The Underworld (29 page)

out-for-you’ kind of way. “
I
think you like her. In fact I

think you always have and always wil . Now whether or

not you’l admit it is your problem. Al I care about is

that you lay off her. You can be a real jerk to her—to

everyone real y, but it’s worse for her because she’s

new to feeling things.”

This conversation, for some reason, was making

me feel very uncomfortable. But I didn’t know how to

block it out. Cover my ears? Yeah, then they’d know I

was awake and listening.

“You need to shut up,” Alex said, his anger blaring

in his voice. “I don’t feel that way about her. Never

have, never wil .”

“Yeah, because you don’t care about anything,”

Laylen told him. “You never have. Wel , I take that

back. You use to be normal until Gemma was sent

away, then you basical y just shut off. Maybe you

should just think about why that is? Why would you

change right when she left?”

“Because everyone wil hurt you if you let them in,”

Alex muttered as if he was quoting someone.

“What?” Laylen asked. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing. Just drop it.” Alex turned up the volume of

the music, and the conversation was dropped.

I laid there for awhile with my eyes open, pondering

everything. My feelings. My mom. What Alex had said.

“Everyone wil hurt you if you let them in.” I wondered

if he real y believed it.

I felt very strange, my emotions running al over the

place, almost like the prickle was malfunctioning or

something.

And maybe it was.

Maybe I was broken.

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that

the SUV was stopped. I sat up in the seat, wondering

if we made it to wherever we were heading, or if

something had happened. After blinking away my

sleepy disorientation, I realized we were just at a gas

station, getting gas.

Laylen was outside, pumping gas into the SUV,

and Alex was nowhere in sight.

I stifled a yawn and then stretched, wondering what

time it was. The sun was beating hotly from up in the

sky, and the streets that bordered the gas station

were bouncing with traffic. There was an old white and

green Victorian house across the road that had a sign

that said Isabel a’s Herb Shop. I wondered if it was

the same kind of herb store as Adessa’s

Someone knocked on the window, causing me to

jump. Laylen smiled at me through the glass and

motioned to me to open the door.

“Wel , good morning sleeping beauty,” he said,

after I open the door and climbed out into the sunlight.

“Sleep wel ?”

“Surprisingly, yes.” I stretched out my legs and

arms. “How long was I out?”

“For about eight hours.”

“Eight hours?” How the heck had I slept for eight

hours with everything that was going on.

“Yeah, you were real y out, too.” He flashed me a

grin. “Snoring and al .”

“I don’t snore,” I protested. At least I think I don’t.

He gave me another teasing smile, before sliding

the debit card into the machine.

“Wow, you seem like you’re in a good mood,” I

remarked with a curious tone.

He shrugged, glancing over at a tal woman with

long black hair walking across the parking lot. “As

good a mood as any, I guess.”

He was acting a little…off. “Are you feeling okay?”

He shrugged again, rubbing his lips together, and

then looked at me. “I’m fine.”

I stared at him, picking up on something. I couldn’t

explain it, but after the whole first-time-biting thing, I

had to worry a little. But before I could press him

further, Alex strol ed up, carrying a plastic bag.

“If you need to go inside for anything, then you’d

better do it,” Alex told me, tossing a bag of food and

drinks onto to the front seat of the SUV.

Seeing him made what he said last night replay in

my head, along with the hurt feelings I felt. “Okay.” I

headed inside.

“Make it quick,” Alex cal ed after me. “We don’t

want to be stopped for too long.”

I nodded, shocked he was even letting me go in by

myself.

***

my senses go on high alert, especial y because I

stood out like a sore thumb. My clothes were filthy, I

had no shoes on, and my hair was a tangled mess—

wel , at least more of a tangled mess than it usual y is

—so people couldn’t help but gawk at me as I walked

by them. I made my way down the candy aisle, past

the drink cooler, and stepped into the restroom. I

splashed my face with cold water and washed my

hands. Wherever we were, the air felt humid and hot,

making my skin feel gross.

I glanced up in the mirror and let out a groan at my

reflection. My violet eyes. The one thing that was

always going to make me stand out—deem me

different. I was painful y realizing that no matter how

much I wanted a normal life, it just might be

impossible, and maybe I needed to start accepting

that I was a star carrying, vision seeing, violet-eyed

Gemma.

And that my life might not be long lived.

After my light vision, and my light dream, I had to

wonder. They both might have been showing me a

part of my future. The thought was scary, but I had to

hold onto the fact that not everything I saw or dreamt

had played out exactly as I had seen it. Things

changed.

For the moment, I real y needed to focus on figuring

out how to get a hold of the Ira so I could go into The

Underworld and save my mom. The problem was I

couldn’t just walk into a store and purchase an Ira. The

only person that I knew of who had one was Nicholas,

and now that he might be working with Stephan,

getting one from him seemed more impossible than it

did before.

“Stupid faerie.” I kicked the wal , frustrated. Of

course, kicking a tile wal while wearing no shoes was

not the grandest idea, and I ended stubbing my toes.

“
Ow
.”

One of the bathroom stal doors opened up and an

old lady, wearing a long green dress and tan shoes,

and looking real y alarmed, scurried out of the

bathroom.

