She sits down on the grass and pats the spot beside her, signaling for me to sit down. "If you choose to stay here with me, you can, but if you choose to leave, you can go back to your life."
"My life," I whisper as my knees buckle, and I collapse to the ground. "But why is Annabella letting me go? Why doesn't she keep me?"
"She can either let you go or take you both," my mother explains. "You and Alex are bonded. Take one and they have to take you both. And right now, you're both on the brink of death."
"But why not just take us both?"
"I know this is hard for you to understand, but not everything is evil." She picks a flower from the ground and twists it in her fingers. "You need to understand that everything isn't evil in the world. There is also good, and what you did to save the lives of everyone is the very essence of good. You and Alex, your daughter--that all represents good."
"And Annabella's good?"
"Annabella is what she chooses to be, just like you can be."
I let it all sink in as the wind picks up, making petals dance around us. "I didn't expect this. I thought I would become a lost soul."
"I know. And that's why you're one of the good ones. You went into this blind." She offers me the flower. "So, what will it be? Life or death?"
I stare at the flower, not ready to take it just yet. "What about you?"
"I'm right where I belong," she says. "It's you who needs to find your place."
"I don't think I can leave you," I say, "not when I know I'll never see you again. You took your own life to save me; why don't you get a choice?"
"We'll see each other again," she promises, urging the flower at me. "This isn't goodbye forever."
I pick up the flower, thinking about life, about the pain I've been through, and how there might be more pain waiting for me when I return. Then I remember the tiniest moments of stolen kisses, of whispered promises that carry such possibilities.
I release the flower and let the wind carry it away to the unknown. "I want to go back to my life."
She nods, rising to her feet. "One last goodbye before you go."
I stand up and hug her with all I have in me, not wanting to let go yet knowing I have to. When I back away, she's gone, and I feel a piece of my heart break.
"You choose life, then?" Annabella steps out from behind the tree.
I nod, wiping the tears from my eyes. "Yeah, I choose life."
ALEX
I'm not sure if I've died, if Gemma's died. All I know is that, when I open my eyes, I'm lying on the floor of the burned house in Iceland. The cry of the Banshee is nails to my ears as I push to my feet and search for her, wanting to get this over with.
When I find her, she's curled in the corner of the room at the bottom of the stairway. She's in her hag form, her skin wrinkled and her clothes tattered.
"I've been waiting for you." She smiles at me, showing me her yellow teeth.
"Tell me she's okay," I say. "Tell me Gemma lived, or I'm not doing this."
She staggers to her feet and hunches over. "I can't believe I have you," she says, ignoring my question. "I've been waiting to get my hands on a soul like yours. Not many humans like to throw theirs away so carelessly."
"It wasn't out of carelessness. It was for a reason, a very good reason." I get in her face. "Now tell me she survived."
She trails her fingernails along my shoulder and runs her hands through my hair, but I swat her hand away. "Stay the hell away from me. Just because you own my soul, it doesn't mean you can put your gross hands on me."
She snarls, biting my cheek. "You're mine now, and I'll do whatever I want with you." She dances around, her hair thickening and her skin smoothing out as she transforms. "There. Is that better for you?"
I shove her back. "I said, don't touch me."
"You can be bitter all you want," she snaps. "But, eventually, I'll break you." She traces her hands along the burned walls, pieces of it crumbling to the floor. "You're very ungrateful. When you came here asking me to take your soul in return for freeing the girl's, I thought I was doing you a favor, but now you act as if I'm burdening you."
"I just need to know she's still alive," I say, grinding my teeth.
She still refuses to answer me, and it takes all my strength not to force her to tell me. I'm also worried because she still hasn't collected my soul, which means she could send me back, and Gemma won't be saved.
"Free souls are hard to find," she purrs. "Even Helena herself would kill for one. The power your soul will give me can help me take her down."
