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.