I found the bus door cracked open, leaving it easy to open. The bus driver was not there and the lights were off. With tears streaming down my face, I dropped down in a seat. I hugged my legs against my chest, and cried in the dark in typical Gemma style—all alone.
What was happening to me? Was I heading towards an emotional breakdown? Was I going to end up locked away in a padded cell somewhere, screaming at the top of my lungs that everything I said was true—that I wasn’t crazy?
Was I crazy, though? Was any of what was going on actually real? Or was my mind pushing on the borders of sanity, conjuring up a fictional world?
Absentmindedly, I touched the pocket of my jeans where the list of dates rested. I pulled off my glove and reached in, the edges of paper grazing my skin as I took it out. Letters forming my name and the dates stared back at me.
It was real.
Tears dropped from my eyes and splattered against the paper, bleeding the red ink. Everything was so complicated. I desperately wished I could just piece it all together.
Through my blurry veil of tears, I thought I saw a flash of yellow just outside my window. With my heart thumping wildly, I leaned in for a closer look and saw a tall, dark figure zipping through the pine trees at an inhuman speed, heading directly for the bus. I almost had forgotten about the monster. Again. I needed to get off the bus. Right now. Before it was too late.
I leapt out of my seat, preparing to make a mad dash back to the telescopes, where I could be safe—at least for the moment anyway. But electricity spun through my body, and I hit a dead halt.
Alex was making his way slowly up the aisle. “What the heck are you doing in here?”
“Nothing.” The word rushed out. I shot a glance at the window. The tall dark figure was gone.
He stopped just short of me, his eyes as round as two golf balls. “You’ve been crying.”
“So,” I stuffed the list into the pocket of my coat and wiped the tears off my cheeks. “People cry all the time.”
“Yeah, but only when something horrible or sad happens to them.” He paused, looking out the window, then back at me. “Did something horrible or sad happen to you?”
I shook my head, afraid to speak. Afraid my voice would give away my lie.
He nodded at the window. “What were you looking at out there?”
“I was looking at…the stars?” It sounded more like a question than an answer.
He cocked his head to the side, his forehead creasing over with worry lines. “But weren’t you just looking at the stars through a telescope? Right before you ran off in a mad craze.”
I glared at him. Insulting me was not a good idea right now.
His expression softened a little. “Gemma there’s obviously something bothering you, so tell me what it is please.”
I think it was the first time I ever heard him use the word please. Still, it didn’t mean I was going to break down and tell him all my secrets. “There is nothing bothering me. So if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to get back to the class.”
I marched forward, but his hands came down on the back of the seats, keeping me from going any farther. I backed up, trying to widen the distance between us, but he matched my steps, narrowing it right back.
I tried not to freak out about the fact that I was being cornered like a cat. “Look, I don’t think—” My back hit the back door.
He stopped just inches short of me and reached for my face. I flinched as he wiped away a stray tear rolling down my cheek. His fingers tingled against my skin, making me feel lightheaded and dizzy, and I had to grab hold of a nearby seat just to keep from falling over.
He raised his finger up to the moonlight speckling through the window and inspected the tear. “If nothing’s wrong,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper, “then, what is this?”
I felt tired. Everything was just too...heavy. I couldn’t take it anymore. I sighed, a heavy hearted sigh. “It’s a tear.”
“Yeah, but why are tears falling from those purple eyes of yours?
“Because I’m sad,” I told him, which was the truth. “And my eyes are not purple. They’re violet.”
He cracked a smile, but it swiftly faded. “Sad about what?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged.
It got quiet. My body sparkled electrically as he kept his eyes on me, watching me with the most intense expression.
“I knew you could feel it,” he said softly.
“Feel what?” I replied breathlessly.
“The electricity,” he whispered in a voice so soft it sent another good shiver down my spine.
I had to catch my breath before I spoke. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do.” He inched forward, the tips of his sneakers clipping the tips of mine.
Was it just me or was it getting hot in here? My thought process was melting. The world shadowed around me. I could hear my heart thrumming in my chest, and I wondered if he could hear it too.
I felt like I was slipping away.
But I couldn’t slip away. I needed to remember all the lies he told. But his eyes were locked on mine, and I could feel my self-control disappearing.
He put his hand on my cheek. Every inch of my body fire-crackered with sparks. It was like the freaking Fourth of July in here, all hot and sparkly. The ceiling lights flickered on, then back off again. Alex shut his eyes and leaned in. Um…was he going to do what I think he was going to do? No. There was no way—His lips brushed against mine. I froze, unsure of what to do, but then my instincts took over. I let my eyelids close and fell into the kiss.
“Alex! What are you doing?!”
Both our eyes shot open. Alex stepped back with a deer-in-the-headlights look. I stayed where I was with my back pressed against the door.
The lights were on and Aislin was standing at the front of the bus, her eyes wide. “What the heck is going on?”
Alex stared at me as he traced his finger across his lips. The lips that had just touched mine.
Holy crap!
He broke his gaze away from me and turned to face her. “Why would you think something was going on?”
Aislin placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “Alex, you should know better than to be doing something like this.”
Was she talking about him kissing me? Okay, I seriously wanted to get off the bus now. “Um, yeah, I think I’m going to go back outside.”
