20. Gemma

20 GEMMA

“So, apparently, there’s a machine in a secret passageway of the school that looks just like the one in your father’s basement,” I tell Aislin after I’ve finished texting Alex.

She is lounging on the bed, flipping through a book with her shoes kicked off, but she pauses mid-flip, her gaze traveling to me. “That’s crazy. And bad, right?”

I shrug then take a sip of my soda. I’m sitting on the sofa with my shoes kicked off and my dagger sitting on the cushion beside me. “Probably, but until we know what the machine is, we can’t say for sure.”

Henry has spent the last thirty minutes ignoring us, but he suddenly decides to chime in. “Hmm … if only you had someone who could tell you what the machine is.” His taunting tone is a warning I’m about to deal with a frustrating situation.

Sighing, I set the soda down on the coffee table, collect my dagger, and pad over to the bathroom doorway.

Henry is standing up and, like I suspected, an impish smirk is playing at his lips.

I point the tip of my dagger at him. “What do you know?”

“I know a lot of things.” His eyes glint with haughty amusement.

Aislin marches up beside me with frustration rolling off of her in waves. “Tell us now, or I’ll zap you with a wart spell. You can pretend all you want that that doesn’t bother you, but I’m calling your bluff.” She raises her hands out in front of her, and blue flames ignite in her hands.

“You’re doing it twice, huh?” I state, noting she has both her hands ready to throw the spell at him.

“Nah, the left hand is going to hit him with a brain boiling spell.” Her lips curl into a chilling grin. “I’ll make sure it’s temporary and stops before Henry returns to his body.”

Henry narrows his eyes at her. “That’s not how that spell works.”

“Wanna bet?” she challenges cockily.

I’m not sure if she’s bluffing, but Henry would only be able to know that for certain if he was a witch. Apparently, he isn’t, since his smile deflates.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. The reward will be in your reactions, anyway.” His shit-eating grin reemerges. “That machine is a portal, and it goes to the other portal.”

“The other portal?” I mutter right as Aislin sputters, “Oh my God.”

It clicks a second later.

“Shit, that’s the machine in your father’s basement.”

“I know.” Aislin steps backward. “I need to call Alex and warn him.”

I nod, worry pouring through me. “I’ll try to get more information out of this dumbass.”

“Hey,” Henry whiningly protests. “I help you, and that’s how you repay me?”

I whirl toward him, a storm of aggravation bursting through me. “No one owes you anything, demon. Now fess up and tell me why there’s a portal going from under the academy and into Stephan Avery’s basement.”

His lips part but then shut, his mouth curving into a grin. “You still think I’m a demon. Oh, Gemma,” he tsks me. “I think the other version of you was a little bit smarter.”

I resist the urge to swallow hard. “How do you know about the other version of me?”

“Because I’m from that world.” He reduces the space between us with a measured step. “I can’t believe you don’t recognize me. Sure, I look different, but my charming personality is still the same.” At my confusion, his smile broadens. “Blond hair, gorgeous. Like an idiot, you thought I was a ghost.” He stops short of the barrier spell. “I’m a faerie, actually. The name’s Nicholas.” He winks at me. “You used to know me well. Like, really, really well.”

I pull a disgusted face. “I doubt that.”

He rolls his eyes. “Be rude all you want. All of this is about to end, anyway.”

“All of what?”

“This life, this world. It was never supposed to exist. It’s why death walkers are creeping up from nowhere. It’s why everything in your life is about to fall apart.” He props his hip against the vanity. “You know, you guys are really lucky that Stephan doesn’t want the world to come to a total end. Sure, he’s the villain, but he’s a villain who wants world domination, not the world to end.”

My mind is racing a million wing flutters a second. “I don’t know you.”

“You do. You just erased yours and everyone else’s memories when you reset time because you thought it’d be better than the world we were in.” He pushes away from the vanity. “The problem, Gemma, is that when you reset time, you cracked apart the whole universe, and that will eventually create more holes. Times and worlds start seeping into each and eventually turn into a black hole that swallows everything up.” He wavers. “Now, granted, before that started happening, I’ll admit this world was much better for you. Sure, you didn’t realize you and Alex were soul mates, but I think that actually helped you.” He points a finger at me, smirking. “Something you should think about when you return to your other life.”

I back away. “You’re crazy.”

“Am I?” he questions with a laugh.

“Gemma.” Panic rings in Aislin’s tone. “Alex got sucked into the portal.”

“What?” I stammer, whirling around to look at her.

