“Why do you always say that?” I climb down the jagged rocks, still holding the ring, afraid to put it on because I have no idea what it does. “How can you give me things like this? And the mapping ball, but you can’t tell me how to use them? And how do you even have these things if we’re inside your head?” I reach the sand. “It makes no sense.”
“This is my loophole,” he explains, drowning in sadness and regret. “I’m able to give you these things, because we’re in my head and not in the real world. What I do in here doesn’t matter out there. But I can’t tell you how to use them, since that would be interfering with what you need to do out in the real world. You have to figure out the answers for yourself and pave the world with your memories.” He takes my hand holding the ring and encloses my fingers around it. “This is your loophole.”
“My loophole to what? Saving my life or saving the world?” I rush to say as the ocean begins to bleed away into the sand. The sunlight dims almost as if night has fallen and it grows quiet. “Wait, don’t send me back yet. I have a ton of questions.”
“No more trying to cheat, no matter what happens,” he calls out as I float backward, my feet lifting up from the sand. “If you’re not careful, you’ll end up in here.”
I shout at him to please tell me as the ocean vanishes and becomes one with the sand. Then I’m ripped away back to my room. When I open my eyes, though, I’m not in my room.
I’m engulfed by light, just like when I die.
Chapter 36
“You’re not dead,” someone says as I turn in circles, searching for something other than light. “If that’s what you’re thinking.”
An eerie chill slithers up my spine and at the same time my sense of smell is attacked by the scent of flowers and rain. “But you’re dead.”
“Am I?” the tricky half-faerie teases. “Are you sure about that?”
I clutch onto the ring as I strain my eyes to see through the light. “I’m not sure about anything anymore.”
I hear a thump then footsteps moving through the light in my direction. “Of course, you’re not. You’ve been clueless from day one. In fact, you’re the most clueless girl I’ve ever met. You’re always looking for the answers in the wrong places.”
“That’s not true,” I say as he materializes right in front of me, his golden eyes inches away from mine, his body so close I’m instantly suffocated with his body heat.
I step back. “You’re dead… aren’t you… and so am I.”
“I’ll answer that shortly,” he says with a wink. “But right now you have to go back.” He strides toward me and shoves me backward, his hands searing hot against my shoulders. I scream as I tumble into darkness.
I bolt upright, gasping for air. It takes a minute for me to realize I’m on my bedroom floor, safe and sound from any potentially dead faeries. But what kind of detour was that? I mean, some strange things have happened while I was traveling around with my Foreseer power, but that… that was too much.
I get to my feet with the ring that my father gave me still in my hand and then head downstairs to tell everyone what happened. I find Alex in the kitchen, making a sandwich. His hair is freshly wet and he’s wearing jeans with a thermal shirt. Laylen is at the kitchen table, flipping through a magazine, and dressed as if he’s about to go out to a Goth club.
“I have to tell you something,” I announce and then it all comes pouring out of me.
“Why does he keep giving you things without an explanation of what they are?” Alex asks when I’m done, taking the ring from me and studying it closely.
I’m sitting on the countertop with my legs dangling over the edge. “He said it was because I had to figure things out on my own and pave the world with my memories, whatever the hell that means.” I take the ring back and run my finger along the gemstones. “It’s not like I can pave them with too many, since my times about up.”
Alex chokes on bite of sandwich. “No it’s not,” he says, catching his breath.
“Alex, I don’t think it’s good to deny it,” I say. “I think it’s better if I—”
He strides toward me, positioning himself between my legs and concealing his hand over my mouth. “I’m not going to let you say that.” He lowers his hand from my mouth to my thigh. “I won’t let you give up yet.” He leans in and softly brushes his lips against mine, then pulls away and says, “Laylen and I have to go somewhere right now, but we’ll talk about this more when we get back.”
Laylen glances at his watch. “Is it time to go already?”
Alex nods with his gaze fastened on mine as he backs toward the back door. “Yeah, we should get a move on if we want to make it.”
“Where could you two possibly be going?” I ask, hopping down from the counter. “ And together?”
“Just somewhere,” Laylen says, giving me a smile, but it’s a mask to hide something else—his uneasiness.
“Don’t worry.” Alex reaches for his jacket on the back of the kitchen chair. “We’ll be back soon.”
Before I can say anything else, they walk out the door, leaving me stunned and standing in the kitchen alone. It’s so strange, the two of them walking out of the house together. And content. It makes me worried.
Finally, I decide to find Aislin and ask her if she knows what’s going on. I find her in the living room, sorting through spices and various bags of what looks like pixie dust, a bowl in front of her where’s she’s mixing ingredients.
“Do you know where Alex and Laylen are going?” I ask, stuffing the ring into my pocket and then joining her on the sofa.
She glances up from a plastic bag filled with flakes of orange leaves. “They went somewhere together?”
I nod, hitching my finger over my shoulder toward the back door. “They just left.”
She opens the bag and sniffs it. “Okay, that’s probably one of the strangest things I’ve heard all day.”
“Maybe.” But I’m not sure that it is. I think seeing Nicholas might top it. I sit back down on the couch and tighten the elastic in my hair. “So have you figured out what went wrong with your spell?”
She shakes her head, sealing the bag back up. “It’s strange but from everything I’ve read, it should work. And I can feel the power, but when I try to use it, I get nothing but this fizzling feeling.” Aislin opens the laptop in front of her. “I think maybe we could—”
A loud bang from inside the house silences both of us.
“What the hell was that?” Her eyes are huge as she looks at the window and then at the front door.
“Maybe Alex and Laylen forgot something.” I start for the kitchen and she tensely follows after me.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Aislin whispers as we approach the kitchen, “It’s coming from in there.”
“Do you have a weapon, just in case…” I trail off as smoke rounds the corner of the kitchen, snakes around my ankles, then heads for the living room.
Aislin grabs a knife from the pocket of her hoodie. “Ready when you are.”
I don’t have a weapon, but decide to rely on my strength something I need to get used to. “I’m ready.”
We swing around the corner on high alert and step into the kitchen. The smoke is coming in from a roaring fire burning in the garbage can in the driveway and the back door is agape, swinging in the wind and letting the smoke and wind inside.
Aislin lowers the knife. “Oh, thank God. For a second I thought the house was burning down.”
I inch toward the back door. “Yeah, but who started the fire and opened the door?”
She raises the knife again as if this has just occurred to her. “You think something’s wrong?”