Authors: Jessica Sorensen
having to track them al down. “
I glanced at Aislin, who was a witch and a Keeper,
and Laylen who was a vampire and a Keeper. There
was one piece missing here—a half-faerie, half-
Keeper. So who was the missing link?
My mother stared out at the ocean. “The final step
was to seal the portal with the energy of a fal en star.”
“So there was another fal en star once that two
Keepers had to carry around in them?” I asked,
glancing over at Alex. He met my eyes and the
electricity ignited. “There were two people just like
Alex and me?”
My mother tore her eyes off the ocean and shook
her head. “No. The stars energy you and Alex carry is
the same stars energy the Keepers used those
hundreds of years ago. After they sealed the portal,
they hid it away because no one knew how to destroy
it. The star was also never put in any Keepers. That’s
one of the things that I’ve never been able to figure
out. I don’t understand why Stephan split the star and
put it’s energy in you two.” She let out a heavy sigh.
“But I do know that in order for Stephan to be able to
open the portal, he needs his vampire, his witch, and
his faerie that also have Keeper’s blood in them, so
he created them. Then, he got his hands on the star,
and for some reason he put it in you and Alex.”
I felt like I had been hit by a truck. “So if he opens
the portal, then, what happens? Malefiscus is freed.”
My mother nodded. “He’l be able to enter our world
again. Every Death Walker wil come out of hiding
and even more wil come out of the portal. He controls
them because of his mark and because of his blood,
which is the same reason why Stephan has control
over them.” She paused. “Anyone who has the Mark
of Malefiscus can communicate with the Death
Walkers.”
I thought of when Nicholas had been talking to them
in the forest, and how it had sounded like a one-sided
conversation. But it had been because he was talking
to a Death Walker, and since Alex and I didn’t have
the Mark of Malefiscus we couldn’t hear anything the
Death Walker was saying.
“And along with the Death Walkers, every witch,
faerie, and vampire who are the descendents of those
who fol owed Malefiscus, during his first reign of
terror, wil be under his control if he gets out of the
portal,” my mom added in a heavy tone. “So what you
saw in the vision, Gemma, was probably the end of
what’s going to happen to the world. What you saw is
probably what came after the massacre.”
“Massacre,” I said aloud and then we al just sat
there. This was so much worse than what we original y
thought. Yes, the world would end in ice, but people
would be slaughtered first, and by witches, vampires,
and faeries.
“But I don’t get it?” I said loudly, startling everyone.
“How does Stephan know how to do al of this? And
why on December 21, 2012?”
“Because that’s when he was told it would be
possible to open the portal—a Foreseer told him. The
same Foreseer who told him he needed to create al
of you.”
“Is my father the Foreseer?” I asked, shocking both
her and everyone else.
My mother jumped up from her chair. “No, it’s not
your father!” she screamed and I hovered back in my
chair.
She stood there for a moment, her bright blue eyes
wild with rage. Then she composed herself and sunk
back down in the chair. “I’m so sorry Gemma.”
“It—it’s okay.” I said, sucking back the tears
threatening to leak out of my eyes.
She shook her head. “No it’s not.”
Aislin slowly stood up from her chair, her golden
blonde hair blowing in the wind. “I think I need to go lie
down. This is a lot to take in.”
My mother nodded, and Aislin scurried out. Laylen
hopped off the railing and fol owed after her.
My mother glanced between Alex and I. “And you
two. I have no idea why he needed to separate the
star. Or why he detached Gemma’s soul and raised
you to be emotional y shut off. It’s the one thing we
real y need to find out because I have a feeling it
might be the key to stopping it al .”
“But why did he create Aislin and Laylen?” I asked.
“I mean, I understand why he needs them, but why did
he create them? Why not just find a vampire and witch
who are also Keepers?”
“Because their kind are not easy to find,” my mother
answered. “And I think it was also so he could keep
an eye on them and make sure everything turned out
the way that he wanted.”
Suddenly, the electricity started to surge even more
than it had, almost to the point that it was suffocating
me.
“Alex, are you…okay?” I asked.
He looked at me; there was a fire in his bright
green eyes. Then he stood to his feet, threw the chair
over the deck, and stormed inside. I almost fol owed,
but then thought better of it.
I turned my attention back to my mother. “So, that’s
it, then? Stephan wil open up the portal and the world
wil end, just like I saw it?”
My mom leaned toward me and placed her hand on
top of mine. “There are always loopholes, Gemma.
You just have to find them.”
I took her words in. There were always loopholes;
you just have to find them. But what if we couldn’t find
them?
Then what?
After my mom had dropped the bombshel on us,
everyone scattered around the house. Aislin and
Laylen were in their rooms and Alex had gone
outside. My mom said she needed to lie down and
rest—she was stil recovering from being in The
Underworld for so long—but had made a request first.
She asked me to go check on Alex.
Yeah, I’m not sure she understood how terrible of
an idea that was, and I tried to explain to her that he
and I tended to argue a lot and with as upset as he
was, I would probably just make him mad. But my
mom was very insistent that I do so.
So I did, but with zero confidence that I would be
able to make him feel better.