Henry busts up laughing. “Oh, this is great. Sure, Stephan isn’t ready to kill you guys yet, but at least half of his star is locked away in a portal where it can’t do any more nosing around.”

My hair whips around my face as I reel back toward him. “How do I get him out?” I ignore his mention of the star and the fact that he said Stephan is planning on killing us.

One crazy problem at a time.

I don’t expect him to tell me, but he easily does, probably because the solution is horrible.

“You go into the portal and hope you find your way out.” He gives a lazy shrug. “You’re a foreseer, so you’ll have an easier time since the portal is made of time and moments. But there’s also a chance you’ll never come out. Not that you’ll survive any of this, anyway. You’ll always be doomed. You just haven’t figured that out yet. Once you do realize that the world would be better off without you, you’ll be better off.” He turns back to the bathroom and sits down on the toilet, crossing his legs.

“I’m not a foreseer,” I insist, but doubt weighs in the haunting memories that have been tiptoeing through my mind lately.

He half-shrug. “If you say so.”

“Gah! Why are you being so casual about the fact that you’re trapped?” I snap, unsure whether to believe him or not.

But with everything that’s happened …

It makes some sense.

“Because I can feel the spell wearing off,” he replies with a yawn and a stretch. “Tick, tock. Tick, tock. I guess it’s time for you to decide if you want to waste your time here with me, getting more answers, or do you want to save your lover .”

I stand there momentarily, desperately attempting to figure out a way to do both.

“Dammit,” I growl at the realization that I can’t.

“Gemma, we need to get to the academy—now,” Aislin pleads with me as she frantically begins stuffing her spell book into her bag. “We’re going to have to hotwire a car or something.”

“I said that as a joke, but I guess it’s our only choice.” I throw Henry-Nicholas the deadliest glare I can muster. “One day, Nicholas, I’m going to make you pay for this.”

He dramatically rolls his eyes. “You’ve said that at least a dozen times. It never works out for you.”

“That was the other me. This one is way more vindictive.” I coldly grin at him. “You better watch your back, sweetheart, because once you’re out of Henry’s body, I’m coming for you.”

His mouth opens, but I stride off before he can utter whatever stupid remark he was about to say.

“Ready?” I ask Aislin as I meet her by the front door.

She slides the handle of her bag onto her shoulder. “Yep. Let’s go.” She yanks open the door.

Sucking in a deep breath, I step out, hoping I can pull this off. The Gemma I am now has her doubts. All I can do is hope the other version of me is living inside me somewhere with some sort of extra knowledge on how to navigate these kinds of messes.

The car we hotwire is an average model, which will make us less likely to be pulled over and caught. Laylen and I text for a bit. He tells me about what happened at the academy, and I inform him all about what Henry—Nicholas—told us.

Aislin speeds down the highway while we occasionally talk and decide that when we arrive at the academy, we’ll go to the professor’s office and meet Laylen there, where he’ll then lead us to the portal.

The closer we get to the academy, the more my nerves build. It doesn’t help that Aislin is driving like a madwoman. I’m not positive what she’s thinking about, but my thoughts are centered on the fact that I’m making the decision to nonchalantly waltz into a portal. In class, we spent about ten minutes discussing portals, because no one believed they existed.

“Really, they’re probably just myths,” Professor Greytin said.

The irony that one was hidden in the academy isn’t lost on me.

“I hope we don’t run into any death walkers.” Aislin speaks so suddenly that I startle. She’s gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles are white, her jaw is tense, and the moonlight casts across her hauntingly fearful expression like a stage light. “If we do, Laylen and I will fight them off while you enter the portal.” The engine roars as she shifts to a lower gear to slow down the car. She again sinks into silence for a moment. “Gemma, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I know I’m probably coming off pushy, but he’s my brother, and he’s all I have?—”

“I know.” I place a hand on her arm. “I want to do this. I have to.” I face forward in the seat, gazing up at the stars that are now visible in the midnight sea above us as they work to break through the clouds. “I know I had some issues with Alex, but I realized they were not real. And …” I press my lips together as I think of my star dreams, the electricity between us, and the visions I’ve had of him and me in another life. “There’s obviously some sort of connection between us.”

She bobs her head up and down as an exhale falters from her lips. “Do you think you’ll be able to do it?” She turns into the school’s parking lot, tires squealing at her lack of deceleration.

“We’re supposed to be discreet,” I remind her as I reach to unfasten my seat belt.

“Sorry.” She parks the car next to Alex’s then yanks apart the wires so the engine will die before shoving open the door.

