I was starting to figure out that guys were kind of weird.
But anyway…
Their bonding moment quickly came and passed, and a few minutes later, we were driving down the dirt road with nothing more than the roar of the tires to fill the silence.
Laylen’s house was located in the middle of nowhere, so it took awhile just to get to the freeway. I was sitting in the back seat, watching the stars streak across the sky in shades of violet and silver. Alex had insisted that no one else could sit beside me but him, muttering something about it being safer that way in case the Death Walkers tried to ambush us or something. But being in the back seat of a two-door vehicle during an ambush—I could see no advantage to the seating arrangement whatsoever.
To make things even more complicated, being confined in the car was causing the electricity to crackle like a wildfire. My skin was getting hot and sweaty, and I felt like I was burning up with a fever. Fortunately, I discovered that, even in the desert, the air cooled during the night and chilled the windows.
I had my cheek resting against the glass, on the verge of falling asleep, when Alex asked, “What are you doing?”
“Trying to sleep,” I mumbled crankily.
“You look like you’re burning up,” he remarked.
I heard him shift in the seat, and the next thing I knew he’d pressed the palm of his hand to my forehead. It sent a shot of heat through my already burning up body, causing me to jump. Great. It was so freaking hot—the last thing I needed was for him to touch me.
I turned my head to look at him. He’d narrowed the distance between us so drastically that, even through the darkness, I could see his eyes assessing me over.
“What are you doing?” I asked, raising my face away from the window.
“Checking if you have a fever.”
“I don’t have a fever,” I argued, sliding my forehead out from under his hand.
But his hand followed me. He dragged it gently along my temple, letting it come to rest on my cheek. “You’re skin feels really warm.”
“That’s because I am warm,” I said, my voice sharp. “And you touching me just makes it worse.” I tilted my face and his hand fell to his lap. “You’re too hot.” As soon as I said it, I immediately wanted to slap myself on the forehead. You’re too hot. What it wrong with you Gemma? “I-I didn’t mean it like that,” I stammered. And I really didn’t. I swear.
It didn’t matter, though. It was too late. The damage had already been done. The corners of his mouth tugged upward into a beautiful, yet smug, smile. “I’m too hot, huh?”
“Oh, shut up.” Through the darkness, I fixed him with my angriest glare. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Do I?” His eyebrow teased upward.
I shook my head, frustrated. The last thing I needed was for him to think I had some kind of crush on him. Because I didn’t. I swear. Well, fine. Whatever. But he didn’t need to know that. “What I meant to say was your skin feels too hot.”
“Okay, whatever you say.”
I heaved an angry breath. “You are such a—” I snapped my jaw shut as the city suddenly blistered over the horizon.
The sight was breathtaking. Flashy neon lights of every shape and color dazzled so vibrantly against the blackness of the night that I wondered if staring at it for a long length of time would make me go blind. Giant billboards lit up the sides of the road, and uniquely shaped buildings stretched godly toward the sky. As we emerged closer to the city, the sidewalks became packed with mobs of people, the air buzzing with excitement. Now I understood why its nickname had been deemed The City that Never Sleeps. Everything was so alive and awake.
Awestruck by the sight, I pinched my arm to make sure I wasn’t dreaming and winced from the sting I undeniably felt.
Alex must have seen me do it, because he leaned over and whispered, “You’re not dreaming. It’s real.”
I rubbed the pinched spot on my arm. “I was just making sure.”
He smiled. Clearly, I was entertaining him.
We drove by a massive glass pyramid, a giant pirate ship, and a small replica of the Eiffel tower, finally hitting the heart of the city. Laylen made an unexpected veer to the right, and the atmosphere abruptly shifted. The lights faded away, and the crowds of people thinned out. The buildings shrank from the sky, looking worn out and less exciting. I caught Aislin reaching over and locking her door. The place was definitely sketchy.
I chewed nervously on my bottom lip and scooted away from the window to distance myself as much as I could from the outside.
