs, with a stick stabbed into his chest, blood covering his shirt.
I’d never felt anything like it before. Panic, rage, fear—it all crushed through me.
Alex muttered something incoherently as he bent down to Laylen’s lifeless body.
“He’s not—he’s not,” I was on the verge of tears,
“dead, is he?”
Alex examined the stick poking out of Laylen’s chest. Being a huge science fiction freak, I’d read enough vampire books to know that a stake through the heart meant death for a vampire.
The stick was so close to his heart.
“He’s not dead,” Alex finally said, putting his hands on top of the stick. “Not yet anyway.”
“Not yet anyway,” I repeated, horrified. “Does that mean he’s going to die?”
“Not if we can get him some…” Alex yanked out the stick, and I tried not to gasp at the sight of the very large hole in Laylen’s chest or at the blood that was pouring out of it. Alex pressed his hand onto the wound, putting pressure on it.
“Get him some what?” I asked, fully freaking out. “Is there a cure?”
Alex avoided my eyes as he said, “”Yeah, blood.”
“He has to bite someone?” I asked, remembering the first day I had met Laylen and he had told me he never brought out his fangs.
Alex hesitated, and I could see it in his eyes, “No, he needs another vampires blood.”
“Is that the only kind of blood that will work?” I asked.
He nodded, and even though I didn’t believe him, I took a deep breath, placed a hand on Laylen’s cold arm, and then shut my eyes, hoping I was strong enough to take us back, since what I could do with my extraordinary Foreseer ability was still a huge question mark.
“Take us to the Black Dungeon,” Alex told me.
Keeping my eyes shut, I replied, “Why there?”
“Because there’ll be vampires all over.” I nodded, thinking how Laylen wasn’t supposed to go near vampires, but feared if he didn’t, he would die. I pictured the all ey, damp, scary, and covered with garbage. I envisioned the bright red door, and the flap at the top. I saw all three of us there.
I tried my hardest to focus on the details I’d seen when I was there, and when Alex took hold of my hand, I felt a surge of electricity, and the weakness I’d been feeling left me. I knew I’d get us there.
I had to.