Chapter 34
“You can’t cheat your way there,” a voice said.
My eyelids fluttered open, and the first thing I saw were shoes. A pair of black shoes that shined in the light that flowed around them.
“If you want to find out the answer,” the voice said. “You have to search for it on your own.”
I rolled over on my back and looked up at my father, towering above me. “Am I in your head again?” I asked.
He smiled a gentle smile and helped me to my feet. “So you discovered where I am, then?”
I nodded, glancing around, noticing we weren’t in the same place as we were before. We were on a beach. The ocean’s waves crashed toward us and the bright light was the sun shining from the clear blue sky.
“Where are we?” I asked, getting to my feet.
“We are wherever I need us to be,” he said, heading down the shore.
I followed him. “But I thought you were in the Room of Forbidden….I thought you were stuck in your own head.” His violet eyes shined brightly in the sun as he looked at me. “I am, but I do get bored sometimes and changing the scenery helps pass the time.”
“Okay…but I don’t get something….how come the Foreseers put you in here? Why didn’t you just tell them what happened…that Stephan made you change the vision because he marked you with that.” I pointed at his wrist, which was covered by the sleeve of his robe.
He looked at me solemnly. “It’s the downfal of being a Foreseer, Gemma. There are no second chances or room for mistakes.”
“But you didn’t willingly make the mistake,” I argued as the ocean soaked at my feet. “Stephan made you do it.” Silence passed between us as the ocean crashed back and forth and birds cawed in the background.
“You need to stop worrying about me,” he said. “You have other problems to deal with at the moment.” I stopped and stared out at the ocean. “Like saving the world….because I already did that.”
“I know you did, but that is not what I’m talking about.” I shielded my eyes from the sun. “Then what are you talking about?”
“What you’re in store for.” He gazed out at the ocean.
“What waits for you in the near future.”
“I know what it is,” I told him. “I know that I die.”
“You’re still not getting it,” he said, sounding frustrated.
“You need to push that aside, otherwise you will never be able to save the world.”
I dropped my hand and turned my head toward him. “But, I already did that.”
“Not quite.” He reached into the pocket of his silver rob and pulled out a ring trimmed with violet gems. Then, he took my hand and set the ring in it.
“What is it?” I asked, gazing down at the ring, shimmering in the sunlight.
“That I cannot tell you.”
I frowned. “Why do you always say that? How can you give me things like this,” I held up the ring, “and the mapping ball, but you can’t tell me how to use them? And how do you even have these things, if we’re inside your head?”
He gave me an understanding smile. “This is my loophole Gemma. I’m able to give you these things, because we are in my head and not in the real world. What I do in here does not matter out there. But I cannot tell you how to use them, because that would be interfering with what you need to do out in the real world. You have to figure out the answers for yourself and pave the world with your memories.”
I stared at the ring in the palm of my hand. “I still don’t get it.”
“You will, when the time is right.” He shut my hand around the ring. “This is your loophole, Gemma.”
“My loophole to what? Saving my life or saving the world?
I asked, but the ocean blurred away and the sun began to dim—he was already sending me back.
“And no more trying to cheat, no matter what happens,” he called out, his voice sounding far away. “If you’re not careful, you’ll end up in here.”
I frowned, but said no more as I was yanked away, back to my room.
But when I opened my eyes, the boring tan walls of my room did not surround me.
All I could see was light.
Nothing but light.