“You do realize it’s almost one o’clock,” Aislin informed Laylen. Back at the house, while I’d been in the bathroom changing my clothes, she’d changed as well, now wearing a frilly skirt and a lacy trimmed camisole. On her shoulder blade was a tattoo of a crescent moon outlined by a black star. “Is this place even going to be open so late?”
Laylen flipped the signal light on. “Yeah, it’ll be open. It’s only open at night.”
What kind of place was only open at night? Probably one as creepy as the street we were on.
Laylen made another turn, this time to the left, and any sign of life died instantaneously. Not a single person was in sight. The buildings looked dead, broken, and old, most of the windows boarded up. And as Laylen slowed the GTO to a crawl, all I could think was, yes, of course this is the street we’re stopping on. We couldn’t have just stopped back in the land of the living, where the lights shined bright, and it didn’t feel like as soon as I stepped out of the car someone was going to jump out and stab me with a knife.
Or jump out and freeze me to death.
I choked on the last thought.
Laylen parked the car in front of a gloomy building with dingy windows and the words Angels Fortress of Tattoos and Piercing painted sloppily across the window. No lights were on inside it or in any of the nearby buildings. The only proof of human existence was when a person wearing a black hooded jacket, cargo pants, and army boots, darted out in front of the car, scurried down the street, and disappeared down a dark alleyway. I’m not going to lie; it scared me so badly I seriously about peed my pants.
Alex leaned in toward me. “Are you okay?”
“Umm…” Did he just ask if I was okay? He even sounded like he was being sincere, which was weird. “Yeah, I think so.”
Laylen turned off the engine, and the radio and the lights shut off. Everything got very quiet and very dark.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Alex asked me again, his voice low and deep. “Because you look scared.”
“I’m not,” I lied, clicking my seatbelt loose.
“You don’t have to be scared,” he whispered in my ear. The heat of his breath made me shiver in a good way. I hated that it made me shiver in a good way. “I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Huh? What was with the sudden nice guy act? Maybe the electricity was becoming too much for him too and was messing with his head or something.
“Okay,” I said, sounding confused. And trust me, I was confused.
Aislin scanned the ominous buildings surrounding us. “So which one is it?”
Laylen didn’t reply, his eyes glued to the front window as he fiddle with his lip ring.
Aislin turned and looked at him. “Laylen, which one is it?”
When he finally spoke, his words dragged out. “It’s none of them.”
Alex slid forward in the seat and rested his arms on the console. “What do you mean, it’s none of them?”
“I mean it’s none of them.” Laylen dropped his fingers from his lip ring. “I needed to make an extra stop.”
Oh boy. Here we go. Alex had been very specific about going straight there and straight back. And now, here we were, taking a detour. I squeezed my eyes shut and massaged the side of my temples, waiting for all hell to break loose.
“What!” Alex shouted, slamming his fist down on the console. “I thought I told you we weren’t supposed to stop
anywhere else!”
Laylen slid the keys out of the ignition and kept his voice calm. “Before you start freaking out, here me out first. Trust me, you’ll want what I stopped for.”
“Trust you?” Alex let out a cynical laugh. “Are you kidding me?” He made a gestured at the window. “I already trusted you and look where it got us.”
For a moment, no one said anything. I could hear dogs howling in the distance, and a loud bang, like a garbage can toppling over, echoed through the air.
Alex tossed his hands in the air. “Fine. What did we stop for?”
Laylen tapped his fingers on top of the steering wheel. “The Sword of Immortality.”
One…two…three seconds ticked by.
“Dammit Laylen!” Alex exclaimed. “You’ve had it all this time.”
Whatever this Sword of Immortality was had to be something important. It was obviously a sword—duh—but what kind of sword? An immortal one? That didn’t make any sense. How could a sword be immortal?
“Had it,” Laylen corrected him. “I lost it during a poker game a few months ago.”
Alex grinded his teeth. “So let me get this straight. You stole it from us just so you could lose it.”
