The Underworld (20 page)

Underworld. Besides, practicing might help you when

you drift off into one of your visions without a crystal

bal .”

Okay, time to change the subject. “Okay.” I took a

deep breath and extended my hand out to Nicholas,

my other hand hovering over the crystal bal . “Then I’l

try again.”

“Do you have an idea where you’re going to take

us?” Nicholas asked, taking hold of my hand and

unnecessarily intertwining our fingers.

“Yeah, I have an idea….” I shut my eyes and

brushed my fingers across the cold glass of the

crystal bal .

Yeah, it might have been a stupid idea, but I

figured it was the best way to get an answer to my

current problem. I mean, how bad could it end up

being? I had already seen the world at its end, and

there weren’t many things that were worse than

seeing that.

But with as inexperienced as I was, I knew I was

taking a risk, especial y since Nicholas had warned

me before that when we actual y tried to enter The

Underworld through the Ira, many things could go

wrong.

I needed to know, though, how I was going to do it

—how I was going to get my mother out of The

Underworld. Because I had no idea, and neither did

Laylen. When I had asked him how I was supposed to

get my mom out of there, Laylen had looked as

perplexed as I felt. And asking Alex was not an option,

at least not until he got back, which his release date

hadn’t been determined yet.

It was important that I knew what kind of bargaining

tool we would use to get the Queen to let my mom go,

and the only way I could think of to do this was to see

what I would do. Of course, I wasn’t sure if it was

going to work or not. For al I knew, the vision would

show me that I would fail—that I don’t free my mom.

But I had to try.

I honestly wasn’t sure whether I had pul ed it off, as I

had taken us through the crystal bal , al I kept thinking

was: The Underworld, my mom’s freedom, the Queen.

But even after I landed with a great stumble, and a

bump of my elbow, I stil wasn’t sure I was in the right

place.

“So where’d you take us,” Nicholas asked, rubbing

his hands together excitedly. “Somewhere good I

hope.”

“Um…” I stared down the tunnel we were standing

in, the wal s dripping with musty water and moss

traced the cracks in the dirt floors. Was this The

Underworld? “I think I…” I tried to think of something to

tel him and then I thought, you know what, who cares.

We were here so I might as wel tel him the truth. “I

think we might be in The Underworld.”

He was not happy. And I found out right then and

there that faeries can get very angry very fast.

“You what?” He was struggling to contain himself.

“I think I took us to The Underworld,” I repeated,

feeling like I might need to duck down and take cover.

He opened his mouth and sputtered a bunch of

incoherent words and then kicked the wal of the

tunnel, causing bits and pieces of mud and dirt to

crumble to the floor. He was pissed, and I total y got

that, since he had told me a bunch of times to take us

to a simple places. But then a shriek ricochet through

the air, and al of my attention went to solving where

the noise had come from.

“What’s wrong?” Nicholas fol owed my gaze, even

though he couldn’t see anything. “Is it a Water

Faerie?”

I squinted through the blackness of the tunnel, trying

to see what was at the end of it—something white, but

I couldn’t make out precisely what it was.

“I don’t know…” I moved forward, straining my

vision. “Something…”

“Something what?” Nicholas demanded with

urgency.

“White and wavy and…” Oh no. I’d seen this thing

before, once in a dream, when I had heard my mother

cal out my name. It was the thing that had sent a new

level of fear charging through me. “Ghostly and

boney.”

Nicholas tugged on the back of my shirt and pul ed

me to the side of the tunnel, pressing us up against

the wal . “It’s a Water Faerie,” he hissed.

“Yeah…but it can’t see us,” I pointed out.

He shook his head and whispered, “It’l be able to

sense I’m here.”

I stared at him, shocked. “How?”

“Water Faeries are fey so it’l be able to sense I’m

here because I’m part fey.” His tone singed with

anger. He pushed himself closer against the dirt wal .

“And if it does….” He didn’t finish, taking a

shuddering breath.

I leaned toward him, keeping my voice low. “So

what do you want me to do then?”

“Keep me away from it.” He held out his hand for

me to take. “I can’t see it—you know that—so you’l

have to guide me away from it. Once we get far

enough away from it, take us back to Adessa’s. But

don’t do it while the Water Faeries are close—it’l

more likely be able to sense I’m here, and that’l make

things even worse for me.”

I looked up and down the tunnel, trying to decide

which way to head. The only difference between the

two ends was that one had a Water Faerie floating

toward us and one didn’t.

“Come on.” I grabbed his hand and led him toward

the unoccupied side of the tunnel, moving fast, the air

swel ing damper with each step we took. At one

pointed I shot a quick glance over my shoulder and

saw the Water Faerie a little ways behind us, gliding

through the air, al pale and mirage-like, and close

enough that I could see its eyes were hol owed out

like a skeleton.

We ran faster.

Final y, after what seemed like an eternity, Nicholas

and I were stepping out of the tunnel and out into a

large, open cave. Rays of white light glittered from al

over, hitting the rocky floors and wal s like tiny laser

beams. In the center of the cave stood a throne-

shaped graphite rock, the back of it snaking up to the

domed quartz ceiling.

“Where are we?” Nicholas asked, giving a quick

glance over his shoulder, even though he couldn’t see

anything. “And where’s the Water Faerie? Is it gone?

