“Just barely,” I explain. “I had a little hunch that if they were gone, the Purple Flame might work.”
“I wish you would have said something before you took off,” he says, trying to keep his need to be dominant and controlling intact.
“Yeah, I know, but you were talking to Aislin and I didn’t want to bother you.” I glance from Laylen to Aislin, who are listening intently, then back to Alex. “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?”
He gives me a funny look, but goes into the kitchen with me without asking questions.
“Okay, what’s going on?” He reclines against counter, arms folded. “You’re acting weird.”
“When Laylen and I—” I start, but a strange noise escapes his throat, like he’s choking back a cough. “What was that noise you just made?” I inch toward him, attempting to pick up on his vibe.
“You really want to know?” he asks and I nod. In three long strides, he’s stolen the space between us and backed me up into the counter. An arm comes down on each side of me, trapping me between him. “My problem is that every time you have a problem, you run off with Laylen. And it’s driving me crazy. After how far we’ve come… after the things I’ve shared with you… I thought by now you’d come to me when you needed help—it’s what I’m good at.”
“I’m sorry, but it seemed better to take Laylen since he can’t die from Stasha’s touch.” I suck in a loud breath. “And she’s your ex-girlfriend.”
“I already told you she never meant anything to me.”
“Yeah, but you clearly meant something to her—she has pictures of you two all over her house.”
He presses his lips together. “What do you want me to do?” He pauses and I can tell the way his eyes crinkle that he’s trying not to smile. “Go to her house and steal all the photos away, because I will. Just say the word.”
I shake my head, attempting to stay annoyed. “No, that’d be silly.” I pause and his smile starts to break through, so I reach forward and playfully pinch him on the side. “This isn’t funny.”
Now he’s grinning as he touches the spot where I pinched him. “It kind of is.” He brushes a strand of hair out of my face. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”
“That’s not what this is about,” I tell him then remember what I’m really supposed to be discussing with him. “Did you know Stasha has the Mark of Malefiscus?”
The shock on his face is too real and I know right away that he didn’t. “No, she doesn’t… I’d know….”
“She does, though. I saw the mark on her wrist, and she told us she’s had it since she was born.”
“That’s not possible.” He shakes his head, gripping onto the counter. “I’d know if she did.”
I hated that he would know. “So I’m guessing that either he recently put it on her and tampered with her mind to make her think she’s had it forever, or this is another case of the butterfly effect from resetting time…” I look down at my hand and flex my fingers. “It’s time for me to go see what I can do about this.” I open my hand and the flame smolders.
“You think it’s going to work now?” Alex asks, the flame reflecting in his bright green eyes.
“There’s only one way to find out.” I march out of the kitchen without putting the fire out and Laylen, Aislin, and Aleesa all jump back. I scoop up the mapping ball and place it in my hand as they all watch. It fits perfectly and my skin begins to sizzle. Energy torrents through me, violet, passionate, untamed. My eyes snap wide as searing heat spills through my veins, gives me an indescribable power, and then sucks me into the glass.
Chapter 30
It’s so dark it makes the air thick and heavy, bearing down on me and crushing my body. I have to be dead. There’s no way I could be alive with this much pain. But then I open my eyes and see the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen before me, like I landed outside of the world, where the stars shine. They are everywhere. Above me. Below me. As far as my eyes can see.
“It’s so gorgeous,” I whisper in wonderment. But as I start to wander across the stars, my heart sinks in despair. There is no sign of memories or anything that will lead me to it.
But as if answering me, one of the stars just in front of my feet illuminates. I hop back as light flows out of it and casts against the darkness like a movie screen. At first it’s blank, but then people appear on it. A man probably about twenty years old with dark brown hair and violet eyes—my dad. He’s talking to an older woman with flowing auburn hair, wearing a pressed tan dress—Sophia.
“Well, I don’t see how that would be possible,” Sophia tells my father as they hike up the grassy hill toward the grey stone castle at the top. “Jocelyn’s too busy with things. And she’s supposed to be taking her Keeper’s test soon.”
“I understand your concern,” my dad replies, attempting to dazzle her with a charming smile. “But I promise you, I won’t keep her out too long.”
Sophia fixes him with a stern gaze, one that I had seen many times, not at all affected by my dad’s charm. “Well, I’ll have to think about it and discuss it with her father, but we’ll see.”
My father stops on the hill, beaming. “That’s all I’m asking for.”
Sophia gives him a curt nod and then hurries to the front door of the castle, leaving him on the hill. My father turns, picks up a rock, and chucks it into the lake, making the water ripple. He looks happy, not like someone who is about to cause the end of the world.
“He couldn’t have always been evil,’ I say. “There’s just no way.”
The scene swirls back into the star. Not the vision I’m looking for, but it was interesting to see my dad, just a normal guy, wanting to ask my mom out.
Suddenly, another star lights up against the darkness just a few feet away. On the screen, my father is the main focus, about the same age as he was in the last one. He’s sitting next to my mom who looks around the same age as him. Her makeup is done and her hair is curled up and they’re in the corner, huddled together, with a stack of books by their feet.
“I still don’t understand why you have to help him,” my mother says to my father. “It doesn’t make any sense.