17. Gemma

17 GEMMA

When Aislin and Laylen return, we instantly take off, heading for the next town over.

As Alex drives down the dark, desolate highway, we fill Laylen and Aislin in on what we discovered while they were gone. They momentarily go into shock and are completely quiet. But Aislin finally breaks the silence.

“It has to be possession. Your father is the nicest man I’ve ever met. He’s what a father is supposed to be.”

“I know. I think it’s possession, too, which means my father is walking around, being controlled by some sort of killer monster.”

“We should get into the keeper archives and see if we can figure out what kind of monster it could be,” Aislin says from the back seat. Laylen is sitting on one side of her, and her bag is on her other side. “You and I can do that while these two dingdongs go back to the academy.”

“What’s with the name-calling?” Laylen asks with his head turned toward her. “It seems a little bit uncalled for.”

“I think you guys are kind of stupid to go back to the scene of a murder.” She fiddles with a pendant that’s dangling from a chain around her neck. “I guess I understand why you’re doing it, but it still seems stupid.”

“She’s right,” I mutter, feeling guilty that all of this happened. I’m not even sure why I feel that way. It’s not like I asked for this to happen. Yet all of this is centered around me. “Maybe I should be the one to?—”

“No,” Alex cuts me off in a clipped tone. “We already talked about this. It’s too risky and dangerous.”

“He’s right,” Aislin says, reclining back.

Laylen slips his arm around the back of the seat. “I agree. You need to lie low for a while.”

I roll my tongue in my mouth, fighting back my frustration. It’s not like me to sit back and let other people handle my problems. When I wanted answers about my star dreams, I went to Henry. When I needed to become a better fighter, I asked Laylen for help. When I almost failed a history class, I spent the entire weekend reading the textbook cover to cover. I can handle my own problems.

Except, deep down, I’m aware that if I go to the academy, I’m risking death walkers showing up. So, it’s a lose-lose situation for me.

“We’re not ganging up on you,” Aislin says, as if reading my mind.

“I know that—I do—but it doesn’t mean I like having to sit back and let everyone else deal with this. I don’t want to be a special little deformed snowflake. I want to be part of the snowstorm, you know?”

Aislin pats my shoulder sympathetically. “You’re not deformed.”

“Thanks, I guess,” I mumble.

“No problem.” She flashes me a grin before scooting back again.

Alex and Laylen start chatting about their plan to return to the academy. I decide to send my parents another message in a group thread, but when I hit send , it fails to deliver. So, I try them individually, my stomach churning with trepidation.

“Guys,” I interrupt their discussion. “I just tried to message my parents, and neither of the messages got delivered. I have signal, too.”

“Try calling them,” Alex suggests, downshifting as he steers the car around a sharp corner.

I dial my father’s number first, but the operator’s voice comes on to announce the phone has been disconnected. Same goes for my mother’s phone.

Tears flood my eyes, but I suck them back.

“Their lines have been disconnected,” I state hollowly.

I think I might be veering toward shock.

And it gets even worse when none of them offer an explanation. But what explanation could they give? At this point, it’s clear that something is terribly and disastrously wrong.

Alex and Aislin’s family has a lot of money, and so they end up paying for a suite that’s in a decent hotel. Alex pays in cash, and then we take the elevator to one of the upper floors. We’re uncharacteristically quiet during the ride and even when we enter the really nice suite, no one really says much. I do keep catching them sneaking me pity glances, and while they mean well, it’s making me feel worse because it’s increasing my anxiety.

And I don’t even have any of my belongings. Aislin did grab my backpack with my schoolbooks in it that I left in her car, but that’s all I have.

“We can go to the store in the morning and get some clothes,” Aislin says to no one in particular as she tosses her bags onto one of the two beds in this room. The suite has another room with two more beds, along with individual bathrooms in each, with a small kitchen, living room, and dining area separating the bedrooms. The living room has two sofas, a television, and windows that show a view of the towering buildings around us. Since it’s so late, all that can be seen are the buildings’ lights.

Alex yanks the curtains closed as I’m putting my bag onto the bed then strides around the room, looking in closets, cupboards, and in the bathroom.

“What’re you doing?” I ask him as I sit down on the foot of the bed.

“Making sure nothing is in here.” He kicks a closet door shut then glances up at the ivory trim that’s glittering with crystal chandelier light.

“You think something’s hiding in the light?” I question sarcastically.

His gaze lands on mine. “No … I’m just looking for hidden cameras.”

“Why would that even be a thing?” I ask. “No one knew we were coming here.”

