Chapter 36
Aislin and I went back to the living room and Aislin started searching the internet, trying to find more details on her spell, while I read through the Foreseer’s book, trying to figure out what the ring on my finger was for, even though I had no idea if it even had anything to do with Foreseers.
But it was hard to concentrate when I couldn’t stop thinking about the fire. It felt like it was an omen or something—a warning that something bad lay ahead for all of us. But I couldn’t figure out how—I had changed the vision back to what it was. The world was not supposed to end anymore.
It seemed like hours ticked by before I heard the front door open and Alex and Laylen walked inside. They looked strange, like they had been crying or something.
“Are you two okay?” I asked, staring at their reddened eyes.
Laylen dropped down on the sofa between Aislin and me and put an arm around each of us. “Yeah, we’re fine. Are you two okay?”
I nodded, giving Laylen a peculiar look. “You’re not having problems again, are you?” I whispered, leaning into him. “With your blood thirst, I mean.”
He shook his head and squeezed my shoulder. “No, I’m fine, I promise. Alex and I…we just needed to talk about something.”
He wasn’t telling me something—I could tell, but before I could ask, Alex interrupted.
“Hey, come with me for a moment.” He held out his hand to me. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.” I looked at Laylen, but he avoided my eyes. So I took Alex’s hand and he helped me to my feet.
“You put that thing on?” he asked, noticing the ring on my finger.
I sighed. “I wanted to see if it would do something if I did…it didn’t.”
He let out a frustrated breath, but didn’t say anything. I mean, what would he say? That I needed to be careful and not risk my life like that?
He led me up to my room and shut the door behind us. It was dark, but he didn’t flip the light on, nor did he say anything. He just stood there, leaning against the door, and it was driving me crazy because I could feel his gaze on me, sparkling across my skin.
Finally, I clicked the lamp on.
“So, where did you and Laylen go?” I sat down on my bed.
He shrugged, his eyes locked on me. “I just needed to talk to him about something.”
“So are you two friends again, then?”
He stepped away from the door and sat down next me. “I guess so.” He shrugged. “Well, at least I don’t think we’ll be beating each other up anytime soon.” He let out a loud breath and dragged his fingers through his dark brown messy and in-an-intentional-way hair. “There was just something really important I needed to talk to him about.”
“It’s not bad, is it?” I asked, picking up a weird vibe from him.
He shook his head, but something in his eyes made my stomach clench. “No, it’s not bad.” He swept a strand of my hair out of my face and I tensed, remembering how he did the same thing in the vision, right before we died. “It’s good…everything will be alright.”
My heart skipped a beat, and not in a good way. It skipped a beat in fear, because those were the words he whispered to me in the vision.
“They will?” I asked in a shaky voice. “How do you know?”
He traced the fresh cut on the palm of his hand—the one leftover from our most recent Blood Promise. “I just do.”
“Alex,” I choked. “What did you say during the Blood Promise?”
He gave me a soft smile. “I’ll tell you tomorrow okay? But right now I just want to lay here with you and think about something else besides the end-of-the-world.” How was I supposed to respond to that? “Okay.” Yeah, I guess that worked.
We lay down on my bed, face-to-face, not quite touching, but it was enough for the sparks to flow between us and connect us with an invisible bond.
How could something that felt so good be so wrong?
“I’ll leave before it gets too bad,” he said, sensing my worry.
I nodded. “Okay.”
And then we just lay there, watching one another, letting the silence fade away our worries, until my eyelids grew heavy and I drifted away into a peaceful dream of kisses, warmth, and beautiful green eyes.