Scattered Ashes

  "Please don't leave me, Alex. Let me save you."

  "This time, it has to be me." He places his palm to my cheek and looks deeply into my eyes. "This is how it is supposed to be."

  "No. This isn't how our story goes," I say as Stephan shouts to attack. "This isn't how I saw it happen."

  "Everything happens for a reason, even this." He yanks me against him, our chests crashing together, and his body heat warms my soul. "I love you," he whispers. "Always have, always will."

  The electricity scorches, freeing itself from my body and uniting with the earth. But, just as I feel myself slipping away, I'm yanked back to earth and sink to my knees, shivering from the shock. The ground is a sheet of ice and the air is bone chillingly cold. The Death Walkers have surrounded me, their yellow eyes gleaming with hunger as they tip their head back and shriek to the darkening sky.

  "Alex!" I shout, stumbling to my feet, frantically searching for him.

  "He's right here."

  I jolt from the sound of Stephan's voice right to the side of me then spin on my heels, fully prepared to fight. But my will to survive dies in an instant as Stephan steps back and gestures at the ground where Alex lays in a pool of his own blood.

  "No!" I scream, dropping to my knees. "No . . . This can't be happening. He can't die. Not without me."

  Stephan steps forward and draws the hood from his head. "Haven't you learned yet, Gemma? There are always loopholes, and this one's mine." He raises a jagged blade stained with silver and red. "It's sealed with the blood of a witch. And not just any witch, one powerful enough to undo the binding of a blood promise." His grin expands as I struggle to figure out what's going on, why Alex isn't waking up. "You still don't get it? Well, let me explain it to you, then." He leans in, getting right in my face.

  I want to cry, but I know that will only make the situation worse.

  "The reason you two have been able to survive for so long isn't because of the star or because your souls are attached to one another. It's also because of that stupid blood promise you two made. You two are so tightly wound together that it's been a pain in the ass trying to figure out how to end you, but I finally found a way to destroy it." He moves back so I can get a good look at the man I love lying in the snowy grass that's now stained with blood. "And to destroy my son."

  When I open my eyes, I let out a scream as I shoot upright in my bed. My room is dark, my skin damp with sweat, and my bed is empty.

  Alex is gone, and the candle has burned out. I almost start to cry, wanting him so badly, but then I remember that, if I allow myself to feel so powerfully for him, I could end up killing us.

  Where did he go?

  Rolling out of bed, I stumble through the dark, turn on the light, and pull on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. I comb my hair into a ponytail then crack the bedroom door open. The house is alarmingly silent except for the sound of the TV downstairs.

  I inch into the hall, tiptoe down the stairs, and chill out a little when I see Laylen lounging around on the sofa, channel surfing.

  His long legs are kicked up on the table, his blond hair in his eyes, and he's munching on a bowl of ice cream.

  As if he senses me standing there, he turns his head, and his eyes find me. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

  "What time is it?" I glance at the clock, yawning. "Wow, it's late. Where's everyone?"

  "Aislin and Alex had to run some errands and pick up some stuff for the spell." He sets the bowl of ice cream down then twists around on the sofa to look at me. "I think they wanted to go together so they could say . . . goodbye."

  "But they're coming back, right?" I know it's a stupid question, but the dream I had makes me nervous.

  What if it's not a dream?

  What if something has changed?

  "Yeah, they're coming back. I promise." He turns around and faces the television as I join him on the sofa.

  "Laylen, do you know if witch's blood can undo a blood promise?"

  "I don't know . . ." He gives me a strange look as he clenches his fist. "Why are you asking?"

  I trace the scar on my palm. "I'm just wondering."

  "I'm not sure if it's possible. I've never heard of anything like it, but then again, a lot of stuff has happened that I've never heard of." He gathers his bowl of ice cream and rests back on the sofa. "Are you thinking about trying to break a promise you made?"

  I shake my head. "No, it's not that. I just . . ." The dream I had of Alex dying haunts my thoughts.

  I've been so stupid to just accept that everything's going to work out in our favor, that we will make it to the lake and do the sacrifice without running into any hitches.