“I know. And there’s probably nothing around. But with these time crossovers, we need to be careful.” He shoves up his shirt sleeves then props his foot onto the foot of the bed beside me. “You should get some rest while Laylen and I go to the academy.” He reties his shoelaces then lowers his foot to the floor. “Aislin will stay with you, and we’ll keep you updated on what we find. If anything goes wrong here, you guys need to run … Shit, we have to take the car, so I don’t know what to do.” He’s nervously rambling.

“We’ll be okay,” I assure him. “Aislin and I know how to take care of ourselves. We were trained, too.”

He scratches his forehead. “I know. I don’t like you guys being stuck here, though.”

“Well, if all else fails, we’ll hotwire a car.” I dazzle him with a grin, trying to lighten the mood.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He misreads my tone. “It’ll draw too much attention.”

“Alex.” I stop him by raising a hand in front of me. “I was just kidding. Aislin and I can figure this out. You guys go get this thing done so we can move on to the next problem.”

He nods, his gaze searing into mine.

Gemma Lucas, will you marry me?

Another version of him said that to me in a vision. It’s hard to believe that, in another life, we’re in love. And yet, the way he’s looking at me now causes my heart to pulsate with another force to dim my disbelief a smidgeon.

He decidedly extends his fingers to my forehead where the cut is. “You should clean this out better while we’re gone. Maybe you guys can go check the shop in the lobby for first-aid supplies.”

“Sounds good.” I disregard the erratic beating of my heart.

He lowers his hand and, with a nod, turns toward the door, motioning for Laylen to follow him. Then, with one more glance in my direction, he exits the hotel room with Laylen.

“Holy mother of all faeries, he’s becoming obsessed with you,” Aislin declares the moment the door clicks shut. She’s rummaging through her bag, tossing bags of herbs and candles onto the bed. “Not in a creepy way, though.”

I pick at my chipped fingernail polish. “He’s not obsessed with me.”

She collects a necklace from out of her bag. “He so is. But that’s okay. We can pretend that he isn’t, if that’s what you want.”

“Yes, please. I can’t deal with this right now.” I flop back onto the bed and stare up at the ceiling. “I need to figure out why I’m having these visions. I was putting a lot of hope in getting a hold of my dad and him having some answers for me, but that hope is starting to dwindle.” My chest feels tight as I say the reality aloud—that I have no clue where my parents are.

“We should do some research on everything, including the machine my father has in the basement.”

I nod, draping my arm across my forehead. I give myself a beat before pushing up and collecting my bag. “I have a book in here that Henry stole for me. It’s from the permanent reading section in the library, so maybe there’s something useful in there.”

“Why did you have him steal it for you?”

“I didn’t. I asked him for help researching these star dreams I was having.” I leave out the part about Alex being in them. “He made the decision to steal it.”

She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “He creeps me out.” She zips up the bag.

“Henry?”

“Yeah. He’s too into you.”

“Is that a thing?”

She twists and sits down on the bed with a book in her hand. “It is.” She flips open the book. “That’s what leads to being a stalker.”

“He’s not stalking me,” I protest as I scoot toward the top of the bed.

“Yeah, he just randomly happened to be at the diner.” She bites her lip as she turns the page. “I wouldn’t have thought too much about it, but then he showed up at our table and basically pressured you into going to dinner with him.”

“We were already going out.”

“I know that. Still, he’s intense.”

Part of me agrees with her. “He wasn’t always like that. He used to be shy around me.”

“Because he’s obsessed with you. Once you were nice to him, it was like opening a door for him to use that niceness to force you to get close to him.”

I reposition the pillows, trying to get comfortable. “So what? I should’ve been mean to him?”

“No, but you don’t have to be overly nice. Look at how you are with my brother. You tell him how it is and hand him his ass all the time.” She smiles at that. “It’s funny to watch because he usually gets what he wants, except with you.”

I bend my knees and prop the open book against them. “I won’t give him his way simply because he thinks he’s always right.”

“I know. And you shouldn’t. He needs that in his life. And honestly, I think he secretly kind of likes it when you do.”

“Why?”

She gives me a duh look. “He likes you.”

“Ugh, not this again.” I let my head bob back, but then I wince as it smacks the wooden headboard. “Ow.”

She laughs at me. “I’d ask if you’re okay, but maybe if you hit your head enough times, you’ll be able to see reality.”

“Hey, that’s mean.” I chuck a pillow at her and laugh when it smacks her in the face.

She laughs and throws it back at me. It’s a good moment, but it quickly fades.

“I hate that it feels like nothing is ever going to be the same,” I admit my fear aloud.

“I know,” she agrees, unable to lie.

How could she when the truth is so brutally in front of us?