“I took it for a good reason,” Laylen said. “I didn’t want to leave it in the Keepers hands after I turned immortal.” He paused. “You know this is why I didn’t want to tell you about to begin with. I knew you’d overreact.”
“I’m not overacting.” Alex flopped back in the seat. “You didn’t just take something insignificant like a car. You took the Sword of Immortality.”
No one spoke. No one so much as utter a word.
Feeling as though I might burst from the drawn-out silence, I asked, “What’s the Sword of Immortality?”
“Exactly what it sounds like—a sword that can kill an immortal,” Alex said, clearly still aggravated. “And it would have been real handy to have while we were on the bus being attacked by Death Walkers.”
I gaped at him. “The Death Walkers are immortal.” No one had ever mentioned that.
Alex dragged his fingers through his hair and nodded. “The sword is one of the few things that can kill them.”
I shuddered at the thought. “So back on the bus, when we were being attack, you couldn’t have killed them?”
Alex shook his head. “Nope.”
My eyes widened as the reality of the fact that, only a few hours ago, I could have very easily died.
“So how do we get it back?” Alex asked, his voice still ringing hotly.
“Well, it’s inside there, in a display case on the second floor.” Laylen pointed at an old brick building. “It’s unguarded and everything. The only problem I can think of that we might run into is breaking into the display case. It doesn’t just have a normal lock you can pick. In fact, I don’t think it even has a lock, and I’m pretty sure breaking the glass would set off an alarm.”
Ailsin bounced up and down in her seat. “I might know a spell that would work.”
Alex leaned forward and held up his hand. “Hold on just a second. First, I need to know where here is?”
Laylen didn’t reply, staring off of at the brick building he’d pointed at early.
“Laylen,” Aislin said. “Where are we exactly?”
Laylen let out a tired sigh. “The Black Dungeon.”
Alex cursed a sequence of to-inappropriate-to-repeat words, and then stared pensively at the building Laylen wanted us to go into to get the sword. “Aislin, how quickly do you think you could do the spell?”
“I’ll do it as quickly as I can,” she told him. “But there’s no guarantee on how fast I can get it unlocked. Magic takes time. You know that.”
Alex pointed a finger at me. “You’ll have to make sure and stay by me at all times.”
“I already made that promise to you back at the house,” I reminded him.
“Yes, but it’s more important now.” He paused, his expression shifting from anger to worry. “There are things in there that are very…dangerous.”
My heart thrummed loudly. “What kind of things?”
He rubbed the back of his neck tensely. “Things that are—you know, maybe you and I should just wait in the car.”
“I’d rather not.” My gaze drifted to the building and then to the dark alley trailing to the side of it. “This place gives me the creeps.”
“I don’t think she’s going to be any safer sitting out here than she would be inside.” Laylen shoved the keys in his pocket. “This neighborhood is pretty unsafe.”
Alex glanced around, like he was assessing the danger. “Fine, but we need to make sure we hurry.” As Laylen and Aislin open their doors, I thought I heard him mutter, “This is such a bad idea.”
I should’ve guessed we’d end up having to walk down a dark alley to get to the entrance of the Black Dungeon. Why wouldn’t we, since the idea of having to made me shiver. The only light came from the moon illuminating the puddles that spotted the asphalt. I didn’t even want to know what the puddles were, seeing is how it hadn’t been raining. The air reeked of mold and wet dog. The garbage cans spilled over, oozing the ground with papers and boxes and filth that crunched beneath my shoes as I walked.
It was gross.
Laylen lead us through the mess and stopped in front of a rusty metal door. Alex stood closely by my side, arms folded, very I’m-your-bodyguard style. The electricity was gyrating, but at least we were in open air now, making it less smothering and almost tolerable.
Almost.
Laylen held up his fist to the door. “Are we ready?”
“Probably not,” Alex grumbled, waving his hand at the door. “But go ahead.”
Laylen let his hand fall against the door and waited a minute before knocking again. A couple of seconds later, a small flap at the top of the door slid open, and a pair of dark eyes peered out.
“What’s the password,” a deep voice rumbled.