  "You're thinking about doing something you're not supposed to," Laylen says, shoveling a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. "I can tell."

  I drum my fingers on my knee. I hate what I'm deliberating, but I can't get past that dream.

  "I think I need to see a vision."

  He frowns, nearly dropping the bowl. "I thought you weren't into that anymore?"

  "I'm not"--I chew on my thumbnail--"but there's something I need to see. And I promise I'm not going to change it . . . I just need to see it."

  I need to know if I save him or not. I thought I had, that the deal I made with Helena was going to save Alex, but now I'm worried there might be more to it than what I thought. Besides, I haven't actually foreseen a different outcome yet than Alex and I dying except for the dream I just had where I was the one who survived.

  It doesn't make any sense.

  "Are you sure you want to do this?" Laylen asks, extremely nervous.

  "I think I have to." I lie down on the sofa, propping my feet onto his lap. "Just stay here while I go, okay? And keep an eye on me."

  "I'll always be here for you, Gemma," he assures me, balancing the bowl on the armrest, "no matter what happens."

  Something in his eyes makes me pause.

  "Are you sure Alex is coming back?" I ask, worried he might be lying to me.

  He looks me straight in the eye. "I promise he is." He scratches at his arm, and that's when I notice . . .

  "Your mark's gone?" I ask, sitting up. "Holy shit, Laylen. Why didn't you say anything?"

  "I was going to tell you," he says, "but decided to wait, because you looked so stressed out."

  "This is way more important than me being stressed." I throw my arms around him. "I'm so happy for you."

  His hand finds the small of my back, and he holds me against him. "I feel so different, you know? I mean, I know I'm still a vampire and everything, but I just . . . I feel a little bit more connected to my old self."

  I pull back to look at him. "You're happy, then?"

  "The happiest I've been since I got bitten."

  "I'm so glad. You look happier." I smile. "And this means Aislin can use the spell to remove Stephan's mark."

  He nods. "Just as soon as she gets the shield spell perfected."

  I feel somewhat better than when I first came downstairs. Maybe this is going to work.

  But then I remember my dream and how I still don't know for sure if the future has changed.

  "I'm going to see this vision real quick, and then we're going to celebrate," I tell Laylen then lie back down.

  Feeling uneasy, I close my eyes and picture the lake with Alex and me standing there as Stephan and the Death Walkers show up. But my head starts to ring, and the image blurs away. I can't see anything, like I'm being blocked. I start to open my eyes when I'm yanked down into darkness, tumbling into the unknown.

  My feet slam against the stone floor, and my hand shoots out, grabbing a banister. It takes me a second to get my bearings and figure out I am in the Keepers' Castle, standing in front of the winding stairway. Ice glazes the domed ceiling and creeps up the walls. The floor is covered in a layer of snow, and footprints are imprinted everywhere, as if there's been heavy traffic.

  I don't know why I'm here. Is this is part of the vision I wanted to see? Or did I
manage to enter another one?

  My head throbs like my skull has been cracked, and I have a hunch that somehow I messed up and went into the wrong vision. Seeing no other way to get out of here, I trample through the snow, searching for whatever I'm supposed to see.

  Voices flow from the back of the castle, and I follow the footprints and head toward the noise. When I enter the room, my heart leaps up my throat.

  Stephan and the Death Walkers are crammed inside the space, and the temperature is so cold my skin tints blue, making me begin to uncontrollably chatter.

  "Today is the day," Stephan says, pacing the floor in front of at least fifty Death Walkers. He's wearing his cloak with the hood drawn over his head, and he's holding the knife he stabbed Alex with. "This is the day when we all reunite."

  The Death Walkers' eyes flare brightly as they tip their rotting heads back and cry out in unison.

  "Don't get too excited," Stephan growls, swinging the knife upward until the blade is aimed at the closest Death Walker. "You've done nothing but fail me. You haven't given me the star, and now all I have left is a useless portal. I can't free Malefiscus without the star."

  "But we'll have an army of Death Walkers." Someone else walks into the room, and I shudder, slowly turning around.