Alex’s arm came down in front of me. “No, you’re not.”
“Um, yes, I am.” I tried to push his arm out of the way, but he was too strong. “You can’t make me stay here.”
“Of course I can,” he said.
He wasn’t even looking at me, but I was pretty sure he could feel the burning glare I was giving him by the way he shifted his weight.
“Alex, I really think—” Aislin began.
Alex held up his hand. “Aislin, just be quiet.”
She glared at him, but her mouth stayed shut.
He turned back to me. “Now what did you see outside?”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Nothing.”
“That’s bull.” He was getting mad, however when he spoke, his voice sounded absolutely calm. “Just tell me, please.”
I thought I felt a chill slither down my spine. But figuring it was from the cold, I shrugged it off and shook my head. “No.”
He took a deep breath and said softly, “Please. I swear you can trust me.”
I could feel myself falling again—falling into his eyes. Maybe I could tell him about everything…about the monsters….about me…the chill slithered down my back again, this time feeling very slimy and snake-like. I shuddered. “What is that?”
He furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s what?”
“It feels like there’s something slimy and cold on my back,” I told him, running my fingers along the back of my coat.
His gaze moved over my shoulder, and his eyes widened in horror.
“
What?” I followed his gaze and my heart stopped. Frost was webbing its way across the back door. “What the—” I shot my attention to the side windows. Ice was covering them too. My foggy breath laced out in front of me.
The air suddenly felt like death.
“Aislin,” Alex said, worry ringing in his tone.
I heard a loud shriek, and through the icy windows I thought I saw a flicker of yellow. I could hear Alex and Aislin talking…something about getting out of here and transporting—whatever that was—but I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off the frozen window to see what they were doing. I think I was frozen in terror—literally.
I needed to get off the bus.
I tore my gaze away from the windows. Aislin was kneeling down on the ground, doing something weird with a black candle and what looked like a chunk of amethyst. What was this? Black magic time?
“I have to get out of here,” I said, trying to push past Alex.
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Alex growled, refusing to let me by.
“Yes I am.” I shoved at him with all the force I could conjure up, but he stood as still as a statue. I was on the verge of tears again. “You don’t understand, I have to get off. NOW!”
“No, you don’t understand,” Alex snapped. “If you walk off this bus, you’ll die.”
“If I stay on this bus, they’ll kill me!”
That caught his attention. “Who will kill you?”
Oh crap. I hadn’t meant to say that aloud. But with what was happening around us, did it really even matter?
“Those things.” I pointed towards the windows, where blinking eyes now flashed.
“You know what they are?” he asked, stunned.
“Of course I do.” I tried to shove past him again, but it was useless. “This is not the first time I’ve seen them.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Aislin, they know.”
Aislin, who was dangling the amethyst into the flame of the candle, froze.
Alex had his back turned to me. Hoping to catch him off-guard, I tried to slip by him, but he caught me by the hood of my jacket, and yanked me back, pinning me against his chest.
“I already told you if you go out there, the Death Walkers will kill you,” he said. “So do yourself a favor and stay put.”
I almost kicked him in the shin, but something he said stopped me. “Death Walkers? What’s a Death Walker?”
“Those things out there with the glowing eyes-” he raised his chin at one of the nearby windows-, “are called Death Walkers. And they’re called that for a good reason. They can freeze someone to death just by touching them.”
“I know they can,” I whispered, horror pulsating through me as I thought about the nightmares that had haunted me over and over again—nightmares I should have taken more seriously. But it was too late now. The forest was right outside and I was about to die.
My ice-cold hands were trembling. I assumed it was from my nerves until I saw that they had turned a ghastly shade of purplish-blue. “Oh my God!” I cried, shaking my purplish-blue hands. “What’s happening to me?”
Alex enclosed his hand around mine. His skin felt so warm. “Try to relax,” he told me. “Aislin will have us out of here in just a second.”
Try to relax. Was he kidding? How was I supposed to relax when my death was waiting for me just outside the frozen walls of the bus? And how on earth did he expect Aislin to get us out of here? With her magic candle, voodoo witch thing she was doing? Yeah, all that was doing was creating a cloud of violet-grey smoke that was starting to fill up the bus.
I shook my hand fiercely. Please change back. Please change back. Please change back!
“Just stay calm,” Alex lulled. “I promise everything will be okay.”
Yeah, I wasn’t convinced.
The bus gave a sudden jerk to the side and fog began to swarm beneath the cracks of the doors and windows. The temperature shot down. My body burned—it was that cold. Feeling exhausted, I let my eyelids drift shut.
“Stayyy awwwake.” Alex’s voice sounded so far away. I cracked open my eyes and he hugged me against his chest, his voice reverberating in slow motion as he said, “Aislin, hurrrry uppp.”
“Perrrr is calxxxx EGO lux lucisss viaaa,” someone whispered. At least I think someone whispered. At this point, I could have been hallucinating.
The interior lights blinked off, and all I could see were the yellow eyes fire-flying around outside. Then a purple glow swallowed up my surroundings, and I let my eyes close as the windows shattered. I felt Alex’s arm come up over my head protectively. A sharp pain ripped up my side, and I let out a scream.
The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air.
Chapter 13