"So that's your big plan--you take my soul and try to take down the Queen of the Afterlife." Unable to help myself, I snort a laugh. "
Growling she wraps her fingers around my neck, and I let her strangle me since I have no fight left in me.
"Defend yourself," she demands, "or it won't be any fun."
"Let him go," someone commands from the darkness of the stairway.
The Banshee instantly releases me, her lips trembling as she spins toward the stairs. A woman with white hair, blood red lips, and silver eyes stands at the bottom of the stairway, and when the Banshee sees her, she bows her head.
"I'm sorry, Annabella, but he gave me his soul," the Banshee says, "
"His soul isn't his to give." Annabella steps off the stairway, glancing around at the charred walls. "So this is what the entrance of the Afterlife has come to."
"I'm sorry," the Banshee says, "but perhaps soon, Helena will no longer rule, and things can return to their rightful condition."
Annabella inches closer to the Banshee. "I may not like my sister, but don't you dare talk poorly of her in my presence."
The Banshee sinks to her knees, weeping. "I'm so sorry I've angered you."
Annabella walks around her, her silvery eyes landing on me. "This is what you offered in exchange for the freedom of Gemma's soul?" She pulls a disgusted face at the room. "That's very brave of you."
"You're the Queen of the Afterlife's sister?" I ask. "So that makes you the--?"
"It makes me nothing," she cuts me off, her slivery eyes darkening to grey. "I choose to be whatever I am, but if you want to know what I reign over, it's the essences."
"Why are you here?"
"I think what you really want to ask is if she's okay, if Gemma lived because of your sacrifice."
I nod, too emotional to speak.
Please, let her be okay.
She presses her lips together, her gaze heavy. "Tell me, why did you do it? Why did you give up everything for her?"
"Because I love her," I say simply
"Love?" She considers the idea with mild curiosity on her face. "It's a beautiful concept, to love someone more than you love yourself, and maybe that's why I'm doing this."
"What are you doing, exactly?" My eyes dart to the Banshee as she crawls toward Annabella's feet.
"Please don't take him from me," she begs, her fingernails digging into the rotting floor. "I need him."
"So you can try to take Helena's place? Because that'll never happen." She turns around and heads for the stairs, kicking the Banshee out of the way. "Make sure you live your life the way you want. Second chances are precious and don't come around often."
Before I can ask her what she means, I'm sucked away into blackness.
When I open my eyes again, I'm lying next to the lake, beneath the sunlight and surrounded by ashes.
I bolt upright at the sound of someone crying, and what I see makes me want to die all over again.
Aislin and Laylen are huddled over Gemma. Aislin is crying, her hands sparkling with a glimmering red glow as she tries to use her magic to bring Gemma back to life.
"No, please don't . . ." I shove Aislin out of the way and hug Gemma's lifeless body in my arms. "Wake up. Please wake up."
"I tried to save her." Aislin sobs against Laylen's chest as he tries to console her. "But nothing works. And I thought . . . I thought the baby would have been here by now . . . If the spell worked
, then she should have . . ." She sobs hysterically as she curls into Laylen's lap.
I focus on Gemma, trying to ignore the gaping wound in her chest. "Please, you're supposed to come back to me. I can't live without you." I lean in and brush my lips across her cold lips, but the kiss feels so foreign, so lifeless. "Please, please . . ." Tears pour from my eyes as I kiss her again. "I don't want to be here without you."
She remains lying still, her skin pale in the sunlight, and most of the blood from her body now stains the ground around her.
I lose it. Start crying. I want nothing more than to die right along with her.
I hug her tightly, refusing to ever let go.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
I hear the baby's heart beating, and I don't know what that means, but it gives me hope. I lean down and kiss Gemma again. I kiss her with everything I have in me, begging her to come back to me. I feel the kiss all the way through my body, through my soul, and I swear I feel her move.
She gasps against my mouth as her eyelids open. "Alex."
GEMMA
The first thing I see is Alex's face, and the sight of it makes me feel better, despite that I've just risen from the dead.
"Am I okay?"
