“Gemma.” The sound of Laylen’s angry voice snapped my attention away from the window and back to him.
“But what are you going to do?” I asked.
He gave me a duh look, and I understood. He was going to stay up here and fight while I hid like a coward. My gut twisted with guilt just like it had back at the Black Dungeon when Alex and I had run away and left Aislin and Laylen behind.
I started to argue. “But I—”
He cut me off. “Look, I know it’s hard—always being the one who has to hide. But that’s just the way it has to be. You can’t change who you are no matter how much you want to. Trust me.”
“This isn’t right.” I told him.
Ignoring what I said, he held out the key for me to take. “This key also locks the door from the inside. Make sure you lock it when you get in.”
Frowning, I snatched the key from him, stomped over to the trapdoor, and sat down on the floor with my legs dangling in the hole. “I still don’t think this is right,” I said as I lowered myself down into the hole.
It was dark inside, and the ceiling brushed the top of my head. If I’d been a sufferer of claustrophobia, I’d have been in trouble.
Thankfully, I wasn’t.
I looked up at Laylen and he reached down. In his hand was a golden handled, silver bladed knife.
“If something does happen,” he said, “take this and aim it straight for their heart. It might weaken them enough to give you a chance to run away.”
I reluctantly took the knife, the handle feeling cold against my skin. “And where exactly I’m I supposed to run?”
“To the car. The key’s in the ignition. Try to find your way back to Adessa’s. She’ll be able to help you, at least until someone gets there.”
Yeah, fat chance that was ever going to happen, seeing is how it was dark when we’d driven out to Vegas, and I had a really bad sense of direction.
A loud thud. It sounded close—maybe even inside the house.
“Don’t come out until you know it’s safe,” he whispered, before dropping the door shut.
Darkness suffocated me. I reached up and fumbled around until I found the lock. It took me a minute to get the key in it, but I managed. Above me, I could hear a lot of banging. The cold had crystallized the air and was biting against my skin. I shivered and chattered and every one of my senses felt hyperaware. I couldn’t see the outcome of this situation ending well—Laylen up there alone, trying to fight who knows how many Death Walkers without the Sword of Immortality, while I hid down here, freezing to death. Even if the Death Walkers didn’t kill me, the cold probably would.
Okay, so I don’t know if you’ve ever hidden in a trapdoor before, but let me just say, for those of you who haven’t, considered yourself lucky. With absolutely no light, and no way to see above me, I had no clue as to what the heck was going on. There was a lot of thumping and scrapping, and all I could do was stay hidden, crossing my fingers, hoping that by some miracle Laylen would suddenly throw open the door and tell me it was okay to come up.
Of course that never happened, though.
The noises did start to dwindle down, which made me start to consider going back up. I mean, what other option did I have? I couldn’t just hide down here forever. Laylen had said to wait until it was safe. Quiet had to mean safe, right? Yeah, that might have been a little bit of a stretch, but I was going with it.
I took a trembling breath, trying to calm my nerves. My hand quivered as I felt around and found the lock, the metal frosting my fingertips. So not a good sign. I slid the key in and unlocked the door. Okay, you can do this. I let out a breath and pushed on the door. It didn’t budge. I tried again. Nothing. Something was on top of it. That something I hoped was the rug. I put the knife into the back pocket of my skirt, and using both my hands, I shoved as hard as I could against the door, grunting and cursing, until the thing finally flew open, hitting the floor with a loud thud, which was so not a good start. My gut twisted, and I could feel the eggs I’d eaten earlier on the verge of forcing their way back up. I waited a second, listening for any warning sounds, but everything had grown eerily still. A good sign or bad one, I wasn’t sure. But there was only one way to find out. With shaky arms, I heaved myself out of the hole and scrambled to my feet. I did a quick scan of the room. The window was shattered, the bright sunlight seeping inside. Books were strewn about the floor, but Laylen had done that early. The most terrifying thing was the icicles hanging from the ceiling, long and pointy and sharp.