Can you get us out of here?”

Looking back over my own shoulder, I saw that the

Water Faerie had vanished. “It’s gone.” I turned back

around. “And we’re in some sort of cave with a

throne.”

“It’s the Queen’s quarters.” Panic laced his voice

and he jerked on my arm. “We need to go. Now.”

I didn’t budge. “Just a second…I just need to see

something first.”

Nicholas kept pul ing on my arm, but I refused to

move, digging my feet into the dirt as I waited for

something to happen. I could feel that something

would, I just hoped it was the Queen entering, along

with a future me and future Nicholas as we tried to

strike up a deal to get my mother out of this creepy

place.

“Gemma!” Nicholas hol ered. “We have to get out of

here!”

I looked at him, his expression petrified with fear,

and a realization clicked. “If it’s so bad that a Water

Faerie can sense you’re down here, then how are you

supposed to come down here with me to save my

mom? And…if you want to leave so badly, why don’t

you just take us out of here yourself?”

“Because...” He let out a breath. “Look, I can’t give

you the details, but I can say that there are certain

reasons—rules that won’t al ow me down here…And I

can’t take us out of here, because I can’t—my

Foreseer power is no use down here.”

I gaped at him. “So, if al that’s true then how did

you ever plan on helping me save my mom?” His

silence told me what I needed to know. “You weren’t

ever planning on it, were you?”

More silence and I wanted to smack him.

“I can’t believe this. These last few days have been

nothing but a bunch of lies and games, haven’t they?” I

bal ed up my fist, infuriated. “This whole training thing

was just a charade, wasn’t it?”

He shrugged, being super obnoxious.

“Why would you do that?!” I cried.

He shrugged again, his scared expression now

replaced by a deceitful smile. “To spend time with

you, of course.”

I opened my mouth, ready to scream a few choice

words at him, but then snapped it shut when I saw her

out of the corner of my eye—a woman with long brown

hair and bright blue irises. My mother.

She had entered the cave and walked up to the

throne, where she started to dust it off with a white

cloth, as if she were a cleaning maid. After she had

finished, she stood there for a moment staring at the

throne. Even from where I stood, I could see the

emptiness in her eyes; an emptiness that hadn’t been

there when I had seen her in the previous visions.

Another scream shook at the air, like the one I

heard earlier, and moments later another woman

came into the cave. She was dressed in white; her

eyes were two sunken in holes, and her snow-white

hair trailed down her back like a wedding veil. I knew

she had to be the Queen by how she carried herself;

with utter confidence as if she owned the place. And

also by the way my mom’s eyes lit up with fear when

she saw her.

Unlike the Water Faeries, the Queen didn’t float,

and she looked mostly normal except for that fact that

her skin was nearly translucent and she didn’t have

any eyebal s.

My mom bowed as the Queen walked by her, and

then backed away as if she was terrified out of her

mind.

The Queen sat down on the throne and her voice

echoed out, “Where are they?”

“I think Sarabel a is bringing them in,” my mom

answered with a quivering voice.

The Queen watched the cave entryway with her

eyeless eyes. “Does anyone know why they’re here?”

My mother shook her head. “They haven’t said

anything yet.”

Nicholas tapped me on the shoulder, and

demanded for me to take us away, but I disregarded

him, my eyes fixed on my mother and the Queen of

The Underworld—the Queen known for torturing

people to insanity.

Another scream rang, this time sounding much

closer. But I didn’t move, watching as a tal and thin

figure, with the same snow-white hair and pale skin as

the Queen, strode into the cave, accompanied by no

other than yours truly and…Alex?

What? Why was Alex here with me? And better yet,

how had we even gotten here if Nicholas supposedly

wasn’t able to help me?

Alex remained close to me as we fol owed the

woman across the room and to the throne. I could see

in my expression that I must have been real y

struggling to keep my fear under control.

“Thank you Sarabel a,” The Queen said to the

woman after we al reached the throne.

Sarabel a smiled, revealing that her mouth was

nothing more than a toothless hole. “You’re welcome,”

she breathed, and swept the tail of her white dress

across the floor as she turned around and headed out

of the cave.

The Queen tapped her fingers together the way evil

vil ains do in movies, her bare eyes locked on Alex

and me; her mouth set firmly in a straight line. “So you

two are the humans who dared enter my world without

my permission.” Alex started to speak, but the Queen

held up her hand. “Silence. I do not want to hear your

excuses. Al that is important is there are going to be

consequences for you coming here.” She glanced us

over, like she was contemplating our death in her

head.

“You look familiar,” the Queen remarked to Alex.

“Have you been here before?”

Alex shook his head. “I haven’t.”

“Are you sure?” The Queen’s empty gaze bore into

Alex. “There’s something about you that’s so…

familiar.”

Alex shook his head again. “I swear I’ve never been

here before.”

The Queen continued to stare at Alex. “Tel me then,

what it is that made you enter into my world?”

My mother, who’d been hiding behind the throne,

stepped out and I saw the violet eyes of visions’ self

light up as I realized who she was.

“For her,” Alex told the Queen and gave a nod at my

mother.

My mother looked like a robot, staring at us like she

had no idea who we were.