“What about marks?” I ask. “Does she have any on her?”
“You mean, the Mark of Malefiscus?” he checks.
I nod. “Stephan said he’d been putting it on everyone who didn’t have pure blood.” I bite my lip, hating myself for wondering if Aislin, Alex, and even Laylen have one.
“Aislin came up with a spell for that too.” He takes my hand in his. “Come on and I’ll have her show you.”
In the living room, Aislin is sitting cross-legged on the floor squinting at a computer screen that’s on the coffee table in front of her. Alex is on the sofa, watching TV with his feet kicked up and a glass in his hand that’s filled with a golden liquid, probably tequila or something similar. It’s weird to see because… well, because everything appears so ordinary and it feels so unnatural.
But then I notice Aislin is searching the web for mark removal spells, and Alex is also sharpening a sword and everything feels right in the world again.
“Oh, thank God,” Aislin says, relaxing when she sees me. “I thought you weren’t going to wake up.”
“You guys always think that,” I say, letting go of Laylen’s hand when I notice her gaze drifting to it. “Yet I always do.” There’s a lightness in my tone, one I’ve never heard before.
Aislin clicks the computer mouse. “You seem in a good mood.” There’s speculation in her voice as if she’s wondering what Laylen and I were up to before we came down here.
“It’s because of the lingering adrenaline from the rush.” Alex eyes leisurely travel up my legs, across my midsection and chest, and ultimately land on my eyes.
God, he’s so intense that I want to lean down, run my hands through his messy hair while I feel the softness of his lips against mine. I’m not sure how long we stare at each other like that, but eventually Laylen clears his throat, something I’m realizing he has to do a lot when Alex and I are near each other.
“What’s our next move?” Laylen sits down and I follow, tucking my legs under my ass. Alex remains staring at me with way too much heat in his eyes. If he keeps it up, I’m going to drop dead right here on the sofa in front of everyone.
“Has anyone talked to my mother yet?” I ask. “Or is it pointless because of the mark?”
“After we made the same Blood Promise with her as we did with Nicholas, then we got some information out of her.” Alex lifts his hand, showing me a healing cut on his palm.
“What did she tell you?” I ask. “Did she say how she ended up at the Keeper’s Castle?”
Alex grows grave. “He called her,” he says tightly. “As in he summoned her there by the mark. Apparently, Stephan can summon people with the Mark of Malefiscus.”
I can’t help but think of the mark again, hidden on her flesh out of sight. “How do we know he’s not going to summon her right now?”
“We don’t,” Alex says straightforwardly, putting the sword he was sharpening down on the coffee table. “But we’ve got her locked up and we took away her Key of Malefiscus so that might help.”
My mouth curves downward into a frown. “Great. He has his own key now.”
“He’s had one all along apparently,” Alex explains bitterly. “I guess as he marked each one of the Keepers with the Mark of Malefiscus, he also gave them a key, so when he touches his mark, they can take the key, trace a door wherever they are and it takes them straight to the castle.”
“So Nicholas had one of these too, I’m guessing. And Marco and Sophia?” I say in astonishment.
“Nicholas didn’t have one, I don’t think,” Alex says. “Jocelyn said that Stephan gave them only to the Keepers he marked.”
“Do any of you have one?” I don’t want to say it but I need to know.
“Oh yeah,” Laylen says, shifting his legs out in front of them to stretch. “Aislin, show Gemma the spell you came up with to know when people nearby have the mark.”
Aislin’s eyes light up as she pops her knuckles. “All right, Gemma, here goes nothing.”
***
About a half of an hour later, I’m convinced none of them have marks. Aislin does a spell that shows my mother’s mark and lights it up, then does it on the rest of them including Aleesa, and it shows all three of them are mark free. She also does it on me, so they’ll know that I’m free of evil at the moment. Then I go upstairs to talk with my mom in private because it seems like we have a lot to talk about.
Sophia’s room is the same, white linens, walls, and curtains. Everything is clean and tidy, the bed made, clothes tucked away.
My mom looks miserable lying on the floor, bound to the wall by chains fastened to her wrists. Her head is resting on a pillow, her brown hair a halo around her head, and her eyes are shut as if she’s sleeping.
I close the door behind me and her eyes open as she sits up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” I say, lingering near the doorway. Finally I dare to sit in front of her, leaving just enough room so that she can’t reach me with the chains, just in case. “I don’t know what to say,” I tell her honestly, fidgeting with the leather band on my wrist.
“I’m sorry, Gemma,” she says, although there’s emptiness in her eyes, reminding me that deep down this isn’t my mother.
“It’s okay. I get that you couldn’t say anything about the mark.” I pause. “But there’s one thing I don’t understand…. How is it that you’re marked and yet you could tell us all those things that day—about the ending of the world? And Stephen’s plan?”
“There are always loopholes, Gemma.”
“You keep saying that, but it doesn’t make sense to me yet.”
“I know. Some things are hard to understand and even harder to explain.” She scoots back and rests her head against the wall. “Sometimes my mind gets cloudy as if it doesn’t belong to me, and I say words that aren’t my own but it’s not cloudy right now, because of the Blood Promise. But that won’t last forever... I won’t last forever.”
Panic claws up my throat. “You’re not leaving me again, are you?”
She doesn’t answer right away. “Remember how you told me that you saw the vision of Stephan forcing me into the lake? Well, you don’t understand the vision completely. There were things that happened that confused you. Stephan didn’t force me into the lake, like he—you—thought,” she says quietly, almost remorseful. “I went in there on my own… I chose to go to The Underworld on my own.”