The Death Walkers had to be close.
I needed to come up with a plan. And quick. I knew what I was supposed to do—run out to the car and go to Adessa’s—but the thought of leaving Laylen behind was gnawing at my insides. So instead, I did something really stupid. I started for the door to go find Laylen.
I took the knife out of my back pocket and cracked opened the door. Peeking out into the hall, I could see my breath rising in a cloud in front of me.
Another bad sign.
I inched the door open and glanced up and down the hallway. The coast looked clear. I opened up the door the rest of the way and stepped out.
The floor was glazed with ice, giving it an ice-skating rink effect. Now as you all know, I am not Miss Coordinated by any means, so I had to brace my hand against the wall as I slowly crept down the hallway toward the back of the house, my feet slipping with every step. I made it about halfway when it occurred to me just how dumb of an idea this was. Why, you ask, was it a dumb idea? Well, because a Death Walker had suddenly appeared at the end of the hallway, and at the pace I was moving, it was going to take a heck of a lot of time for me to make it anywhere.
I spun around as quickly as my legs would allow me to. I lost my balance for a split second and almost ended up face planting it. Almost though, but not quite. Keeping my hand pressed to the wall, I glided across the icy floor, making my way back down the hall.
The front door wasn’t that far off, but when I turned to check on the Death Walker, it was darting effortlessly toward me, and I knew there was a slim to none chance I was going make it to the front door. Panicking, I made a hasty decision to go back inside the room I’d just come out of. I slammed the door behind me and locked it, knowing full well that locking it wasn’t going to do much to stop the monstrous beast. All I could hope for was that it would slow it down enough for me to make it out the window and to the garage.
But I only made it halfway across the room when the door came crashing in. I took off, running as fast as I could. I made it to the window and started to climb out, but then I heard a crackling sound float up from underneath me. I knew what that sound belonged to. Ice. And it was crawling up from beneath me and webbing its way to window. I had to jump back or else I’d have been frozen over with ice myself.
Seconds later, the window was completely sealed off by a thick wall of ice. I tried chipping away at the ice with my knife, but it was useless. The wall was way too thick. I was trapped.
A cold chill shot up my spine, and I slowly turned around. The Death Walker towered ominously in front of me. My breathing faltered out as I stared my death in the eyes—its yellow, soulless eyes that held the passion to kill.
My death was coming.
No. I couldn’t give up. Not with the fate of the world resting in my hands. Or inside me I should say. I had to save myself in order to save the world.
I could feel the cold handle of the knife pressing into the palm of my hand, and without a glitch of hesitation, I swung it forward, aiming the blade straight at the Death Walker’s heart, just like Laylen had told me to do. Now I’m not going to lie and say that I wasn’t the least bit surprised when the knife actually dove into the monsters chest.
The Death Walker let out an ear clawing shriek, and its eyes fired up beneath its black cloak before burning out into to black holes
I’d done it. I’d freaking done the impossible. I’d been able to take one of them down.
Or at least that’s wha
t I thought.
Moments later, I learned a very important lesson. Never assume anything because, in the snap of a finger, the Death Walker lunged at me, huffing out a fog of frost-bitten air that hit me directly in the chest. Every ounce of my oxygen was sucked out of me. Struggling to breathe, I collapsed to the floor, my body paralyzed with cold and fear. Lightheaded and unable to move, I waited for it to attack again, this time finishing me off.
The monster staggered toward me, swaying like a drunken man as it tipped backwards, then forwards, before finally losing its balance altogether and toppling to the ground, landing only inches away from me.
I let out a wheeze. Was it dead? Had I killed it? No, don’t assume anything. Laylen said that stabbing a Death Walker would only slow it down. I needed to get my butt off the floor and make a run for the car while I still could. Problem was my legs and arms weren’t having any part of it. They wouldn’t budge. What on earth had the thing breathed on me? Was that what was causing me to be paralyzed? Or was I just freezing to death from the cold?