Laylen raised his forearm up to the flap, showing it to the pair of eyes.
“Very well,” the voice grunted. A soft click and then the door swung open.
I’m not sure what I’d expected to see standing behind that door, but I know what I hadn’t expected to see. A man, barely my height with bony arms and greased back hair, standing in a small, dimly lit room that had nothing but a metal fold-up chair to accompany it.
Laylen greeted the little man with a nod. “Doug.”
The man—aka Doug—muttered an unfriendly, “Hey.”
I stared quizzically at Doug, trying to figure out how he’d obtained a job as a bouncer or guard or whatever the title was for this place—I wasn’t really sure, since I was still confused about what kind of place the Black Dungeon was. Dangerous obviously—Alex had established that back at the car. But what I was about to walk into, I didn’t have a clue. And that, I admit, terrified me to my very core.
Doug glowered at me with his dark eyes. Apparently, he was a firm believer in the whole staring-is-rude thing.
Alex gently nudged me in the back with his elbow, urging me to get a move on. I turned my attention away from Doug and focused on Laylen.
There was only one door in the room, and Laylen strolled up to it and jerked it open. A slender hallway extended out the other side. Black lanterns hung from the dusky walls, illuminating a trail of light across the stone floor and arched brick ceiling. Laylen and Ailsin started down the hallway, and I stepped through the doorway after them, Alex following closely behind me.
The air stuck damply to my skin as we zigzagged farther and farther down the hall. With every noise, my sense of fear heightened. I could feel my heart pounding inside my chest, anxiously anticipating what was waiting at the end.
As I passed by one of the lanterns hanging on the wall, I noticed it had the same black symbols that were tattooed on Laylen’s forearm. When I got a chance—which hopefully I made it out of this place alive to get a chance—I’d have to ask him what the symbols meant.
Musi
c was reverberating from somewhere, a low beat that grew louder the farther down the hallway we got, until it thumped so loudly it vibrated the floors and rattled the lanterns.
“This was such a stupid idea,” Alex mumbled from behind me. “So stupid.”
I peeked over my shoulder at him, and he met my gaze. Hatred was not shining from his bright green eyes like it normally did whenever he looked at me. Nope. Nothing but worry filled them. He was scared.
So was I.
I bit down on my bottom lip and kept walking. Laylen took us around a corner and a door popped into view. It looked like an ordinary door, but I had a feeling that whatever was on the other side of it was anything but ordinary.
“Okay.” Laylen rubbed his hands together. “Is everybody ready for this?”
No one responded. Aislin and I both shared the same dumbfounded expression. Alex looked annoyed. Were we ready? Ready for what, exactly?
I tugged down on the hem of my skirt while Ailsin straightened up her posture. Alex casted a glance back down the hall, bumping his shoulder into mine and erupting a fire underneath my skin. I was getting good at hiding my reaction, though. I didn’t even gasp.
“Let’s hurry up and get this over with,” Alex said.
Laylen nodded, turned the doorknob, and the door creaked open.
It was a club. Like an actual full-on dancing club. And except for the gothic trend that seemed to be everywhere, everything seemed totally normal. I couldn’t see anything slimy, glowing, or dead. I had to admit part of me had expected to walk in and find the whole place packed with demons and monster of all shapes, sizes, and colors, feeding off humans or something. But nope, that didn’t seem to be the case.
Dangling from the ceiling were the same black lanterns that had lit up the hall. People were crammed on the dance floor, swaying hypnotically to the low beat of Nirvana’s “You Know You’re Right.” Scarlet lights sparkled across the midnight marble floor. Black curtains draped across the upstairs balcony. Dark clothing trended the room—nearly everyone was dressed in some form of black. Laylen, Alex, and I blended fine with the gothic ambience; Alex in his dark grey t-shirt and black jeans, Laylen all in black, and me in my black t-shirt and a dark denim skirt. Ailsin, however, was another story. In her lacy camisole top and frilly white skirt, the girl stood out like a sore thumb.
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