“Whoops,” I mumbled to myself. I guess it was time

to go back anyway. Standing in a bathroom wasn’t

doing me any good. And I was supposed to be

hurrying.

I headed for the door, hearing one of the stal doors

squeak open. Instinctively, I glanced behind me, and

then stopped when I didn’t see anyone. The door was

swinging, and I wondered if I scared someone else

enough that they were afraid to come out.

I sighed. It was definitely time to leave. I turned

around, and then stumbled backward because

standing right in front of me was a very obnoxious

faerie with golden eyes and sandy hair.

“Wel , I have to say that this is not where I pictured

us meeting up again,” Nicholas said, glancing around

the Women’s Restroom. “Although it’l do, I guess.”

I backed away from him, knowing ful wel that I was

cornered. “Stay the heck away from me.”

He moved for me, a sneaky smirk spreading

across his face. “You seem afraid of me Gemma.”

My back hit the tiled wal . “I know why you’re here. I

know you’re working with Stephan.”

“You do, do you?”

“You were at the City of Crystal with the Death

Walkers,” I said heatedly. “And I heard you talking to

them…how can you talk to them?”

“I can’t,” he said and I shook my head. Let the

running around in circles begin.

“Yes you can,” I snapped. “I heard. And I heard you

talking about capturing me for Stephan. Why would

you do that? Don’t you know what he wants to do with

me?”

I was hoping he would say that he did, and then we

would have one of those moments where the vil ain

unleashes al his evil plans.

“Why would you think I was helping Stephan? I can’t

stand him as much as I can’t stand his son.” He

moved in front of me, leaning in close. “And honestly,

if I captured you, I’d rather keep you for myself.

There’s so much…” He sniffed me. Yes, actual y

sniffed me, like he was smel ing a flower or

something. “Power flowing off you.”

My mouth dropped. He could feel the electricity.

“Your Foreseer gift…it’s absolutely breathtaking,”

he said, moving back a little.

Oh, he was talking about
that
power.

“That’s great,” I said, looking for a way out of here. I

could try to dodge around him, but I didn’t see myself

making it that far. The only thing I could think of to do

was use my “breathtaking” Foreseer ability to move

myself from the bathroom to the SUV. But could I do it

quickly enough?

Al I could do was try.

“Tel me Gemma.” Nicholas was so close to me that

the flowery, rain smel that was always radiating off

him was strong enough to make me almost pass out.

“Why are you so afraid of me?”

“Besides the fact that you’re working with the man

who wants to hurt me?” I asked, trying to picture in my

head the massive black Chevy Tahoe parked outside

next to the gas pumps.

“You’ve never liked me from the first time you met

me,” he remarked, in a playful way, like this was al a

game to him, which it probably was.

I shrugged, stil focusing on the SUV.
Come on.

Come on. Come on.
“I don’t know…I guess you just

rubbed me the wrong way.”

He said something else. But I didn’t hear him. I was

going…fading…almost there. Then I was being

shoved up against the hard tiled wal of the bathroom.

The muscles on my back burned in protest, and I let

out a whimper.

“Don’t even think about it,” Nicholas snapped

angrily. “You’re coming with me.” Then he hit me over

the head with something.

My ears rang, and my eyes shifted out of focus. I

saw spots. Then I was fal ing toward the floor.

The next thing I was aware of was that I had a

kil er headache. My head was throbbing so badly I

swear my skul had to be cracked. I also noticed my

wrists were restrained by something cold and metal.

My eyelids whipped open. I was in an unfamiliar

room, and wrapped around each of my wrists was a

metal cuff, connected to a chain that extended to

hooks secured into a dark green wal behind me.

Crap.

This was bad.

This was very, very bad.

The first thing I did was try to Foresee my way out of

this place. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the

gas station, but I wasn’t feeling it. I wasn’t feeling

anything, except worry and fear, and that fact that I

was in some serious trouble.

What had that crazy faerie boy done to me? Why

couldn’t I use my Foreseer power? I tried again,

concentrating harder, wil ing myself away from this

place.

“There’s no use trying.” The taunting voice

belonged to Nicholas.

I opened my eyes again and found him standing

right in front of me. I scooted back to the wal ,

dragging the chains with me, the metal clinking

against the hardwood floor.

“Where am I?” I asked, aiming to keep my voice

steady, but failing miserably.

“My house.” He gestured around the room, which

was basical y bare except for a table that lined the far

wal and a wooden stool perched in the corner.

“Why did you bring me here?” I asked, yanking at

the chains.

“Why not?” He asked with a smile that could only be

described as dangerous.

This was
not
good. There were so many things

about being here alone with him that could be bad.

Not only because he could be handing me over to

Stephan, but also because he was in control.

He squatted down on the floor so that he was eye

level with me. “Tug at those chains al you want; you’re

not going to get away.”

I jerked my arms again, wanting desperately to

prove him wrong. But the chains were secured tightly,

and yanking them was making the metal cuffs cut into

my wrists.

He laughed at me, and I slid my leg out from

underneath me and gave a try at kicking him. He

hopped back, a flicker of fury flashing across his face,

but he quickly col ected himself and smiled again.

“You’re so feisty,” he said, his golden eyes glinting