I needed help.
I opened my mouth to scream but only a croak escaped. I tried to get to my feet again, but it was useless. Every ounce of my strength had slipped away. I was so sleepy.
My eyelids drifted shut.
“This was not part of the plan,” a man’s voice snarled. “We were supposed to keep her secluded from humanity. That was the deal.”
What the…My eyes shot open. I was no longer at Laylen’s but curled up in a ball behind a chair in an unfamiliar, dark room. The walls were carved of stone, and underneath where I lay was a Persian rug. Fear skyrocketed through me. I’d been sucked away again, just like I had during the telescope incident. And like the telescope incident, I hadn’t touched a Foreseer’s ball, which had me wondering if I might possess the ability to conjure up visions without one.
I slowly sat up and strained my ears to listen to the voices on the other side of the chair.
“I understand what the plan is, Demetrius.” It was a different man’s voice from the first one I’d heard, deep and low. It was a voice that I could almost recognize. “But you need to understand that there are obstacles I have to work around. Some of the other Keepers are becoming suspicious of me.”
Huh? Demetrius? Keepers? From what Alex had told me, these two were like complete enemies with one another. Demetrius was the one who wanted me dead, and the one who controlled the Death Walkers. So why was someone who was a Keeper talking to him?
“Yes, the Keeper’s,” The first man, who I now knew had to be Demetrius, replied. “So what is it you’ve done to make them suspicious of you, my good friend?”
“Well, it seems that the girl’s mother has disappeared,” the other man, which I assumed was a Keeper, said. “And there’s been some speculation that I might have had something to do with her disappearance.”
“Has there,” Demetrius replied thoughtfully. “Well, isn’t that interesting.”
“Very,” the Keeper replied with laughter in his voice.
Something dawned on me, and every part of my body tightened. Could they…Could they be talking about my mother and me?
No. There was no way. Was there?
If they were talking about her, I had to know. I had to know what this Keeper looked like.
In all the other vision-like things I’d been sucked into, no one had been able to see me. I was hoping it was the same here.
Very carefully, I peeked around the side of the chair.
Standing in front of a fireplace were two men. One significantly taller than the other one, with dark hair that brushed his shoulder tops. He had on a long, black cloak that looked a lot like the ones the Death Walkers wore. The other man—the shorter one—was dressed head to toe in black, and his black hair was slicked backed. The fire casted an orange glow on to their faces, which, of course, were blurred over by a sheet of haze.
I should have known.
“I need you to be patient, Demetrius,” said the shorter man—the Keeper whose name I didn’t know. “I’ll make sure the girl stay’s safe until the time is right.”
“You better.” The man wearing the cloak—Demetrius—warned. “Otherwise you’re out.”
“Watch who you’re threatening.” Mr. No Name Keeper replied, pointing his finger sharply at Demetrius. “You’re walking a very thin line right now.”
A sudden snap of light blazed across the Keeper man’s face. The haze covering his face momentarily flickered away before returning to a blur again. But the flicker lasted just long enough for me to see a faint white scar scuffing his cheek. I gasped. It was the man from my nightmares. The one who always stepped out of the shadows of the forest right after the Death Walker captured me.
“Did you hear that?” The man with the scar asked.
Demetrius shook his head. “Hear what?”
Scar man held up his hand, and his head turned in my direction
I threw my trembling hand over my mouth and sank back behind the chair. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to be able to see me.
Heavy footsteps treaded toward where I hid. My body shook with fear. If he caught me, I knew he’d kill me, just like he did in my nightmares.
“I could have sworn…” his voice drifted over the back of the chair.
I shut my eyes. Please wake up. Please wake up. Please….
“Gemma, wake up.”
Electricity sparkled across my skin, which meant…I cracked open my eyes. I was back at Laylen’s, and yes, Alex was there, standing over me, looking utterly terrified. But why? Why was he looking at me like that?