We both get out then jog across the parking lot before taking the stairs two steps at a time. We’re both on alert for any security guards or death walkers lurking nearby, but we luck out and make it to the professor’s office without any mishaps.

Laylen is waiting for us when we enter. Once we’re inside, he shuts and locks the door, not bothering to turn on any lights—thank God because I don’t want to see Professor G.’s body—but the flashlight on his phone. He uses that to light up the way as we start down a narrow, damp tunnel that looks like it leads to the pits of an icy hell.

Aislin hugs her arms around herself as the temperature plummets. “This place is creepy.”

“I know. It looks like it’s been here for ages, too,” Laylen says over the sounds of our footsteps echoing against the cement walls. “I’m worried there’s more down here than just that portal, but so far, I haven’t seen anything.”

“It looks like a vampire crypt,” Aislin mumbles as she angles her head up to look at the ceiling.

I do, too, and a water droplet pegs me between the eyes. At least, I hope it’s water.

“How far is it down here?” I say right before I feel it.

The buzzing.

The humming.

The silent whisper of something beckoning me to it.

I know what it is before I even see it. The electricity radiating off it is exactly like the one that was in Stephan’s basement.

A moment later, we wind around a corner, and it comes into view.

“Holy effing magical madness,” Aislin breathes out as the three of us stop in front of the illuminating framed wall of light. “This is what a portal looks like?”

I smash my lips together with so much force that my jaw pops. My heart is a mess inside my chest, and my skin is dampening with sweat.

“Gemma,” Laylen says, “how do you even know what to do?”

“I don’t,” I reply with the brutal truth. “All I’m going on is what Nicholas told me.”

“What if you’re not a foreseer, though?” Laylen frowns at me. “You won’t be able to find your way out. And even if you are, you’re not skilled enough to use it very well.”

Aislin eyes the portal warily. “Maybe we should pause this for just a second and try to find a book on navigating your foreseer power, or portals, or something.” Her gaze collides with mine. “I want to save my brother, but now that I’ve seen the portal, I don’t think you should wing it. Maybe we can find your father.”

“He’s possessed,” I remind her, “by something that killed the professor and tried to frame me. And we still don’t even know why. Though, I’m guessing it has something to do with this.” I nod at the portal.

“So, then we’ll figure this out on our own.” Aislin moves closer to me. “I can do a truth spell or something. I don’t know … I haven’t thought it through yet, but there has to be another way.”

Part of me wants to do that—to pause this. To let myself be a coward. But the truth is, now that I’m here, that connection I feel with Alex is breathing and alive in my body. And when the machine extends its energy out to me, lightning quick, I allow it to grab me. Because, in the end, I would’ve walked right in there, anyway.

“Gemma!” Laylen’s and Aislin’s voices chase after me as I’m tugged into the light.

It’s all I see—light.

And stars.

Part of me wishes I could stay here forever, but I eventually find Alex in the middle of it, standing in a cluster of starlight so bright that I’m not sure how we’ll ever be able to find our way out.

Stars, just like in my dreams.

The dreamer can follow the stars like a map, back to the original point of where the dream stems from. This requires a lot of training and isn’t recommended without an expert foreseer’s guided help.

I read that in the book Henry stole for me. But was it the real Henry who did that or that Nicholas faerie guy? I’m not sure, but I have nothing else to go on at the moment.

“What’re you doing here?” Alex hisses as I land beside him on the cloud of stars he’s standing on. His hair dances in the wind as he faces me, shaking his head, his green eyes reflecting so brightly against the light that they look like emeralds.

I have the strangest urge to reach out and run my fingers through his hair, to kiss his lips, hug him. I have been so much more worried about him than I could acknowledge.

I’ll keep that to myself, though.

“I’m here to save you,” I say in a tone that lacks confidence.

He shakes his head, his annoyance written all over his face. “You shouldn’t have done that.” He flings an arm out at the sea of stars. “There’s nowhere to go.”

“I can get us out of here,” I assure him. Although, as I note how far the stars go, my confidence dwindles.

“And how do you plan on doing that?”

“With my foreseer powers.”

“I thought you didn’t have the mark?” he questions, light casting around him like a halo.

“Yeah, about that. I learned some things while we were apart.” I nod for him to follow me across the map of stars, walking along them like I’ve done in my dreams so many times. “But come on; let’s walk while we talk. I have a feeling this is going to take a while.”

More than a while by the looks of it.

I just hope I can get us out of here.

And that we’ll have a world to return to once I do. Because, if what Nicholas said is true, then if we’re in here too long, the world as we know it might cease to exist.