He glances down at my chest, and the tension in his expression alleviates. "You're okay."
I sit up and look down at my chest where I remember the knife entering, but there's no blood, no wound.
"I can't believe I'm here," I say, resting back onto the grass with my arm on my stomach. I can hear the baby's heart beating steadily, and knowing she's okay causes my eyes to overflow with tears.
"It's going to be okay," he says, hugging me to his chest. "But what happened? I'm still so confused why I'm here. It was just supposed to be you who came back."
"The first time I went to the Afterlife," I say, breathing in his scent, "I told Helena I'd give her my soul when I died in exchange for your life."
"I made the same promise with a Banshee." He brushes my hair out of my eyes then leans down to kiss me, taking his time, savoring every second our lips remain touching without the electricity ruining the moment. "God, we really are bonded together," he breathes as he pulls away. "We even made the same self-sacrificing choice." His brows furrow. "But I don't get why we're both back here. And alive."
I smile up at him and lift my hand, showing him the scar from the promise. "Because our souls are connected. If they take one, they take us both."
He lines his hand with mine. "Then why not take us both?"
"Because, apparently, good does exist."
He smiles down at me, his eyes swollen from tears, and he looks like he's going to cry again.
"It's going to be okay," I assure him. "And you want to know why?"
He nods. "Did you see a vision about it?"
I shake my head. "No, I can feel that it's going to be okay."
"How can you feel it?"
"Because it's gone."
He catches on to what I'm saying, and a smile touches his lips as he leans down and kisses me again.
The kiss only lasts a few moments before Aislin practically jumps on top of us.
"I'm so glad you guys are alive," she cries as she hugs both of us. "I thought when the knife cut me that things . . . that things . . ." She can barely speak through the tears, and honestly, I'm so overwhelmed right now I feel like crying with her.
I hug her for a while then move to Laylen, wrapping my arms around him.
"I'm so glad this didn't turn out the way you saw it." He chokes back a sob.
"Me, too," I agree.
We take turns hugging each other before we calm down and sit beside the water. The ground is covered with the ashes of the Death Walkers from when the star's power was freed and killed every last one, but the air is still, calm, peaceful.
But the peace crumbles the second my wrist starts to burn. At first, I don't look at it, not wanting to shatter the calm moment we're sharing, but the pain becomes too intense, and I have to I tear my eyes from the water to look down at my arm.
My head slants at the sight of the star tattooed on my wrist. I trace my fingers along the angled lines. "What is this?" I ask Alex.
"I've never seen that before . . ." he trails off, turning over his wrist.
To our surprise, he has the same mark on his wrist.
He smiles at me. "I think it might be ours."
Sliding his hand across my cheek, he leans in and kisses me as the sun slips away behind the mountains, and the stars wake up to dust the sky. Still, we keep kissing, taking our time because there's no more rush, no more worry.
We have all the time in the world.
GEMMA
10 MONTHS LATER . . .
"Okay, I get why you said she's a bitch," I say as I hike through the grass toward the castle, "but I didn't expect her to be so . . . so . . ."
"Short?" Laylen finishes for me, laughing. "What did you think, that faeries have to be tall or something?"
I stick out my tongue at him. "No, but I did expect the Empress of the Faerie Realm to be tall." I duck underneath a branch and jump over a log. "And what were those little creatures? One of them tried to bite me."
"Those are sprites," Aislin explains, shoving vines out of her way. "And those little bastards are mean."
"Did you know you'll turn into one if they bite you?" Laylen says, but I can't tell if he is joking.
"I still can't believe Aleesa didn't want to come back with us," I say, enjoying the sunlight as it kisses my skin
"I'm not," Laylen says, urging me to the right as the path forks. "She was always a little off, and I think she fits right in with the fey."
From behind me, I suddenly hear the pitter-patter of tiny footsteps. I whirl around just in time to see a sprite running at an impressive speed for having such tiny legs. With its teeth and wings out, it makes a beeline for my ankle. Panicking, I drop kicked it like a soccer ball, and it flies through the air and lands far back in the trees with a thud.