”What the heck happened?” His voice cracked.
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out but a wheeze. What was wrong with me? Was my voice broken? Then it all came rushing back to me. The Death Walker. It’s breath hitting me in the chest. Being paralyzed.
Panicking, I tried to will my cold limbs to move.
They didn’t.
“Stay still,” Alex told me and turned to…Aislin—I hadn’t even notice she was there until now. “Go see if you can find Laylen.”
Her bright green eyes were wide. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure,” Alex said, glancing down at me. “Her skin’s already gone blue.”
Blue! I struggled to lift my hand up so I could check out the damage, but then remembered I couldn’t move.
Aislin had a purple duffel bag draped over her shoulder, and she let it fall to the floor. “Alex, are you going to be able to stop it from…because you know if you can’t then—”
“Just go!” he yelled.
She flinched, spun around, and dashed out the door.
Alex immediately went into Save Gemma Mode. He slipped off his jacket and knelt down on the floor beside me. “Okay,” he mumbled to himself as he assessed me over. He wrapped his arms around me and helped me sit up, every bone in my body feeling as though it was going to snap like a twig. Then he leaned me into him.
Right away, the electricity started working its magic, thawing my frozen body and lifting the cold away. I could breathe again and even wiggle my fingertips a little.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered.
Well, this was a nice change. Put me on the verge of dying and he was all for being nice to me. And as strange as it was, I actually felt content. All of my problems, big or small, seemed irrelevant at the moment.
Moments later, my breathing had returned to normal. And I was shivering, which was a good sign because that meant I was no longer paralyzed.
He rubbed his hand up and down my back. “Well, at least you’re moving again.”
“Yeah, at least there’s that.” I croaked.
He laughed, his breath ticking at my neck.
I was starting to feel better now, but I made no effort to try and move away from him. I sat there and let him rub my back and whisper that it was all going to be okay because…Well, because it felt nice. And no, I hadn’t forgotten about
all the lies and unsolved mysteries that seemed to center around Alex. It was just that his arms being around me felt so comforting, and hey, I was only human…or at least partly human...I think.
“Gemma.” Alex murmured.
“What.” My voice sounded strangely euphoric.
“Did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Stab that thing.”
I raised my head away from his shoulder and followed his gaze to the Death Walker sprawled on the floor, a knife sticking out of its chest. “Yeah, I did. Laylen told me if I ran into one of them to stab it in the chest and run. But it breathed this cloud thingy on me, and I couldn’t move my body anymore.”
“That cloud thingy is called the Chill of Death,” he said then muttered, “I can’t believe you actually stabbed one of them.”
Chill of Death. Well, that sounded lovely. “I think I took it off-guard or something.”
“Still, it’s not—”
Aislin walked into the room. When she caught sight of us, she hit a dead halt and pressed her hand over her heart. “Oh my gosh. I’m so glad you’re alright. I thought—”
“Aislin,” Alex warned.
I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to stop her from breaking the bad news to me that I’d almost died. But I’d figured that out the moment the Chill of Death had hit me.
“Where’s Laylen.” Alex let go of me and rose to his feet.
I tried not to act too disappointed about him letting me go as I struggled to get to my feet. My legs wobbled and the room spun and I almost fell right back down. Fortunately, I was getting really good with being dizzy and worked my way through the spinning without falling on my butt.
“He was just behind me,” Aislin said at the very same moment Laylen ran into the room.
He slammed the door behind him, the icicles on the ceiling rattling in protest. He went to lock the door, but the Death Walker—the one I’d stabbed—had broken the lock when it had come crashing into the room. “Son of a—” He smashed his fist against the door. “We need to get out of here! Now!” He hastily shoved one of the bookshelves against the door. May I add here, that it was a very heavy bookshelf, at which he was able to pick up very easily. So he was strong.
The Fallen Star (Fallen Star Series) Page 23