  Demetrius strolls up to Stephan with a grin on his face. He has on the same black cloak, but the hood is off, so I get a better glimpse of the evil in his eyes.

  "We don't need Malefiscus," Demetrius says to Stephan. "You can create marks. We'll have countless Death Walkers. You and I can rule the world with that."

  Stephan traces his finger along his scar, his eyes darkening. "Are you forgetting where we came from?"

  Demetrius winces but swiftly composes himself. "I'm not forgetting anything, but we don't have the star, and we can't free him without it. And we're running out of time. Our chance at opening the portal is coming, and we can either focus on getting the Death Walkers out or waste more time trying to chase down a star we might never catch." He glances at the Death Walkers then lowers his voice. "We can still do this. We can still control everything, just as long as you'll let this one thing go."

  Stephan bashes his fist against the mantel, sending a candlestick toppling to the floor "He's our flesh and blood, the one who started this all. Don't tell me just to let this go."

  "I'm not telling you just to let it go. I'm telling you that we have to be the ones to end this," Demetrius says. "For years and years, you've sacrificed your life to protect a world that does nothing but cause more problems. There needs to be order, structure, control. If we do this, we can control the faeries, the witches, the vampires--everyone--forever, along with the rest of the world."

  Stephan clenches his jaw, his hand balling into a fist. "We are supposed to free him. It's what we were born to do," he growls, sketching the scar on his face with his finger. "It's why we have these."

  I back up against the wall as more Death Walkers file into the room, choking the oxygen from the air.

  "It's not time yet!" Stephan shouts at the Death Walkers, a vein in his neck bulging. "Stop asking me the same stupid question." He picks up the Sword of Immortality that's propped against the wall in the corner of the room and sets his knife down. "Breathe on this," he instructs, sticking out the sword in front of a Death Walker.

  The Death Walker puffs a faint grey mist onto the sword, and frost webs across the blade. With a glint in his eyes, Stephan smashes it against the fireplace, shattering it into pieces.

  "No more threats," he mutters to himself then looks up at Demetrius. "I'm not giving up yet." He picks up the other sword and runs his finger along the blade. "I'm seeing this to the end."

  An orb suddenly appears in the center of the room, bright blue and the light nearly blinding. The orb begins to grow, stealing the space from the room.

  "No," Stephan whispers in shock as the orb chases him down. He trips back, bumping his arm against the bricks of the fireplace.

  "What is that!" Demetrius roars, skittering out of the way from the orb.

  "That would be me." Aislin materializes in the center of the orb with Laylen beside her, holding her hand.

  Stephan narrows his eyes at Aislin as he grips the banister and drags himself to his feet. "Has my daughter finally come to reunite with me? Or are you really just this stupid, showing up here so close to the ritual?"

  She elevates her hands in front of her. "Oh, Father, I hate to break it to you, but you're the one who's stupid." Grinning, she throws her hands forward, and the orb explodes, sweeping across the room and sealing Stephan inside the light with Laylen and herself.

  The Death Walkers charge, but their bodies bounce against the orb. Some trip back, shrieking out, while others fall to the floor.

  Demetrius fearfully glances between the orb and the doorway, and I can tell he's contemplating bailing.

  "You can't kill me," Stephan growls as he stands to his feet. "No one can."

  "That's where you're wrong." Aislin leans forward and cups her hand around her mouth. "You want to know a secret, Father?" She gives a dramatic pause. "You're going to die today."

  He barks a laugh and the shield ripples. "No one can kill me, especially you, my weak and overly emotional daughter."

  "I know I can't, but I didn't say I was going to kill you, did I?" Her hands sparkle as she wiggles her fingers, and then shimmering swirls of light rise toward the ceiling. "Scutum aufero recipiam."

  Suddenly understanding why I'm here, I inch closer to the orb and quickly try to memorize every word she says.

  When nothing happens, Stephan throws his head back and laughs.

  "I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. I would hope my own daughter could do better than this, especially since I gave you the gift of Wicca. Guess I set my expectations too high for you."