"Okay, now Gemma's the mean one," Aislin says, gaping at me.
"I didn't want to turn into one of them." I feel a pang of guilt for kicking the little critter.
Laylen busts up laughing. "You do realize I was kidding about that?"
I shake my head but smile and pick up the pace, leaving the two of them behind. I'm anxious to get back to the castle and my family.
As I break through the Faerie Realm, I take off in a full sprint.
When I decided to go with Laylen and Aislin to get Aleesa, I thought it would be good for me to get some fresh air. But about five minutes after I left, I was already missing Alex and our daughter.
When I reach the castle, I throw open the door. Even though the electricity doesn't connect us anymore, I can still sense where Alex is and even my daughter as I head straight for the living room.
As I enter the room, I pause in the doorway at the sight of Sophia holding my child in her arms. Even though she turned out not to be so bad once the evil was out of her blood, I struggle sometimes to be around her because it reminds me of the past.
She's rocking back and forth, trying to get my daughter to sleep while talking to Alex about something.
His eyes find mine, and he smiles in a way that makes my body burn for his touch.
"I'll be right back," Sophia says to Alex, and then she sees me and smiles. "Oh, good. You guys made it back okay?"
"Yeah, Aislin and Laylen are coming." I nod at the window as I walk toward her with my arms out.
"Good. I'm glad everything went well." She gently places my daughter in my hands then steps back. "I'm going to go make dinner for everyone," she says then rushes out the doorway.
"Why's she making dinner?" I ask Alex.
"Because we're having guests tonight," Alex says, walking over to me
I smile down at our daughter, and she looks up at me with her violet eyes, making a cooing sound as she tries to smile.
I'll never get tired of this, of being able to see her and hold
her.
"Hello, my beautiful Alana," I say to her. "Did you miss me while I was gone?"
"She did. We both did." Alex cups my chin, angles my head back, and kisses me deeply, tangling his tongue with mine.
It's amazing how much my body burns on its own whenever he touches me.
"I missed you way too much," he says when our lips part.
"Me, too," I say, dazedly looking up at him, high from his kiss. "I don't think I'll be leaving again for a while."
"That's fine by me." He laces our fingers together then leads me toward the sofa. "You look tired. You should rest." He sits down and pulls me down with him.
"I'm tired, but it was good to get out and feel like I'm helping try to fix stuff." I lean back on the sofa, cradling Alana in my arms. "So, who's coming over for dinner?"
He bites back a grin, and I suddenly realize how excited he is. "You know how we've been trying to figure out a way to free your father from the Room of Forbidden?"
I nod. "But I thought it didn't look very promising."
"It wasn't," he says, "but then I found a loophole. Since your father technically didn't change the vision of his own free will, he should've never been punished for it. I had to go above Dyvinius's head and persuade enough Foreseers to let him go, but I finally did it."
I straighten in the chair. "So my dad's . . . ?" I blink back the tears. "My dad's free."
He nods, scooting closer to me. "He'll be here tonight."
"But he's okay, right?"
He nods. "I saw him yesterday when he was freed, and he looked great. I even talked to him for a while, and he's really happy to see you"--he smiles down at our daughter--"and her."
I brush my lips across his scruffy cheek. "Thank you."
"I just want you to be happy, and I know you miss your father."
"I do miss my father, but I'm happy, Alex. I promise."
He relaxes back in the chair, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and bringing me with him. "How did things go for you guys?"
I shrug. "Well, Aleesa didn't want to come home with us, and the Empress threatened Aislin that she was going to collect on her spell soon."
"We'll figure out a way to fix it. And besides, Aislin's so powerful now, I don't doubt she'll be able to take Luna down if she needs to, but let's not talk about that right now. There's something important I need to ask you," he says, his voice sounding a little off pitch.
"Is everything okay?" I ask.