I found Alex sitting out on the front steps, the sun
shining down on his messy brown hair. He didn’t look
up at me when I walked out, but I knew that he knew I
was there, thanks to the electricity. The electric
connection felt so different now that I knew why it was
there. In fact, it was kind of like a painful reminder of
what Stephan had done to us, and what he was
planning to do to the world.
The salty air kissed my skin as I sat down on the
cement steps beside Alex. I told myself that I could do
this—I could make him feel a little better. I had done it
for Laylen after al , when he bit the woman. But, with
Alex, it was different.
“How are you?” I asked him, which seemed like a
real y stupid question once it left my mouth. How are
you? I shook my head at myself.
Alex looked at me with the same look I would have
given myself if that were possible.
I kicked a rock with my toes. “Sorry, dumb
question.”
He took a few deep breathes and the expression
on his face softened. “No, it’s not a dumb question…I
just…I don’t know how I am.” He ran his fingers
through his hair so hard he yanked at the roots. “I feel
like I don’t know anything anymore. I mean, my whole
life has been a lie.”
I nodded, understanding how he felt completely.
“Gemma,” his voice held such uncertainty. He
watched me with his bright green eyes, which were
fil ed with the same uncertainty his voice held. “I’m
sorry…for everything.”
How was I supposed to respond to this because it
no longer seemed like I should be putting the blame
on Alex for what had happened to me?
“It’s okay,” I told him. “It’s real y not your fault.”
“It is, though,” he said, his voice cracking a little. “I
didn’t have to do what my father told me to do. I had a
choice…unlike you.”
“It’s okay,” I told him again, leaning back on my
hands. “But, can I ask you something?”
He hesitated, before nodding.
“Why did you come to my house that day? The day
my emotions were released? Was it because of the
star? Or was it something else?”
He sat there for what seemed like an eternity, just
looking at me, and I could almost see the internal
struggle he was having with whether or not he should
tel me the truth. I now knew that this was because he
had been taught to be this way, and I figured it was
going to be a hard habit for him to break. So he
startled me when he reached behind me and took my
hand in his.
“You remember how Nicholas told you about the
Blood Promise the fey made to Malefiscus, right?” He
asked, tracing his fingers across the top of my hand.
I tried not to shiver. “Yeah…I remember.”
He turned my hand over, and moved his finger
across the tiny scar on the palm of my hand. And, as
crazy as this is going to sound, I swear the faint scar
was becoming more noticeable as he touched it.
“And you remember the vision you saw when you and
me were kids, and I cut both of our hands.”
Forem
. “Yeah…but what does that have to do...” It
clicked. “Did we make a Blood Promise?”
He nodded. “We did.”
Forem
. “What kind of promise?”
“The forever kind.”
“The forever kind?” I asked. “What does that
mean?”
He cocked and eyebrow at me. “You remember the
word we said when we pressed our hands together,
right?”
I nodded. “
Forem
. But what does it mean?”
Forever,” he said, his breath shaky. “It means we’re
bonded together forever.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I felt strange and slightly
lightheaded and a little bit breathless. I mean, he just
told me that when we were little, we made an
unbreakable promise to be together.
Forever.
It took a minute, but I final y found my voice again. “It
seems like a real y weird promise for two kids to
make,” I told him, lightly tracing my finger across the
scar on the palm of my hand.
He pressed his lips together, holding back a smile.
“That’s al you have to say after I just told you that we
made an unbreakable promise to be together
forever.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know…It just seems real y
strange to me.”
He closed his hand and then stretched it open
again. “Wel , we were strange kids.” He paused, a
smal amount of bitterness creeping into his
expression. “And now I know why.”
I chewed on my bottom lip thinking about my
childhood, and how, thanks to Stephan and Sophia’s
lovely gift of being able to detach souls from their
emotions, I could barely remember anything about it.
“Did we ever feel it?” I asked.
He gave me a funny look. “Did we ever feel what?”
“The electricity—when we were little did we ever
feel it?”
“I’m not sure…” He stared off at the quiet street in
front of us, the sun shining brightly in his eyes. “I don’t
real y think that we felt what we do now, but there was
always a connection there.”
I remembered the first time I ever laid eyes on him,
and how my gaze had found him al on its own. There
was definitely a connection—one deeper than even
the electricity went.
Alex looked at me and he had such intensity in his
bright green eyes that it made me squirm around
uncomfortably. A strange feeling passed through me
then, and I waited for the prickle to show up and tel
me what I was feeling, because whatever was going
on right now had to be something new. But the prickle
never came and as I continued to grow more
uncomfortable, I changed the subject.
“So, do you think we’l be able to fix everything?” I
asked, struggling to keep my voice even. “Do you
think we’l be able to stop the world from ending—
stop what I saw in my vision from actual y happening?
My mom said there are always loop holes? But what
loop holes would there be? I mean it doesn’t make
any… ” I trailed off because of the astonished look
Alex was giving me.
“I think you might want to at least take a breath
between your questions,” he said.
I gave him an oh-shut-up look. “But there are too
many unanswered ones. I mean, how can you be so…
calm about everything you just heard?”