  "Or your arrogance is too high," Laylen says then leans over and rams his head into Stephan's stomach.

  As they crash to the floor, their bodies crack against the ice. Then Laylen pushes back and takes a swing at Stephan; however, Stephan blocks the punch with his arm, reaches for his boot, and draws out a knife.

  I run for them but slam to a stop when I realize I can't go through the shield.

  Aislin rushes for Laylen and stabs a knife into Stephan's wrist, right in the center of his Mark of Immortality. "Accipe bonum industria a!" Aislin shouts as she retrieves a vile from her pocket. Then she dumps a thick liquid onto Stephan's arm, straight into the open wound.

  Stephan jabs Laylen in the face with his elbow and then strikes Aislin across her cheek. She flies backward and hits the back of the orb.

  Laylen growls and sinks his teeth into Stephan's arm, biting hard. Stephan struggles to get free and kicks Laylen in the stomach as the sphere sparks and begins to fade in and out.

  "Laylen!" Aislin shouts, crawling for him. "It's time to go! Now!"

  She extends her hand, and Laylen runs toward her, but Stephan catches ahold of his leg and yanks Laylen down. Laylen kicks Stephan in the head with his heel over and over again as the orb bursts like a massive ocean wave rolling for land.

  The floor dusts with light and sparkles as Laylen bashes Stephan in the nose with his foot. Stephan jerks back, clutching his bleeding nose, and Laylen races over to Aislin.

  "Get us out of here," he says breathlessly as the Death Walkers close in on them.

  Stephan grabs a nearby knife and throws it at them. "I won't let you ruin this."

  The knife lands close to Aislin, nicking her leg, but she quickly says her spell, and just like that, they're gone.

  "Dammit!" Stephan shouts, slamming his fist against the floor, blood still trickling from his nose. "It's gone!"

  "What is?" Demetrius asks, leaning motionless against the doorway. Not surprisingly, he did nothing to help Stephan through the attack, and part of me wonders if he wanted Stephan hurt.

  Stephan's eyes scorch in rage as he glares at Demetrius. "My shield and my Mark of Immortality!"

  "You can pu
t it back on, so relax. Besides, it's almost time," Demetrius says.

  A deafening ring echoes through the room, and Stephan retrieves his phone from his cloak. He stares at the screen for a moment or two before wiping the blood from his face and answering it.

  "What the fuck do you want?" he snarls into the receiver.

  Silence fills the room as someone talks on the other end of the line. When Stephan hangs up, he chucks the phone against the floor and shatters it into pieces like he did with the sword.

  "What the hell did you do that for?" Demetrius asks, gaping at the pieces of the phone.

  "Our stars are waiting for us," he says with a swish of a cape, and then he marches for the door.

  Demetrius hurries after him and so do the Death Walkers, their yellow eyes glinting with eagerness.

  If it's time, then that means he's headed to . . . kill Alex and me.

  Needing to know how this all turns out, I chase after them, but the second I step foot out of the room, I'm jerked back into the darkness.

  I try at least ten more times to drop myself back into the vision before I finally open my eyes.

  "Did you see what you needed to?" Laylen asks the moment our gazes meet.

  "Not exactly." My heart bottoms into my stomach as I painfully realize that, no matter how much I want to see how this is going to turn out, I might not be able to. I'm not sure why other than maybe it's considered cheating since I'm trying to skip to the end and see all the answers for myself.

  My father told me once I can't cheat my way to the end, that sometimes I just have to figure stuff out on my own. It makes me sick, though, knowing there's a possibility Alex may somehow still die, that with all the sacrifices I made, he still doesn't live.

  But I think I know where Stephan got the powerful witch's blood to put on the sword. From cutting Aislin. So I can at least stop that from happening, which should change what I dreamed.

  "I did see something that'll help us, though." I sit up and plant my feet on the floor. "I saw how Aislin got Stephan's shield off him and the Mark of Immortality. You help her, too. Like, majorly."

  "Really?" He scoots to the edge of the sofa, not looking as excited as I expected him to be.

  "Is everything okay?" I ask

  He nods. "Yeah, everything's fine."