I shiver as the images surface, the one’s I’ve seen of the world in its icy demise. “The one where the world ends in ice—the one where Stephan and Demetrius and the Death Walkers win?”
He relaxes a little. “Yes, that’s what you need to stop from happening.”
I want to argue with him more, but there’s a voice in the back of my mind reminding me that if this works correctly, I’ll have Alex back. I see the bigger picture of what my father was talking about and it makes him seem less evil, or me slightly more—I’m not sure.
“Alright, but you need to tell me what to do, because I have no clue,” I say, moving back toward him.
He taps the crystal ball I’m holding with his finger. “Everything you need to know is in here.” He places his finger to my temple. “And in here.” Then he turns his back on me and starts to walk away. “It’s time for you to go back. Good-bye, Gemma. I have great confidence that you’ll be able to fix my mistakes.”
I start to chase after him, desperate to know more, but the walls around me bow in and out and the entire room starts to spin and becomes distorted like funhouse. My knees lock up on me and I can’t move. My father walks further away from me and the tunnel begins flickering in and out of focus. I attempt to run after him again, wiggling my legs and arms and putting all my strength in it, but he just keeps getting further and further out of reach.
“But I don’t understand any of it!” I shout, clutching onto the crystal ball. “How am I supposed to change visions if what I’ve been taught is that they’re not changeable? And how do I know which ones to change?” I stop fighting, my feet like heavy like bricks, and I’m submerged by darkness. “Dad, I don’t understand!”
“Don’t worry.” His voice seems to come from everywhere. “You will.”
Before I can say anything else, I’m being flipped upward and tossed into the darkness.
Chapter 3
Cold water splashes across my face and over my body, soaking my skin and my clothes. My body feels like it’s been ran over by a truck and my eyelids are so heavy it aches to try and open them. The air smells salty and is filled with the soft lull of the ocean. For a while, I just lie there, trying to decipher what’s going on because I’m too exhausted to move. But when water crashes over me again, I open my eyes just in time to see another wave headed at me. I scramble to my feet, hacking up water as I race up the beach and out of the ocean’s reach. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. The ocean before me, sunlight reflecting against it, and behind me, houses and people basking in the sand. I’m back at the beach house in Maryland.
I would think that what had just happened was a dream, but I’m still clutching the crystal ball my father gave me.
“I’m here, which means…”I sprint off for the beach house where Alex, Aislin, Laylen, and my mom are, at least from what I can remember. I’m just hoping that it worked—that I’m back to a place in time where Alex is alive, I’m not possessed and everything is good, well as good as it can be.
I make it to the house in record time, panting, sweaty, but feeling better than I have in a while. I barrel up the stairs of the back porch and fling open the screen door. “Mom,” I yell, stumbling into the kitchen. “Mom! Alex! Aislin! Anyone!”
Silence.
I hurry from the kitchen to the living room, calling out everyone’s names, but the only noise comes from a grandfather clock in the corner of the room next to the sofa. Where is everyone? Did they go looking for me? Or did it… God, no I hate to think it, but I can’t help it. My father gave me very little details on how this would work which makes me wonder if maybe Alex is still dead or something and that’s where everyone is.
After searching the entire house and not finding any clues to where they could be, I begin looking for a phone. But then I realize I don’t have anyone’s number so it’s pointless. I’m about to endeavor out and start searching the streets when the front door opens and Alex enters, breathless. His dark-brown hair is messy, like he’d been raking his fingers through it repeatedly. His green eyes are wide and his lean muscles look taut through his T-shirt. His lips… God, his lips look so kissable.
The sight of him nearly sends me to the floor, my heart slamming against my chest so forcefully I can’t think. “You’re alive,” I breathe, gripping onto the end table to support my weight.
He gives me a strange look, stopping just short of me. “Of course I am…” His brows furrow as he reaches out and his fingers spreads across my cheek. Sparks ignite. Dance across my skin. Elated. Alive. “Are you okay? You look like you’re going to be sick,” he says.
“I think I am,” I tell him, still stunned. Because my father did it. He reset time. He brought Alex back...
All I want to do is touch him. Feel him. Run my fingers through his hair, along his arms, his muscles, feel the smoothness of his skin. I want to taste his lips. Let his lips taste every inch of me. But Stephan’s words echo in my head, the consequences of us being together.
When Alex moves to touch me with his other hand I step back, even though it nearly kills me.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, confusion swarming across his face.
He has no idea.
How can I tell him? How can I tell the one person I’ve ever felt anything for that our emotions we have toward each other are wrong. That this amazing chemistry we have was never meant to be—that we were never meant to be.
“We can’t…” I shake my head, my stomach burning. I swear to God telling him is what’s going to end me. “We can’t…” I can’t do this.
Tears sting in my eyes, the knot in my stomach winding tighter. Blinding white heat ignites from inside me, so potent and toxic it feels like I’m on fire. The prickle appears, invisible but equally as toxic, piercing at my skin, telling me something I can’t interpret just yet, or maybe just don’t want to.
“I can’t breathe…” I choke. What is wrong with me? Something’s not… right… I collapse to my knees, my fingers digging into my chest. “I… can’t… breathe…” As I struggle for air, my vision spotting in and out, all I can think is, I’m dying.
The next few minutes pass by in a blur. Alex rubs his hand up and down my back, whispering soothing words. It’s going to be okay. You’re alright. Just breathe.